Marisa Grizenko
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marisagrizenko.bsky.social
Marisa Grizenko
@marisagrizenko.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.2K following 190 posts
Reviews editor for EVENT magazine. Writer of Plain Pleasures, an occasional newsletter about books. She/her. Vancouver → Montreal
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Halldór Laxness’ UNDER THE GLACIER, translated by Magnus Magnusson, is a wild ride: bewildering, comic, and surprisingly profound—but mostly bewildering.
This photo shows a book (Under the Glacier) next to its illustrated copy. Underneath are a bunch of pencil crayons. The book's cover shows painted figures, with a cow (?) and a dog, above a swath of green with text.
October 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
Magda Szabó’s ABIGAIL, translated by Len Rix, invests the boarding school novel with thrilling WWII-era subterfuge.
This photo depicts a book (Abigail) next to an illustrated copy of its cover. Some markers, a pencil crayon, and some oil pastels are laid out underneath. The cover features a painting of the back of students' heads and their raised arms.
October 28, 2025 at 5:58 PM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
Barbara Comyns’ WHO WAS CHANGED AND WHO WAS DEAD is a hearty warning about the dangers of ergot poisoning, gossip columnist fathers, and mean grandmas.
This photo shows the novel Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead next to an illustrated copy of it, with various pencil crayons and markers underneath. The cover features an illustrated scene of a living room in disarray, with muted colours of green and red (though my copy is much more vibrant due to my poor colour selection).
October 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
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...
Three books next to illustrations of their covers. The Organs of Sense features an older man wearing a dark robe and head covering; his eyes, cut out in the shape of stars, hover in front of him; the background is a vivid Kelly green. Bento’s Sketchbook depicts an open book (drawn roughly and coloured in black) with a blue square featuring an eye at its centre. Point Zero’s cover displays a photograph of the outside of a room with lit lanterns; our view is obscured by a wood-slatted curtain.
July 23, 2025 at 5:52 PM
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Also, this is Panda!
A black and white Australian Shepherd sits for the photo, his tongue hanging out. One of his eyes is blue and the other brown.
June 25, 2025 at 6:38 PM
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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:
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Three books, three illustrated reproductions, all arranged in a grid. The cover of Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino depicts a beam of light, in purple and blue, emanating from a small, bright dot (presumably a planet). The Frog in the Throat's cover shows a night's sky, with pink clouds approaching a yellow moon; dark trees occupy the foreground. The cover for Elevator in Sài Gòn shows five images in irregular shapes (roses and a woman with hands over her eyes) on a white background.
June 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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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...
Three book covers are presented with their illustrated copy. Hisham Matar's novel My Friends features a silhouette of a person crisscrossed by streets and a river-it's a map of London. Ali Smith's novel Gliff depicts the end of a horse, mid-gallop, against a green background. Anne de Marcken's novel It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over presents us with a crow, with the title and author name over top. The background is lime green.
May 11, 2025 at 2:53 PM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
Photo 9,873,234 of Pepper
A black cat (Pepper) lies on hardwood floor. My red socks and blue pants peek out of the frame (I’m standing above him).
April 6, 2025 at 6:05 PM
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How you find me
A black cat pokes its head out from under a blue blanket. Both sit on top of a white blanket (covered in car fur, unfortunately).
March 9, 2025 at 9:43 PM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
I have been summoned
Screenshot of a text that says “come eat some buttercream”
January 26, 2025 at 1:57 AM
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Are these Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds?!?
Clouds in the shape of thing waves, or a serrated saw, appear in a blue sky above a field of yellow grass.
December 15, 2024 at 1:00 AM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
This is the tomb of tomes btw
A black cat sits in front of a metal bowl with two novels stacked on top
December 13, 2024 at 4:37 PM
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In today's newsletter, I write about three big books: Robert A. Caro's THE POWER BROKER, Leslie Marmon Silko's ALMANAC OF THE DEAD, and Marguerite Young's MISS MACINTOSH, MY DARLING. Nothing but the hits!

