iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Today is Canada’s National Day For Truth & Reconciliation. In light of that, I’m recommending my very favourite Canadian novel (The Great Canadian novel, IMO), Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese: the horrors of residential school, hockey, healing, & compassion. 💙📚 douglas-mcintyre.com/products/978...

douglas-mcintyre.com

Indian Horse

Description Saul Indian Horse has hit bottom. His last binge almost killed him, and now he’s a reluctant resident in a treatment centre for alcoholics, surrounded by people he’s sure will never unders...

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Libro.fm @libro.fm · 28/09/2026

Say you read one book a month. If you buy the book at your indie, it might cost a few more dollars than from a megaretailer. Now imagine if 9 more people in your community made that switch. What may feel like a small thing is often actually big, especially when we work together 💓

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Between Two Rivers is a charming introduction to ancient Mesopotamian history told by describing items found in a museum of sorts in ancient Ur. The archaeologists who unearthed the items 100 years ago were the Woolleys, upon whom Agatha Christie based her characters in Murder in Mesopotamia. 💡📚💙

A photograph of two books: the 2025 North American hardcover edition of Moudhy Al-Rashid’s Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History and a paperback edition of Agatha Christie’s Murder in Mesopotamia (first published in 1936; this “official authorised” edition was published by William Morrow in 2025). Al-Rashid’s history is very accessible and offers a relatable, personal kind of introduction to the wonders of ancient Mesopotamia. The Christie novel is very much of its time (misogyny, xenophobia, colonialism), but worth reading as a companion piece to Al-Rashid’s history, if only to flesh out the fascinating character of Louise Leidner, based on the real-life archaeologist Katharine Woolley who, with her husband, worked on the site in ancient Ur and uncovered the “museum” Al-Rashid describes in her book.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Enshitification is an important book. Doctorow is mad (& funny) as hell, & explains here why we should ALL be mad as hell & why/how we should fight back. Without anti-trust regulation & strong labour laws, enshitification for the rest of us is Big Tech’s logical conclusion. Highly recommended.💡📚💙

A photograph of the paperback edition (with a new preface!) of Cory Doctorow’s book about the evils of Big Tech and monopolisation, Enshitification. And because I am lazy like that, here are few words from Cory himself:

“Greetings, followers of my reader! This is Cory Doctorow writing to you, and your friend has very nearly finished reading my excellent 2025 book, Enshitification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, available at finer bookstores everywhere, as well as on monopoly electronic retail sites that should be condemned to the scrap heap of history.” pp. 292-293

I especially like that last bit about retail sites. Enjoy.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I’ve embarked upon E.J. Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles. It begins with The Light Years, the story of an upper-middle-class English family & their country house in the years before WWII. The characters are complex & the plot allows a fascinating glimpse into a very particular time, place, & society. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of a 2013 paperback edition of the first volume in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles, The Light Years. Originally published in 1990, The Light Years introduces the reader to the Cazalet family and their country house Home Place in the years leading up to World War II. Although a slice of life in a very particular time, place, and people, many of the themes of individual powerlessness in the face of larger historic events (war, economic uncertainty, class divisions, systemic sexual inequality and misogyny) remain startlingly relevant. Thoroughly absorbing storytelling.

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CynfulArts 🐾 @cynfularts.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I have read many books that have made me uncomfortable, sometimes profoundly so, but I can not think of a single book that I regret reading. Banning books that make you uncomfortable isn't helping anyone. To be uncomfortable is to grow

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The fifth in Simon Mason’s terrific DI Ryan Wilkins series, The Dangerous Stranger is as quirky & riveting as all the rest: assumptions (by the characters & the reader) are challenged, wrongs are mostly righted, knots are tied & some of them are untangled. ⚡️📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of the fifth book in Simon Mason’s highly addictive DI Ryan Wilkins series, titled The Dangerous Stranger. Set in Oxford, the series features “odd couple” DIs Ray Wilkins and Ryan Wilkins (no relation).

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Everett’s brilliant new novel (out in March) is about Arthur Champion, a Black American music student forced to fight a war on two fronts: one at home in the USA, one overseas. The novel is replete with history & music (& music history!) & the triumph of self-expression over hate & injustice. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the (highly coveted) galley edition of Percival Everett’s new novel, Serious Music, coming to an independent bookshop near you in March 2027. The novel is heartbreaking, funny, enraging, and ferocious. Every bit as gorgeous as Everett’s writing (succinct, effortless, flowing, jarring when it needs to jar) is the music he describes. I’ve made a playlist of the composers and pieces mentioned in the novel, from classical to ragtime to blues, and am listening to it as I write this. Seriously — don’t miss this one.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

“If the doom narrative of the prognosticators is getting to you and the future of reading feels precarious … support the bookstores where reading is bedrock; where the end of reading just means you’ve finished a book ...”

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Melissa Auf Der Maur is wonderfully weird, relatable, inspiring, & fiercely independent. Along with the crazy rock-&-roll lore, her memoir offers insights into the ravenous greed, cynicism, & misogyny of the corporate music industry, & the toll taken by addiction & living amid constant chaos. 💡📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of Melissa Auf Der Maur’s memoir, Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A ‘90s Rock Memoir. I loved learning about her child- and young-adulthood growing up in Montreal, and her wild experiences touring with Hole, one of the fiercest grunge bands of the ‘90s. I love that she is so fearlessly herself. Good, inspiring reading.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I’m just about finished Melissa Auf Der Maur’s memoir; her exhibit at the AGO will be the perfect follow-up! 💡📚💙

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A short memoir by Montrealer Pare-Poupart in which he tells hair-raising stories about his work, & explains the satisfaction he takes in doing it well. He also points out the appalling amount of trash our consumerism creates & advocates for “freeganism,” a culture of radical reuse & recycling. 💡📚💙

A photograph of Simon Pare-Poupart’s memoir about his work as a garbageman in Montreal, the job satisfaction and friendships he took from that work, the importance of garbage collecting to our cities and lives, and that it is incumbent on each of us to reuse and recycle more and throw away less.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle is a novel based on the life of Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi. Plotted at a good pace, it offers a glimpse into the lives of artists, women, & the wealthy of seventeenth century Rome & Florence. Caravaggio also makes an appearance. ⌛️📚💙

A photograph of the Canadian paperback edition of Elizabeth Fremantle’s novel Disobedient, about the life of Artemisia Gentileschi. If you’re not enraged enough after that, this article by the BBC is interesting: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260325-the-artworks-by-women-where-men-got-the-credit

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I just enjoyed a week in the company of 4 good friends & a host of eccentrics in Victorian London. The 8 existing volumes of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion are compulsively readable, funny, & were an absorbing distraction from hospital corridors. Like Fleabag, but make it Victorian. ⌛️📚💙

A photograph of 8th volume of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. Each volume of these self-published books is a different colour. I understand that larger publishers are now republishing the novels, and I wish Beth Brower well; her work is sprightly and funny, and her characters thoroughly loveable, even when they are being awful.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Little Spark is another thrilling, eloquently spun tale by Jess Kidd about an eerie, unnerving family living in a ramshackle old mansion atop a dangerous marsh where lurk only smugglers & men of ill intent. The heroine is feisty & clever, the bad guys are really rotten. Great good fun! 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of an already much-loved (we’re passing it around the shop) advance reading copy of Jess Kidd’s new novel, Little Spark. Available now in the UK, but not until February (booooooo!) in Canada. Like everything Kidd writes, the language dances and sparkles and makes me want to linger, but the story irresistibly pulls me forward, and it’s always over far too soon. Little Spark was a welcome retreat into a world of clockwork marvels, horrible family secrets, dastardly villains, and stalwart heroes. I’m looking forward to reading it again.

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The Whimsical Muse @whimsicalmuse.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Someone just asked “Why waste time reading the book when you can just watch the movie?” and long story short it's perfectly acceptable to remove toxic people from your life.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

An older book now (2009), Patrick Radden Keefe’s true crime exposé about Sister Ping, a complicated, highly prolific human smuggler operating a worldwide business from a noodle restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown, remains extremely relevant. As always with this author, highly recommended. 💡📚💙

A photograph of the 2010 North American paperback edition of American author Patrick Radden Keefe’s book about organised crime and illegal immigration in New York’s Chinatown — The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream.

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Brandi Buchman @brandibuchman.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Library funding is tied to usage.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Benoit Gallot’s memoir about Pere-Lachaise, for which he has been the curator since 2018, is a charmingly chatty dive into all aspects of the cemetery, from his life & job to the animals that thrive there, to the famous, infamous, & ordinary people interred there. Entertaining & informative. 💡📚💙

A photograph of the hardcover Canadian edition (Greystone Books) of Benoit Gallot’s delightful book The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Pere-Lachase, translated by Arielle Aaronson. The book includes black and white photographs of wildlife and monuments in the cemetery taken by Gallot.

A photograph of a monument in Pere-Lachaise taken when I was there in 2013: a girl with a long braid hanging over her shoulder kneels in prayer.

A photograph of the monument erected for Oscar Wilde’s grave in Pere-Lachaise, taken when I visited in 2013. The monument was designed and sculpted by Jacob Epstein. A glass barrier had to be installed to protect the stone from all the lipstick left by those kissing the monument.

A photograph of a monument in Pere-Lachaise, taken on my 2013 visit. A woman stands atop a tomb and weeps, face in her hands. I love a good cemetery, and Pere-Lachaise is among my favourites. I envy the curator his job there.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

For fans of post-WWII noir, gritty detective stories, & political intrigue, I can recommend Edward Chisholm‘s true crime book about the 1968 (unsolved!) murder of gangster Stevan Markovic: friend, valet, etc. to “the world’s most beautiful man,” French actor Alain Delon (contains seedy bits). 💡📚💙

A photograph of the cover of the Canadian (House of Anansi) paperback edition of British author Edward Chilsholm’s true crime book Murder in Paris ‘68: A True Story of Death and Glamour. The white cover features a black and white photograph of Alain Delon in one of his fancy cars, looking over his shoulder at the photographer. He’s lovely, but he’s shifty.

The book is written in an occasionally over-the-top noir style, which makes it a lot of fun to read, if you like that kind of thing (I do).

Chisholm’s first book, A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City is also worth reading. Apparently it’s going to be a movie soon, which is nice for Chisholm.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Patrick Freyne‘s funny & touching debut novel is kind of like a Gen-X take on The Commitments. A Gen-Xer myself, I had a lot of fun with this novel. Friendships (& bands) form, conflict happens, tragedy strikes, lives are changed, reconciliations ensue. Or they don‘t. But life & music goes on. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the (autographed!) hardcover edition of Irish columnist Patrick Freyne‘s debut novel Experts in a Dying Field. I felt very at home with all the Gen-X humour and music references. The writing is light and hilarious, but clever and thoughtful, too. Freyne’s characters are quirky and loveable, even when they’re awful. Good stuff.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Cory Doctorow‘s newest book about the uses & abuses of AI technology provides a sane, expert, & delightfully snarky analysis of a much-hyped, nefariously misused technology. I especially appreciated his clear explanatory analogies. Highly recommended. 💡📚💙

The North American paperback edition of Canadian author Cory Doctorow‘s latest work of non-fiction, The Reverse Centaur‘s Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence Before It‘s Too Late. I want to give one to every mindlessly AI-enthusiastic tech bro I know (thankfully, their numbers in my life are dwindling).

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Kenyan entomologist/evolutionary biologist Dr. Dino Martins‘ new book about the hidden world of parasites is occasionally super-disgusting & consistently utterly fascinating. His delight in & enthusiasm for his subject is as infectious as many of his subjects. Also, people: Wash👏 Your👏 Hands👏 💡📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of Dr. Dino Martins’ book Hidden Creatures: Luscious Leeches, Bashful Botflies, and the Wondrous, History-Shaping World of Parasites. It was the beautiful-yet-revolting illustration of a leech on the cover that made me pick up this book in the first place, wondering what on earth would make anyone want to read it. So I read the first few sentences and then couldn’t stop. Reading this book was like sitting on a rock in one of Dr. Martin’s wilderness classrooms, enthralled and appalled in equal measure by the astonishing lifeforms he winkles out from their hosts and hidey-holes and discusses with such zest and vigour. His compassion, intelligence, and humanity combined with his excitement about his subject make it impossible to look away. I have to say, though, I felt itchy through the whole thing.

