Books on my bedside

Currently reading (or about to)

Friends, the last time I shared what I’d been reading was at the end of October.

Time for an update.

Two books are still on the list. 😳 Check it out;

1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Part of

   Simon Haisell
   ‘s WolfCrawl Read-along. I’ve steamed on ahead and forgotten that I was joining in with a community. I’m forty pages from the end.

2. Flesh & Blood by Reay Tannahill. This is nonfiction, a history of cannibalism, and surprisingly funny in parts.

3. Flesh and the Mirror Essays on the Art of Angela Carter, edited by Lorna Sage. This is a collection of essays from friends and fans of the imitable Angela Carter.

4. Night Shift by Stephan King. Another read-along here on substack hosted by

   Shaina Read
   . I’ve missed a few of the chats and need to dig back into the collection because I think Shaina is almost finished!

5. Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell. It's a great book on editing a novel.

6. McGlue by Otessa Moshfegh. I’m working through Mosfegh’s back catalogue. This one is waiting for me.

7. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Honestly, this is taking me longer to read than I’d like.

8. Threat by Julia Webb. I dip into this poetry collection when I need more abstract inspiration.

9. Transformations by Anne Sexton. There’s something about poetry that loosens the knots in my brain. Or maybe they are forcing me to think differently and that’s why I find them mentally refreshing.

10. Screening the Body: Tracing Medicine’s Visual Culture by Lisa Cartwright. I haven’t started this yet but here’s the gist from the blurb- Drawing on feminist film theory, cultural studies, the history of film, and the writings of Foucault, Lisa Cartwright illustrates how this scientific cinema was a part of a broader tendency in society toward the technological surveillance, management, and physical transformation of the individual body and the social body.

11. The 90-day Novel by Alan Watt. This is going to be how I’ll write the next book, after the one I’m editing now.

Looking at this list, can you deduce what my ideas are about for the next book?

I’m in the composting stage, where I throw a load of interesting things together and let them marinate in their juices for a while. Six to twelve months later The Idea will rise fully formed from this mixture.