#kay chronister

[whilereadingandwalking]

For generations, the Haddesleys have fulfilled their contract with the bog. When a patriarch dies, his body is delivered into its murky waters; in return, the bog sends a bog wife to the oldest son, allowing their family to continue without any outsiders. But their home, their inheritance, has gradually fallen into decay, and the oldest son can’t have children. As the children—including Wedda, who ran away years ago; Eda, the oldest daughter and matriarch; Charlie, the disabled eldest son; Percy, the son who has always craved Charlie’s inheritance; and young, needy Nora—gather around their father, they wonder. What will happen if this time, the exchange doesn’t work? What it will it mean about their past—and what on earth would they do next?

This complex Appalachian gothic, The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister, about family inheritance, isolation, and patriarchy is slow-paced but never boring. The suspense is gradual, the emotional consequences building alongside the narrative ones. In classic gothic fashion, the fantasy is almost beside the point—how much is truly coming from the bog, how much from a magicked past, and how much of it is just base human nature, is just blind, stubborn loyalty to the stories a father imposes on his children? The line between real and false is slimy and impossible to pin down, for the characters and for the reader. People unspool, make irrational decisions, grasp at a story that’s rapidly slipping through their fingers. The novel is rich with grime and cold, wet and muck, Chronister bringing the texture and sensuality of a bog and of a crumbling once-great house to the forefront. A great, eerie fall read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Content warnings for ableism, implied sexual assault, suicidal ideation and attempt, death, grief, emotional abuse.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Book Haul!: I Am Not Immune To Buy 3 Get 1 Free Sales.

These have all been on my list for a while--I knew the bookstore would have the Jemisin and Jackson books for sure (I'd seen them both there before), and I was hoping they'd have Chronister in paperback (because they had her in hardback). I was glad Turnbull was out in paperback, too! What a delightful evening of book shopping!

[b-oredzoi]

Books I Read in 2024: The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister

Always the bog has belonged to us

and we to it".

[bigheartedbibliophile]

❄ First Reads of the Year! ❄

No 5-star reads (yet!), but I did read some good books! If you couldn't tell, I am such a mood reader. This month, I was all over the place, from cute holiday romance to gothic horror, fantasy, and weird human experiences. Cheers to good reading for the rest of the year!

[thehappyscavenger]

"A household that left a tree embedded in a roof for most of a year was not a sane or healthy household."

Kay Chronister, The Bog Wife

[usnea10]

[musician-not-magician]

🎆 January Books 📚

I rated each book from ⭐️ - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. The books are listed in the order that I completed them. I use 🌈 to indicate LGBTQ themes.

“Five Broken Blades” by Mai Corland ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“The Will of the Many” by James Islington ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Playground” by Richard Powers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“By Any Other Name” by Jodi Picoult ⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“The Hedgewitch of Foxhall” by Anna Bright ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Hike” by Drew Magary ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Bog Wife” by Kay Chronister ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Weyward” by Emilia Hart ⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“The Atlas Paradox” by Olivie Blake ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“The Isle of the Gods” by Amie Kaufman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“The Prison Healer” by Lynette Noni ⭐️⭐️

“Immortal Dark” by Tigest Girma ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Daindreth’s Outlaw” by Elisabeth Wheatley ⭐️⭐️

“Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister

Author: Kay ChronisterPublisher: ErewhonReleased: November 8, 2022Received: Own (Aardvark) Book Summary: Magdala was born into a cruel world. It’s dry and hot, with very little to offer. While she and her father are fleeing their home, they are exposed to a new horror within the Sonoran Desert. A horror that will linger forever. This puts Magdala on a new journey in life. At first, it’s a…

[foxcassius]

i've now read 3 books in a row that utilized pov that changes every chapter (one of them, actually, changed pov whenever it wanted with one of these *** bad boys in the middle of the page) and only one of them was in any way enhanced by this. i would argue the other two were worse for it. just pick a main character.

[spidersrightsactivist]

i love questing characters so much. characters who are chasing after one particular thing with all the strength they have and have been for so long that it’s not even really about winning anymore but about the fact that the quest has become their whole identity. characters who can’t imagine their future because it’s dominated by this one enormous unattainable goal and they know on some level it’ll never happen but they don’t even know if they want it anymore, just that chasing it is the only thing they know how to do

[shrikeseams]

Tag Game: People I'd Like to Get to Know Better!

