Levi Stahl
@levistahl.bsky.social
Editor of The Getaway Car: A Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany and The Daily Sherlock Holmes. Marketing Director at the University of Chicago Press. Board member of the Uptown People’s Law Center.
#1 reason to own a vacation rental property: Solid excuse to get and use a label maker.
November 28, 2025 at 1:33 PM
#1 reason to own a vacation rental property: Solid excuse to get and use a label maker.
Good morning, friends, from Bodega Bay, California!
November 28, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Good morning, friends, from Bodega Bay, California!
Not much can match California, man.
November 28, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Not much can match California, man.
He felt, as he always did with village gossip, that the gossiper not only gave but took; something was required of the listener.
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
November 28, 2025 at 1:15 AM
He felt, as he always did with village gossip, that the gossiper not only gave but took; something was required of the listener.
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
He searched for clues about what she thought of him, as a pig searches for food in mud.
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
He searched for clues about what she thought of him, as a pig searches for food in mud.
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
—Xenobe Purvis, The Hounding
Went around the table and everyone said how thankful they are for my sweater.
November 27, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Went around the table and everyone said how thankful they are for my sweater.
Japanese American Thanksgiving means homemade inari sushi.
November 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Japanese American Thanksgiving means homemade inari sushi.
Reposted by Levi Stahl
“Fame is a form of incomprehension, perhaps the worst.”
— A passage from Borges came to mind:
(“Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” tr. James E. Irby)
— A passage from Borges came to mind:
(“Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” tr. James E. Irby)
November 27, 2025 at 5:29 PM
“Fame is a form of incomprehension, perhaps the worst.”
— A passage from Borges came to mind:
(“Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” tr. James E. Irby)
— A passage from Borges came to mind:
(“Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” tr. James E. Irby)
“He did not strike me as being very wise.”
“Every speech of his is said to be worth five votes to the other side, and he makes a surprising number of them.”
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
“Every speech of his is said to be worth five votes to the other side, and he makes a surprising number of them.”
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
November 27, 2025 at 3:31 PM
“He did not strike me as being very wise.”
“Every speech of his is said to be worth five votes to the other side, and he makes a surprising number of them.”
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
“Every speech of his is said to be worth five votes to the other side, and he makes a surprising number of them.”
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain.
November 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain.
The bathroom in this rental house just screams “Do cocaine in here.”
November 27, 2025 at 2:52 PM
The bathroom in this rental house just screams “Do cocaine in here.”
All these years later I remain grateful that Donald Westlake’s family trusted me when I proposed putting together The Getaway Car—and then I got to publish it with my colleagues! Then Darwyn Cooke made the cover! (And Chicago has a site-wide sale this weekend, 30% off with the code HOLIDAY25!)
November 27, 2025 at 2:41 PM
All these years later I remain grateful that Donald Westlake’s family trusted me when I proposed putting together The Getaway Car—and then I got to publish it with my colleagues! Then Darwyn Cooke made the cover! (And Chicago has a site-wide sale this weekend, 30% off with the code HOLIDAY25!)
Made a bank shot and a double bank shot on the pool table in this rental house, the latter my first since I managed the campus pool hall when I was an undergrad, and were my nieces and nephews impressed? Not in the slightest. Tough crowd, this.
November 27, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Made a bank shot and a double bank shot on the pool table in this rental house, the latter my first since I managed the campus pool hall when I was an undergrad, and were my nieces and nephews impressed? Not in the slightest. Tough crowd, this.
Pausing, for on the verge of his mind there was a witticism, if he could but grasp it.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
November 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Pausing, for on the verge of his mind there was a witticism, if he could but grasp it.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
normalize having an electric kettle alongside the coffee maker in all rental houses
November 27, 2025 at 1:56 PM
normalize having an electric kettle alongside the coffee maker in all rental houses
This seems unfair to Hitchcock, as well as to Novak and Kelly and Hedren. Nuzzi is a De Palma blonde at best.
November 27, 2025 at 1:29 PM
This seems unfair to Hitchcock, as well as to Novak and Kelly and Hedren. Nuzzi is a De Palma blonde at best.
Reposted by Levi Stahl
An Andy Kelp Thanksgiving. (From Donald E. Westlake's Dortmunder novel Bad News.)
November 27, 2024 at 2:16 PM
An Andy Kelp Thanksgiving. (From Donald E. Westlake's Dortmunder novel Bad News.)
Good morning, friends, from Bodega Bay, California! (Photo from last night; sun don’t rise over the water.)
Hope your Thanksgiving is restful and full of good company.
Hope your Thanksgiving is restful and full of good company.
November 27, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning, friends, from Bodega Bay, California! (Photo from last night; sun don’t rise over the water.)
Hope your Thanksgiving is restful and full of good company.
Hope your Thanksgiving is restful and full of good company.
The books at this rental house are near the very upper end of what is reasonable to expect. I count 11 I’ve read, including Robert Penn Warren, some Faulkner, an Anita Brookner, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Marriage Plot, Toni Morrison, some Sarah Waters.
November 27, 2025 at 3:25 AM
The books at this rental house are near the very upper end of what is reasonable to expect. I count 11 I’ve read, including Robert Penn Warren, some Faulkner, an Anita Brookner, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Marriage Plot, Toni Morrison, some Sarah Waters.
Joel’s Vergil is a very engaging and satisfying read.
My little book The Bees (a new translation of Book IV of Vergil’s Georgics) is still generating buzz.
A few copies left with the publisher at the link below, and I have a few myself. Query me if interested.
www.vergebooks.com#/joel-calaha...
A few copies left with the publisher at the link below, and I have a few myself. Query me if interested.
www.vergebooks.com#/joel-calaha...
November 27, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Joel’s Vergil is a very engaging and satisfying read.
Vexed by their devotion, that deeply irritating quality.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
November 26, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Vexed by their devotion, that deeply irritating quality.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
Point Reyes Books is among my very favorite bookstores in the world. Every time I go, I find books I have never seen in another shop. It’s lovey and distinctive and suited to its clientele. Totally worth a trip if you are anywhere near.
November 26, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Point Reyes Books is among my very favorite bookstores in the world. Every time I go, I find books I have never seen in another shop. It’s lovey and distinctive and suited to its clientele. Totally worth a trip if you are anywhere near.
Plotting how I can divert our family drive up to Bodega Bay today to swing by Point Reyes Books, one of my two or three favorite bookstores in the world.
November 26, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Plotting how I can divert our family drive up to Bodega Bay today to swing by Point Reyes Books, one of my two or three favorite bookstores in the world.
Pray sit in a chair like a rational being, and do not spring about the room.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
November 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Pray sit in a chair like a rational being, and do not spring about the room.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
Good morning, friends, from San Jose! Always nice to be able to step outside and see a mountain.
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Good morning, friends, from San Jose! Always nice to be able to step outside and see a mountain.