Posted in Nonfiction, Short Story

Reading Notes, 3/19/26

Posted on by Katherine Nabity
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Paul Daniels and the Story of Magic by John Fisher

It’s been a while since I read and reviewed a magic history book. I picked up Paul Daniels and the Story of Magic at Bookman’s back in November or December (when I also bought my copy of Anna Karenina) and promised myself that I’d read it in the near future.

Most of my magic book collection covers the vaudeville/pre-vaudeville; a biography from the TV-era is a rarity for me. Fisher’s book showcases Daniels in relation to the history of magic: how the greats of the past have influenced Daniels and noting the places where Daniels may have surpassed them. Every biography of a magician is not without its myth-making.

While I appreciated many of the historical profiles, I did wish for a more chronologically concrete timeline of Paul Daniels. I suppose the reason for the lack is that the audience for this book, published in 1987 by British press Jonathan Cape, was familiar with Daniels. His TV series The Paul Daniels Magic Show ran on BBC1 from 1979 to 1994, but as an American, I’m less knowledgeable. I’d also like to read more about the challenges of presenting magic on television, especially in the earlier days of the medium. Obviously, that’s a topic for some other book; my wish isn’t meant to take away from this one.

“Wend-Way-Go” by Tim Pratt

I love a good “plain people in extraordinary circumstances” story, never mind that from the title I thought it had something to do with wendigos. If you want a story with a lot of heart in these trying times, this one is for you.

Keif was a paranoid conspiracy theorist, sure…but in this case I didn’t think he was actually wrong.

Currently Reading

  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman
  • Next Up: Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell
Posted in Nonfiction

ARC Review ~ Life on the Bridge

Posted on by Katherine Nabity
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A copy of Life on the Bridge was provided to me by William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

Life on the Bridge: Linking My World to Yours as an Autistic Therapist by Kaelynn Partlow

Sometime last year, short from autistic autism advocate, Kaelynn Partlow, started showing up on my YouTube dashboard. Why? I’m not quite sure. I don’t recall ever looking for anything related to autism on YouTube, though I certainly had on Google. I was unfamiliar with Partlow and her time on the reality show Love on the Spectrum, an endeavor that seemed to me potentially exploitative. But I watched a few of her shorts. She’s very personable and approaches autism from a very human perspective. That personality and perspective comes through in Life on the Bridge.

The book roughly has three parts: Partlow’s biography, some definition of terms, and lastly advice. Partlow sees herself as on a bridge between autism and non-neurodivergent due to her own autism and due to her experience working with fellow autistic people. Much of the advice is very practical for dealing with the autistic person in your life, with particular emphasis on communication.

Partlow also addresses applied behavior analysis, a type of therapy that has been somewhat controversial. She fully acknowledges the problems that ABA can cause, but also points out the good that it can possibly do. My own interpretation is that Partlow considers the autistic person’s wants and needs before the wants and needs of a caregiver. In many ways, her advice shows how the behavior of the non-neurodivergent can be altered to help in many situations.

Something I found interesting: early in the book, Partlow seeks to define autism and notes that many people, when looking at all the funny quirks, say, “Oh, I’m a little autistic then!” But when an overwhelmed autistic person has a meltdown, suddenly the empathy runs out. While I’m not (much) autistic, I’ve never felt more so than while being overwhelmed and melting down.

Posted in Novel, Novella

Reading Notes, 3/12/26

Posted on by Katherine Nabity
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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, pt 2

Spoilers ahead!

At the end of part one, I felt that we’d probably be seeing some of the consequences of actions that had taken place. In some cases, yes, but part two also brings continuation.

The section begins with Kitty, who feels humiliated by Vronsky’s behavior (even though she’s the victim of it) and regretful about treating Levin poorly. She eventually agrees to go away to a spa in Germany to recover. The section actually ends with Kitty too. We look in at her time at the spa while she tries to sort herself out. She flirts with being an overly helpful “good” person. It backfires. When her father shows up, she realizes that she hasn’t been true to herself and the “good” people aren’t as good as she thought.

Tolstoy provides several chapters detailing social circles in St. Petersburg before Anna and Vronsky consummate their relationship. Anna’s marriage quickly deteriorates and so does her relationship with her son, much more to her dismay. Anna is wretched about the whole thing, but madly in love with Vronsky. She reveals to him that she is pregnant and that she will deal with the situation. (To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what this means. The pregnancy is not much mentioned again in part 2.)

Levin goes back to the country. When Stiva visits, he eventually asks about Kitty, but isn’t optimistic about ever being married. Levin is pretty much just Levin; the most self-possessed character in this novel.

We are also given more insight into Vronsky and his position in his regiment. Generally, he doesn’t seem terribly concerned about the trouble he has caused to Kitty or is causing to Anna. Obviously, his actions after a horse-racing accident are analogous to how he treats everyone: he hurts compulsively and maybe feels a bad about it later.

Obviously Anna and Vronsky are headed for disaster, seemingly victims of their societal positions as well as passion.

“The Life of Chuck” by Stephen King

I watched Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of “The Life of Chuck” back in January, but didn’t review it. I’ve been a little back and forth with my blogging this year . . . But I very much enjoyed the film and wondered how different the film was from the novella.

It is actually a very faithful adaptation. In both, the plot is broken into three acts which are roughly in reverse chronological order. The film version allows for some visual references between parts, which adds threads to the narrative. Act I is also fleshed out a little in the movie, which is needed for the film, but I think works fine in the novella. The best addition from the book is the casting of Taylor Gordon aka The Pocket Queen as the drummer in Act II.