Thanks for the tag @curufiin, and also I think @twofoursixohjuan has tagged me on this same kind of thing semi-recently and I never got to it.

Last Song: whatever was on the radio last at the nonprofit before I left tonight. But the last thing I listened to was the audiobook of The King's General by Daphne du Maurier.

Favorite Color: Curufiin has excellent taste, but I just expact to nearly any shade of green. Bonus points if it goes all golden when sunlight hits it.

Last Book: The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister (that I read with my eyeballs not my ears, but this was like. last week or so.)

Last movie: Laapataa Ladies

Last TV Show: ...great question. Um. Does youtube count? If not it was Shogun, and if yes then I think it was a cow hoof trimming video.

Sweet/savory/spicy: I have a profound sweet tooth, but I enjoy all three.

Relationship status: cheerful aroace spinster

Last thing I googled: "indian romcom switched brides" because I couldn't remember the name of the movie. Before that... probably something to do with the grant I'm working on, idk.

Looking forward to: I have some very fun nearly-finished sewing projects, and I strongly suspect a friend may be actively giving birth at the moment (the whole discord server is waiting to hear from her), and another friend is planning her bachelorette party and I might get to whisk her off for a chill mountain getaway after. <3 <3 <3

Current obsession: I'm between fascinations which is a bitch of a state to be in. But I might be getting my sewjo back, and I have some fun and silly painting projects underway.

I'm tagging: @theblacknessdyer, @twofoursixohjuan (if you haven't done one lately), @of-sevenseas, @feanorianethicsdepartment, @vvitchking

[notbecauseofvictories]

The full list is quite long, so I didn't want to clutter up the last post with it---still, it is impressive to see them all laid out together. So without further ado!

THE 50 MOVIES AND 50ISH BOOKS I WATCHED/READ IN 2024

MOVIES

The Count of Monte Cristo (2024) Emilia Pérez (2024) Wicked (2024) American Psycho (2000) Heavy Trip (2018) La Planète sauvage / Fantastic Planet (1973) The Slipper and the Rose (1973) Bottoms (2023) I Saw the TV Glow (2024) *We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) Oddity (2024) Maxxxine (2024) *The Substance (2024) *The Wicker Man (1973) Housebound (2014) Problemista (2023) Showing Up (2023) *Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) It Comes at Night (2017) The Boy and the Heron (2023) Abigail (2024) Seven Samurai (1954) The Iron Claw (2023) Talk to Me (2023) Bodies Bodies Bodies (2023) Rashomon (1950) *M (1931) Lord of Misrule (2023) The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013) *Crimes of the Future (2022) Sanctuary (2022) After Yang (2022) **The Florida Project (2017) Pig (2021) The Favourite (2018) Poor Things (2023) Infinity Pool (2023) The Feast (2021) Office Space (1999) *Corsage (2022) Robots (2023) The Deer King (2021) Madame de… (1953) Orphée (1950) Master Gardener (2022) *Something in the Dirt (2022) Black Orpheus (1959) Priscilla (2023) How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) *The Lure (2015) To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

