On my flight back from getting married I read Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation. As many will attest, it’s hard to stop reading the Southern Reach trilogy, of which Annihilation is the opener, once you’ve started. One dynamic that really interested me was how VanderMeer’s writing can be conceived of as a post-DNA-theory, “bio-philic” Lovecraftian horror. Describing Lovecraftian Horror “Lovecraftian” summons many images. In order to rightfully merit that appellation I propose these criteria: The Horror Must Be Big The Elder Gods of Lovecraft’s mythos are gargantuan figures. Johansen and his men were awed by the cosmic majesty of this dripping Babylon of elder daemons, and must have guessed without guidance that it was nothing of this or of any sane planet.

Notes and Highlights Introduction After finishing Infinite Jest earlier this year, Lauren decided I needed another big, complex, labyrinthine book to explore. She gifted me Murakami’s 1Q84. Prior to reading 1Q84, I had only heard snatches of Kafka on the Shore, so I walked in with few prejudices but was prepared for some Murakami signature tropes: magical realism, supernatural sex, and cats. Style / Structure Normally I don’t like magical realism. I find it a bit frustrating when suddenly someone turns into a balloon or gains the power of flight. Whenever I encountered it in the context of the South American magical realists e.

What a joyful surprise: both in terms of presentation of the material as well as the story that was shared. A tender, poignant, and occasionally phantasmagorical surprise about a figure that perennially fascinates Americans: Abraham Lincoln. How did a seemingly simple (but documented as ambitious) man from rural Illinois / Kentucky resolve to undertake the bloodiest slaughter in American history? How did he square all that death as he lay his head down at night. How did he balance that with the unthinkable weight of office and perch atop those swaying scales the question of the fundamental right of a human to determine their own destiny?