Trevor Berrett

An ARC of New Directions upcoming Five Novels by César Aira.

CONTENTS Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer (to come) Margarita (A Memory) 3 The Dream 51 The Hormone Pill 205 Musical Brushstrokes 215 Princess Springtime 271

Second, the upcoming Aira collection, Five from New Directions! This has five novellas/stories by Aira, all translated by Chris Andrews. Aira is an all-time favorite for me, so I’ve been anxiously waiting for this treat to get here! The cover says “novels” but these are short.

The cover of the new Bellevue Literary Press edition of Andrew Krivak’s Mule Boy

I AND ON THAT DAY HE WALKED THE DIRT ROAD from the patch past the colliery toward the entrance of the shaft, the only light visible coming from the breaker with its multitude of filament bulbs inside and outside and along each apparatus that drove it shining brighter than any constellation any man or boy who labored within, around, or below that breaker would ever see, and he could hear it, alive and throbbing with its steady heartbeat throb that pounded away while he slept, pounded away when he woke, pounded away the length of every day there was work in that mine, he even remembering as a boy, sick in bed in the clapboard patch house and gazing out the window at the behemoth, asking his mother if it would ever stop, and without turning to look at the structure that hulked there lit and monstrous against the banks of culm and Blue Mountain hills and sky, she said, When all cre-

II AND I WAKE HERE TO THE SOUND OF TERRITORIAL robins from the open window before the sun even breaks the horizon to the east of the pond and the whisper of breeze out of the cool night into a warming day approaching autumn, no blasts or buzzers or humming breakers, though creation has not ceased to groan, and I rise from my bed and go into the kitchen and lift the stove lid with the lifter to raise a small fire for my tea and breakfast with the coals that have burned down overnight, even though it is late August, raise them back to life with some birch-bark kindling and wood I cut and split last fall and will have to do again this fall before winter, and the fire catches and the sound of wind is the sound of draft down the flue to the firebox, and I place a kettle for hot water on the stove and leave it and go wash my face and put on a clean shirt and trousers and slide my rosary into my pocket and come back to the kitchen, and by now the sun has

It was an exciting book mail day! First up, a new release: Andrew Krivak’s Mule Boy. I loved The Bear and I’m already loving Mule Boy. As you can see, Krivak is doing this without periods, but I’m already about 50 pages in and loving it.

Holding up a copy of the Arden Shakespeare of King Lear

For years I’ve meant to spend time with an Arden Shakespeare, and I’ve been loving their King Lear. I see now why readers swear by these editions. The depth here is remarkable!

Do I need to warn my wife that another shelf may soon be required?

I have been looking for my next Calvino! I bought a few after loving Invisible Cities, but I’m not sure if this was one of them. I know I tried but I feel like the bookstore didn’t have it. I will see if

A good way to put it! Of course, sometimes you gotta go out and make your soul feel the beat!

I read one chapter of Faulkner’s Light in August before vacation and loved it. For the past week I’ve been oddly nervous to return. I think I’m waiting for the “perfect” headspace, when what I really need to do is just open the book. Maybe I’m romanticizing the conditions of reading.

Who knows: maybe it did come directly from your brain! I need to find your interview! I still think he is such an insightful and humane individual. I just don’t get the kick from his fiction!

George Saunders: Vigil - The Mookse and the Gripes I always approach a new George Saunders book with hope. Vigil returns to the afterlife, moral reckoning, and the fragile possibility of redemption. But it left me frustrated. Here are my thoughts.

I wanted to love George Saunders’s Vigil. Instead, I found myself wrestling with its fatalism and wondering whether it comforts us into complacency.

Here’s my full review: mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2026...

Episode 126: Is That a Good Book? Is that a good book?

Today @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I have a new episode up! In it we try to figure out just what we mean when we say a book is “good,” and how can examining that help us engage in new and deeper ways with our reading. open.substack.com/pub/mookse/p...

Oh nice! Thanks for the link, Grant!

The Best of Muriel Spark In 2018, on the 100th anniversary of Muriel Spark’s birth, I decided to spend the year reading her 22 novels in order. With rather less efficiency than Spark herself, who wrote a novel a year betwe…

This is something I did a few years ago -a fantastic experience. Here are my favourites:
1streading.wordpress.com/2021/09/14/t...

Muriel Spark: Robinson - The Mookse and the Gripes I continue my chronological trek through Muriel Spark's work with her second, 1958's Robinson.

I continue my chronological trek through the work of Muriel Spark with her second, 1958’s Robinson. What a trip! mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2026...

I put this in my review: “Perhaps I was anticipating too much and anticlimax was a foregone conclusion, but in the end, I have to say, I still found it more clever than deep.” I actually didn’t read anything else by Calvino after until about a year ago when I read Invisible Cities which I loved!

