Kate Ardis Oden
@odenka.bsky.social
Brief book reviews and book-related posts. I’m reading and reflecting instead of pursuing a formal MFA.
https://substack.com/@kateardis?r=dvz41&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
https://substack.com/@kateardis?r=dvz41&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
Found a couple recommendations from social media at ye olde library. I better get cracking on my 10 other reads.
February 17, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Found a couple recommendations from social media at ye olde library. I better get cracking on my 10 other reads.
I scored a free set of the Durants’ Story of Civilization from a kindly Vermonter. That’s about 50 pounds of reading.
February 16, 2026 at 9:38 PM
I scored a free set of the Durants’ Story of Civilization from a kindly Vermonter. That’s about 50 pounds of reading.
Hive mind: Definitive and well-written book on Dadaism?
February 16, 2026 at 11:56 AM
Hive mind: Definitive and well-written book on Dadaism?
Early chapters of I, Claudius a maelstrom of marriages and divorces and step-lineages. Graves hooked me at the start, though, with the oracle of Cumæ.
February 15, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Early chapters of I, Claudius a maelstrom of marriages and divorces and step-lineages. Graves hooked me at the start, though, with the oracle of Cumæ.
I don’t usually like bookplates, but this one…What is this, a medieval German village? From my 1934 copy of I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
February 15, 2026 at 5:23 PM
I don’t usually like bookplates, but this one…What is this, a medieval German village? From my 1934 copy of I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
I can only put this down to post about it.
February 14, 2026 at 2:19 PM
I can only put this down to post about it.
Finishing Everett this evening and then it’s on to one of these…
February 13, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Finishing Everett this evening and then it’s on to one of these…
NYRB sale? Sorely tempted. Hardwick, Pajak, Buzzati — all new to me…
February 13, 2026 at 5:37 PM
NYRB sale? Sorely tempted. Hardwick, Pajak, Buzzati — all new to me…
Can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud, reading. It’s the Percival Everett character and the albino at the Thanksgiving table, Jeffrey, who really get me.
February 13, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud, reading. It’s the Percival Everett character and the albino at the Thanksgiving table, Jeffrey, who really get me.
I don’t sleep well at night unless I’ve read for hours, the price of digging myself out of stacks of books. Wouldn’t change it for the world.
February 11, 2026 at 7:35 PM
I don’t sleep well at night unless I’ve read for hours, the price of digging myself out of stacks of books. Wouldn’t change it for the world.
“A man may, like the sky, possess a serenity which is dark and unfathomable; it only needs that something should have made night within his soul.” — Victor Hugo, Ninety-Three
February 11, 2026 at 12:32 AM
“A man may, like the sky, possess a serenity which is dark and unfathomable; it only needs that something should have made night within his soul.” — Victor Hugo, Ninety-Three
I love these long early mornings with a rotating crew of pets and books. Here, Victor Hugo’s 93 and Rebel.
February 9, 2026 at 1:06 PM
I love these long early mornings with a rotating crew of pets and books. Here, Victor Hugo’s 93 and Rebel.
That it’s satire, but the scenes in Peckerwood, Georgia are believable!
February 9, 2026 at 12:06 PM
That it’s satire, but the scenes in Peckerwood, Georgia are believable!
It’s 7 degrees F with a dastardly wind out of the northwest, but free books beckoned. Someone keeps putting ARCs in one free library; I’m dying (of hypothermia) to know who it is. And the Sarton!
February 8, 2026 at 6:28 PM
It’s 7 degrees F with a dastardly wind out of the northwest, but free books beckoned. Someone keeps putting ARCs in one free library; I’m dying (of hypothermia) to know who it is. And the Sarton!
“But after all, present events—“
“Pass away up out of my reach. […] [T]hen there are things that go on still higher up: the sun that rises, the moon that increases or diminishes; those are the matters I occupy myself about.”
Victor Hugo, Ninety-Three
“Pass away up out of my reach. […] [T]hen there are things that go on still higher up: the sun that rises, the moon that increases or diminishes; those are the matters I occupy myself about.”
Victor Hugo, Ninety-Three
February 8, 2026 at 1:31 PM
“But after all, present events—“
“Pass away up out of my reach. […] [T]hen there are things that go on still higher up: the sun that rises, the moon that increases or diminishes; those are the matters I occupy myself about.”
Victor Hugo, Ninety-Three
“Pass away up out of my reach. […] [T]hen there are things that go on still higher up: the sun that rises, the moon that increases or diminishes; those are the matters I occupy myself about.”
Victor Hugo, Ninety-Three
Horace knows how to balance the reading.
February 7, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Horace knows how to balance the reading.
A fantastic love scene. Wow.
February 7, 2026 at 5:51 PM
A fantastic love scene. Wow.
Two more novels on the French Revolution arrived. I’ve read the Dickens and I’m into Hugo’s 93 and the Durant history. The Zweig looks so juicy…
February 7, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Two more novels on the French Revolution arrived. I’ve read the Dickens and I’m into Hugo’s 93 and the Durant history. The Zweig looks so juicy…
I had an awful Thursday evening, but by midnight my primary concern was, “Oh, God, I haven’t read DeLillo.”
Priorities.
Priorities.
February 6, 2026 at 11:45 PM
I had an awful Thursday evening, but by midnight my primary concern was, “Oh, God, I haven’t read DeLillo.”
Priorities.
Priorities.
Everett totally owning the bumpkin South: “It was a terrestrial black hole, rather white hole, a kind of giant Caucasian anus that only sucked, yet smelled like a fart.”
February 6, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Everett totally owning the bumpkin South: “It was a terrestrial black hole, rather white hole, a kind of giant Caucasian anus that only sucked, yet smelled like a fart.”
Is there anything like getting goosebumps from a book? Hugo has got this storytelling shit down.
February 6, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Is there anything like getting goosebumps from a book? Hugo has got this storytelling shit down.
This week, my dad began teaching me and my son Latin. Graves and Beard want me now, too.
My mid-life school of enthusiasm: Latin, the French Revolution, and contemporary German lit. These have pride of place right now alongside all the novels I’ve started for the lifelong course on great writing.
My mid-life school of enthusiasm: Latin, the French Revolution, and contemporary German lit. These have pride of place right now alongside all the novels I’ve started for the lifelong course on great writing.
February 6, 2026 at 4:43 PM
This week, my dad began teaching me and my son Latin. Graves and Beard want me now, too.
My mid-life school of enthusiasm: Latin, the French Revolution, and contemporary German lit. These have pride of place right now alongside all the novels I’ve started for the lifelong course on great writing.
My mid-life school of enthusiasm: Latin, the French Revolution, and contemporary German lit. These have pride of place right now alongside all the novels I’ve started for the lifelong course on great writing.
The line I had on a complete set of Durant’s Story of Civilization didn’t yield, but my local library came through.
February 3, 2026 at 10:15 PM
The line I had on a complete set of Durant’s Story of Civilization didn’t yield, but my local library came through.
25-year-old German dictionary is my most-used book and shows it.
February 3, 2026 at 7:56 PM
25-year-old German dictionary is my most-used book and shows it.
A little reading auf Deutsch this morning.
February 3, 2026 at 2:17 PM
A little reading auf Deutsch this morning.