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.
There was not much room in her composition for liking—it was too much taken up with being right, with being tired, and with being ill-used.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
November 25, 2025 at 2:20 PM
There was not much room in her composition for liking—it was too much taken up with being right, with being tired, and with being ill-used.
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
—Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain
Good morning, friends, from San Jose! (Photo from 2023. It’s still dark here. But I should get some California photos later where the ratio of scenery to subdivision in America’s best state is better.)
November 25, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Good morning, friends, from San Jose! (Photo from 2023. It’s still dark here. But I should get some California photos later where the ratio of scenery to subdivision in America’s best state is better.)
Two thoughts after reading Sister, Sinner, Claire Hoffman’s biography of Aimee Semple McPherson:
1. In the past, anything that was happening was a thing to do, because there was nothing to do.
2. Many people have always been desperate to be told that there is a secret way to control their health.
1. In the past, anything that was happening was a thing to do, because there was nothing to do.
2. Many people have always been desperate to be told that there is a secret way to control their health.
November 24, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Two thoughts after reading Sister, Sinner, Claire Hoffman’s biography of Aimee Semple McPherson:
1. In the past, anything that was happening was a thing to do, because there was nothing to do.
2. Many people have always been desperate to be told that there is a secret way to control their health.
1. In the past, anything that was happening was a thing to do, because there was nothing to do.
2. Many people have always been desperate to be told that there is a secret way to control their health.
but why did god put your car into the river in the first place aimee
November 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
but why did god put your car into the river in the first place aimee
TIL that in 1917 Aimee Semple McPherspn, Billy Sunday, and Aleister Crowley were all in Florida at the same time.
November 24, 2025 at 4:47 PM
TIL that in 1917 Aimee Semple McPherspn, Billy Sunday, and Aleister Crowley were all in Florida at the same time.
“They dreamed and prayed for the means to move to Chicago.”
As does everyone.
As does everyone.
November 24, 2025 at 3:45 PM
“They dreamed and prayed for the means to move to Chicago.”
As does everyone.
As does everyone.
When mentioned at all, her father is depicted as akin to the biblical Joseph: old, tired, and not as important as Jesus.
—Claire Hoffman, on Aimee Semple McPherson’s recollections of her childhood
—Claire Hoffman, on Aimee Semple McPherson’s recollections of her childhood
November 24, 2025 at 2:29 PM
When mentioned at all, her father is depicted as akin to the biblical Joseph: old, tired, and not as important as Jesus.
—Claire Hoffman, on Aimee Semple McPherson’s recollections of her childhood
—Claire Hoffman, on Aimee Semple McPherson’s recollections of her childhood
Good morning, friends! Bringing Juggernaut energy into the holiday week.
November 24, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Good morning, friends! Bringing Juggernaut energy into the holiday week.
Scrolling LED holiday decor sign down the block that features, among other messages, “Oh, the humanity!”
November 24, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Scrolling LED holiday decor sign down the block that features, among other messages, “Oh, the humanity!”
Ready for any airport pianos I might encounter this week when I’m traveling.
November 23, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Ready for any airport pianos I might encounter this week when I’m traveling.
Sang “Mood Indigo” while I walked the dog, so I decided to try singing and playing. I hadn’t sung without a melody to track since . . . high school? It’s hard! (I miss some notes.) And, to be clear, I’m no singer. But it was a really fun exercise. (If any of you real singers want to come over . . .)
November 23, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Sang “Mood Indigo” while I walked the dog, so I decided to try singing and playing. I hadn’t sung without a melody to track since . . . high school? It’s hard! (I miss some notes.) And, to be clear, I’m no singer. But it was a really fun exercise. (If any of you real singers want to come over . . .)
Reposted by Levi Stahl
In my experience, Iris Murdoch is the only novelist who allows their characters to say "Oh goodie!"
Selling a few Iris Murdoch novels. What fun!
me: "The wrong person dies in this one, that's all I'm saying"
IYKYK
me: "The wrong person dies in this one, that's all I'm saying"
IYKYK
November 23, 2025 at 2:25 PM
In my experience, Iris Murdoch is the only novelist who allows their characters to say "Oh goodie!"
Rickety and slow, like a fawn trying to stand up for the first time.
—Amanda Petrusch, New Yorker, on the odd rhythm and tempo of “Slippery People”
—Amanda Petrusch, New Yorker, on the odd rhythm and tempo of “Slippery People”
November 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Rickety and slow, like a fawn trying to stand up for the first time.
