Light reading catch-up

I missed my chance to write a review of Sarah Manguso's riveting new book, Ongoingness: The End of a Diary, but I highly recommend it (and have been keeping a few links open to post, namely a Rumpus interview and good account by Michelle Dean at the Guardian).

I obsessively devoured Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, which gets my vote for book of the year (only it will make you cry): won't say more now, as I am indeed reviewing this one, but it's really something remarkable.

Seanan McGuire's Pocket Apocalypse was delightful (I liked it even more than the earlier installments in this series, as it switches characters and modes to something more like the Mira Grant books - good additional use of Australia research done for How Green This Land).

A rather good pair of urban fantasy novels, Michelle Sagara's first two Queen of the Dead Installments (link here), and then, addictively, the first six in Diana Rowland's Kara Gillian series (demon summoning, serial killers, slightly too much demon sex for my taste and also less good when it moves to the demon world as opposed to the very fully rendered Louisiana life - reminiscent of Charlaine Harris, very well-written). Fortunately for me the next installment is due to drop in a few more days....

Basically I'm just about keeping my head above water; this week, that's been managed by doing the bare minimum required for work and life, but I am coming up on a very busy couple weeks that are going to require me to keep my wits about me. Going to Philadelphia this evening to hear what promises to be a glorious performance of one of my favorite pieces of music EVER. Trying not to think about the long list of tasks that I am neglecting but that will no doubt get done in the end. School is "over" in four more weeks (plus about three additional weeks of still fairly demanding obligations): after that I am going to go into an orgy of exercise and writing.