So I put off watching Peacemaker because I’d also put off watching The Suicide Squad and then Victor was like, “You would really like Peacemaker” and I was like, “Hard pass. I hate action” but then we watched it and I was like, “Goddamn it” because he was totally right and you should go binge it because it’s fantastic.
But that’s the not the point of my story. The point of my story is that I was in Hallmark and they had a shit-ton of old Peacemaker Xmas ornaments because they’d come out last year when Peacemaker was just this small side-character in The Suicide Squad and so I got a Peacemaker ornament for 90% off.
And the clerk was all, “Getting a start on next year’s collection?” and I was like, “NOPE” because I still haven’t fucking taken down my tree from last year and I don’t know if there’s an award for procrastination but if there is, I am winning it, unless I have to submit something for it, in which case I’ll probably get that done 4 years from now.
Victor: We should take Hailey to California for a weekend this year. They’d love the Monterey Aquarium.
me: Actually Hailey and I already talked about it and we want to go sleep in the Lizzie Borden Murder house. We know everything about it. It’s in Idaho.
Victor: The what now?
me: Or Iowa. No, Idaho. Fuck. It’s in Green River…Idaho? Or Green Falls…Iowa?
Victor: First of all, no one wants to spend a weekend in a murder house. Secondly, you don’t know everything about it if you don’t even know what state it’s in.
me: It’s in…Green River Falls, Idowa.
Victor: That’s not a real place.
me: Siri, where is it that Lizzie Borden may or may not have killed people? Hang on. Siri is giving me websites on wrongly accused murderers. So I guess we know where she stands.
Victor: It’s in Fall River, Massachusetts.
me: Huh. Well I got the Fall part right. And Massachusetts is right next to Iowa.
Victor: In what world is Massachusetts next to Iowa?
me: Oh. I meant Idaho.
Victor: ALSO NOT EVEN CLOSE TO MASSACHUSETTS.
me: Well where is Massachusetts? It’s on the right, right?
Victor: If by “right” you mean “East”?
me: Same thing. Plus, if we go to Massachusetts we can also go see where the Salem Witch Trials were. Unless…they weren’t in Salem, Oregon, right? Because that feels too far left but now I’m doubting everything.
Victor: How did you pass high school?
Me: I dunno. We weren’t required to take a Geometry class.
Victor: *stares at me* Say that again.
me: We weren’t required to take Geometry. I took Ag classes instead.
Victor: Geometry?
me: Oh fuck, Geography. Well, I didn’t fucking take either.
Victor: Wow.
me: The sad thing is that I think I took my ADD meds this morning so this is me at my best.
Victor: The school system really failed you, didn’t it?
me: Maybe. But I can totally tell if your cotton crop has a weevil infestation.
It’s Valentine’s Day and I don’t really celebrate it because I don’t like it when people tell me when to enjoy chocolate but my sister emailed me a stack of love letters our grandfather sent our grandmother to convince her to marry him and they were so strangely lovely that it reminded me how wonderful letters can be.
They were written mostly in English because their parents only spoke Czech and so they couldn’t snoop on the intercepted letters, but my grandmother’s sisters would definitely have been snooping so my grandfather would hide little notes like this one he apparently hid under the stamp.
The stamp smeared it a bit but I think it says “sending you lots of kisses and Marlon Brando.” I might wrong about that last part.
It also has a series of dots and dashes hidden inside the letters and I can only assume it was some sort of secret code they used, or that possibly they were teenage farmer spies who were busy passing secrets while working in the cotton fields of rural Texas.
Regardless, it reminded me that a few years ago we did a thing here where if you wanted a kind note from a stranger in this community you could just leave your address in the comments and maybe get or give a little unexpected magic to someone else. I am still getting cards from that and they always make me smile and I know there are people who today have made lasting friendships through such a small but fun exchange.
So if you’d like to maybe get a note from a sweet stranger to remind you that there are people in the world who care just leave your address in the comments. You can use your first name, or an initial or a secret made-up name and you can use your address or a po box or your brother’s house or whatever feels safe for you. And if you want to send a card to a friend you haven’t met yet you can pick one (or several) below. I’m going to be sending some postcards myself because I just got a dozen and they are amazing.
