Search Results for: wonder

Review of Tremulous Hinge by Adam Giannelli

(or wherein I once again prove that the parts of poetry which intrigue me may not be what I am supposed to be talking about)

You know what I really appreciated about Tremulous Hinge: the layout of some of the poems. Like the indentation. Seriously. Or there’d be a thin poem, maybe only eight or nine spaces worth of letters on each line. Then each verse would be only lines long and it would be these little rectangles like a path down the page.

I can hear one of my high school English teacher’s sarcasm right now: That’s what you think is important about poetry?

Yes. I mean, how do the poets know

   where to end lines and

how much to

             indent?

So I read Tremulous Hinge and thought about that. The poems that were over a page were too long and could have been tightened. One poem mentioned a Catholic grandfather, which made me think of my Catholic grandfather. The poems felt working class, close houses, thin walls lacking insulation (I don’t mean that in a negative way, because I read what I just wrote and it sounds super classist. I mean more like you felt you were walking through that sort of neighbourhood as you read the words; some of the poems drew the scene like a photograph).

I wonder how one becomes a poet. It’s so different than how I see the world. Sometimes I feel like an alien when I read poetry. I didn’t mind so much with Tremulous Hinge though.

Tremulous Hinge by Adam Giannelli went on sale April 15, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review of Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen

I am rarely this enthused about my ARCs.

But yes. All the yesses.

A collection of comic strips from a book-loving, anxiety-feeling, over-thinking, always-cold introvert whose uterus often just pops up and surprises her? You can bet your bippy that when it shows up on Netgalley with the Read Now button right there I’m going to stop everything I’m doing, click on it, and then devour it immediately, actual work be-damned!

It’s basically me, in comic book form, and it’s funny, and I laughed laughed laughed laughed laughed, which I rarely do.

Granted, if you’re not exactly like me/Sarah Andersen, maybe it won’t be as wonderfully awesome, but it’ll still be, if not wonderfully, then at least adequately awesome. I might even buy a paper copy of it just to have around for smile-needing, surprise-uturus-depression emergencies.

Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen went on sale March 7, 2016.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

February 2017

I read:

Thoughts:

Regeneration by Pat Barker: I read this book in high school I think. Not for high school. Maybe the first year of university, but I think high school. I read it then and realized that people still wrote literature. Like it hadn’t occurred to me at eighteen that there were books other than mystery novels and Stephen King coming out now that could be affecting.

So I read it again. I don’t think I could have told you one thing that happened from memory. My whole memory of that book was a feeling.

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui: Review to come closer to the publication date.

Manga Classics: Jane Eyre: Reviewed earlier this month.

Wonder Woman Volume 1: The Lies (Rebirth) by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp: PAMSCAF reviewed earlier this month.

Bullies by Alex Abramovich: Not the story I thought it would be; not that this is bad, but it wasn’t what I thought I’d be reading.

The Red Ripper by Peter Conradi: Reviewed earlier this month.

Favourite book:



Most promising book on my wishlist:



I watched:



I wrote: The only thing left for me to polish up in my faerie story is the Epilogue! Yay me!

Review of History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

The Good:

1. I like the lack of articles in the title. It isn’t A History of Wolves or The History of Wolves. There’s something solid about a title that doesn’t need the emphasis on articles. I don’t know — it stands on its own two feet or something.

2. I’ve never been to Minnesota. History of Wolves isn’t chock-a-block overflowing with description. But everything, every place mentioned, the high school, the lake, the cabin, the summer house, the court house, the motel in Duluth, the apartment, every single place our narrator goes, I could see it. Perfectly. Crisp as a fresh cold apple. Fantasy or sci-fi world-building authors, take note: Fridlund’s judicious descriptions are what you should study. No one likes being drowned in adjectives. No one needs it.

The Bad:

1. Take a suitcase. Stuff it full. Zip it up. Now unzip and put twice as much in again. Zip it up. But still, unzip and add more. And more. And more and more and more and more.

History of Wolves is this overstuffed suitcase. There’s too much in this book, for plot and background and just general stuff. Then, for a book that overflows with possibilities, it reads so slowly, so very close to tediously. And then the background may be more interesting than the story up front. The commune. The relationship with her mother. Lily and the pedophile. In filling out the background world of the story, too much wants to bubble up to the surface. The zipper strains. The suitcase explodes going round and round on the luggage carousel. The story needs a trim back on all the wonderfulness of the background. Then maybe give the background its own story.

The Ugly: There’s nothing ugly here. But to not have The Ugly would unbalance my review. So The Ugly. Empty. Null set.

So I liked History of Wolves and I didn’t like it. But I wish for Fridlund the best. I think she deserves it. But I also think she’ll be improving as she writes more. I think her potential is somewhere in the stars.

History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund went on sale January 3, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

December 2016

I read:

Thoughts:

The Nigger of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad: Got to love how on the cover they emphasize the “Narcissus” as if that’s the main point of the story. Also, contains one of my favourite expressions: avoir garder les cochons ensemble, although translated into English.

Wonderland by Tommy Kovac: All the little details in the comics (like the drawing of mome raths in the grass by the sun dial) made this book for me.

Inspired! by Maria Bukhonina: Reviewed earlier this month.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris: It made me sick. Well, actually, gastro virus made me sick, but was it coincidence that I threw up right after getting to the story where there’s a picture of vomit? Hmm….

In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman: It was like reading Tolstoy, all the depth murked-up with pontificating and then I am sleepy and just say what you mean all you damn characters, I want to go to sleep, even though I know that you are an Important novel.

Bossypants by Tina Fey: Needs more Amy Poehler stories, although I suppose that could be said for every book ever written.

The Green Road by Anne Enright: Read at the end of my gastro-bug week and I can’t for the life of me remember how it ends.

Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota: To be reviewed closer to the publication date.

Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley: Reviewed earlier this month.

the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace: To be reviewed closer to the publication date.

Big Happy Mush Lump by Sarah Andersen: To be reviewed closer to the publication date.

Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez: Reading this and then later seeing Moana, I have shipwrecks on my brain.

Ms Marvel No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona: I am not a super-hero comic book person I am thinking.



Favourite book:

This book made me so happy. So so so so so so happy. Lumps of the world — unite!



Most promising book on my wishlist:

There is a new Lara Jean book coming out next year! YAYAYAYAY!



I watched:

Thoughts:

Odd Squad: I’m pretty obsessed with Odd Squad. If we go anywhere with cable, I’m like First things first, search PBS/TVO schedules to find out when we can watch Odd Squad.



I wrote:

I got past a tricky-rewrite place in my faerie story! Hurray! And I thought a lot about a new story, but wrote down nothing.

Advent December 25

Advent Calendar images from Minyreve.

Advent December 24

Advent Calendar images from Minyreve.

Advent December 23

Advent Calendar images from Minyreve.

Advent December 22

Advent Calendar images from Minyreve.

Advent December 21

Advent Calendar images from Minyreve.