Posts in the Purchased Category at Savvy Verse & Wit, Page 35

Nostalgia for the Criminal Past by Kathleen Winter

April 26, 2012 by Serena

Nostalgia for the Criminal Past by Kathleen Winter, whom I interviewed for 32 Poems in 2011, is a piece of art that should be hung on the wall. And like all art, there are references to other artists and art types within her poems, but there is more here — the art of being human. In the first three sections, Winter carefully tailors each poem to touch on the connections we have to our animal selves, from the mischievous prankster in Eve who entices the snake to eat Adam in the Garden of Eden merely because she is bored in “Escape from Eden” to razor sharp focus of a hawk eying its prey in “Edge of February.”

There is a telling epigraph from Virginia Woolf, “I do not believe in separation. We are not single.” that establishes the direction of Winter’s work as a look at us being separate as well as connected. However, the collection is not only about being separate and being connected, it is about “being naked” and reveling in the “silos of time” we create (“Nostalgia for the Criminal Past,” page 9). There is the past of our relatives and how it reverberates through the younger generations’ lives and how the past they share may be incomplete or slightly altered from reality, like in “Jellyfish Elvis.” The narrator even questions the validity of the past whether told by others or lived, which calls into question whether the past should be revered or remembered and that we should merely live in the moment.

Winter shows a maturity in her imagery and line break selection that breaks boundaries and draws comparisons to the impressionists and abstract painters who defied artistic convention in their paintings. From ” Hamster Thrown From Monster Truck,” “rumbling above us at the stoplight/like a frisky two-story building.,” and like “The eight a.m. sun moved out from clouds/like a well-trained MBA/adjusting to changed conditions./” in “Snapshot of a Boxer.” Beyond the animal references, memories, and looks into the past, Winter uses water imagery in traditional ways to show reflections of what we want to see and what we desire, but provides readers with the punch in the gut when they realize the folly of those dreams, like in “Country Club Fourth of July.”

And despite the theme of appearance versus reality, there are other moments in the collection where the narrator will sink beneath the surface of the water in a tub to find an inner peace, like in “The Bath” and “Bathing at the Museum”: “Like Bonnard’s wife/incessantly I bathe, sensations of liquid/intervening between mind//& body, blurring animosities./In dim flux the mind begins to lift,/words shimmer,//” (page 64).

The cover photo for this collection is reflective of its contents as the young girl looks circumspect about everything she is seeing out of that window, assessing it carefully, but wary of it at the same time.

The final section of the collection is a breaking out from the bonds of the past, and the passion that consumes those poems burns and takes action. However, these poems also are reflective and playful, like “Wrong Sonnet: Mystery” where the narrator speaks to ghosts in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. Nostalgia for the Criminal Past by Kathleen Winter is another for the best of lists from theme, quality of the poems, and the imagery that illustrates the world in new ways.

About the Poet:

Kathleen Winter’s poems are forthcoming in Anti- and recently have appeared in Field, The New Republic, Verse Daily, 32 Poems and The Cincinnati Review. Her chapbook Invisible Pictures was published in 2008 by Finishing Line Press. Kathleen received fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and the Piper Center at Arizona State University. She is an MFA student and composition teacher at ASU.

Check out today’s National Poetry Month Blog Tour stop from Unputdownables.

This is my 31st book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

This is the 13th book for my 2012 Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, Events, Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge, national poetry month, New Authors Challenge, poetry, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews Tagged With: 2012 National Poetry Month Blog Tour, Elixir Press, Kathleen Winter, Nostalgia for the Criminal Past

The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry edited by Rita Dove

April 5, 2012 by Serena

The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry edited by Rita Dove (listen to her NPR interview, where she talks about the anthology and provides advice for young poets) collects a few poems from some of the great poets at the the height of their craft between 1900 and 2000, and while Dove notes that some of the poets who were starting to emerge in the latter portion of the century may not be included, it is merely because the anthology had to have a cutoff point and those poets may have reached the height of their craft after 2000.

Moreover, her introduction goes on to demonstrate the various turns in social movements throughout the United States and how poets and their poetry fit in with those historic changes, ranging — of course — from the backlash following the U.S. Civil War and the beginnings of WWI to the antiwar protests, the emergence of the feminist movement, and the struggle for civil rights. Each poet’s bio is included alongside samples of their work.

