Happy Native American Heritage Month!!

 

I enjoy reading themed books for holidays and other celebrations.

This month I plan to read The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters for Native American Heritage Month.

Earlier this year, I read and reviewed Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones, Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones, Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler, and Fire Exit by Morgan Talty. All of these are good reads and they all fit into the Native American genre in one way or another.

Do you have any plans to read any books written by Native Americans or about Native American culture this month? Have you read any of the books I've mentioned in this post? Do you have any reading recommendations of books I should read to celebrate Happy Native American Heritage Month? Let me know in the comment section below.

Bookish Quote of the Day!!

 

The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates ~ Week Four Discussion Thread + Community Rules & Spoiler Guidelines

Admittedly, I am still behind on my reading for The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates this week as well. I hope to finish reading The Accursed soon. I wanted to stick to the posting schedule I'd created at the beginning of this read-along. So, with this in mind, I enlisted the aid of Google AI to help me flush out the major themes and discussion questions for Part Four of The Accursed. I will be writing a full review of The Accursed in November. In the meantime, read the following!

In Part Four, the narrative descends completely into the surreal horror of the Bog Kingdom—a grotesque underworld ruled by Count Axente Tsarvesko that mirrors the hypocrisy and decadence of high-society Princeton.

Cold Spring & May 21, 1906: The narrative advances into spring as the community attempts to deal with the lingering terror of the disappearances, possessions, and psychological decay.
Lieutenant Bayard by Night & Postscripts: Follows characters like Lieutenant Dabney Bayard (who was connected to Annabel Slade) navigating the dark, eerie atmosphere of the town and examining the "unspeakable" history of Princeton's elite. 
The Temptation of Woodrow Wilson & Political Figures: Figures like Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson face their own internal corruptions, ambitions, and psychological trials under the shadow of the curse. 
Dr. De Sweinitz's Prescription & The Game: The novel features surreal and fabulist interludes—notably a symbolic game of checkers played against a cheating demon or dark force—as the hidden truths and repressed sins of the privileged class are forced out into the open. [
Exorcism and Unpacking the Curse: The curse is finally lifted not through simple religious ritual, but by forcing the town's respectable society to confront and articulate the buried shames, racial violence, and moral hypocrisies of its past

Part Four Discussion Question

Institutional Hypocrisy and Authority

Princeton’s Complicity: How does the university administration—embodied or influenced by figures like Woodrow Wilson—function as a shield or a co-conspirator against the truth of the "Curse"? Where do you draw the line between institutional self-preservation and active malevolence?
The Role of the Church: As religious authority fractures under the pressure of the strange afflictions and disappearances, how do the clergy and devout characters rationalize the horror? Is the curse a divine punishment or a human creation?

Class, Race, and Exploitation

The Invisible Underclass: Oates frequently juxtaposes the hyper-refined, claustrophobic anxieties of Princeton’s elite families (the Slades, Dodges, and Patersons) with the marginalized working class. How does Part 4 make visible the labor, exploitation, and suffering that quietly support the town's ivory tower?
Public Outrage vs. Private Guilt: How do the upper-class characters react when the "curse" threatens to spill out of the drawing rooms and into public view? Do they show genuine remorse, or merely fear of a damaged reputation?

Historical Figures as Satire or Symbol

The Writer-Observers: How does the presence or perspective of figures like Upton Sinclair, Jack London, or Mark Twain shape your understanding of Part 4? Are they useful external lenses on the madness, or are they caught in their own blind spots and vanities?
The Line Between Fact and Fiction: Oates blends real historical public figures with grotesque gothic mythology. By Part 4, do you view the "Curse" as a supernatural contagion, or as a metaphor for turn-of-the-century American sins (racism, misogyny, industrial greed)?

Psychological vs. Supernatural Dread

Hysteria or Reality: Characters in the novel frequently debate whether the curse is an actual demonic/vampiric plague or an outbreak of mass psychological hysteria and patent-medicine poisoning. What evidence in Part 4 sways you more toward one explanation over the other?
Personal vs. Collective Demons: Who bears the heaviest psychological weight in this section? Are the characters suffering from inner demons, or are they paying a generational debt for the sins of American history?

Marianne, from Let's Read, has posted her Week Four thoughts regarding Part Four of The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates. Please click on the link provided to read and comment on Marianne's post. Marianne has once again provided food for thought in her post this week.

