My negligence in doing my Best Books series for the first three months of the year pretty much mirrors my reading habits for the same time period. I'm roughly six books behind what I should be to reach my Goodreads Challenge of 60 books this year, and while I thought quarantine would encourage more reading, I'm actually finding it hard to concentrate. Hopefully this will rectify itself and I'll be back to normal sooner rather than later.

In any case, I thought I'd go back and talk about what I'd read earlier this year and combine January through March, and tell you about my two favorite reads from the period...





The Fisherman - John Langan
One of the best books I've read in a long time! For some reason, this book really hit the spot for me. It's Lovecraftian horror, done in a literary way, and it doesn't lose any of its power by being one thing or the other. It's a tale about how grief can descend into madness, where you'd do almost anything to get your loved ones back. I loved the elemental horror in the book, centered on a fishing trip deep into the wilderness that goes horribly wrong. And I loved the feel of the book, which conjures up sitting in a cabin in the wilderness while someone tells you a story of unbelievable horror. A fantastic read!



The Man in My Basement - Walter Moseley
I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, only that it sounded exceptionally weird which means it falls squarely in my wheelhouse. A man meets a stranger one day who asks to take residence in basement. I won't say exactly what happens after that, but this strange book delivers. It asks readers to navigate an odd puzzle of moral ethics. I found myself questioning my own beliefs, and demanding an explanation of why I felt the way I did. This isn't to say that this is a difficult book, it's actually quite short and quite simple. But the places Moseley takes readers shows that he's a master at keeping readers on their toes.

Other books read: Hyperion - Simmons; The Memory Police - Ogawa; The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax - Gillman; The Underground Railroad - Whitehead; The Book of X - Etter; The Fire Next Time - Baldwin; We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Jackson; Trail of Lightning - Roanhorse.