“. . . and I should have written it right then, before rereading, discovering, misplacing note; before tracking down copyright dates, crunching numbers — in short, before the politics of selection could interfere with my judgment.” (Page XXIX)

“If I could, I’d make this introduction a fold-out book. Open to the first page, and up would pop a forest: a triangle of birches labeled Robert Frost, a solitary Great Oak for Wallace Stevens, a patch of quirky sycamores tagged William Carlos Williams, and a Dutch Elm for Hart Crane, with a double lane of poplars for Elizabeth Bishop and a brilliant autumnal maple tree marked Langston Hughes bearing leaves called Harper, Clifton, Soto.” (Page XXX)

The selection of poems for this collection must have been a tough task, and Rita Dove employed the best tools at her disposal. She’s spoken frankly in the introduction of the politics behind the selection of poems, particularly regarding a budget that was unable to meet the rights fees for certain poems (i.e. Plath and Ginsberg, who are notably absent from the collection, but not the introduction). While some can not forgive this decision (i.e. Helen Vendler, whose criticisms have been widely used in college classrooms, including some I’ve attended; please also view Rita Dove’s reply to Vendler’s criticism), some readers can accept the oversight given how widely known and published some of these absent poets are and were. Dove has even discussed the problem of “rights” in an interview with The Writer’s Chronicle, in which she said that one of the worst offenders was HarperCollins, which owns the rights to Sylvia Plath and Allen Ginsberg (December 2011, pg. 22). “What I hated most about this unsettling affair was seeing other, less iconic poets held hostage by the very company they had trusted to promote them,” Dove lamented in the interview after discussing how one publishing hose offered poets the option to have their poems included in the anthology if they gave up their share in royalties even though the publishing house would not.

As with any “collection of great works,” the anthology is bound to have its detractors who are dissatisfied with the selections and who lament the absence of their own favorite poets and poems. Dove says in the introduction, “The impulse driving them all, however, stemmed from the same revelation: that every person contains a story that, if told well, would resonate within us no matter how strange or unfamiliar the circumstances, bound as we are by the instincts and yearnings of human existence.” (Page XXXIII) Readers will find that some of the poems speak more to them than others, but that also is expected in a collection of multiple poets with multiple styles.

Insect by Annie Finch (Page 540):

That hour-glass-backed,
orchard-legged,
heavy-headed will,

paper-folded,
wedge-contorted,
savage--dense to kill--

pulls back on backward-moving,
arching
high legs still,

lowered through a deep, knees-reaching,
feathered down
green will,

antenna-honest,
thread-descending,
carpeted as if with skill,

a focus-changing,
sober-reaching,

tracing, killing will.

There are old favorites from classics like E.E. Cummings to contemporaries like Yusef Komunyakaa. Readers will want to dip in and revisit their old poet friends, but also find the undiscovered gems from the past, present, and future. Ruth Stone, for instance, is a prolific poet, who may not be known by may readers, but her verse is so present and relatable; From “Scars” (page 178): “Sometimes I am on a train/going to a strange city,/and you are outside the window/explaining your suicide,/” Then there are Edgar Lee Masters at the beginning of the century that may be overlooked in favor of Robert Frost and other more well-known poets, despite his prolific career. From “Fiddler Jones” (page 2), “The earth keeps some vibration going/There in your heart, and that is you./And if the people find you can fiddle,/Why, fiddle you must, for all your life.” As the anthology progresses there is a distinct inclusion of more minority and female poets, like Reetika Vazirani and Terrance Hayes.

The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry edited by Rita Dove is one perspective on American poetry over the last century, while it touches upon each of the social and poetical movements in the nation, it does skew the reality of the poetic realm a little bit by being unable to include certain icons and including newer poets who may or may not have proved their historical impact on the world of poetry to the satisfaction of everyone. However, the inclusion of new voices is always a blessing when so much of poetry is consider classic and iconic from Frost’s New Hampshire woods to Ginsburg’s outspoken Howl. Dove’s anthology is a collection to be dipped into time and again to visit old favorites and delve into the images and verse of new voices who have emerged in the latter part of the 20th century.

Poet Rita Dove

About the Editor:

Rita Dove, born in Ohio, served as Poet Laureate of the United States and Consultant to the Library of Congress from 1993 to 1995 and as Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. She has received numerous literary and academic honors, among them the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and, more recently, the 2003 Emily Couric Leadership Award, the 2001 Duke Ellington Lifetime Achievement Award, the 1997 Sara Lee Frontrunner Award, the 1997 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, the 1996 Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities and the 1996 National Humanities Medal.

This is the 3rd book for my 2012 Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge.