Read it here & subscribe if you like:
bit.ly/49CoF6f
Three real books and three illustrated copies sit in a grid. The Power Broker (in the Francis Parkman Prize Edition) features a black-and-white photo of Robert Moses standing in front of NYC. Almanac of the Dead features illustrations on its cover: a skull, a snake, a bird, etc. as well as a desert landscape. Miss MacIntosh, My Darling is mostly white with some black-and-white images of a bus, a person walking on the beach, grain silos, etc. collaged together in geometric shapes.
December 13, 2024 at 2:28 PM
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Always watching
A black cat peers over a white ledge, his tail peeking out.
November 15, 2024 at 8:56 PM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
Finding consolation in trees, as usual
An orange-leafed tree at dusk, with leaves of a similar colour on the sidewalk and street below it. Half of a black car appears in the frame.
November 10, 2024 at 5:15 PM
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Like, come on!
A close-up of the weird clouds (swirly, textured, dimpled—words fail!)
November 9, 2024 at 6:36 PM
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Still thinking about yesterday’s special clouds (called asperitas, apparently) ☁️☁️☁️
Clouds that appear like melting pewter above the Vancouver skyline
November 9, 2024 at 6:34 PM
marisagrizenko.bsky.social
After a few months' hiatus, I returned to my newsletter because these books *demanded* to be written about: Juan Rulfo’s PEDRO PÁRAMO (trans. Douglas J. Weatherford); Iman Mersal’s TRACES OF ENAYAT (trans. Robin Moger); & Susie Boyt’s LOVED AND MISSED.

Read it here & subscribe:
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Three books alongside their illustrated covers. The cover of Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo features a photograph of black and white cacti; the cover of Iman Mersal's Traces of Enayat depicts an eye surrouned by colourful shapes, layered on top of one another; and the cover of Susie Boyt's Loved and Missed reproduces an oil painting of a child and mother or mother figure.
August 11, 2024 at 5:16 PM
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For this month's newsletter, I recommended Hilary Leichter's TERRACE STORY, Gary Indiana's DO EVERYTHING IN THE DARK, and Elizabeth Mavor's A GREEN EQUINOX. Shifting spaces, aging bohemians, and surprising affairs of the heart—what a month! 💙📚

Read it here & subscribe if you like: bit.ly/494kkH3
March 19, 2024 at 8:35 PM
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We always have this guy
Shot from Punch Drunk Love, where Adam Sandler’s character buys a lot of pudding
January 24, 2024 at 12:06 AM
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Baffled by the library user who read the American geologist’s assertion that “We have the best highway system in the world” in John McPhee’s Annals of the Former World and pencilled in, “No. Canada does.” Was that ever true???
January 21, 2024 at 6:36 PM
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Watched this last night and really liked it 🐝
The movie poster for La Meraviglie (The Wonders), featuring an illustration of a girl's face, with bees crawling out from her mouth.
January 21, 2024 at 5:51 PM
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Draping a napkin over my head, ortolan-style, as I prepare to eat my Fortnum & Mason chocolate toad. Forgive me!
A chocolate toad that looks VERY real sits on a white plate, with framed art in the background.
January 15, 2024 at 8:12 PM
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New newsletter, right before the end of the year: I recommend Christine Lai's debut LANDSCAPES, Teju Cole's TREMOR, and Vasily Grossman's LIFE AND FATE, translated by Robert Chandler. Also, a small report about my time in Saskatchewan.

You can read it here:
bit.ly/47mJr70
Three books presented alongside illustrated copies of their covers. Teju Cole's Tremor depicts coloured lines--green, blue, purple, pink--on a white background. Christine Lai's Landscapes features a landscape: a yellow, mountain-like abstract shape with photo-realistic trees and then more impressionistic mountains in the background. The cover of Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate is all about a pattern of overlapping circles in red and navy blue.
December 30, 2023 at 4:13 PM
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John McPhee's Tabula Rasa
December 7, 2023 at 6:10 AM