The Month In Review and of Things to Come

For reasons I can't put my finger on, August 2010 has been my single favorite month of blogging. It may have been even better had I been able to get my comments for Leviathan Wept together, but they will be along in a few days. It was a busy month and I can say I got a lot done in many different areas.

September maybe a bit more relaxed as far as my drive, and goals are concerned. In the book world I've set aside only four as they are all rather hugh: Nile Shadows by Edward Whittemore; The Ammonite Violin and other Stories by Caitlin R. Kiernan; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (I've never read it); and The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. There maybe a fifth. We'll see.

I managed to keep a low profile on book buying this month primarily because the one book I bought cost fifty bucks. Subterranean Press' weekly--sometimes tri-weekly--newsletters mentioned a 'cleaning out the warehouse' bit and all of a sudden I found myself at their ebay auctions buying The Club Dumas by Aurturo Pérez-Reverte, supposedly his magnum opus, in a limited edition. It's an amazing product, and one I'll be detailing in Subterranean's book review in time to come. I felt bad about buying it. It cost me sobriety for longer than I'd like, but I'm glad that I bought it at two-thirds less the asking pricing. Furthermore, it was a book I'd been lusting after for awhile.

The other book I bought this month I didn't know existed until a few hours before posting what you currently read. On the strength of Miriam Gershow's short stories, buying The Local News was easy. I'm still kicking myself for not knowing about it sooner. Warning: if you click the above link, your to-be-read pile will increase by 'one.'

It's looking like November is going to be Edward Whittemore appreciation month and to that let me say that writing commentary for Jerusalem Poker was the most difficult bit on non-fiction I've ever worked on: my statement of purpose included. It is quite literally beyond words.

There will be a lot more to say next month, and hopefully more wit and energy to say it with.