***For Today’s National Poetry Month Blog Tour post, hop over to Unabridged Chick***

Filed Under: challenges, Events, Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge, national poetry month, Penguin, poetry, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews Tagged With: 2012 National Poetry Month Blog Tour, Rita Dove, The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry

The Devil’s Scribe by Alma Katsu

March 21, 2012 by Serena

The Devil’s Scribe by Alma Katsu is an e-short story released by Simon & Schuster this month, and it’s the first thing I’ve read on my Kindle! Can you believe it?! What prompted me to finally read on the Kindle?! You’ll never guess, well maybe you will by the end of this unconventional review.

“He fell on the bottle before he took a seat, pouring two fingers of whiskey into his wineglass, streaked with the last of a red he’d consumed. Now that he’d gotten his invitation, his tentative edge fell away, replaced by relief.” (from the e-story)

Lanore McIlvrae from The Taker (my review) meets with the one and only Edgar Allan Poe by chance in an expensive Baltimore hotel in 1846 after having been gone from America for the last 20 years. Poe describes himself as an orphan and a widower able to support himself as the “devil’s scribe,” but Lanny seems passingly interested in his life story and the fact that he’s a writer. However, in spite of her preoccupation with why she came back to America, she walks with this stranger through the streets of Baltimore, careful not to reveal too much of herself to him.

The story raises the idea of telling strangers secrets as a way to unburden the soul without having to deal with the same consequences one would have to deal with should they tell someone they know intimately or should they tell a family member. It is reminiscent of the relationship between dying soldiers and/or patients and the priest that comes to hear their sins, though in this situation, Poe cannot offer Lanny absolution.

Even in this short story, Katsu is adept at creating tension and suspense as Lanny and her new companion make their way to Boston. The story is predictable — though because I’ve already read The Taker — but well written. Readers who know anything about Edgar Allan Poe should realize where the story is headed, but I’ll not give it away. I really enjoyed learning more about Lanny and her fears, and it will likely play into Katsu’s next book, The Reckoning.

***Reading on the Kindle***

It wasn’t too bad with a short story. I actually was surprised how I remained focused, but I’m not sure that I can remain focused for a full length novel. I may try doing that soon, but for now, I’m still a fan of “real” books.

Filed Under: fiction, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews, short stories, Simon & Schuster Tagged With: Alma Katsu, Amazon Kindle, ebook, The Devil's Scribe

Star Wars & Philosophy edited by Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl

March 20, 2012 by Serena

Star Wars & Philosophy edited by Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl is a collection of philosophical essays that draw on the Star Wars movies for examples and the philosophies of St. Augustine, Sartre, and others. The collection is moderately well done in some parts and blatantly falls short in others, with one particular essay not using secondary sources to back up its arguments at all and leaving readers to beg the question whether Trekkies can write about Star Wars at all. The essays draw on ancient philosophers as far back as Plato and Aristotle as well as one essay about Eastern philosophies and mythologies. There are also essays that point to the theories of Kant, Heidegger, and Hegel.

Broken up into four sections — May the Force Be With You: The Philosophical Messages of Star Wars; Try Not — Do or Do Not: Ethics in a Galaxy Far, Far Away; Don’t Call Me a Mindless Philosopher: Alien Technologies and the Metaphysics of the Force; and There’s Always a Bigger Fish: Truth, Faith and a Galactic Society — the collection tackles the hidden philosophies and ethics inherent in the story behind Star Wars and its characters, plus the ethics of future wars and whether droids can be considered people (not humans). There also are questions about whether everything is preordained or if we have the free will to choose our own paths. Moreover, religion and moral ambiguity are discussed as well, especially in terms of prophecy and whether one can choose to be moral even if a destiny signifies an opposite action.

In terms of Yoda, when watching the movies, there is a clear Eastern philosophical influence in his manner, his behavior and his teachings, but in the essay “Stoicism in the Stars” by William O. Stephens, the author also makes the case that Yoda is a Stoic and takes on the role of the Sage who never rises to anger and never gives into the desires or seeks out adventure or excitement. Additionally, Stephens comments on how Stoics often live in agreement with Nature as Yoda does in his hut on Dagobah, and Yoda praises equanimity and peace of mind, which also is characteristic of Buddhists and others who meditate to find peace and separate themselves from ego. In a way, several essays — even though they focus on Western philosophy — often draw out elements of those philosophies that are found in Eastern philosophy, such as the fluidity of the Force in Star Wars or the fluidity of the future despite prophecies and destinies referred to with regard to the Skywalker family, which is somewhat like the soul or the energy shared by all living things in Eastern philosophy that is reused and recycled in nature (i.e. reincarnation, etc.).

