The Grumpy Reader
I love books. I dislike bullshit. The overlap is smaller than you think.
The Grumpy Reader
Author’s Note: This piece is the anchor for everything that follows. Reviews, rants, praise, disappointment, and delight all come from here. I am not here to be fair. I am here to be honest. If that sounds like your kind of reading conversation, you are in the right place.
I’m Not an English Professor, and I Don’t Claim to Be a Literary Critic
Author’s Note: This piece explains how I read and why I talk about books the way I do. The Shelve Test is not a system meant to impress anyone. It is simply how I decide what stays with me.
Mexican Gothic
I knew early on that this was a writer in control. There is a scene where Noemí lies in bed at High Place and the walls seem to breathe. The house presses in, the air thick with rot and something older. It is lush and claustrophobic without tipping into parody. I was salivating.
Listening vs Reading, Who the Hell Cares?
Author’s Note: Reading is not a purity test. It is a relationship between a story and a brain. If the story lands and stays with you, the method did its job.
The Audra Winter Debacle
Author’s Note: This piece is about expectations, not pile-ons. Criticism belongs in reading. Outrage does not. I am more interested in how we talk about books than in turning one debut into a public execution.
Mala Hierba and the Matriarch’s Choice
Author’s Note: I read this play as someone raised inside obligation, not outside it. This is not a moral reading. It’s a cultural one. If the ending made you uncomfortable, good. That discomfort is doing the work.
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Author’s Note: This piece reflects how I argue with books I enjoy, follow character logic to uncomfortable places, and don’t read to win debates or perform taste.