Drop Your Thoughts Below!

Feel free to answer any of the questions above, share your favorite line or footnote from Part One, or link your preliminary blog post/review draft in the comments!

Community Rules & Spoiler Guidelines

To keep our discussion engaging, respectful, and easy to navigate across different reading paces, please follow these group guidelines:

• Respect Diverse Perspectives: Book bloggers bring varied analytical styles and opinions. Critique the text, arguments, and narrative choices vigorously, but keep all interactions courteous and constructive.
• Use Spoiler Tags Outside Weekly Threads: Keep all plot discussions strictly within the designated week’s thread or channel. If you reference events beyond the current week's reading target in general chat, use spoiler tags (e.g., ||spoiler text|| or standard forum markup) and clearly label the page/chapter range.
• Tag Review Drafts & Posts: Feel free to share links to your blog posts, review drafts, or social media coverage! When posting links, mark whether the content contains spoilers so members reading at a slower pace can browse safely.
• Pacing & Asynchronous Courtesy: We encourage deep, long-form responses. If you reply to a post from earlier in the week, quote or tag the specific section so members can follow the conversation thread easily.
• Self-Promotion & Crossposting: Use the designated #Blog-Share thread to post your final reviews, group roundups, and cross-promotions. Keep main discussion threads focused on live text analysis.

Bookish Quote of the Day!!

 

2026 Word of the Year!!

A few days ago, the 2026 Word of the Year was announced!! Checkout the following information about the 2026 Word of the Year I discovered by performing a Google search. AI on Google gave me the following information:

Dictionary.com has named "maxxing" (spelled with two xs) as its 2026 Word of the Year. [1, 2]

What "Maxxing" Means

Definition: Short for "maximizing," it refers to pushing an activity, habit, or aspect of life to its absolute limit or optimizing it as much as possible.
Usage: It can stand alone or be added as a suffix to other words. [1, 2, 3]

Popular Variations and Examples

Looksmaxxing: Maximizing or improving one's physical appearance.
Sleepmaxxing: Optimizing sleep habits and routines.
Proteinmaxxing / Fibermaxxing: Pushing dietary intake of protein or fiber to the max.Tokenmaxxing: Leaning heavily or excessively on AI tools at work.
Tokenmaxxing: Leaning heavily or excessively on AI tools at work.

Online Rainbow Book Club

Tonight marked a bittersweet moment on my reading calendar: the final 2026 gathering of the Online Rainbow Book Club, hosted online via the Contra Costa County Library.

The Online Rainbow Book Club meetings fall on the last Thursday of the month from 6pm to 7pm for nine months out of each calendar year. This online group has easily become one of my favorite monthly routines. There is something truly special about gathering virtually with fellow readers to share space, explore diverse perspectives, and dig into incredible LGBTQIA+ literature and nonfiction works.

How It Works

If you haven't joined a library book club before, CCCPL’s format makes it wonderfully engaging and collaborative:

• Community-Chosen Reads: Rather than an assigned top-down reading list, attendees vote on a curated selection of titles to decide what we'll read together.
• Accessible & Online: Meeting virtually on the last Thursday of most months makes it effortless to tune in, settle in with a hot beverage + snacks, and join the conversation from home.
• Thoughtful Discussions: The atmosphere is warm, welcoming, and deeply insightful, bringing together readers who genuinely care about LGBTQIA+ stories and themes.

Tonight’s Selection: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

For our 2026 finale tonight, we dove into The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine, which is the winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction.

It was an excellent novel to close out the year on! Hearing everyone's takeaways sparked a lively, multifaceted discussion. Everyone brought such unique observations to our meet-up tonight, making the conversation as dynamic as the novel itself.

Looking Ahead to 2027

While the Online Rainbow Book Club takes a hiatus for the rest of the year, I am already looking forward to picking back up in January 2027! I can't wait to see which books make the ballot for next year's reading list and to reconnect with this small community of readers.

Until next year, happy reading!

Person Throws Box Infested With Cockroaches at Librarian!!

 What is this world coming to? It's difficult to fathom what librarians must go through to do their jobs.

Do audiobooks really count as reading? (Science has an answer!)

 

Greetings Book Lovers,

Be honest: Have you ever told someone you "read" 30 books this year, only to quickly add, “Well, actually... I listened to them”?