What does this collection offer that is new to someone who was a philosophy major or minor, probably very little, but what was intriguing was some of the history lessons, such as the parallels between the Jedi in Star Wars and the Hwa Rang as leaders of the “military.” It does provide a great number of secondary resources for readers to check out should they need further explanation of a philosophy without the Star Wars references. None of the references used were overly surprising in the well done essays, but there were times when references to the movies were inappropriate to the argument being made. Such was the case in the essay “Send in the Clones: The Ethics of Future Wars” by Richard Hanley (which cited no secondary sources other than a previous essay in the book) in which Hanley talks about Just War Theory — that is only satisfied by having the right intention, competent authority, just cause, reasonable prospect of success, discrimination, and proportionality — but does not use an example of actual war from the movie. Rather, Hanley relies on the slaughter of the Sand people by Anakin Skywalker, which he engages in to revenge the killing of his mother by specific Sand people. Clearly, the vengeful act of Anakin is not warfare and should not be used to demonstrate unjust war.

Star Wars & Philosophy edited by Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl offers little in the way of new theories about the movies, but does provide fodder for book club discussions and additional contemplation about our world and our selves.

***March Book Club Selection***

We all arrived early it seemed to Novel Places for our March meeting, which could have been a sign we were eager to discuss the book.

This selection was made by one of the males in the group and it did generate a great deal of discussion, even though he was likely the only one who finished the entire collection. Most of the group picked a few essays to read, while some of us attempted to read more than half. The essay about whether droids could be considered people generated a great deal of discussion as some of us could see the difference the author was trying to draw between being a “person” and likely being “human.” Others thought that the argument was not well done, though the example in the essay of a blind woman believing C3P0 was a “man” and not a “droid” just from listening to the movie was telling about how well George Lucas had drawn the character to be human-like.

Another essay generating a great deal of discussion was the one regarding the gray areas of war and of course the use of clones in warfare, though the essay had fallen apart as the arguments were not backed by secondary sources and the author failed to sustain the foundation of his arguments.

Overall, the club would probably say it was a tepid read, but it did generate a great deal of discussion about the world around us, war, and morality. For that reason, I’d recommend it alone. I generally think this book would have worked better with two contrasting essays on a given point, such as whether clone armies should be used and whether clone armies should not be used and the reasons for each, because it would have provided a more rounded discussion. I also think that even though there were Star Wars references illustrating the authors’ points, some essays could have benefited from a little more background and use of secondary sources.

For April, we’re reading A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear.

The Giveaway:

1. Leave a comment about why you’d want to read this book in the comments.

2. Extra entries for those that Tweet, Facebook, or otherwise spread the word about the giveaway and leave me a link.

Deadline is March 31, 2012. Open Internationally.

This is my 18th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, giveaway, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews Tagged With: book club, Jason T. Eberl, Kevin S. Decker, Open Court Books, Star Wars & Philosophy

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

February 21, 2012 by Serena

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a Gothic novel with strong themes of corruption, innocence, and the “grand” Faustian bargain. The novel begins with Basil Hallward who speaks of a mysterious and beautiful young man, Dorian Gray, to his friend Lord Henry Wotton who has some very hedonistic world views. With elements of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde and Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, Wilde has created a critique of the Victorian era by exaggerating elements of the Romantic age, particularly the horror, awe, and aesthetic experience, which is embodied in Lord Henry and eventually Dorian Gray — in the most absurd way.

Dorian is an insanely narcissistic man who meets Basil and Lord Henry, two men obsessed with beauty and pleasure and its fleeting nature. Basil is more obsessed with Dorian’s stunning beauty as a fuel for his art, while Lord Henry pontificates his various theories about pleasure and beauty and its transient nature in an effort to garner Dorian’s favor and fuel his own ego that loves the art of influencing others. Dorian is ripe for Henry’s picking as he seems to be — at least initially — like a child seeking stimulation and knowledge, but like a child, he does not have the tools to question what he is told and what he experiences.