BOOKS

The Shambling Guide to New York City, Ghost Train to New Orleans, Mur Lafferty What Feasts At Night, T. Kingfisher *Bad Girls, Camila Sosa Villada Don't Fear the Reaper, Stephen Graham Jones *Vintner's Luck, Elizabeth Knox The Barrow Will Send What it May, Margaret Killjoy You Know How the Story Goes, Thomas Olde Heuvelt Bloodchild, Wild Seed, Octavia E. Butler The Angel of Indian Lake, Stephen Graham Jones The Default World, Naomi Kanakia Fantasyland, Mike Bockoven Something is Killing the Children, issues 1-15 The Night Eaters Book 1, Book 2, Marjorie Liu This Wretched Valley, Jenny Kiefer These Deathless Bones, Cassandra Khaw *Dead Inside, Chandler Morrison Mental Diplopia, Julianna Baggott A Human Stain, Kelly Robson The Shape of My Name, Nino Cipri Daughter of Necessity, Marie Brennan The Mist, Stephen King A Skinful of Shadows, Frances Hardinge The Chalk Man, C. J. Tudor *The Rehearsal, Eleanor Catton Come Closer, Sara Gran The Underwater Welder, Jeff Lemire Blink, Christopher Sebela Pulling the Wings Off Angels, KJ Parker Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, Maud Woolf An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good, Helene Tursten Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher HEX, Thomas Olde Heuvelt Midnight Rooms, Donyae Coles Aglaeca, Mohnfisch Dr. Limos Plays God, Stevie Barot Home by the Rotting Sea, Otava Heikkila Last Crane, Narsid Sacred Bodies, Ver No Trouble at All, Various Authors (short story collection) *Wylding Hall, Elizabeth Hand Glass House, Paul Jessup Agony's Lodestone, Laura Keating * Big Swiss, Jen Beagin House of Rot, Danger Slater Dreadful, Rebecca Rozakis *Diavola, Jennifer Thorne Lute, Jennifer Thorne Regrettably, I Am About To Cause Trouble, Amie McNee The Rules Upheld by No One, Amie McNee The Sacrifice, Rin Chupeco The Bog Wife, Kay Chronister The Unmothers, Leslie J. Anderson *The Eyes Are the Best Part, Monika Kim Paying for It, Chester Brown Snow, Ronald Malfi Midnight on Beacon Street, Emily Ruth Verona Haunt Sweet Home, Sarah Pinsker The Doll-Master, Joyce Carol Oates The Third Person, Emma Grove The Werewolf at Dusk, David Small It's Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth, Zoe Thorogood Mom's Cancer, Brian Fies Mary Astor's Purple Diary, Edward Sorel Impossible People, Julia Wertz Roaming, Jillian Tamaki

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: DESERT CREATURES by Kay Chronister.

Up next! I'm heading back into my Driscoll revision project next month, WHICH MEANS: I can start reading through my Driscoll-vibes TBR shelf again!! I have been promised weird desert body horror (with a side of cannibalism? yikes?), and I'm excited to see how this goes.

[sleepysak]

10 People I’d Like To Get To Know Better Tag!

Tagged by @annchovi :D yay ty

~~~~~

Last song: Sun & Moon (I Love You Too)

Fav color: Grey-Navy! (it's. basically Grey Warden Blue but i sWear I've liked that color since I picked it out as my favorite pencil when i was like. 9)

Last book: currently reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I also have Bog Wife by Kay Chronister haunting my side table bc I haven't started it yet.

Last movie: HONESTLY? I don't remember! I don't watch movies often and the ones I "watch" are often bc my roommate is watching one in the living room lmao.

Last game: Technically shiny hunting in Pokemon Scarlet, but REALLY I've been playing Dragon Age: Veilguard :)

Miravas my beautiful daughter you make so many choices <3

Last show: ... back to the roommate thing of He Watches The Media BUT I have seen several episodes of Leverage and oh I Get It!

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet but specifically like, how fruit are sweet. Mild sweet. I am so particular about this sdfskjfhskf

Relationship: Single but me and the roomie have a platonic thing going on. he listens to me talk about Snail Teeth and he's very nice about it despite the fact He Does Not Want To Know Forbidden Snail Knowledge.

Last internet search: 'what age does a betta start showing its colors' [face in hands] might as well share how I got a Surprise Betta Fish for Xmas and uh. Yeah Holly Chobani the baby betta is living it up in a 10 gallon with two Nerite snails while Im Mad at my family for doing that LMAO But! baby betta fish develop their colors as they mature so holly's got like 3-4 months at LEAST of color change ahead. that should be fun!

Obligatory "I talked about my pet so you get a pic now" tax. She knows every Cuss Word and is a chronic Beggar Of Foods. Also you can see the Snail Teeth Marks on the glass!

Tags if you want to play: (no pressure ofc!!)

@simothys @mushroom-circles @oldsneaks @halohampster @spherekuriboh @jupiterplanetpower

and i already know u fellas REALLY well in comparison but i figured youd have fun: @quaxorascal @subcorax @cantodelcolibri @samusthedude

[petite-gloom-mail]

so sorry to bother you, just wanted to tell you about the book "The Bog Wife" by Kay Chronister. Don't know if it's up your alley but,, bog.

yes! i actually looked at it in waterstones a couple of days ago. i thought from the name it was something like the time travellers wife but its horror

[thehappyscavenger]

He had spent his whole life learning a version of his father that was gone, and he didn’t know how to behave around the man that his father was now."

The Bog Wife, Kay Chronister