If you’ve ever felt a tiny pang of guilt while marking an audiobook as finished on Goodreads, you’re not alone. A recent survey showed that 2 in 5 adults believe listening to an audiobook doesn't count as "real" reading.

So, is listening actually a "lesser" way to consume a story?

Pediatric neurologist Dr. Arif Khan recently broke down the neuroscience behind reading versus listening, and the results are reassuring for all of us who spend our time immersed in a good narrator's voice.

Here is what science actually says about your audiobook habit:

1. Your Brain Processes Meaning the Exact Same Way

When researchers put people in brain scanners and compared what happened when they read a story versus when they listened to it, the resulting brain maps were nearly identical.

Once words pass through your eyes or your ears, your brain builds meaning in the same mental locations. Neurologically speaking, listening isn't a shortcut—it’s just a different entrance to the exact same room.

2. Fiction is Made for Listening

Where audiobooks shine brightest is story-driven content. When researchers tested comprehension between reading print, listening to audio, or doing both for narrative fiction, they found zero difference in retention.

Because stories follow a natural progression, your brain easily keeps up by ear. So for novels, memoirs, and lighter non-fiction? Audio tracks side-by-side with print.

3. Dense Textbooks Still Prefer Print

There is one area where print pulls ahead: dense, complex informational material (like academic textbooks).

When studying heavy material, our eyes naturally dart back to re-read confusing sentences. Audiobooks keep moving forward, which can make it easier for your mind to wander during technical explanations. If you're trying to learn a complex topic for work or school, paper and a highlighter are still your best friends.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Listening

If you want to maximize your audiobook time, Dr. Khan suggests these four easy tips:

• Pair the format to the genre: Save audio for fiction and memoirs; grab print copies for dense textbooks or reference guides.
• Capitalize on "found" time: Driving, doing dishes, or hitting the gym are perfect audiobook moments because they turn time you couldn't hold a paperback into bonus reading time.
• Try the 5-second check: Finished a great audio chapter? Pause for a second and summarize the main point in your head. It locks the memory in before you move on.
• Protect your attention: Focused listening will always beat skim-reading a paper book while checking your phone!

The Bottom Line: Next time someone puts an asterisk next to your reading list, you can officially set the record straight: Your brain did the exact same work. Happy listening!

What’s on your headphones this week? Are you currently listening to a great fiction story? Reply and let me know your favorite narrator recommendations!

I'm currently listening to The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates, which is well narrated by Grover Gardner.

Top Eleven Tuesday - Halloween Freebie - Horror Books I've Read This Year

  

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Top Ten Tuesday was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Below are eleven horror books I've read and reviewed this year. I hope these books get you in the Halloween mood! Click on links below to read my review for each book.

1. Quitters, Inc. by Stephen King

2. The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King

3. Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

4. Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

5. When I Arrived At The Castle by E. M. Carroll

6. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

7. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle

8. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

9. What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher

10. Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

11. The Nudge by Joseph Fink

Which horror books have you read recently? It's always fun to promote horror reads as Halloween approaches.

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

I've had the hardback edition of An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten sitting in my 'to be read' pile for several years now. I am finally happy to report that I read this slim collection of short stories by Swedish author, Helene Turston.

If you’re looking for a quick, deliciously dark read with an unforgettable protagonist, look no further than Helene Tursten’s An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good.

It was absolute perfection in print—compact, elegantly designed, and housing one of the most delightfully sinister leads I've read in a long time.

Meet Maud: Eighty-Eight and Unapologetic

At 88 years old, Maud lives alone in a spacious, rent-free apartment in Gothenburg, Sweden. She travels the world, avoids her neighbors, and cherishes her solitude. But Maud has a low tolerance for people who disrupt her peaceful life—and an exceptionally clever talent for making her problems... disappear.

What makes this collection so enjoyable isn't just the dark humor; it’s Maud herself. She isn't a frail, innocent grandmotherly figure, nor is she a cartoonish villain. She’s calculated, incredibly sharp, and fiercely protective of her peace. Whether dealing with an intrusive neighbor, an unwelcome former flame, or a greedy celebrity, Maud handles obstacles with a quiet efficiency that leaves you equal parts shocked and cheering her on.

The Delights of Short Story Antics

Because this is a collection of interconnected short stories, the pacing moves along at a brisk clip. Watching Maud scheme and execute her various shenanigans without ever raising the suspicions of the local police is pure entertainment. Tursten writes with a dry Swedish wit that keeps the tone light despite the body count, making it the ultimate comfort read for fans of cozy mysteries with a twist.