“There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence. No other activity was like it. To project one’s soul into some gracious form, and let it tarry there for a moment; to hear one’s own intellectual views echoed back to one with all the added music of passion and youth; to convey one’s temperament into another as though it were a subtle fluid or strange perfume: there was a real joy in that — perhaps the most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar as our own, an age grossly carnal in its pleasures, and grossly common in its aims . . . ” (page 26)

Wilde’s prose is full of contradictions and theories about the age in which these characters live, and many of these theories (contradictory and otherwise) are espoused by Lord Henry, who remains a catalyst for Dorian’s thinking, which ultimately leads to his tragic downfall. What’s interesting is that the Faustian bargain is not an outright bargain made by Dorian, but simply an expressed wish that comes true. This technique is typical of Gothic literature in that some supernatural elements occur and are not explained. However, Dorian is not blameless in the events that befall him because he is given several opportunities to amend his ways and to experience life more deeply than his superficial pleasure seeking. For instance, he meets a young woman, Sibyl Vane, who mirrors his older self in that she is innocent of influence and able to see the good and beauty in all of life before her, in spite of its obvious crassness and dingy elements. But rather than seizing the moment to become something more, Dorian again falls into Lord Henry’s mold, only able to see the superficial and abandons Sibyl, who like Ophelia and Juliet has little choice but to exit from his world.

“There is something of a child about her. Her eyes opened wide in exquisite wonder when I told her what I thought of her performance, and she seemed quite unconscious of her power.” (page 39)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is like a flippant response to an age where pleasure was the main concern, but its dark, Gothic undertones provide a horrifying examination of how pleasure-seeking and narcissism can lead to a corruption of the soul. Dorian is a young man led willingly astray by his peers and willingly ignores reason and his conscience to improve his treatment of others and himself. When the portrait takes on his sins, he becomes free of accountability and engages the world in more than one way that dirties his soul and that of those around him.

***This was the first selection for my new book club***

Only one member did not finish the book, and he said that the language and dialogue between the male characters was unrealistic to him and he had a hard time connecting with the characters and their story. Other members seemed to like the book well enough, but no one was overly impressed with it, though it did generate a great deal of discussion as to whether Lord Henry was the devil or merely an influencer and why Dorian was so eager to follow the path laid out for him by Lord Henry. There was a great deal of discussion as to what caused the painting to reflect Dorian’s sins and how that came about and whether the fact that the painting absorbed all his evilness allowed him to not be accountable for his actions and fueled his downfall.

There were some in the club who wanted to know more about certain events in the book (i.e. a poignant blackmail letter), and most of us agreed that the pages of description of Dorian’s collection of fabrics, jewelry, and musical instruments was dry and excessive, it did point to Dorian’s excessive existence.

While it was no one’s favorite book, it certainly generated a great deal of discussion. I may have liked the book a little more than others and kept pimping the movie version with Ben Barnes.

We’re looking forward to March’s pick: Star Wars & Philosophy by Kevin Decker and Jason Eberl

Filed Under: classic fiction, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews Tagged With: book club, Dover Thrift, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

February 16, 2012 by Serena

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of those classics that defines an author. Set during the 1920s just after WWI, Jay Gatsby is a mysterious rich man who lives on the wrong side (West Egg) of the Manhasset Bay in New York. Nick Carraway, who narrates this tale, is like Gatsby in that he is from the middle west and comes to New York after the war to make his fortune. Unlike Gatsby, this self-made man has not taken great pains to hide his true past. Carraway informs the reader of how he meets Gatsby and how he comes once again into contact with his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom, who live on the right side of the bay (East Egg). While little action goes on in the book until the end, the interactions of the characters and their reactions to one another and Gatsby are telling of how class differences remain even in the United States where you’re supposed to lift yourself up by your bootstraps. There is a distinct disdain on the part of Carraway for opulence and excess, which had become prevalent among the upper class and bootleggers.

“‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'” (page 5)

Carraway has his suspicions about Gatsby’s fortune, but eventually, his charisma wins him over and he goes beyond any of Gatsby’s friends in the end, demonstrating that true friendship has little to do with one’s background or wealth. Daisy is the great love in this novel, and while readers may not see her appeal, they must remember that she is seen through the eyes of Carraway, who already has expressed a bias against the wealthy and high social class since returning from the war. Fitzgerald has not set up a love triangle that is difficult to uncover, but the conclusion of that love triangle — really its more like a love square — is utterly tragic.

“‘Anyhow he gives large parties,’ said Jordan, changing the subject with an urban distaste for the concrete. ‘And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.'” (page 54)

In many ways, Gatsby has romanticized his time with Daisy and he hopes to rekindle what he lost when he was shipped off to fight in WWI. However, the question remains whether what he had with Daisy before the war was real, romanticized, or even imagined by a soldier looking for something to cling to in an effort to survive the horrors of war. Carraway is just as enigmatic as Gatsby, and while their initial circumstances differed in terms of riches, they both pursued the American Dream of success — albeit in different ways. These two characters are juxtaposed for a reason, and Fitzgerald leaves it up to the reader to determine why.

