I spent the weekend driving to South Carolina and back, listening to the entire discographies of Nada Surf and Wussy. Both of their 2024 albums are excellent—maybe the strongest in over a decade by each band..

My office for the afternoon

My early thoughts on books to nominate for Cousin Book Club: Mockingbird by Walter Tevis Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry Basic Black with Pearls by Helen Weinzweig The Premier by Georges Simenon Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

Gang of Four—and, maybe, Mekons—fans will get the most out of TO HELL WITH POVERTY!, but Jon King’s razor-wire wit is occasionally awe-inspiring. The chapter in which King recalls Gang of Four’s first booking on Top of the Pops, in particular, is a virtuoso performance of clear-eyed absurdity.

I would like to know whether the guy with the JISLORD license plate we just passed thought it through.

My wife learning that she is of Italian descent: “It explains my love of pizza!”

Catholic University librarians showed some colleagues and I amazing artifacts from their collections today. Their rare book holdings include a 1911 book of Oxford University statutes signed by its original owner, J.R.R. Tolkien, and two U.S. first printings of FRANKENSTEIN.

An unknown force from a dark star leads to madness among the crew of IKARIE XB 1 as they search for life in the Alpha Centauri system. The 1963 movie scans more like an extended episode of a Czech STAR TREK than a predecessor to SUNSHINE, EVENT HORIZON, THE BLACK HOLE, or, even, SOLARIS. It’s fine.

Hüsker Dü were a pivotal band (for both good and bad reasons in my book tbh). Stevie Chick does the business here in this in-depth profile speaking to Bob Mould and Greg Norton about wide-eyed beginnings, drug-wracked endings, the reformation that almost happened, dealing out the first... 1/2

Great piece. Mould describes the CANDY APPLE GREY opener “Crystal” as “one of the most difficult pieces of music we ever made.” I read this as a challenge; I’ve not yet been able to find my way into that song.

THE HEART IN WINTER by Kevin Barry is funny, sad, crass, and lovely. And Barry’s prose has enough energy to power a small city. Highly recommended.

U.S. Marines have unsettling experiences after exploring the site of an Afghan-Soviet War–era massacre. John Milas’s THE MILITIA HOUSE is an excellent haunted house story and a vivid portrait of living with PTSD, but it’s Milas’s depiction of everyday life on the frontlines that held me in thrall.

Had a chance to hit my local

The stretch from the windmill through the retrieval of the Necronomicon is brilliant—among the best 20 minutes of comedy made in the 1990s. The rest is pretty fun, too.

Checking in on an old friend as I wait to pick up Elder Kid from a concert

I will let Bill Murray get away with anything, apparently

Georges Simenon’s THE CLOCKMAKER (trans. Norman Denny) is a great book if you want a pit in your stomach that becomes a chasm in the final pages. And Bertrand Tavernier's 1974 film adaptation, THE CLOCKMAKER OF ST. PAUL, is worth tracking down.

Is BlueSky's search really this shitty or am I missing something?

When you are too lazy to climb into a dog bed

The last time I bought tickets to see Sugar I was in college. Today, I bought tickets to a show that will take place a couple months before Elder Kid enters college.

*Fewer

Anyone up for story time? It starts in a grimy underground garage…

C-SPAN debuted our latest series, America’s Book Club, last night. We shot the hour-long conversation between John Grisham and the host, David Rubenstein, in the Library of Congress’s spectacular Great Hall. You can find the full video here: www.c-span.org/americas-boo...

Beverly Gage’s magnificent G-MAN portrays J. Edgar Hoover as the ultimate, if deeply complicated, bureaucrat. He left no daylight between his personal and professional lives as he built an empire and survived nearly a half century of shifting political landscapes and prevailing sentiments.

Omg the new Sugar single is good m.youtube.com/watch?v=-S72...

I am reading college application essays on 3 hours of sleep ama

Now, for a little holiday reading

Reading Samuel Beckett’s trilogy—Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable—is to live in a waking fever dream. Or, perhaps, especially the last book, a bad trip. I’ve read nothing like them before and must, someday in a distant future, read them again to process the experience.

Entering the homestretch

Going under

What are the best ghosty/Halloweeny movies that I’ve not watched?

No knock on the new guy, but I kinda like it when I’ve never heard of the winner.

I finished MOLLOY and boy oh boy wtf

10 horror movies to get to know me Lake Mungo Evil Dead 2 Island of Lost Souls The Thing Alien Re-Animator Near Dark One Cut of the Dead Witchhammer The Descent

I did not read this passage by a Nobel laureate aloud to the family because breakfast.

Ending my work week back at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The head librarian showed us some fantastic artifacts: a 1594 quarto of Henry VI, court parchments from 1511-1631, and a justice’s handbook from 1575.

Me: “May I read you a passage by a Nobel laureate?” Elder Kid: “Oh, no.” Wife: “I think you’re enjoying this book.”

@chrissteller.bsky.social Your thread on Peanuts reminded me: did you see this article on how Minnesota politics shaped the work of science fiction writer and Minneapolis Star journalist Clifford Simak? sciencefictionruminations.com/2024/09/13/e...

“May I read to you the wisdom of a Nobel laureate?”—Me before I read Beckett aloud to my family

The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself (1973) is the grimiest of K. C. Constantine’s novels I’ve read, so far. It’s an early Rocksburg novel, and Constantine hasn’t yet hit his stride. There’s good character work, but he is still relying on plot rather than anthropology as the book’s engine.

Some of my colleagues and I spent some time in one of the National Archives’s vaults this evening. One of the archivists showed us some incredible documents, including copies of the Treaty of Paris and the treaty between the U.S. and France.

Starting my week with the founding documents. The National Archives let us into the rotunda a couple hours before it opens to the public.

Last game this season…

Good morning!

A 20-something production assistant lit up at the mention of Galaxie 500 today, thus restoring my faith in the future.

A FIX LIKE THIS may be the first truly great book in K. C. Constantine’s Mario Balzic series. The stabbing of a low-level thug serves as the catalyst for a nuanced exploration of the nature of corruption.

I missed out on the first chance to pick up @nadiabulkin.bsky.social’s Red Skies in the Morning when it came out as a standalone. I’m excited to finally read it and the other two novellas collected in ISSUES WITH AUTHORITY.

Gorsuch

Wait, THIS is @titus-andronicus.bsky.social !