The hardcover itself feels like a little secret treasure to hold in your hands, making the reading experience even more satisfying.

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good is a bite-sized, dark-comedy gem. If you love mischievous antiheroes, sharp writing, and stories where older women completely defy expectations, add Maud’s misadventures to your reading list immediately. Just make sure you stay on her good side!

I am giving An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

P. S. I had help from Google Gemini in writing this review.

Here's How You Can Apply For a Little Library/Pizza Hut Themed Little Free Library!

 

October is both National Book Month and National Pizza Month. 

According to the Little Free Library website:

The iconic Pizza Hut red roof is popping up somewhere new this fall: your neighborhood. For decades, Pizza Hut’s unmistakable red roofs have been a symbol of pizza nights and good times, and through BOOK IT!, Pizza Hut has spent more than 40 years inspiring a love of reading while rewarding readers with pizza along the way.

Now, Pizza Hut is bringing two beloved pieces of its history together with the launch of “Little Hut Libraries,” limited-edition neighborhood book exchanges designed to look like miniature Pizza Hut restaurants and help make books more accessible in communities. Created in collaboration with the Little Free Library non-profit, in celebration of the convergence of National Book Month and National Pizza Month this October, the Little Hut Libraries will bring free books—and a little Pizza Hut nostalgia—directly into neighborhoods across the country.

Click on the above link to read the full story on the Little Free Library website. 

You have until October 31, 2026 to apply for one of these 'Little Hut Libraries'. To learn more and apply for a 'Little Hut Library', please click HERE. 

Will you be applying for one of these 'Little Free Huts'? If my husband and I didn't live in a condominium complex, I'd apply for one in a heartbeat!

Bookish Quote of the Day!!

 

Bookish Quote of the Day!!

 

The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates ~ Week Three Discussion Thread + Community Rules & Spoiler Guidelines

Admittedly, I am behind on my reading for The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates this week. I hope to be caught with Part Three very soon. I wanted to stick to the posting schedule I'd created at the beginning of this read-along. So, with this in mind, I enlisted the aid of Google Gemini to help me flush out the major themes and discussion questions for Part Three of The Accursed. Read the following!

When reading Joyce Carol Oates’s The Accursed, one quickly realizes that the "curse" terrorizing Princeton, New Jersey, in 1905 is far more than a supernatural phantom. It is a physical manifestation of the moral rot, racial violence, and sexual repression buried beneath the polished exterior of Gilded Age America. In Part 3, Oates escalates her gothic pastiche to brilliant, unsettling new heights as the narrative shifts focus from suburban anxieties to the horrifying logic of the demonic "Bog Kingdom."

The Unreliable Historian and the Framing of Horror

A central triumph of the novel—which I really began to appreciate after reading Marianne’s Week 3 post over at Let’s Read—is the framing of our narrator, the late-twentieth-century historian M. W. van Dyck II. Marianne astutely pointed out that van Dyck may well be an unreliable narrator, and once you start looking for the cracks in his scholarly facade in Section 3, they are everywhere.

Van Dyck insists he is compiling an objective, painstaking record in 1984, but his mask as an impartial archivist slips constantly:

• Class and Racial Blind Spots: Writing as an elderly product of the Princeton establishment, van Dyck shares the same socio-political prejudices as the 1905 elite. He routinely sanitizes or rationalizes the community's moral failures while maintaining an air of high-minded decorum.
• Convenient Omissions: He openly admits to withholding, burning, or redacting letters and diary entries whenever the details become too scandalous or damaging to prominent families.
• Impossible Omniscience: Despite claiming to be a mere collector of historical documents, van Dyck casually penetrates the private inner thoughts, feverish hallucinations, and subconscious fears of figures like Woodrow Wilson and Upton Sinclair—turning "history" into a highly subjectively fabricated narrative.
• Personal Stake: Van Dyck isn't a neutral bystander; his own ancestry connects directly to the Slade family line and the events of the curse, giving him every reason to shape how history remembers these events.

As van Dyck channels private visions and glosses over uncomfortable truths, Oates—and van Dyck himself—reminds us that official historical record-keeping is often just as complicit in cover-ups as the perpetrators themselves.

The Horror of Social Hierarchy

Part 3 stands out as the narrative center of gravity for the novel’s social critique. Through Annabel Slade’s captivity under the demon Count Axom Mate, Oates transports readers to the Bog Kingdom—a twisted, funhouse-mirror reflection of Princeton elite society. In this subterranean underworld, populated by grotesque reptilian birds, mollusks, and forgotten corpses, class oppression is laid bare.

Oates doesn't pull her punches: the nightmare of the Bog Kingdom is not an invasion of external evil, but a direct reflection of Princeton's upper class. The way Count Axom Mate discards his former wives and mistreats the "unproductive" laboring class mirrors the cold ruthlessness of turn-of-the-century industrial capitalism and racial hierarchy.

Historical Figures as Flawed Mortals

One of Oates’s sharpest achievements in Section 3 is her continued subversion of historic titan figures. Woodrow Wilson (then President of Princeton University) continues his descent into self-righteous paranoia and petty bureaucratic feuds. Rather than portraying him as a noble statesman, Oates presents Wilson as a deeply conflicted hypocrite whose pious outward demeanor masks secret infatuations and moral cowardice.

Contrasting Wilson's elite ivory tower are figures like Upton Sinclair and Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Sinclair’s frantic socialist idealism highlights the severe labor and economic exploitation of the era, while Clemens’s outrage against lynching and white supremacy underscores the true evil haunting the town—not red-eyed devils, but systemic racism and white silence.

The Verdict on Section 3

Part 3 is dense, atmospheric, and intentionally hallucinatory. Oates uses structural subversion—interweaving letters, academic histories, unreliable narration, demonic visions, and pastiche—to challenge the very nature of storytelling. It is not a quick or comfortable read, but as an indictment of American historical amnesia, Section 3 is masterclass gothic literature.

   Discussion Questions for Our Read-Along

1. The Unreliable Narrator: Building on Mary Ann's observation about M. W. van Dyck II, where in Section 3 do you feel his bias as an elderly Princeton traditionalist is most obvious? Do you think he is intentionally hiding the truth or simply blinded by his own background?
2. The Mirror of the Bog Kingdom: How does the surreal ecology and social structure of Count Axom Mate’s Bog Kingdom reflect the real-world socio-economic conditions of 1905 America?
3. Historical vs. Fictional Monsters: Oates contrasts supernatural demons with real-world horrors like racial violence, lynching, and labor exploitation. Which forces in Section 3 feel more terrifying or destructive to you?
4. The Deconstruction of Woodrow Wilson: How does Oates’s portrayal of Woodrow Wilson challenge the traditional historical narrative of his legacy? Is he portrayed as a victim of the curse or an active contributor to it?
5. The Role of Repression: Many characters in Section 3 suffer from psychological hallucinations or physical illnesses. How does secret guilt or sexual repression act as a gateway for the curse?

Marianne, from Let's Read, has posted her Week Three thoughts regarding Part Three of The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates. Please click on the link provided to read and comment on Marianne's post. Marianne has once again provided food for thought in her post this week.

Drop Your Thoughts Below!

Feel free to answer any of the questions above, share your favorite line or footnote from Part One, or link your preliminary blog post/review draft in the comments!

Community Rules & Spoiler Guidelines

To keep our discussion engaging, respectful, and easy to navigate across different reading paces, please follow these group guidelines:

• Respect Diverse Perspectives: Book bloggers bring varied analytical styles and opinions. Critique the text, arguments, and narrative choices vigorously, but keep all interactions courteous and constructive.
• Use Spoiler Tags Outside Weekly Threads: Keep all plot discussions strictly within the designated week’s thread or channel. If you reference events beyond the current week's reading target in general chat, use spoiler tags (e.g., ||spoiler text|| or standard forum markup) and clearly label the page/chapter range.
• Tag Review Drafts & Posts: Feel free to share links to your blog posts, review drafts, or social media coverage! When posting links, mark whether the content contains spoilers so members reading at a slower pace can browse safely.
• Pacing & Asynchronous Courtesy: We encourage deep, long-form responses. If you reply to a post from earlier in the week, quote or tag the specific section so members can follow the conversation thread easily.
• Self-Promotion & Crossposting: Use the designated #Blog-Share thread to post your final reviews, group roundups, and cross-promotions. Keep main discussion threads focused on live text analysis.

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine

Author: Rabih Alameddine 

Narrator: GM Hakim 

Format: Audiobook (Unabridged) 

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 Stars) 

Audiobook Length: 8 hours and 38 minutes

Award: 2025 National Book Award for Fiction

Publisher’s Summary

From National Book Award finalist and winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction comes a tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother.