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . . And one fine morning –” (Page 189)

Fitzgerald’s writing was easy to understand, while there were moments where there were names dropped and mentioned in great paragraphs, if only to demonstrate the connectedness of the characters to high society and other “important” people. Those moments were not necessary given the conversations Gatsby had at his parties. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an enduring look at a time when men and women were fully grasping at anything to improve their situation and earn their way in the world. However, there is a blissful disenchantment with this way of life by the end of the novel that will have readers questioning their dedication to the rat race and beating out the Joneses.

This is my 11th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

This is my 5th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, classic fiction, New Authors Challenge, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: F Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner, The Great Gatsby

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory

January 24, 2012 by Serena

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory brings back the parable, the allegory, and the fable in an absurdist manner — think Animal Farm meets the Myth of Sisyphus and Paul (particularly with its comedic attributes and alien encounters). Each story is about 20 pages long, but is utterly absorbing. Readers will fall head first over a cliff into these stories and as the waters of Loory’s prose wash over them, they will be in a new fantastical world where anything is possible no matter how impossible. At the end of each story, readers will have to either shake off the fantasy or simply continue delving into the worlds Loory has created without pause. Coming back up to reality can be tough, but each story is worth the moments of initial fuzziness.

There are televisions and animals that talk quite animatedly with humans, as do aliens and trees. And some of these characters have very set-in-stone opinions, and on more than one occasion, those opinions are proven wrong or even turned upside down in just a few lines. Loory’s prose shies away from the poetic and flowery language used by other writers, but in his sparse lines, there is a depth of philosophical intent and even just a joking nature to be uncovered. Readers will be giggling, smiling, and scratching their heads, but either way, these short stories will impact their thinking and mood for the better. Do not be fooled, however, by the seemingly tongue-in-cheek style Loory uses because there are darker elements, which are nicely reflected in the deep, dark blue in the cover and the imposing octopus tentacle.

The Shadow

"ONCE THERE WAS A MAN WHO WAS AFRAID OF HIS shadow.
    Then he met it.
    Now he glows in the dark." (page 58)

The ominous feeling in some of these stories is haunting, like in the way that “The Tunnel” resembles the darkness that Stephen King easily creates as a gang of kids follows a killer clown into their town’s sewers in It. The impossible becomes possible in these stories, and Loory’s words touch upon faith, love, loss, and the darkness within the human spirit — there is a logic to be found in absurdity.

In “The Poet,” the man writes a poem and becomes angered when it is rejected, but even before he sent it out, he knew it wasn’t that good. Rather than revise it, he self-publishes it and posts and hands out his xeroxed copies to passersby. Here Loory seems to be indicating the absurdity of demanding to be published even if the work is poorly written. However, looking deeper, the story seems to be talking about the dedication it takes to become a good writer and that not being published shouldn’t matter if good writing is the goal.

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory speaks to the inner child, coaxing it out from behind the adult into a fantastical world of monsters and talking animals only to slap that child back into place and point out the absurdity of blind categorization and conviction that many of us cling to steadfastly in adulthood. There is a world of possibilities in this short story collection and readers will be blown away by Loory’s imagination and ability to create new myths to break down and rebuild.

Author Ben Loory

About the Author:

Ben Loory lives in Los Angeles, in a house on top of a hill. He was born in Dover, New Jersey, and is a graduate of Harvard College. In November 2008, his story “Photographs” was a finalist in the Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers Contest. Since then his fables and tales have appeared online and in print in journals and magazines of all shapes and sizes, ranging from literary to fantasy, humor to horror, young adult to SF to sports-related and more.

***Thanks to Unabridged Chick for making me want to read this (check out her review)***

This is my 3rd book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews Tagged With: Ben Loory, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

January 11, 2012 by Serena

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo is a coming-of-age novel (grades 7 and older) that sets readers up for the dreary and devastating life of a young boy, Tommy Peaceful, whose father dies unexpectedly at work as a forester. Tommy and his brother Charlie are inseparable, and their other brother Big Joe has special needs and is often protected by the family whether it is in the school yard or at home from their Great Aunt. Tommo tells the story in a series of flashbacks about his father’s death, his regret about how it happened, his friendship and kinship with his brother Charlie and their schoolmate Molly, and The Great War that invades their lives. Readers will not immediately grow close to Tommo in the beginning, but as he opens up about his past and present situation overseas, it is revealed that things have changed far more and far too quickly for him. He’s fallen in love, rushed to become an adult, and headed off on an adventure that was far less exciting and far more harrowing than he expected. Each chapter begins with a little snippet of his present situation before Tommo relives his past happinesses, until the two moments meet in time.

