The 2026 Tournament of Books Championship
Read my final verdict in The 2026 Tournament of Books Championship, featuring The Passenger Seat v. Flesh.
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Filtering by Tag: REVIEWS
The Catch v. Flesh
Books I Read: A Long Game
A Long Game: Notes on Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken is an advice book for writers who don’t like advice. Organized into a series of short, numbered sections, the book’s interests range from plot and story to character and imagery. There are no right or wrong answers here, just suggestions on how to navigate the marathon that is writing a book-length work of fiction. I loved it and found it inspiring. I expect you will too.
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'Hamnet' Pissed Her Off
“Had I just sat through the most feminist-coded movie of the year, lauded and anticipated by women, written and directed by women, foamed over and frothed at by women, only to find out it actually disses the woman, and celebrates the man?” — a great review of Hamnet from my pal, bestselling author Lydia Netzer
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Books I Read: The Atomic Habits Workbook
Last year I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, which I found to be relatively helpful in habit building. This year I read the companion workbook, which I found to be less helpful. It feels underdeveloped. So maybe skip it.
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Books I Read: Roadside Picnic
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky is a curious book. There is a monkey child, a zone where terrible things happen, a “stalker” who is hunting for … what? Money? Hope? Dreams? This book was the inspiration for Stalker, which you should watch if you haven’t. But truth be told: The book is better.
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My Goodreads 2025
Books I Read: Songs of Innocence and Experience
I first read William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience in college. I highly recommend this small version.
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Books I Read: The Art of War
Books I Read: Hard Core
Linda Williams’ Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the “Frenzy of the Visible” is a rigorously academic work that seeks to trace the history of pornographic movies and explore what their content reveals about their viewers. Dense and filled with academese, the book tackles adult content with all the sexiness of a spatula. While not strictly feminist, Williams’ work privileges feminist porn over not-feminist porn while failing to identify if there is an actual difference between the two beyond an ultimately failed marketing ploy. This book is a buzzkill.
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Books I Read: Parasitic City #0.2
Earlier this year I read Parasitic City #0.1 by Shintaro Kago which is totally insane, so when I came across a copy of Parasitic City #0.2 I knew I had to have it. Do you like the apocalypse? Do you fantasize about your body being torn in half and the two halves functioning independently? Do you have erotic fantasizes in which people torn in half by the apocalypse have body horror sex? If the answer is yes, you will love this book. I did.
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Weapons
I really liked Weapons. A terrific script structure, weirdly realistic and awkward dialogue, a major case of the spooks, a mind-blowing performance by Amy Madigan as the totally terrifying Aunt Gladys, and a lot of dynamic film-making. The third act got a little wobbly a few times, but all in all if you liked Barbarian, as I did, you’ll really love Weapons. The best thing about this inventive movie is its nonlinear narrative script, which allows for overlap and interweaving that’s impossible with linearity.
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Books I Read in August: Favorite and Least Favorite
This year, I decided to read only books with pictures. In August, I read four books. (You can find all my short book reviews here.) My favorite was Susan Meiselas’ Mediations: “a wonderful overview of her career, development as a photographer, and efforts to rebalance the power dynamics between photographer and subject.” My least favorite was Johnny Ryan’s Porn Basket: “the artistic equivalent of watching a child play with its own feces.”
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Books I Read: Porn Basket
I regret spending money on Johnny Ryan’s Porn Basket. It’s the artistic equivalent of watching a child play with its own feces. The child thinks it’s hilarious; you shake your head. Ryan seems chronically stuck in a reflexive need to attempt to offend, but his work is uninteresting and redundant. I like art that offends; I’ve created some of it myself. But this is merely dull. If you’re an eight-year-old boy, you’ll love this book.
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Books I Read: Trulee Hall
I bought a copy of Trulee Hall, a monograph about the artist, after seeing her work at MOCA. I was blown away by Witch House, which is insane and amazing. The book features essays and commentary and an interview. If you’re looking to embrace your inner ick or wade in the goo of sex or shift your ideas around the kinds of art women can create, this book is a good place to start. Hall: “I don’t differentiate between high and low and right and wrong, but I’m more likely to gravitate to something ‘low’ and ‘wrong.’”
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Books I Read: I Made an Accident
Kevin Sampsell’s I Made an Accident dazzled me with its beautiful, mysterious collages and pried my brain open with its curious, dreamy poems. I really loved how the art and prose play together, suggesting new connections, making a meta collage of images and words in book form. Accidents never looked this good. Delightful.
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Books I Read: Mediations
I really loved Susan Meiselas’ Mediations. It provides a wonderful overview of her career, development as a photographer, and efforts to rebalance the power dynamics between photographer and subject. I particularly enjoyed the essay by Eduardo Cadava, which manages to be both personal and theoretical. Recommend.
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Books I Read in July: Favorite and Least Favorite
This year, I decided to read only books with pictures. In July, I read four books. (You can find all my short book reviews here.) My favorite was Barbara Nitke’s American Ecstasy; from my review: “I read and pored over this book at a glacial pace because I didn’t want it to end.” My least favorite was E. M. Carroll’s A Guest in the House; from my review: “I had to search the internet to try and understand [the ending].”
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Books I Read: American Ecstasy
I can’t remember the first time I encountered Barbara Nitke’s American Ecstasy series, but it was a very long time ago. And more recently when I realized I’d never owned the book version, I wasn’t sure why. Then I remembered that I was sick when it was published. So, finally, I ordered it. And this book just dazzles. During my career, I have spent quite a bit of time on adult movie sets as a journalist, and I have never encountered a woman who had a similar experience, which is captured in this magnificent volume. In her own words, the words of the performers and crew, and her dazzling photos, she brings to life the often hidden adult business, what it’s like to insert yourself into its making, and what we can learn when we take the time to look at and listen to a part of capitalist production that due to its preoccupation with erotic fantasy is often misunderstood and frequently vilified. I read and pored over this book at a glacial pace because I didn’t want it to end. This is better than Larry Sultan’s The Valley. This is the real thing.
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Books I Read: Moord in Rotterdam
Moord in Rotterdam is not for the faint of heart. It compiles crime scene photos taken by the Rotterdam police between 1905 and 1967. The cover features a woman who un-alived herself. She appears to be napping. Her lookalike doll is at her side. Is it creepy, beautiful, tragic? The scene is in the eye of the beholder. Flipping through the pages of homicides, suicides, and crimes of passion, one is struck by the grand artistry of it all. I don’t know whether to credit the Rotterdam police for their photography skills or chalk it up to fantastic editing of a gruesome body of work. A great pick for fans of Joel-Peter Witkin and Wisconsin Death Trip.
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