Highly recommended. Going off to wash my hands again …

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Unferth’s novel Earth 7 is a study in the resilience of human adaptability & connection; two women who grew up during the great depopulation find love, hope, & reasons to live even in the desert wasteland that was our beautiful planet. Profoundly touching & heartbreaking. 🪐📚💙

A badly lit photograph of the British paperback edition (Daunt Books Originals) of Deb Olin Unferth‘s new novel of love and environmental devastation, Earth 7. Grim but beautiful. It‘s also a kind of portrait of a not-very-good mother who is just doing her best to raise a decent human being in fairly dire circumstances.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

In her 2021 publication, Cal Flyn does not suggest that the destruction humans have inflicted on the Earth is without horrifying consequence, but does offer hope that where humans have abandoned the places they’ve destroyed, nature has recovered in unexpected & sometimes abundant ways. 💡📚💙

A photograph of the cover of the North American hardcover edition of Scottish author Cal Flyn’s 2021 book Islands of Abandonment. As I’ve always suspected, the earth will heal quite nicely once humans are gone from it. That we continue to fill our own home with filth and poison, even though we know better and can do better, says a lot about the greed, denial, and sheer stupidity of humanity. Her book left me angry and frustrated, but also hopeful, in an annihilationist sort of way.

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max koss 🦩 @maxkoss.com · 06/07/2026

The nice things about books: once you own them, you own them, forever. No one will be eye tracking your reading habits. No one will make money of you reading the book as many times as you'd like. And the very same book can be read by generations to come. It can last centuries, literally. It's great.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Jess Kidd writes thoroughly beguiling ghost stories, & her cozy mystery series is proving to be lots of fun too. Former nun/nurse Nora Breen is a complex, likeable character, & the bad guys Kidd concocts are delightfully awful. I’ll always enthusiastically recommend her books. ⚡️📚💙

A photograph of the North American paperback edition of London-based Irish author Jess Kidd’s newest novel, Murder at the Spirit Lounge. It is the second in her Nora Breen Investigates series, set in the Kentish sea-side town Gore-on-Sea, and is as sprightly and smart as all her other novels. Good, deadly fun.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

A gorgeous novel. In Land, O’Farrell charts the path of one Irish family in the wake of the Great Hunger, situating their various fates in layers of geological, political, mythical, & spiritual history. Folkloric, lyrical, & featuring a long line of very good boys. 🐶 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of Maggie O’Farrell’s latest novel, Land. The cover art echoes the mapmaking art central to the family at the heart of the novel, and also suggests the depths of the spring from which the story … well … springs.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

I’m deep into reading-as-escapism this week, as an antidote to all the grim news. If you’re also suffering through the news cycle, the Reasons to be Cheerful newsletter helps too: reasonstobecheerful.world

reasonstobecheerful.world

Home

A tonic for tumultuous times.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Villa Coco is a charming romp through Italy, full of delicious meals (Buono!), lessons in savouring life, & the joy of saying yes to the occasional mad caper. I always enjoy Greer’s writing & comedy; this sweet Italian lark of a story is just what I needed during these dark, strange times. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of Andrew Sean Greer’s lastest novel, Villa Coco. The novel is as full of beauty and sun as the cover, and a perfect antidote to the cruelty and ugliness of the daily news. It’s like a little holiday from the ghastliness of our 21st century reality.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

English author Ben Faccini’s latest novel is a beautifully written story about the sacrifices we sometimes have to make to care for ageing or infirm family members, the ravages of war, generational trauma, & the redemptive, healing power of love & compassion. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the hardcover British edition, published by Granta, of Ben Faccini’s new novel Other People’s Children. The arresting photograph on the cover depicts two children in a white bathtub full of water; one child is looking at the camera from the murky bathwater and the other is just shins and feet.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Deborah Levy’s new work of autofiction is a charming, thoughtful meditation on Gertrude Stein’s life & works, early 21st century vs early 20th century life in Paris, & the search for the elusive (illusive?) it, where “it” can represent a missing cat, life’s purpose, love, art, self-respect. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of Deborah Levy’s delightful new novel, My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein. The cover features surrealist Leonora Carrington’s untitled painting of two cats playing with a ball of yarn.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Kehlmann’s fictional account of the life of German director G.W. Pabst (Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks) is brilliantly told with a kaleidoscope of increasingly surreal, film-like perspectives, as Pabst’s personal & professional compromises in WWII Germany lead to his artistic & moral downfall. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of two paperback editions, North American and German, of Daniel Kehlmann’s highly acclaimed latest novel, The Director/Lichtspiel. In the novel, director G.W. Pabst sees and experiences the world as though it were a movie he is directing; as he makes moral and ethical compromises which in turn compromise the integrity of his art, his perspective becomes more and more unmoored from reality, until he seems thoroughly disengaged. It is part of Kehlmann’s genius that Pabst is not an unsympathetic character through all this, but a tragic protagonist faced with impossible choices. Highly recommended.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