“I want to try to remember everything, just as it was, just as it happened. I’ve had nearly eighteen years of yesterdays and tomorrows, and tonight I must remember as many of them as I can. I want tonight to be long, as long as my life, not filled with fleeting dreams that rush me on towards dawn.” (page 1)

Morpurgo is at his best here with the subtle foreshadowing at the beginning with the crows caught in the fence, like the cavalry caught in the barbed wire of the battle fields and throughout in how Tommo relates his story. He was 15 when he enlisted in the British military, but only after Charlie agreed to lie for him and say that they were twins of the same age. These devoted brothers have shared everything — the sorrow of losing a father, the sorrow of losing a dog, the joy of finding Big Joe alive, and the love of Molly — but sharing everything also can breed secrets and resentment, which Tommo brings to the forefront when he speaks of Molly. From the beginning, readers are given a clear picture of Tommo’s devotion and love for Molly, but it is clear that she treats him more as a sibling and he refuses to see it.

“Every uniform and every helmet was like our own. Then, as we came down the gangplank into the fresh morning air, we saw them, the lines of walking wounded shuffling along the quay toward us, some with their eyes bandaged, holding on to the shoulder of the one in front. Others lay on stretchers. One of them, puffing on a cigarette between pale parched lips, looked up at me out of sunken yellow eyes. ‘G’luck lads,’ he cried as we passed. ‘Give ’em what for.’ The rest stayed silent and their staring silence spoke to each of us as we formed up and marched out of town.” (page 115)

Morpurgo’s prose is clear and concise to ensure the mood is vivid and the experience of first person has the full impact, particularly during training and in the trenches. A bit more for maturer audiences with its focus on the war and soldiering, but there are lighter moments of ribbing between the soldiers and talk of girls and even romance. However, Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo is more about a young man coming into his own and dealing with the decisions he’s made and the events he’s witnessed. Tommo has not only a colored past of poaching and death, but also a soldiering present that has tested his courage and devotion. An excellent introduction to The Great War.

This is my 2nd book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, historical fiction, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews, Scholastic, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

January 6, 2012 by Serena

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo is told from the point of view of the horse, who is sold at auction to a drunken farmer and is written for a younger audience, grades 5-8. In this coming of age story, the young boy Albert Narracott and his Red Bay Joey grow up together and the bond they create lasts through a number of obstacles. Joey is sold and is off to war — The Great War — to work as a cavalry horse. Like soldiers in war, Joey must learn maneuvers and be conditioned to fight, which really translates into unlearning farm work and learning how to get his rider safely through the enemy lines. Morpurgo takes Joey and his readers on a harrowing journey through France where much of the battles take place, and like soldiers, horses were captured as prisoners of war.

“All around me, men cried and fell to the ground, and horses reared and screamed in an agony of fear and pain. The ground erupted on either side of me, throwing horses and riders clear into the air. The shells whined and roared overhead, and every explosion soon seemed like an earthquake to us. But the squadron galloped on inexorably through it all toward the wire at the top of the hill, and I went with them.” (page 59)

The anthropomorphism of Joey is stunning in this novel. Morpurgo really understands how to create an animal character who seems more like a human being. Joey struggles with war fatigue, fear, loss, and a whole set of other emotions, but while away from Albert, he holds onto the love and comfort of his farm life. Along the way he is treated well and mistreated.

“I found Topthorn was always by me and would breathe his courage into me to support me. It was a slow baptism of fire for me, but without Topthorn I think I should never have become accustomed to the guns, for the fury and the violence of the thunder as we came ever nearer to the front line seemed to sap my strength as well as my spirits.” (page 44)

What more could readers ask for in a young readers novel about WWI? A champion horse who earns an Iron Cross and saves his riders from certain death, but who fears and loves just as the young boy he knew did, just as everyone does. Joey is a hero in more ways than one, and his courage is something that all young readers could learn from, especially how Joey overcomes his fear of strange lands and people. Additionally, he strives to do his best even when he doesn’t want to do what the humans have him doing and even though it is painful to go on without food and shelter. Survival is paramount, and Joey not only looks out for himself and his riders, but he befriends and cares for other horses in the regiments.

