Marisa Grizenko
@marisagrizenko.bsky.social
Reviews editor for EVENT magazine. Writer of Plain Pleasures, an occasional newsletter about books. She/her. Vancouver → Montreal
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
Imagine praising a book in 2025 for being "sparse"? Look I enjoy sparse prose as much as the next, but we've been in a decades long Sparse Race of prose that you can increasingly just inhale like a delicate mousse and at some stage we will have to start making adjectives cool again
November 11, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Imagine praising a book in 2025 for being "sparse"? Look I enjoy sparse prose as much as the next, but we've been in a decades long Sparse Race of prose that you can increasingly just inhale like a delicate mousse and at some stage we will have to start making adjectives cool again
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
In this month’s newsletter, after bragging about eating a great dessert, I recommend Barbara Comyns’ WHO WAS CHANGED AND WHO WAS DEAD; Magda Szabó’s ABIGAIL, trans. Len Rix; and Halldór Laxness’ UNDER THE GLACIER, trans. Magnus Magnusson.
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
Plain Pleasures: Cosmic Communion
Plain Pleasures
www.marisagrizenko.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:52 PM
In this month’s newsletter, after bragging about eating a great dessert, I recommend Barbara Comyns’ WHO WAS CHANGED AND WHO WAS DEAD; Magda Szabó’s ABIGAIL, trans. Len Rix; and Halldór Laxness’ UNDER THE GLACIER, trans. Magnus Magnusson.
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
In this month’s newsletter, after bragging about eating a great dessert, I recommend Barbara Comyns’ WHO WAS CHANGED AND WHO WAS DEAD; Magda Szabó’s ABIGAIL, trans. Len Rix; and Halldór Laxness’ UNDER THE GLACIER, trans. Magnus Magnusson.
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
Plain Pleasures: Cosmic Communion
Plain Pleasures
www.marisagrizenko.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:52 PM
In this month’s newsletter, after bragging about eating a great dessert, I recommend Barbara Comyns’ WHO WAS CHANGED AND WHO WAS DEAD; Magda Szabó’s ABIGAIL, trans. Len Rix; and Halldór Laxness’ UNDER THE GLACIER, trans. Magnus Magnusson.
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚💙 Read it here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
Dad Had a Bad Day arrives 5/19/26 right before Roland Garros!
Here is the cover and a link for more info:
astrapublishinghouse.com/product/dad-...
Here is the cover and a link for more info:
astrapublishinghouse.com/product/dad-...
October 10, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Dad Had a Bad Day arrives 5/19/26 right before Roland Garros!
Here is the cover and a link for more info:
astrapublishinghouse.com/product/dad-...
Here is the cover and a link for more info:
astrapublishinghouse.com/product/dad-...
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
Thinking about them
October 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Thinking about them
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
"You can throw a small dart in this short book and find a nice line from Franz."
Another review of Markus Werner's The Frog in Throat. It's short and funny and punchy and completely misanthropic.
Another review of Markus Werner's The Frog in Throat. It's short and funny and punchy and completely misanthropic.
A put-upon frogman with too little oxygen vs. his angry father in Markus Werner’s novel The Frog in the Throat
The hero of Markus Werner’s 1985 novel The Frog in the Throat is Franz Thalmann, a disgraced, divorced, defrocked clergyman, who lives ashamed and diminished, yet nevertheless resilient in a philos…
biblioklept.org
September 16, 2025 at 3:52 PM
"You can throw a small dart in this short book and find a nice line from Franz."
Another review of Markus Werner's The Frog in Throat. It's short and funny and punchy and completely misanthropic.
Another review of Markus Werner's The Frog in Throat. It's short and funny and punchy and completely misanthropic.
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
can’t recall if we do #fridayreads on here but I loved reading Michael Hofmann’s translation of Markus Werner’s THE FROG IN THE THROAT and I’m looking forward to finishing John Keene’s COUNTERNARRATIVES so I can immediately read it again
September 5, 2025 at 8:53 PM
can’t recall if we do #fridayreads on here but I loved reading Michael Hofmann’s translation of Markus Werner’s THE FROG IN THE THROAT and I’m looking forward to finishing John Keene’s COUNTERNARRATIVES so I can immediately read it again
"I am still struggling to say why Jane Bowles had such a profound effect on me...Certainly it was encountering a book so glittering, so original, so profound, so witty, so charming, so contemporary, and so old, in which every sentence read as if it had been translated from some unknown tongue."
How Jane Bowles’ Two Serious Ladies influenced Sheila Heti to write (and live) sincerely.
Sheila Heti on the Profound Influence of Jane Bowles on Her Writing—and Life
When I first read Two Serious Ladies in my early twenties, it instantly and forever changed the way I wrote. It influenced me more than any book I can think of. I imagine it’s because I had not bef…
buff.ly
August 28, 2025 at 2:26 PM
"I am still struggling to say why Jane Bowles had such a profound effect on me...Certainly it was encountering a book so glittering, so original, so profound, so witty, so charming, so contemporary, and so old, in which every sentence read as if it had been translated from some unknown tongue."
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
I wrote about some of the best books I've read in the heat of this summer, including works by António Lobo Antunes, Lisa Tuttle, Alexis Wright, Jacqueline Harpman, Irene Solá, Yoko Tawada, and Marcia Douglas. thethoughtofthething.substack.com/p/summer-rea...
Summer Reading
"Iʼll keep after summer/until Iʼve forestalled his pretexts and lies,/Iʼll keep after him/and heʼll keep after me—/summer and a man/telling each other lies." —Najwan Darwish
thethoughtofthething.substack.com
July 16, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I wrote about some of the best books I've read in the heat of this summer, including works by António Lobo Antunes, Lisa Tuttle, Alexis Wright, Jacqueline Harpman, Irene Solá, Yoko Tawada, and Marcia Douglas. thethoughtofthething.substack.com/p/summer-rea...