One thing that slightly bugged me about both: the story is sort of slippery to place within a time period. While adult Chuck obviously lives in the late 2010s, the references throughout feel older, similar to the usual sort of Stephen King references. I was also surprised that this novella was written before the pandemic. I’m sure the story would hit differently if the theme song of the last six years wasn’t “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”.

Currently Reading

Posted in History, Ultimate

Monday Miscellanea, 3/9/26

Posted on by Katherine Nabity
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Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com

What’s Been Happening?

Aside from sneezing my head off (allergy season has begun in earnest), not much has been going on other than ultimate.

Spring League, game 3, 3/5/2026

We were reminded that it’s still March with a cool, windy night of ultimate frisbee. While we were a little light on man-matching player attendance, all our woman-matching players were there and I was happy for it. My hip had been bothering me all week. I’m not sure I completed a pass on Wednesday night, although the wind wasn’t really the problem. I did catch a score though. I think my youngest opponent was 27. Our team held a pretty big lead most of the game and won 15–10. Cactus Curlers 2–1.

Friday Lunchtime Disc, 3/6/2026

My hip problems continued into Friday. Luckily, since it was the annual WLDisc party, we had plenty of players and I didn’t have to play every point. It was a good game, and also a good potluck lunch. It’s always nice to see everybody.

Past Miscellany

Posted in Short Story

March 2026 #2

Posted on by Katherine Nabity

Writing

Fiction Resubmission, 3/1/26

Resubmitted “Talking Skull.”

While I really hadn’t planned on it, I took February off from subbing. After getting a rejection on “Talking Skull,” I really didn’t find any markets seemed like would be a good fit for it until this week. And maybe I just needed a little break from the churn.

Short Story

“Autogas Ferryman” by Champ Wongsatayanont

For taxi driver Somsak, ghosts are trouble. A ghost at the heart of a scandal? Even more so.

“My boss will protect you,” Asawin replies. “He is a good cop.”

“I might believe in ghosts, but I won’t believe in just anything.”

Posted in Poetry, Short Story, Ultimate

March 2026 #1

Posted on by Katherine Nabity

I am yet again tinkering with my blog format. I really liked the 500, but I have no further gimmick now that I’m old.

Ultimate

Spring League, game 2

With the theme of the Olympics in mind, a name for the team was decided upon: Desert Curlers. Bill, our captain, is working up some sort of non-ice-based curling for a post-game spirit game.

Can’t really complain about game two. We were down a couple of speedy women and had a lot of turnovers, but only lost by one on universe point. My matchups were not as good as last week. I handled a little, got scored on once, but also got a hand block on defense. For someone with generally slow reflexes, I get an inordinate number of hand blocks. I can’t help that people throw discs right into my hand . . . My youngest opponent was 24.

Short Story

Deal Me In, K♠ ~ “Mischief Night” Jamie Lackey

The children shrieked in wordless demand, and Brighid’s mother tossed a handful of brightly wrapped candies over their heads. The children scrambled in the fallen leaves for them . . .

A flash length short story that offers a fae take on Mischief Night. So steeped in autumn, it was cozy to read on a February day of record-breaking heat.

Book

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Human Chain by Seamus Heaney

When last at the library, browsing through the not-fiction shelves, I found myself in the poetry section and happily picked up this slim volume by Seamus Heaney. I hadn’t read any Heaney in a while. Published in 2010, this isn’t exactly a *new* collection, but new enough to me.

While not every poem landed with me (such is the nature of literature), I always appreciate how grounded Heaney is. Trips with saints and questions of existence always start from a place, a moment. His poetry always feel very working-class, never afraid to express exertion.

Posted in Nonfiction, Novel, Uncategorized

Reading Notes, 2/26/26

Posted on by Katherine Nabity
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The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln’s Ghost by Peter Manseau

A few years back I took an online course called Victorian Photography. Honestly, my main takeaway from the class was that almost immediately after there was photography, there was trick photography. The Apparitionists goes into detail about the history of photography in America and spirit photography, an off-shoot of spiritualism. Specifically, Manseau focuses on William Mumler, who sort of fell into photographing ghosts and was eventually put on trial in New York City for fraud.

Photography and spiritualism grew up side by side in the United States, mostly because the States at the time were not so United. Some of the earliest field photographs were taken after Civil War battles; the thought being, surely, if all people saw the horrors of war there would be less of it. In particular, Abraham Lincoln was a much sought-after person to photograph, both before his death and after it.

Manseau provides a well-weaved history, but I would have liked more technical details about photography. Forgivable, The Apparitionists isn’t a science text.

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey

I’m sure it’s been said before by others, but Spread Me is like if David Cronenberg remade John Carpenter’s The Thing. I say that not to be reductive. To me, it’s akin to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: two great tastes that taste great together. Gailey gives the story a more feminine take than Cronenberg ever could, again to her credit. It’s a bit squicky in its horny body horror; different than my usual 19th century syllabus. I read Spread Me in one sitting during last weekend’s readathon.

Currently Reading

  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – You know what’s bonus to doing a chapter-a-day readalong? I end up marking something off my task list every day!
  • Human Chain by Seamus Heaney – Should finish by Tuesday, in time to return it to the library.
  • Paul Daniels And The Story Of Magic by John Fisher – A nice jaunt into magic history.