So for example my comment would say, “Feel free to write me a note. I like reading, true crime, and cats. Also, David Tennant was totally the best Doctor Who and I’m willing to die on that hill. I’m:
Executive Princess Jenny / 14546 Brook Hollow Blvd. #400 / San Antonio TX, 78232″
And no matter where you are in the world today, please consider this a note to tell you how much I’m glad that you’re here. Yes, you. You are amazing, friend.
So today I’m supposed to be in Dubai speaking about books but instead I am home and it’s a little disappointing, but between Victor getting covid (he’s much better today, thank you vaccines) and Hailey being in the ER (they’re much better today, knock wood) and me having a series of panic attacks I think it might all be for the best that I’m home. Still, I should be exploring the Sahara Desert right now and instead I’m prepping for a 4am virtual appearance so to cheer myself up I am watching ridiculous stuff on instagram and I am inviting you into my office to watch with me. Let’s do this:
I’m a bit behind, as always, but this post is about book club and as we know, the first rule of book club is that there are no rules and so I think that means that I’m not actually behind at all. YAY FOR NO RULES!
Today I’m opening up the discussion on the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club facebook page for last month’s book (The Maid by Nita Prose) and if you don’t do facebook you can feel free to leave your thoughts here. Or just lurk. Lurking is totally encouraged.
And announcing this month’s book, Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal.
Want a little taste?
1866. In a coastal village in southern England, Nell picks violets for a living. Set apart by her community who view the birthmarks that speckle her skin as a curse, Nell’s world is her beloved brother and devotion to the sea.
But when Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders arrives in the village, Nell is kidnapped. Her father has sold her, promising Jasper Jupiter his very own “leopard girl”. It is the greatest betrayal of Nell’s life, but as her fame grows, and she finds friendship with the other performers and Jasper’s gentle brother Toby, she begins to wonder if joining the show is the best thing that has ever happened to her.
In London, newspapers describe Nell as the eighth wonder of the world. Figurines are cast in her image, and crowds rush to watch her soar through the air. But who gets to tell Nell’s story? What happens when her fame threatens to eclipse that of the showman who bought her?
Moving from the pleasure gardens of Victorian London to the battle-scarred plains of the Crimea, Circus of Wonders is an astonishing story about power and ownership, fame and the threat of invisibility.
It’s like a Dickensian sort of Geek Love. Have you read Geek Love, by the way? Because you should. But first, Circus of Wonders…exploring power, celebrity, exploitation, redemption and agency. I think you’re going to like it.
And if, like me, you sometimes need a giant fucking stack of books to get you through the month (because it’s scary out there without a book) here are my favorite ones coming out next month that you should check out:
Black Cakeby Charmain Wilkerson (Estranged siblings deal with their mother’s hidden past–a journey that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California. Very good.)
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (heartbreak, revenge and murder in a fabulous reimagination of one of the strangest unsolved mysteries. Fast read, twisty/turny/psychologic thriller)
Defenestrateby Renee Branum (Twins in Prague haunted by an ancestral falling curse)
Perpetual West by Mesha Maren (Lucha libre, Mexican punk rock, complicated relationships)
Violetaby Isabel Allende (sweeping historical fiction about a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the 20th century. Lots of South American history here.)
What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris (coming-of-age novel about an 11-year-old and her sister trying to make sense of their new life with their estranged grandfather after the death of their father and disappearance of their mother. Rough subject but so well-written. Fell in love with these characters.)
Devil House by John Darnielle (Did you know the guy from Mountain Goats is a writer? Me either. Anyway, this looks like horror on the outside but it’s really experimental fiction, I think? Good but when it was over I wanted someone to tell me what it was about.)
Mrs. Death Misses Death by Salem Godden (a stream-of-conscious sort of novel about a troubled young writer who meets death in person. Very dark. Poetic. Makes you work for it.)
A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross (adult fantasy. But not “sexy adult”…just “grown up” adult. Childhood enemies team up to discover why girls are going missing from their magical island. Scottish folklore.)