A memoir from the late ‘90s about a successful, ambitious magazine editor felled by a massive stroke in his mid-40s. He wrote it by blinking the alphabet with his left eye. Although reduced to a mind inside an unresponsive body, he still managed to appreciate & relish the small wonders of life. 💡📚💙

A photograph of a paperback English language edition of journalist and magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir The Diving-bell and the Butterfly. The diving-bell refers to his physical condition, locked-in syndrome, and the butterfly to his mind, which takes off on elaborate flights of memory and invention. That he seems to have been cut down in the middle of a mid-life crisis (I’m guessing, but: new girlfriend, new high-performance car) makes his situation even more poignant. Life is short and fragile, and any of us can die quite suddenly, even when we’re feeling our most vital and vigorous. It is our good fortune that Bauby lived long enough to write this, to remind us how important are even the smallest joys, how very remarkable are our lives. He died shortly after publication.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m seeing a lot of extinction narratives these days. This one, by Irish author Walls, features the demise of the Great Auk. It also features the demise of a great many Irish during the potato famine in the mid-19th C. An unusual, tormented, funny, & often touching novel. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the paperback edition of Eoghan Walls’ 2026 novel Field Notes From an Extinction. In it, English ornithologist Ignatius Green is distracted from his concerns over the extinction of the Great Auk on a rocky island north of mainland Ireland and is forced to acknowledge and contend with the oppression and attempted annihilation of the Irish during the Great Potato Famine. Along the way, he begins to understand the meaning of love and family, and what it sometimes takes to survive in desperate times. Also, Aisling O’Leary, a central character in the novel, is a fierce and frightful delight.

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Sunkissed Peaks @sunkissedpeaks.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

It’s really frightening.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 26/05/2026

Terry Pratchett, one of England’s funniest writers, is in danger of being lost to history, Helen Lewis writes:

bit.ly

I Am Begging You to Read Terry Pratchett

One of England’s funniest writers is in danger of being lost to history.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Every time I picked up Jo Bell’s memoir about life on her boat Tinker, traveling up & down England’s historic canal system, it felt like a refreshing litte getaway, a glimpse into a life of freedom & natural beauty in a part of England many people never get to experience. Wonderful. 💡📚💙

A photograph of the hardcover edition of poet and archaeologist Jo Bell’s charming (and frequently funny!) memoir about her time living on her boat, exploring England’s canals and rivers. Not only does she let us peek into her freewheeling lifestyle, she also explains the fascinating history of the canal system, and its vital historic importance to England’s economy and, today, to its natural environment.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Ukrainian author Kurkov’s funny yet profoundly sad novel Grey Bees is about a simple bee keeper, who would like to go about his daily life, caring for his bees, but finds himself subject to the vagaries of a war he doesn’t understand being fought on either side of his mostly deserted village. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the North American paperback edition of Andrey Kurkov’s novel Grey Bees, beautifully translated into English by Boris Dralyuk, sitting on the wooden lunch table at work next to my bright green water bottle. The novel is terrific: touching and funny, brimming with metaphor (much of which has likely gone over my head). A good man attempts to live his life in the middle of a conflict he doesn’t fully understand and over which he has no control. His frustration leads to adventures which lead to more frustration and confusion for the poor guy, but he always tries to do the right thing, whatever the challenges he faces.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Wharton’s 1927 novel Twilight Sleep feels surprisingly modern. Members of a wealthy NYC family use frantic social activity, quack spiritual healing, drugs, sex, & plain old denial to distract themselves from the unhappiness & meaninglessness of their lives. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the cover of the Smith & Taylor paperback edition of Edith Wharton’s 1927 novel Twilight Sleep. It’s funny in an acerbic, tragic sort of way, and brilliantly written. The casual racism is a bit jarring, mind you.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Pratchett is one of my favourite authors; I am happy to see that Night Watch has been honoured by Penguin as a Modern Classic. Here he (hilariously) tackles time travel, authoritarianism, & the importance of doing the right thing in the face of violence & futility. Highly recommended, always. 🖋️📚💙📚🪐