When Raja—a 60-something gay former philosophy teacher in Beirut—is offered an unexpected residency in Virginia, it sets off a series of reflections and recollections. Dancing across six decades, the novel explores the bond between Raja and his firebrand mother, Zalfa, amidst the backdrop of Lebanon's turbulent history, from the Lebanese Civil War to recent crises. It is an expansive, funny, and deeply moving novel about national trauma, community, familial devotion, and forgiveness.

Opening My Mind (and Headphones) to a Slow Burn

When I first hit play on the unabridged audiobook for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), I have to admit I was on the fence. The initial chapters move with a deliberate, quiet pace, and for a short while, I wasn't entirely sure if the narrative was going to capture my attention.

However, as I continued listening during my quiet reading hours, the story began to unfold like a rich, intricate tapestry. My early hesitation faded completely, replaced by a deep appreciation for Rabih Alameddine’s immersive storytelling. By the time I reached the final chapter, I was thoroughly swept up in its world, earning this National Book Award–winning novel a solid four stars in my book log.

Complex Family Dynamics & Queerness in Lebanon

Set primarily against the vivid, layered backdrop of Lebanon, this novel excels in its exploration of human relationships and cultural nuance. At its heart is the tender, complicated, and fiercely emotional dynamic between Raja—a gay former philosophy teacher—and his mother, Zalfa.

Alameddine navigates the intersections of family, deep devotion, and LGBTQ+ identity with incredible sensitivity. The novel doesn't shy away from complex realities or historical trauma; instead, it leans into the messiness of love, memory, and belonging. It treats its characters with a profound level of empathy, allowing their flaws and triumphs to feel intimately human.

The Audio Experience

What truly elevated this listen for me was GM Hakim’s brilliant narration. Bringing a book with such rich cultural texture, shifting tones, and emotional subtlety to life requires a skilled performance, and Hakim delivered flawlessly. Across its 8-hour and 38-minute runtime, the pacing, emotional cadence, and voice work brought Raja and his mother off the page, making the audiobook a deeply rewarding way to experience the text.

Final Thoughts & Recommendations

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) isn't a fast-paced thriller to rush through; it’s a contemplative, expansive novel that invites you to settle in and let the characters breathe. If you enjoy multi-generational family sagas, nuanced international literature, and stories that thoughtfully center LGBTQ+ lives, I highly recommend picking this one up (or grabbing the audiobook!).

I asked Google Gemini to help me change up my book review a bit. I feel like my book reviews are kind of stagnant. Tell me how you like this book review! 

Lastly, it should be noted that The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine was the last book selected this year for the Online Rainbow Book Club I've participated in this year. We will be discussing this novel next week.

Until my next post, happy reading.

BookGive Free Book Room in Denver, Colorado

 

Wow, I recently learned about BookGive Free Book Room in Denver, Colorado!! This place gives away FREE books. BookGive is located inside an old gas station. Kinda of a cool concept... Sort of like a Little Free Library, but on a grander scale.

My understanding is that BookGive is "a 501(c)(3) nonprofit initiative that transformed a vintage gas station (formerly Regis 66) into a free community bookstore and resource center." I discovered the quoted information after doing a Google search.

I'd enjoy visiting BookGive one day. It looks like a fabulous place to visit. I wonder if any of my blog readers have been there. Let me know if any of you have visited BookGive. I'd love to hear about your experience.

Bookish Quote of the Day!!

 

Bookish Quote of the Day!!!

 

The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates ~ Week Two Discussion Thread + Community Rules & Spoiler Guidelines

 

If Part One of Joyce Carol Oates’ sprawling 2013 postmodern Gothic masterpiece The Accursed sets the stage with the terrifying, surreal abduction of young Annabel Slade from her own wedding altar, Part Two: "The Curse Incarnate" escalates the nightmare.

Oates doesn't just treat "the curse" as a series of spooky, isolated ghost encounters. In Part Two, she uses supernatural horror to expose the rot underneath Gilded Age American respectability. The line between literal demonology and the toxic social realities of the era—racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, and extreme class inequality—begins to blur entirely.

