Happy Birthday to Eric Karl Anderson

Eric Karl Anderson

Author, book blogger and booktuber Eric Karl Anderson, aka lonesomereader, is 40 today and our mutual friend Shawn Mooney (Shawn the Book Maniac) has created tags to celebrate his birthday. (Tags are a booktube thing.) I've not embarked on the booktube wagon, and have mostly fallen off the old-fashioned book blog wagon, but here I am. Because Eric is an inspiration through his passion for books and I love reading his reviews and watching his channel.

Shawn the Book Maniac

1. THANKS A BUNCH: A book you first heard about from Eric's channel or blog.

I distinctly remember that I heard about Mrs Engels by Gavin McCrea from Eric's review. I loved so many things about it, including the immersive experience of the voice and historical setting. My full review is here.

2. LOOKING FORWARD: A book you want to read because of Eric's channel or blog.

Eric says that Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata is similar to, and even better than, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which I loved. It must be good! I was conflating this title with one that I didn't finish because I disliked it - Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami - so I'm glad to be corrected and I look forward to reading it when the hold list dies down at the library.

Eric's favourite author is Joyce Carol Oates. I've tried and quit a few of her books, so I thought I would try again, this time with one that Eric mentioned recently: The Mysteries of Winterthurn. Except that I read in the synopsis that it's a gothic novel, and I generally hate a gothic style, so I changed my mind. JCO is perhaps just not for me. I'm sorry about that, Eric, but we do have similar tastes in literature otherwise.

3. TABLE TURN: A book you recommend to Eric to read.

Dr Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall by Suzette Mayr, because I think the dark, dry wit will hit the right notes for Eric. It's a lesbian Alice in Wonderland-ish spoof on the politics of academia, set at a university with malevolent buildings infested with jackrabbits. The central character is modelled on Eleanor Vance from The Haunting of Hill House. Here's a quote:
"Edith claws through the chlorinated water in the university's Olympic-sized swimming pool. She squints through her goggles. 7:35 a.m. Soon it will be 8 a.m. and her day basically gone. Wasted!"

Kai Cheng Thom

4. ERIC. KARL. ANDERSON. A book by an author with three names.

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom. A trans girl with a body full of killer bees is raised by Chinese immigrants in a crooked house in a city called Gloom. When mermaids die on the beach, she packs her switchblade, moves to the City of Smoke & Lights, and comes of age amid the love, magic, miracles and violence of a diverse group of trans femmes, and she learns to bake a cake of forgiveness. The moral of this fabulous fable: "Don't get stuck in any one story, not even your own."

5. EXPATRIATE LOVE: A book by and/or about an American living in the UK, or vice versa.

Rachel Cusk is a Canadian living in the UK. Her writing shines: funny, fierce, piercing, unsentimental, supple and disturbing. Read her.

6. META: A book with a novelist/writer as protagonist.

The Heavy Bear by Tim Bowling is about as meta as you can get, since the main character in the novel (an author who avoids showing up to his other job as a teacher) has the same name as the author. His companions during a day-long existential crisis include the ghost of Buster Keaton and a large, invisible bear-poet. Read my full review here.

7. LORDY LORDY: A book published 40 years ago, i.e. in 1978.

Faggots by Larry Kramer is a gay classic mentioned recently by Simon Savidge and it's one I've been meaning to read for a long time. Simon's co-host Thomas Otto on The Readers podcast calls it "brilliantly spiteful." It's never been out of print since its first publication in 1978.

8. HANDLEBAR NONE: A book by or about someone with a fabulous moustache and/or beard.

What immediately comes to mind is The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins, a bewitching, unsettling study of modern life, in comics format. I reviewed it here.

9. OUT OUT BRIEF CANDLE: A book in which a birthday figures prominently.

Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden. I found it introspective and engrossing when I read and reviewed it in 2009. It has no chapter breaks, so sit down with it when you have time to go straight through.

10. MANY HAPPY RETURNS: Tag some buddies.

I won't tag anyone. I just want to wish Eric many happy returns. If you haven't watched his Lonesome Reader channel, start with this tour of his new bookshelves: https://youtu.be/xNkxUQ8MUOY