Forrest > Recent Status Updates

"Kolmar" is utterly devastating. A gut-punch in under sixty words. If there are more like this, then this little book is going to take longer than I expected to finish. I need emotional recovery time.

The splendor of "Nature" is carefully poured out, like honey, from the narrator. The trick here is the offstage, implied conversation that happened before the present dialogue, where the listener coaxed the passionate descriptions from the narrator. 5*

Hmm. 32 books to go to reach 1,000 on my "read" list on Goodreads. Will I make it in 2020? Mmmmmmaybe. More likely 2021 - I am a slow reader.

Machen shows his fascination with illicit rites carried out by moonlight in his story "Midsummer". I happen to share that fascination with dancing in the groves at midnight, but more as an observer than participant. Though sometimes . . . 5 stars

"Torture" is a complete tale, though we only see the outward actions of the young protagonist. But there is much more going on in his head, not made explicit, only inferred. Therein lies the story, in the unseen caverns of the protagonist's heart and mind. Five creepy stars.

"Psychology" is a prelude without a story appended to it. It's beautiful writing, as you would expect, but it's just a fragment, a jumping off point that doesn't jump. 3 stars.

There are no profound insights into Rackham's work, but his biography is rather interesting. And I don't like biographies, by and large. He seems like he would be an interesting, though quiet, man to get to know.

The Third Pamphlet has left me gobsmacked. Holding a rare, beautiful little book, reading about the covetousness of evil people lusting after a rare, beautiful little book . . . the effect is sinister. Lasalle reintroduces decay into Decadence and ropes the reader in with a chaffing leather noose. This last segment is far more powerful than the sum of its parts. The book, which is expensive, is worth it! Five stars!

And, just like that, I've bought another book from Tartarus Press. I can't help myself.

Another beautiful story, but one that seems less "anchored" in itself, is "The Ceremony". It lacks the depth and twist that Machen has spoilt me with. But still, like the grey stone, beautiful and forbidden. 4*

"Witchcraft" is a tease. All prelude and even the climax and denouement happen offstage, and most of the story consists of decontextualized dialogue. This is one of the most stunning examples of how to evoke - pun intended. If I taught writing, I'd teach this! 5*

Thus far, the third essay has taken on a decidedly meditative tone, like some shadowy Zen philosophy of history filled with dark suppositions of causation and decay.

"The Idealist" is a glimpse into a strange inner life of resentment replaced by weird accomplishment. This is a deep dive into the main characters inner thoughts, though there are hints of shadows beyond what is made explicit and it is in that darkness that the readers mind can fester and grow its own imaginings. 5*

So, what is your favorite Edward Gorey book? https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_co...

"The Turanians" is a brief sketch of the encounter of a young, expressive, imaginative girl on the edge of womanhood. Her mother warns her about being too expressive and arranged for a young gentleman to visit, but not before the girl encounters a young Turanian boy who gives her a wonderful gift. 5 stars.

"Distant Realms of the Kingdom" is an ode, of sorts, to animal instinct in the face of certain destruction. Beautifully lyrical and alien, there is a lot of meaning coded within the poetic language even when, or especially when it admits inadequacy. Five stars.

"His work has much of the quality of a good etching . . . His line is full of meaning and suggestion."

"The Rose Garden" is beautiful not because of it's beautiful descriptiveness, but because of its somber, yet hopeful emotional resonance. Five stars. Machen at his poetic best.

Delicious, and I haven't even read the words yet.

There is some evocative verse here that makes my brain and heart dig deeper. That's what good poetry does. But too much explication on my part may spoil the sparse fruit.

In "Nocturnal Gardens," the self-discovery Demiurge, escapes into dreams, slipping the bonds of the workaday world. Four stars.

Time for this guy to read some short poetic works. You'll see this in the blossoming of my "currently reading" pile in a moment.

Oh, for a few bags of post-apocalyptic cement! That's the way we do it!

Ah, okay, credulity restored. You're off the hook, Duncan. Or whatever your name happens to be at the time.

"A Treatise on Dust," while a fine story, seems to be unhitched from the rest of the stories by a long way. Is it set in the early 19th-century? The others are clearly set in the mid 20th-century at the earliest. Wouldn't the other characters be incredulous about Duncan sharing his story? How old was he when he told it at The Nightingale? 125 years? That raised no eyebrows? Needs justification, at least.

Jarvis effectively dances on the jagged line between supernatural credulity and banal insanity. The characters often call themselves into question but, ultimately, they know what they have seen and experienced. The question is: when should and should the reader at all suspend disbelief? That tug and pull keep roping me back in when I'm ready to dismiss the narrative as hokey.

Well, "One Moment Knelled the Woe of Years" was . . . disturbing. The horror is effective, but I'm not 100% certain what I think of it. The denouement will be telling. Curious to see how this ties out with the rest of the book.

Apparently Rackham and Beardsley were frenemies. I had no idea. Makes sense. It's also interesting how Rackham, roughly contemporary with the impressionists and dead on during the time of the Pre-Raphaelites, experimented with their forms, but for the most part found a look completely his own, idiosyncratic.

I sincerely hope my children and grandchildren remember me as fondly as Arthur Rackham remembered his father. Reading about Alfred Rackham as a father is touching and inspiring.