What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong><\/p> Really, if you\u2019re going to set a goal of reading at least a book a week, you should treat yourself, often. Not just treat yourself, but re-read your favorite writers<\/em>, take their work in more deeply. The more Protestant way to describe it is \u201creading the writers you love more deeply.\u201d Plus, at the end of the year? We gotta finish strong, right? So I read not one but two great books this week. One I haven\u2019t been able to stop thinking about, and another I don\u2019t know nearly as well as I should, and haven\u2019t read since it came out. I\u2019m talking, of course, about Trouble Finds You<\/em> by Joshua Marie Wilkinson and The Color Master<\/em> by Aimee Bender. <\/p> Trouble Finds You <\/strong><\/em>by Joshua Marie Wilkinson: <\/strong>man, it felt good to spend more time with King Stupidhead Harry Stables and \u201cguy with wild eyes, claims to have boxed a kangaroo or had a menage a trois with Playboy Bunnies\u201d Calvin Hogan. Those two are just plain fun\u2014one\u2019s accidentally pouring bleach into his bleeding dog bite, the other\u2019s got diner pancake syrup in his mustache. This book is such a great reminder of precariousness of life, how broken our policing system is, and to think twice\u2014hell, think once<\/em>\u2014before you act or speak. That might sound like something you\u2019d say to a six-year-old. Well, I\u2019ve spent a lot of time around my six-year-old and Harry Stables, and I know who\u2019s smarter. Mostly, though, it\u2019s a novel that is in love with language, a novel that doesn\u2019t let a single sentence become skimming fodder. You can write about just about whatever you want if you do that. Hey, speaking of\u2014<\/p> The Color Master<\/strong><\/em> by Aimee Bender: <\/strong>talk about loving language! Talk about making every sentence sing! It seems impossible\u2014this is my absolute favorite writer, after all\u2014to have only read this book once. Well, I\u2019ve read \u201cThe Devourings\u201d twice, and \u201cAppleless\u201d when it was originally published in The Fairy Tale Review<\/em>. Cover to cover, it\u2019s nothing but bangers. This is her third book of short stories, and she seems so comfortable<\/em> in her project, every word choice so delectable. This is a book with recurring themes and obsessions, such that it\u2019d be fun to make an index. Also\u2014Aimee Bender is one of our most interesting writers about sex? Sex is never just sex with her, the same way getting invited into an old lady\u2019s house in the middle of the woods in 19th century Germany is never just<\/em> getting invited into an old lady\u2019s house in the middle of the woods in 19th century Germany. <\/p> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> In honor of my dear friend and former bandmate, Spencer Blake, coming out with a new album\u2014his band Pinch Hitter\u2019s Age Of The Roach<\/em> just dropped\u2014let\u2019s listen to some good music this week, huh? <\/p> Let\u2019s start with Pinch Hitter! Here\u2019s the video of \u201cAge Of The Roach.\u201d<\/p>![](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/801bf2b7-9d2f-4f6f-ab9a-d2502765db74_3692x2868.heic\"\/)
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