The Writers

Read and Reading

I manged to finish 10 books in 2025. These first two were my last reads for the year; the Moraine was my first read of 2026:

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro

The writing is fair. The story was enjoyable, overall, but I feel like it didn't really deliver at the end. The characters came off as one dimensional, some of the flashbacks felt clunky and I think there was really too much story trying to be delivered in a shorter format. I'm curious if it might have been better fleshed out as a longer novel. 

The Haunting of Gillespie House by Darcy Coates

The popcorn read. I admit, I picked it up partly because Gillespie is a family name on my mom's side. It's a quick read. Not much depth to the main character, nothing readily unique about the prose, creep factor is extremely mild. Lifetime Movie Horror. I don't know if Coates' cozy horror style is going to appeal to me, but I may try one more book from her. 

Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine

The premise was interesting enough for me to buy the book new. I like Moraine's writing style, in general. It's obvious this was inspired by/driven by the pandemic. Good atmosphere and suspense. It's a definite case of unreliable narrator. I think pacing was a bit of an issue in places and there wasn't a whole lot of character development, but overall, an interesting read. 

Currently Reading:

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John Bacon

Not really a review. I'm over 100 pages in and both enjoying the history and shaking my head at the hubris that lead to so much tragedy on the Lakes. 

Alice by Christina Henry

Just started. 30 pages in and, so far, yes. I like the writing style and the atmosphere and I'm interested to see where it goes. This is my first Christina Henry. I have Good Girls Don't Die sitting on my shelf and I thought about starting that one first, but the madness won me over. 


Watched and Watching

I watched some movies while I was off: Scrooge (1979), A Muppet Christmas Carol, Krampus (all three of these at a friend's house during a holiday watch party), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (a longtime favorite I watch pretty much every winter, if not multiple times per year), Christmas Vacation (this might be my dad's favorite Christmas movie).

And there's been plenty more YouTube videos about maritime disasters as well as plenty of Minecraft videos. 

But I'm not really in "watch mode" right now. Even while watching YouTube, I'm likely to be working on the stencil for my bathroom revamp or building something in Minecraft. I just can't put my whole mind into absorbing things passively, at the moment. 

Playing

I've been revisiting the Dishonored series, specifically Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider. (Though I may have to return to the first game because I don't think I finished my run last year.)  This series is both bleak and hopeful, which feels apropos of the time. It's probably apropos of anytime, honestly. 

This is one game that when I return to it, I realize how much I missed the atmosphere. The whole thing is a work of art. I'd love to have some of the oil paintings you see throughout the world. Where I would put them is anyone's guess...

And Minecraft, of course. Still exploring, still building. I even started the tree for a forthcoming Christmas Village. Whether I'll work on it year round is a question.