How it went in March.

"He took out his tobacco and began to build a cigarette, watching past the flare of the match sleeping houses streaking past like islands afloat in the moving sea of night, the train’s speed increasing, so that he was caught in a rising ti..." -- Provinces of Night: A Novel, William Gay #reading

"Chattering away in that cab—about astrology, British punk music, jungle cats, Greek gods—this is what she was like: a pinwheel of stars. Lightning under a fingernail. I was watching her, nodding, watching, watching, starting to feel light-headed. Her black s..." -- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar #reading

"Were there darker provinces of night he would have found them." — Cormac McCarthy, Child of God #reading

"He wanted to memorize her taste, the shape of her body, that little catch in her breath when he touched her just right. Something pulled deep inside him—a hard, tight ache that was more than physical: a craving to be a part of all that was Viole..." -- Reckless in Texas, Kari Lynn Dell #reading

I consider myself a good and flexible reader but on a recent visit with a good friend, a romance writer, she pointed out that for all my talk about reading books on their own terms I had never read... A Question About Romance Novels

We're taking it back! thewalrus.ca/i-love-the-e...

"Gabe looked like an oak tree in a denim jacket, his face all jaw, big white mustache, big hands perpetually cracked from working on this or that project." -- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar #reading

"“Why?” He cast a deliberate gaze around the yard. “Nobody here but us and the birds.” “Until you lay a hand on me. Then a troop of girl scouts will march through here on a bird-watching expedition." -- Reckless in Texas, Kari Lynn Dell #reading

"It is June. This is what I have decided to do with my life just now. I will do this work of transformed and even distorted memory and lead this life, the one I am leading today." -- Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick #reading

"The air slurped around her like hot molasses when she stepped out the door." -- Reckless in Texas, Kari Lynn Dell #reading

Dispatches from the Present Tense www.adrianasturalvarez.com/march-17-2026/

How it's going so far in March.

How it went in February

This is memoir.

When it's Friday night and the feeling's right.

"If ecstasy means we are taken over by something, we become an occupied country, the audience to an intensity we are only the proscenium for." Jack Gilbert, The Great Fires: Poems, 1982–1992, page 112

How it went in January.

I'm reading In A Lonely Place and it's just amazing how Dorothy B. Hughes' prose can suddenly lift off into pure poetry as soon as the rational stops being useful then come back down again in an instant. Such a well written novel.

I keep returning to a question about closeness after isolation—what small groups give us, what they demand, and how they shape who we become. New essay up: A Question About Closeness After Isolation adrian-astur-alvarez.ghost.io/a-question-a...

Impossible to explain to non-writers how a very personal rejection letter from a top tier magazine editor is really good news.

I tried my hand at a Levain copycat recipe. It's hard to go wrong with any chocolate chip cookies but I like how these turned out.

How it's going so far in January.

What is your most personal theory of writing? adrian-astur-alvarez.ghost.io/why-is-this-...

I keep thinking about Eephus, the way it crafted atmosphere so beautifully out of loss in the negative spaces between dialogue & plot. It's like how men tend to sit side by side when they talk, the characters aren't allowed to spell out their emotions, just have them. It's so baseball. boxd.it/KzLW

...and the last activity I track every year: board games. Like 2024, Streetcar Suburb dominated. I played in quite a few tournaments. Otherwise, it was the usual mix of 18xx titles and some others bc of my son, who is finally old enough to be interested.

282 films logged and 200 reviewed. I didn't hit 365 movies this year but I maintained Peter Cushing as my most watched actor so all is well. letterboxd.com/Bazinfan/yea...

Time for all the end of the year stats. Do we like these? Are they useful? I don't know but here's what I read in 2025. Favs: my first Gerald Murnane, everything by Diane Seuss, American Pastoral, and Salka Valka.

Eating sushi in Spain is wild. This roll came with Rice Krispies for some reason.

The world lost a kind man yesterday. My step-father's struggle with cancer has resolved. He went peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. I've never known a more generous and loving soul than his. He touched a lot of lives with his council and his music.

It's interesting how often upmarket fiction lets emotional authority accumulate through restraint. As much as we like to say writing is a solitary act, all evidence is to the contrary: from the journey to publishing to the actual reading, so much depends on intimate participation.

How it's going so far in December

Lately I’m drawn to novels where the authority of the voice is established before the story explains itself. Salka Valka does this so well the social realism practically sneaks up on you. It’s making me rethink how much explanation my own work actually needs.

No notes

This passage from Salka Valka by Halladór Laxness (trans. Philip Roughton).

Our cat Scotia Jones died last night. She lived at least 20 years and we had her for 18 of those. Born in East LA, we took her with us to Seattle, Woodinville, and Spain. She wasn't a very nice cat but she had a comfortable life and the chance to be annoyed by so many things. So long, old friend.

"It doesn't count as beating a dead horse if the horse is still alive; we gotta kill that horse first" Essential viewing from the always brilliant Drew Gooden. youtu.be/W8Z3MfNpJpE?...

How it went in November.

How it's going so far in November

"Hey mom, it's Kai. I got the part! No, I play football. No, just football. I'm football."

Living in Spain is like...

Perfect day: 60% - read books; 20% - write books; 40% - drink tea

I could be a fashion designer.

I read exactly one book last month. Fortunately it was a good one. In other news, I managed to watch 105 horror films. These are my October priorities.

If you see this post a Greg

Welcome to Crystal Lake, campers!

I hate this and I love this.