A photo of the Penguin Modern Classics paperback edition of Terry Pratchett’s brilliant retelling of the French Revolution … sort of … Night Watch. His books are funny, poignant, rude, and still so relevant. I guess human nature really never changes, so Pratchett’s enthusiastic skewering of it will endure.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

A gothic-scented novel about the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the rise of the communist takeover of Hungary through the eyes and experiences of several generations of one land-owning Hungarian family of nobility. It doesn’t go so well for them. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of Swiss-Hungarian author Nelio Biedermann’s novel Lazar, beautifully translated by Jamie Bulloch. This novel is quite good although some terrific stories and characters are introduced and then never really heard from again (the deep dark forest is quite wonderful). There is a lot of uncertain parentage involved in this Hungarian line of succession, which is maybe meant to be a comment on the illegitimacy of ruling classes generally. While the family fortunes rise and fall together with the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s, they seem to be too absorbed their own adulteries and mental illnesses to believe their lives will change much, until they do.

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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 30/04/2026

"I, now thirty-seven years old and in perfect health, maintain a group text with my allergist, internist, and energy coach."

buff.ly

Leaves of Grass (Allergy Edition)

“I contain multitudes, but mostly mucus.”

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Camille de Peretti imagines the story behind the astonishing real-life anonymous purchase, over-painting, theft, & subsequent return of Klimt’s ‘Portrait of a Lady’ painting. She creates a tale of love, betrayal, obsession, & mystery, all beautifully translated by Hildegarde Serle. 🖋️📚💙

A photograph of the Europa Editions paperback of French author Camille de Peretti’s latest novel, Portrait of an Unknown Woman. The cover features the portrait in question, Klimt’s ‘Portrait of a Lady.’ It’s worth looking up the painting to see the original work that was painted underneath this one, and which is also mentioned in the book.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Pocock’s account of 2 Greyhound bus trips across the USA, 17 years apart, is one of the more bleak things I’ve read lately: poverty, the consequences of rapacious corporate greed, environmental devastation, technology-driven isolationism. But she also finds solace, friendship, beauty, & hope.💡📚💙

The North American paperback edition of Irish-Canadian London-based writer Joanna Pocock’s excellent travel memoir Greyhound. Bonus: she gives us her playlists, to which she refers several times in the text as the scenery passes by. Much of the trip feels positively dystopian, but Pocock does eke out bits of joy in the quirky companionship and small kindnesses of fellow travellers, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, happy memories of her first cross-country bus trip in 2006, and the grief she is able to leave behind as her journey progresses. I also really enjoyed her references to other travel memoirs by Simone de Beauvoir, John Steinbeck, Irma Kurtz, and others. Highly recommended.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Not just the tragic story of a teenager mixed up with very bad people, Keefe’s brilliant London Falling explains & exposes the corrupt, often violent world of a burgeoning London-centred oligarchy, police (wilful?) incompetence, & government (collusion?) indifference.💡📚💙

A photograph of the British hardcover edition of Patrick Radden Keefe’s newest book about the brief life and tragic death of Zac Brettler, whose teenage antics turned dead serious when he got mixed up with a bunch of gangland thugs, keen to liberate him from millions of British pounds he didn’t really have.

I will always read anything Keefe writes. His brilliant analysis and storytelling are, as usual, wide-ranging yet exacting, as he manages to distill a larger world of shady finance and law enforcement incompetence into a grim consequence for one (highly relatable) family; ultimately, the consequences are bad for society generally, if governments continue to allow avarice & violence, rather than justice and equity, to run riot in our countries.

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Simone @frauchen.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

The decision Gisele Pelicot made to open up her most private life to the world in order to refuse to carry the shame her rapists tried to force upon her required extraordinary courage, wisdom, & self-respect. She is a beacon of hope & an example of strength & integrity to me & millions of others.💡📚💙

A photograph of the North American hardcover edition of Gisele Pelicot’s memoir A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides. I had the great good fortune to attend an interview she had with Canadian journalist Anna Maria Tremonti, herself a survivor of intimate partner violence, to launch the memoir here in Toronto. Gisele Pelicot’s steadfast refusal to carry the shame for having been raped has resonated worldwide, and I will always be grateful to her for her courageous stance in the face of so much misogyny, fear, and ignorance. Bravo Gisele. Thank you.

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