And this actually came out last month but I only just finished it…Wahala by Nikki May (female friendship following three Anglo-Nigerian best friends and the lethally glamorous fourth woman who infiltrates their group. I thought it was one thing when it started but boy, there were twists.)
So our first book of the year was set in America and our second is in England and our third is going to be in Trinidad and I thought our next one was in Mexico but I mixed the publishing dates up so I’m still working on April and then in May we’re going to Mexico so it’s basically like we’re traveling the world without leaving our houses. Also, all of this is subject to everything working out perfectly because it’s not uncommon for me to pick a book and then dates get changed and I have to start all over again. I actually found an AMAZING book set in India for April but it might publish too late in April. But even when that happens it just means that I have to read more books to find the best, strange and unique stories to send to you and honestly that is exactly the kind of punishment that I live for.
We’ll be mailing Circus of Wonders to you all this week and if you’ve been thinking about joining us this is the perfect time to. It’s easy to sign up and the $25 a month is almost always less than the actual cover price of the books we choose so technically you are saving money every month all while supporting an indie bookshop, amazing authors and getting fantastic books. EVERYONE WINS! Click here to join.
Today is Victor’s 12th day of never leaving his room, because in spite of the fact that it’s been the 10 recommended days of isolation, he’s still a bit sick and continues to test positive for covid. Technically he’s probably fine to be around us but he’s very conservative and wants us to be safe and probably also doesn’t want to leave his fortress of solitude where you never have to do dishes or scoop cat litter.
And it’s a bit lonely but fine, although we’re supposed to travel next week for my work and probably won’t be able to since he has to have a clean covid test to leave the country and I’ve read some people still test positive for months. If I was a normal person I’d just go by myself but I am not normal and my anxiety is too severe to travel by myself and I’m feeling a little shitty about myself because of it.
I know it’s okay. I know we’re lucky to be able to isolate here and that Victor isn’t sicker (thank you, vaccines) and that I am even given wonderful opportunities to travel even when my brain makes them impossible most of the time. But it doesn’t change the fact that I was feeling very pathetic when I started this post. And then I looked up and saw my Christmas tree, which is still up (although 1/4 of the lights have burned out) in spite of the fact that it’s now February.
And then I felt a little worse. And I considered taking it down but then I decided not to because honestly, I’m battling a touch of depression exhaustion and I need a little bit of colorful lights even if they are are a shiny reminder of my poor housekeeping skills.
And then I looked outside and saw that the trees were weighed down with ice and I felt bad about the fact that I still haven’t replaced the plants that died in the last freeze a fucking year ago and wondered if anyone else in the world is as behind as I am in everything. I walked outside to see how bad it was and realized that if I had replaced the dead bushes they’d probably be dead again today and that’s maybe not the healthiest way of looking at it but instead of feeling shitty about myself I congratulated myself for skipping one round of dead bushes by just jumping to “still dead” instead of “dead again but more expensive”.
And then I looked inside at my Christmas tree and from my yard you couldn’t even tell that a quarter of the lights are out or that I’m weeks behind on deadlines or that the laundry is stacked higher than my head. You could just see the twinkling lights, and the tv flickering from Victor’s room and Hailey dancing in theirs and Dorothy Barker with her paws up to the glass door as she whined for me to come back in and snuggle her.
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Beautiful Writers book: Writers! This coming-of-career memoir (w/ the BEST advice from celeb authors, real shit you haven’t heard) is life. A page-turning beach read doubling as how-to. #Magic
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CONNECTED: A Personal Journal for Ketamine Therapy Created by writer & patient Katherine Davis for this powerful clinical treatment. If considering ketamine for major depression, check out this essential tool.
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Cake4Kids: We bake and deliver free birthday cakes to underserved kids who might not otherwise receive one.
Where Do I Belong: This is my story & how I remember it, how it affected me. You feel the tears, anger, laughter, & loss as Sarah Carrington writes her story and takes you on an adventure. A gripping & eye-opening memoir that is not for the faint of heart, and well worth one’s time.