Looking for summer reading recommendations? May I suggest Adam Ehrlich Sachs’ THE ORGANS OF SENSE, John Berger’s BENTO’S SKETCHBOOK, and Seichō Matsumoto’s POINT ZERO, translated by @louisehk.bsky.social?
You can read this month’s newsletter here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
You can read this month’s newsletter here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
July 23, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Looking for summer reading recommendations? May I suggest Adam Ehrlich Sachs’ THE ORGANS OF SENSE, John Berger’s BENTO’S SKETCHBOOK, and Seichō Matsumoto’s POINT ZERO, translated by @louisehk.bsky.social?
You can read this month’s newsletter here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
You can read this month’s newsletter here: www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
👀
Just a few forthcoming books we're EXTREMELY excited about...(and you should be to) PATCHWORK by Tom Comitta coming 8/19/25 💥 @tomcomitta.bsky.social
June 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM
👀
In this month’s newsletter, I wrote about Marie-Helene Bertino’s BEAUTYLAND, Markus Werner’s THE FROG IN THE THROAT, trans. Michael Hofmann, and Thuận’s ELEVATOR IN SÀI GÒN, trans. Nguyễn An Lý. I also wrote about a dog named Panda.
You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
June 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
In this month’s newsletter, I wrote about Marie-Helene Bertino’s BEAUTYLAND, Markus Werner’s THE FROG IN THE THROAT, trans. Michael Hofmann, and Thuận’s ELEVATOR IN SÀI GÒN, trans. Nguyễn An Lý. I also wrote about a dog named Panda.
You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
This will sound weird but love yourself enough to write your own term papers.
May 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
This will sound weird but love yourself enough to write your own term papers.
File under things to keep me going
New Olga Ravn incoming in November, again translated by Martin Aitken, featuring witchcraft in Denmark in the 1600s:
June 16, 2025 at 6:05 PM
File under things to keep me going
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
Altogether I feel like Katherine Mansfield's fly after it was drowned the sixth time or was it the seventh?
June 6, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Altogether I feel like Katherine Mansfield's fly after it was drowned the sixth time or was it the seventh?
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
spiritually buoyed by this convo btwn David Velasco— who you may recall got fired by Artforum for an open letter in support of 🇵🇸—& Sarah Schulman
“Solidarity is the essential human process of recognizing that other people are real & their experiences matter”
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/c...
“Solidarity is the essential human process of recognizing that other people are real & their experiences matter”
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/c...
Come Together
A conversation with Sarah Schulman about solidarity and a life spent writing and fighting
– David Velasco
www.bookforum.com
May 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM
spiritually buoyed by this convo btwn David Velasco— who you may recall got fired by Artforum for an open letter in support of 🇵🇸—& Sarah Schulman
“Solidarity is the essential human process of recognizing that other people are real & their experiences matter”
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/c...
“Solidarity is the essential human process of recognizing that other people are real & their experiences matter”
www.bookforum.com/print/3104/c...
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
Apparently May is short story month?!?!
In which case, May we recommend . . .
In which case, May we recommend . . .
May 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Apparently May is short story month?!?!
In which case, May we recommend . . .
In which case, May we recommend . . .
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
This month, I dusted off the newsletter and wrote about Ali Smith’s GLIFF, Hisham Matar’s MY FRIENDS, and Anne de Marcken’s IT LASTS FOREVER AND THEN IT’S OVER.
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
May 11, 2025 at 2:53 PM
This month, I dusted off the newsletter and wrote about Ali Smith’s GLIFF, Hisham Matar’s MY FRIENDS, and Anne de Marcken’s IT LASTS FOREVER AND THEN IT’S OVER.
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
This month, I dusted off the newsletter and wrote about Ali Smith’s GLIFF, Hisham Matar’s MY FRIENDS, and Anne de Marcken’s IT LASTS FOREVER AND THEN IT’S OVER.
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
May 11, 2025 at 2:53 PM
This month, I dusted off the newsletter and wrote about Ali Smith’s GLIFF, Hisham Matar’s MY FRIENDS, and Anne de Marcken’s IT LASTS FOREVER AND THEN IT’S OVER.
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
📚 You can read it here:
www.marisagrizenko.com/campaigns/vi...
Before you block me for once again sharing this review of Barbara, know that it is the last time I will share this review of Barbara (a book you should read!)
Marisa Grizenko @marisagrizenko.bsky.social reviews Joni Murphy's novel Barbara (Astra House, 2025) in Issue 68 of The Ex-Puritan: ex-puritan.ca/a-20th-centu...
A 20th-Century Woman: Joni Murphy's Barbara
Read Marisa Grizenko's review of "Barbara" by Joni Murphy in Issue 68: Winter 2025 of The Ex-Puritan, then check out the Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence!
ex-puritan.ca
May 9, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Before you block me for once again sharing this review of Barbara, know that it is the last time I will share this review of Barbara (a book you should read!)
I second this proposal to make this the year of BINA. Great book.
May 8, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I second this proposal to make this the year of BINA. Great book.
Reposted by Marisa Grizenko
Made a contribution just now to Filipino BC & The Filipino Centre. If you're moved to do likewise in solidarity with the Filipino community in the wake of last night's mass murder, donations can be received at the following link:
Filipino Community & Cultural Centre — Filipino BC
filipinobc.com
April 27, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Made a contribution just now to Filipino BC & The Filipino Centre. If you're moved to do likewise in solidarity with the Filipino community in the wake of last night's mass murder, donations can be received at the following link: