Pinegrove 11:11 (2022)

we don't get a lot of things to really care about

Maule MAULE (2022)

British Columbia needs a re-brand

Moksmg'ol is the Tsimshian word for the spirit bear.  could do worse

Ursus americanus kermodei may you recessive miracles outlive us

Torchlight SPELLBOUND RUINS (2022)

Fuubutsushi FUUBUTSUSHI (2020)

Dallas doesn't love you

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma HERMENEUTICS (2021)

if I could do it all again, i'd be in the vineyards, preparing them for seasons, pestilence to come

Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Coen brothers already showed their love of Portis with True Grit, and I think they could make a tremendously funny film out of this book, a loving satire of the lonely oddballs that are drawn to secret fraternal orders, hidden knowledge, goofy ceremonies, mysterious relics and speculative histories. Portis populates the story with some very amusing con men, extremely supportive wives, confused politicians, and name-drops enough real gnosticism to show he'd done his homework. It is very interesting how these societies rose and fell in the 19th and 20th centuries, only to have a resurgence in interest in the Wikipedia age, which similarly plays fast and loose with citations, authorship, and alternative narratives. The lengths to which people will go, in order to grasp the mysteries of humanity, is equal parts tragic and hysterical, and Portis has enough heart to give these all-too-relatable losers a gentle, jolly end.

Burial ANTIDAWN (2022)

can't unhaunt, you have to counterhaunt, you have to totemize the friends, authors, mysterious benefactors of your life into a chessboard of protectors & allies, a spiritual sculpture garden, a place to walk & read unalone 

Laurin Huber DOG MOUNTAIN (2021)

 

one of my favorite memories of us after high school was climbing Dog Mountain.  Ken & Nancy saying F this and going to get us pizza, everyone sharing my one bottle of water, hiking to the Columbia Gorge vista and then running four miles downhill, like ankles don't break, like under the trees it's all a dream

the pizza at the bottom was great, the Burgerville strawberry shakes were even better

Woes of the True Policeman by Roberto Bolaño
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bolaño's unfinished novels are better than just about anybody's magnum opus.

SUSS HIGH LINE (2019)

teaching liberation theology w/o marxism or the history of imperial intelligence agencies disrupting foreign populist movements is wanton disregard

Fuubutsushi SETSUBUN (2021)

the fact that no one here reads poetry predicts the events to follow

Numün VOYAGE AU SOLEIL (2020)

got to drive through the whole state of Oregon, top to bottom, covered in snow

Lawrence English OBSERVATION OF BREATH (2021)

 

Happy New Year amigos!

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Titanic work summarizing two decades from a fearless investigative journalist who has FOIA'ed and archive-mined his way to an understanding of the forces (COINTELPRO, Operation CHAOS, MK Ultra, etc.) at work in destabilizing the nascent Civil Rights and Peace movements of the 60's. Must-read for anyone interested in this pivotal period in American history. At least don't let your friends drop acid without reading this book first :-)