—Amanda Petrusch, New Yorker, on the odd rhythm and tempo of “Slippery People”
—Amanda Petrusch, New Yorker, on the odd rhythm and tempo of “Slippery People”
We cannot go to the country
for the country will bring us no peace
—William Carlos Williams, from “Raleigh Was Right”
for the country will bring us no peace
—William Carlos Williams, from “Raleigh Was Right”
November 23, 2025 at 12:12 PM
We cannot go to the country
for the country will bring us no peace
—William Carlos Williams, from “Raleigh Was Right”
for the country will bring us no peace
—William Carlos Williams, from “Raleigh Was Right”
Good morning, friends!
November 23, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Good morning, friends!
I tell you men would rather go to jail than put themselves to the trouble of thinking clearly.
—Hulbert Footner, “The Ashcomb Poor Case”
—Hulbert Footner, “The Ashcomb Poor Case”
November 23, 2025 at 2:55 AM
I tell you men would rather go to jail than put themselves to the trouble of thinking clearly.
—Hulbert Footner, “The Ashcomb Poor Case”
—Hulbert Footner, “The Ashcomb Poor Case”
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
And you’re high on a high-flying cloud
Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you
This time it’s found you
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
And you’re high on a high-flying cloud
Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you
This time it’s found you
I want you to know
I said I want you to know right now, yeah
You've been good to me, baby
Better than I've been to myself
Hey hey, and if you ever leave me
I don't want nobody else
Hey hey, I said I want you to know
Hey, I said I want you to know right now
Yeah, yeah, you know you make me wanna
I said I want you to know right now, yeah
You've been good to me, baby
Better than I've been to myself
Hey hey, and if you ever leave me
I don't want nobody else
Hey hey, I said I want you to know
Hey, I said I want you to know right now
Yeah, yeah, you know you make me wanna
November 23, 2025 at 2:32 AM
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
And you’re high on a high-flying cloud
Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you
This time it’s found you
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
You breathe in you breathe out
And you’re high on a high-flying cloud
Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you
This time it’s found you
Reposted by Levi Stahl
I'll never forget that in 2020 CTA ran an empty Holiday Train and Holiday Bus just so people could watch them and be cheered
November 23, 2025 at 2:15 AM
I'll never forget that in 2020 CTA ran an empty Holiday Train and Holiday Bus just so people could watch them and be cheered
Colleagues and I were just talking about this: The CTA holiday train is the purest experience of joy in the city. -No one- is so jaded that they don’t light up when they see it. Commuters get genuinely excited. People smile and laugh and text pictures to their friends. It’s a delight.
Non-Chicagoans don't realize how fun it is to see the Holiday Train pulling into the station. A little jolt of joy gives you a lift.
CTA Holiday Train!!!
November 23, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Colleagues and I were just talking about this: The CTA holiday train is the purest experience of joy in the city. -No one- is so jaded that they don’t light up when they see it. Commuters get genuinely excited. People smile and laugh and text pictures to their friends. It’s a delight.
Wow, Renate Reinsve is good in Sentimental Value.
November 23, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Wow, Renate Reinsve is good in Sentimental Value.
Continuing to work my way through the Vince Guaraldi Christmas songbook.
November 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Continuing to work my way through the Vince Guaraldi Christmas songbook.
Guy jn Andersonville just now with a good bit: Walking a little purse dog on a leash made of half-inch chain.
November 22, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Guy jn Andersonville just now with a good bit: Walking a little purse dog on a leash made of half-inch chain.
Re-upping for the UK and morning crowd. I enjoyed giving myself an excuse to think about The Disintegration Loops (and one of my Burts, and mid-century women’s hotels).
Issue 7 of This, Not That just hit the mail. This time I'm writing about Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate, Daniel M. Lavery's Women's Hotel (and the Barbizon in general), and William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops. Hope you enjoy it.
this-not-that.ghost.io/issue-7-you-...
this-not-that.ghost.io/issue-7-you-...
Issue 7: “You don't waste twenty years all at once."
Film
The Crimson Pirate (1952)
“Nobody has ever looked like Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate,” John Frankenheimer once noted in an interview. The most flat-out fun film of Lancaster’s muscles-an...
this-not-that.ghost.io
November 22, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Re-upping for the UK and morning crowd. I enjoyed giving myself an excuse to think about The Disintegration Loops (and one of my Burts, and mid-century women’s hotels).
There are some things that are beyond words and not beneath them, and laughter is one of these.
—Virginia Woolf, “The Value of Laughter”
—Virginia Woolf, “The Value of Laughter”
November 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
There are some things that are beyond words and not beneath them, and laughter is one of these.
—Virginia Woolf, “The Value of Laughter”
—Virginia Woolf, “The Value of Laughter”