Karen Carlson

"The night gardener once asked me if I knew how citrus trees died:" Thoughts on reading Benjamin Labatut's fictional account of the practice of the double-edged sword, science: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘞𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/04/29/ben…

“That is amazing. Absolutely nothing has changed, yet everything is different.” Thoughts on reading David M. Rubin's short story collection, 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. From the everyday to the extraordinary, a great read. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/dav…

"This book aims to show that there is much more to equations than the simple tools they seem to be." Thoughts on reading Robert Crease's book 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. Lots to enjoy, even if you skip over the complicated parts (as I did). sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/04/03/rob…

"Brilliant idea! We could write a book about this! Write a book about writing a book about this! Bad idea." A few comments about my experience reading the novel 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 by Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff: not easy but fun. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/03/20/hel…

“How you use this book will depend on who you are and what you want to learn about close reading.” Thoughts on reading 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, Dan Sinykin, Johanna Winant, eds. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/dan…

@prof_g Aha - you found my braid! At one point I was calling his work a braided essay, which got me started, ended up including a bunch of (irrelevant to the book) links to braid videos. I still don't see what they're used for, other than pretty pretty diagrams, but that's fine ;)

@sloopie72 braids interact with knot theory in a very nice manner... they have some nice algebraic properties...

took my gloves off in the freezing cold to catch this shot... worth it...

"I had to keep going. I had to save Betsy." My interpretation of/meditation on/conversation with Robert Long Foreman's chapbook, 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘴𝘺, about his heroic rescue of an errant pug. And other things. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/rob…

"The Zendians do not tell stories." Thoughts on reading Jake Weber's novel 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘡𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢: 𝘈 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦-𝘶𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/jak…

Exploring Greek mythology, Part 2: Greek Tragedy Though written 2500 years ago, some of these plays are surprisingly relevant to the present. Not to mention entertaining. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/gre…

Exploring Greek mythology, Part 1: The Epic Cycle There's a whole universe going on before, during, and after the Iliad and the Odyssey. But it mostly disappeared over time... sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/23/gre…

"Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time." Thoughts on reading Herodotus, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (it's way more fun than it sounds!) sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/08/her…

Shaking Things Up A Little: My reading plan for the next few months sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/in-…

BASS 2025 Wrap-up: Finding the Funny, And Much More Closing out #BestAmericanShortStories2025 – with thanks to editors Nicole Lamy and Celeste Ng, and the twenty writers who put themselves on the page. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/bas…

"I can't deny it made me feel special, to have been summoned. " Thoughts on reading Jessica Treadway's short story, "An Early Departure" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/bas…

"They were very good at fighting – they always said things that were mean and true." Thoughts on reading Sanjana Thakur's short story, “Aishwarya Rai” from #BestAmericanShortStories2025 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/bas…

"I am nowhere near running out of road." Thoughts on reading Justin Taylor's short story, "What About This," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/bas…

"There is music in silence." Thoughts on reading William Pei Shih's short story, "The Masterclass" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/bas…

"For the first time since the man’s arrival I felt happy for him. Had this been what he’d sought all along?" Thoughts on reading Julian Robles' tantalizing short story, "Third Room," from #BestAmericanShortStories2025 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/14/bas…

"He was delivering a homily, that much was obvious. But what mystical old-man wisdom was he trying to impart?" Thoughts on reading Nathan Curtis Roberts' short story, "Yellow Tulips" from #BestAmericanShortStories2025 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2025/12/11/bas…