Reading

Wide Eyed - Trinie Dalton. This collection of short stories is fucked-up and beautiful. The cover art is phenomenal, and motivated me to purchase this volume as none of the library systems I use had a copy. They speak to the dangers of teenage slumber party boredom, or on rationalizing feeding your dog candy. Lot of candy and dreams, and all with a psychedelic reverence for nature. The last story, "Lou in the Moonlight" is truly gorgeous, and reminds me in a good way of the Midsummer Night's Dream parties in the from The Hanged Man. It was like candy, in that I read it too fast, and then found it all gone too soon.

Atmospheric Disturbances - Rivka Galchen. This book took months of waiting in the library hold queue. The end is still settling with me. I got a little lost in the middle, but maybe it also lost itself a little bit? At least all the chapters are around two pages long. Looking at the concept from the outside, it seems really sad now: what do you do when you no longer recognize your lover? There are moments that cut through everything and are quite stunning. I saw Galchen speak on a panel at the Brooklyn Book Fair over the summer, and found her to be pretty compelling. She went through med school only to realize that she was a writer. And a character of sorts in this book Tzvi Gal-Chen is based on her father, a meteorologist. Knowing personal information about her affected my interpretations of the text, but I haven't decided yet if that is good or bad. Overall it was very good, and slightly unsettling.

(just now realized that Photo Booth takes pictures like a mirror)