RE: https://www.manton.org/2026/01/28/beautiful-essay-by-terry-godier.html
I agree with every word of this essay. It's why I still use Fraidycat as my RSS reader of choice (https://fraidyc.at), even though it hadn't been updated in like six years. Articles just flit by; read 'em or don't.
Also why I have long set my podcast app (Overcast) to retain only the two most recent episodes of anything.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
A short, sharp novel with no wasted words, _Small Things Like These_ by Claire Keegan is the most Christian (or Christmas) movie I've read in a long time. It's a story about how the worst tyranny often exists in our own backyard and the way in which small, simple kindnesses can stand against it. (The movie adaptation starring Cillian Murphy is also quite good.) Worth a read, I'd say.
https://www.paperclypse.com/2025/06/14/small-things-like-these-by-claire-keegan/
Today’s goodbye
Today: goodbye!Rest easy, tired day.Job’s done.Tomorrow? Hello!
Parade for My Cat
If I were to put on a parade for my cat, I'd make sure no other cats were invited. He hates them. His whole body bristles up into furious ball and he screams like nothing I've ever heard. And that's just when the cats stroll through our backyard. Other than the HVAC repairman, I can't think of anything that Norman hates more.
A bunch of books I’ve read lately
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer CroftA bunch of translators get together to collectively translate the latest bestseller by an odd, reclusive novelist. Then dies or disappears or something? It's all very hazy in my memory of it. An odd, disarming book, that I wanted to like more than I did. Now, so much of my memory of it has already faded.
https://www.paperclypse.com/2025/05/06/a-bunch-of-books-ive-read-lately/
Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature by Farah Jasmine Griffin
I read this book for a book club. It's a solid survey of Black literature, art, and music. It's strength is in the way the author ties her life and family history to the works she writes about. She writes about writers who are already quite well known (many of which I'd already read, like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and Frederick Douglass).
I read this book for a book club. It’s a solid survey of Black literature, art, and music. It’s strength is in the way the author ties her life and family history to the works she write…
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
We is a dystopian science fiction novel that almost certainly inspired 1984 and Brave New World. Written by a Russian author in the early 20th centuries, it has the distinct honor of being the first novel censored by the Soviet literary review board. We presents a society that is rigorously controlled and observed, with everything from work and food to people's sex lives dictated by the state for the greater good.
https://www.paperclypse.com/2025/03/02/we-by-yevgeny-zamyatin/
Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires by David Chaffetz
Just following along on my history kick. (This one, like the Venice book, recommended by this Contraptions newsletter.) I didn't know very much about horses before I read this book, but I learned a lot about them from reading this book. Nor did I know that people were using horse-drawn chariots before they rode horses, because horses weren't strong enough to carry adult humans until people started breeding them for that purpose.
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes
One of the things I like about books is if there's something I'm interested in learning more about, there's always a book to read. A while back (this was months ago) I realized I didn't know much about the history of Istanbul. This is the book I found. The scope of this book is pretty epic, spanning hundreds of years. It starts in pre-history talking about the geological region around Istanbul: the Marmara Sea, the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, the Black Sea, and the Aegean not too far from there.
https://www.paperclypse.com/2025/02/13/istanbul-a-tale-of-three-cities-by-bettany-hughes/
War Music: An Account of Homer’s Iliad by Christopher Logue
I often prefer The Odyssey to The Iliad. The former is more interesting structurally, with a greater variety of things and characters within it. The latter often feels like bros broing out. That being said, I appreciate the epic quality of the story and the terrifying ways in which the gods meddle in people's lives. War Music isn't a strict translation.
https://www.paperclypse.com/2025/02/12/war-music-an-account-of-homers-iliad-by-christopher-logue/
jmac