I keep meaning to get one and get going on my own journey. This is a lovely reminder!

Beautiful sunrise over the sea

I finally figured out the perfect way to start a Monday!

The Eclipse Viewer - Episode 67 - Abbas Kiarostami: Early Shorts and Features [Part 4] David and Trevor wrap up their coverage with a conversation about six “school films” shot between 1975 and 1989.

Part 4 of our podcast series on the early films of Abbas Kiarostami just published! In this episode, @mookse.bsky.social and I discussed six "school films" to conclude our coverage of 17 titles in this collection. criterioncast.com/podcast/ecli...

This week, @mookse.bsky.social and I dive into the strange, funny, violent, and unsettling world of Flannery O’Connor. We talk about what surprised us most in her stories and novels, and why her work provokes such strong reactions. And I was able to visit her childhood home this week in Savannah!

Stack of Flanner O’Connor’s books

Over the past season @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I have been happily preparing for this episode dedicated to Flannery O’Connor! We hope you enjoy and share what you think of her work! mookse.substack.com/p/episode-12...

Sounds good! The only other Faulkner I’ve read (other than A Rose for Emily) is As I Lay Dying, and that was back in 2003. I’m pretty glad to finally be diving in.

Vintage paperback of William Faulkner’s Light in August.

I haven’t read Faulkner in decades, but in June @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I will be talking all about his work for the podcast. I am only one chapter into Light in August, but I love the feeling when you know a book has you from the start.

Trollope heads--and not-yet-Trollope heads--put this on your calendar! It's a good one!

YouTube video by SavidgeReads 26 Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Soooo many brilliant #books coming out in 2026 youtu.be/JmtBR1lbalk

I do love The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and I’d put it close to the top of the nine I’ve read if not the top. I’m curious as I reread them if it will be the créme de la crème!

Never underestimate the capacity of evil people to lie.

If you *accept* the lie, you endorse the evil.

Muriel Spark: The Comforters - The Mookse and the Gripes I'm starting a project to read all of Muriel Spark's novels in chronological order. First up is her debut: The Comforters.

Have you read Muriel Spark’s debut The Comforters? I figured it would be a curiosity, but I loved it! I will be reading her second book, Robinson, in February. mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2026...

It’s as if the snow is antisound, as if it casts an additional layer of silence over everything, the sound level drops below zero.

—Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume

Episode 124: Books We Wish We Could Read for the First Time Again We’ve all said it: “I wish I could read that again for the first time.” But what do we really mean when we say it?

We have a new episode out today! This week @bibliopaul.bsky.social and I talk about Books We Wish We Could Read for the First Time Again! We thought it would be an easy subject, what is magical about that sense of discovery? open.substack.com/pub/mookse/p...

John Huston: The Dead - The Mookse and the Gripes Today The Criterion Collection has released a new home video edition of John Huston's final film, The Dead (1987), giving me a welcome opportunity to return to James Joyce’s story and this magnificent...

A perfect film adaptation. John Huston’s The Dead has a new home video release from @criterion.bsky.social today. I had the pleasure of rewatching it and checking out all of the supplements. It’s only January but this is a contender for my top release of the year. mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2026...

All five of Mark Haber’s books set out in a grid.

The first page of Ada: A STORM HAD GATHERED OVER THE WATZMANN and I paced before the fire awaiting the arrival of Ehrhart and Ada, whom I worried might be waylaid by the storm threatening the Watz-mann and consequently all of Berchtesgaden. Hans was at the Guardhouse, had been ordered by me to remain at the Guardhouse until the first sighting of Ehrhart and Ada because the citadel and belfry, though of higher elevation, offered inferior views of the Watzmann, from which direction Ehrhart and Ada would shortly arrive; indeed, this was the only direction from which to enter Berchtesgaden, and though Hans was loyal he was likewise dense, lazy, and incredibly stupid. In my more reflective moments I had to admit he was the worst butler I'd ever had, and I kept him on, didn't kill Hans or torture his crippled wife and ugly children because of this loyalty. Twice Hans had interrupted my pacing in the Great Room, the first time to inform me he had seen neither head nor hide of Ehrhart or Ada arriving from the foothills of the Watzmann, and I couldn't refrain from smacking Hans, reminding him that my instructions

I adore Mark Haber’s writing: frantic, obsessive, raging narrators carried along by rhythmic, unrelenting, propulsive prose that always feels on the verge of tipping over. Thrilled to have an ARC of Ada, out in July from @coffeehousepress.bsky.social

Completely taken with that pink cover!

Please let me know how it goes!