1. Key Thematic Developments in Part Two

The Bog Kingdom as a Dark Mirror

In Part Two, we get deeper glimpses into the subterranean realm where the mysterious demon-bridegroom "Count Ax Mate" / "Mr. Mayte" has taken Annabel Slade. The Bog Kingdom isn't just a fantasy dungeon; it operates as an grotesque caricature of Gilded Age capitalism. It is a feudal hierarchy where the ruling elite feed on worn-out servants and the discarded lower classes. Annabel’s descent mimics the psychological enslavement of women who were traded off into polite Gilded Age marriages—where autonomy is surrendered for illusory comfort.

The Hypocrisy of "Good, Christian" Princeton

One of Oates’ sharpest moves in Part Two is contrasting literal monsters with historical elites. Historical figures like Woodrow Wilson (then President of Princeton University) navigate campus infighting and social obligations while turning a deliberate, cowardly blind eye to real-world horrors like lynchings and racial violence. Oates poses a unsettling question: Who is truly accursed—the demonic shapeshifters, or the respectable white patriarchy that passively permits atrocities?

Mass Hysteria & Psychological Contagion

Part Two highlights how the curse manifests as a psychological infection across Princeton. Husbands grow wildly paranoid, suspecting their wives of illicit affairs with incubi, while girls at nearby seminaries experience bizarre group hallucinations involving swarms of snakes. The polite facade of 1905 New Jersey is unraveling from the inside out.

2. Character Tracker: Part Two Status & Arcs

Because The Accursed blends a massive cast of fictional families with famous real-world figures, keeping track of everyone can get overwhelming. Here is a snapshot of where key players stand during Part Two:

Character	Real or Fictional?	Role / Status in Part Two	Key Plot Points & Arc
Woodrow Wilson	Historical	President of Princeton University	Stressed by administrative battles and personal neuroses. Confronted over racial violence and lynchings, he stubbornly equivocates to maintain his social standing.
Annabel Slade	Fictional	The Missing Bride	Imprisoned in the sinister Bog Kingdom by Count Ax Mate. Trapped in a feverish, hypnotized state, coming face-to-face with the monstrous nature of her captor's world.
Count Ax Mate / Mr. Mayte	Fictional	The "Demon Bridegroom"	Operates as a charismatic, aristocratic vampire/demon figure. Tailors his seductions to prey specifically on the hidden hypocrisies and repressed desires of Princeton society.
Josiah Slade	Fictional	Annabel’s Brother	Obsessively pursues leads to find his sister, venturing into dark, taboo places while grappling with his family's curse and moral complicity.
Upton Sinclair	Historical	Socialist Crusader & Author	Living near Princeton after publishing The Jungle. Functions as a radical voice challenging the town's elite, highlighting class warfare and industrial exploitation.
Jack London	Historical	Radical Author & Socialist	Introduced as an explosive, unapologetic contrast to Princeton’s genteel academics. His presence highlights the tension between raw, elemental forces/class struggle and polite society's ivory tower.
Todd Slade	Fictional	Cousin to Annabel	Marked by uncanny, disturbing encounters; seen by family members as inherently "accursed" or connected to the dark forces visiting the town.
M.W. van Dyke II	Fictional	The Unreliable Narrator	An elderly Princeton historian attempting to reconstruct the 1905 "Curse" years later. His bias and desperate need to preserve Princeton's reputation constantly leak through his writing.

3. Takeaway Thoughts for Reading Groups

If you're reading The Accursed for a book club or class discussion, Part Two is where the novel's core thesis really takes shape:

1. The True Nature of the Monster: Is Count Ax Mate an external supernatural evil, or is he simply the manifested guilt and darkness of the town's founding families?

2. The Unreliable Narrator: How does M.W. van Dyke II's aristocratic bias shape how the story is told? Notice where he attempts to excuse figures like Woodrow Wilson or downplay systemic racism.

3. Pastiche and Style: Pay attention to how Oates parodies early 20th-century Gothic literature (think Bram Stoker or Edgar Allan Poe) while injecting modern, biting critiques of power and privilege.

Drop Your Thoughts Below!

Feel free to answer any of the questions above, share your favorite line or footnote from Part One, or link your preliminary blog post/review draft in the comments!

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UPDATE: Marianne, from Let's Read, has posted her Week Two thoughts regarding Part Two of The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates. Please click on the link provided to read and comment on Marianne's post. Marianne has once again provided food for thought in her post.

Additionally, I did have help from Google Gemini in flushing out the analysis for part two and organizing the character tracker for part two.