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo is stunning and engages readers early on in the struggles of a young horse who is taken from his home and thrust into WWI in 1914. There are images of war, but there is nothing too gruesome that parents should worry about young readers. On more than one occasion, readers will be moved, and chests will be full of emotion and tears will well in their eyes as Joey relates his story. A great way to learn about the harrows of war without delving too deeply into the politics or military strategy, while at the same time demonstrating its far reaching impacts on non-military personnel, soldiers, and horses.

This is my 1st book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

This is my 1st book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews, Scholastic, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: Michael Morpurgo, New Authors Reading Challenge 2012, War Horse, WWI Reading Challenge 2012

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories Volume 1 edited by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

December 27, 2011 by Serena

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories Volume 1 edited by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (I found at Bermudaonion and had to check out) is a collection of short stories and illustrations. hitRECord is an open, collaborative website joining musicians, authors, illustrators, and other artistic people in the creative process. The book itself is short with a mere 83 pages, very little text, but engaging images.

Some of these stories are witty and play on old wives tales and sayings, while others use text as an image to convey their messages. A quick read over the holidays or during a waiting room jaunt at the doctor’s office, this slim volume will provide moments of amusement and fun, but there also are moments of sadness when the sun comes out to play and his friends disappear.

For a collaborative project, it would seem that there is something missing, particularly since musicians participate in the collaborative. It’s almost as if the book should be an ebook with sound to accompany the images enclosed between the covers. The volume is just one in a series of books planned, and may work better on the website rather than in book form.

However, that is a minor criticism given the inventiveness of the stories and the collaboration that has taken place to create the volume. The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories Volume 1 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt is mostly aimed at an older audience, but certain stories could be read aloud to kids for their enjoyment and discussion with parents about the meanings behind the words and pictures.

This is my 75th book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, purchased, Read in 2011, reviews, short stories Tagged With: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea by Nikki Giovanni

December 23, 2011 by Serena

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea by Nikki Giovanni hums with the rhythm of spoken word poetry and the jazz of human experience. Each poem carries with it an essence that reflects the Black experience from the capture and transportation of slaves and what that should teach us about how to treat people to the lessons we carry with us once our relatives die. Her poetry is frank and honest, but it pulls no punches to ensure that readers understand that there are deep wrongs that can be learned from as long as we are willing to look at them closely. It may be difficult to review past transgressions without jumping to defend or shy away from shame, but her poems cause you to meet those challenges head on and to learn from our own follies.

At other times, her verse decries the blind eye that we turn every day to our own situations and histories, wishing that there were a different outcome or social norm. Giovanni’s poems focus a bit on the Black experience, but in many ways her verse and perspective transcends beyond those parameters to reach out to all of humanity. From “Possum Crossing” (page 5), “All birds being the living kin of dinosaurs/think themselves invincible and pay no heed/to the rolling wheels while they dine/on an unlucky rabbit//”

Giovanni also takes her readers on a historic journey through the struggle for civil rights and equality in poems dedicated to Gwendolyn Brooks and poems about Martin Luther King and more. Her poems aren’t just about the past, but about contemporary people and events and the strength and conviction they display. Her poems range from the traditional free verse to the narrative prose-like poems that read like a stream of consciousness.

From “Symphony of the Sphinx” (page 19):

“I have to remember Africa each night as I lay me down to
sleep The patchwork quilt my Great-Grandmother patched
one patch two patches three patches more I learned to count by
those patches I learned my numbers by those patches the ones
that hit and the many thousand gone I learned my patience by
those patches that clove to each other to keep me warm”

Giovanni’s imagery and matter-of-fact tone tells it like it is without pretense, and readers will take a journey with her through her own life experiences. “Talk to me, Poem . . . I’m all alone . . . Nobody understands what/I’m saying . . . ” from “Shoulders Are for Emergencies Only” (page 15) is a lament that resurfaces, but readers nod in agreement as Giovanni expresses each observation. “We hear you,” they will say. There is a patchwork of poetry here that weaves history with the present and struggle with joy to generate the warmth family, friends, and life can bring. Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea by Nikki Giovanni is sensational and touching.

Books & Interviews With Nikki Giovanni:

This is my 33rd book for the Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge, Harper Collins, poetry, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2011, reviews Tagged With: nikki giovanni, Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea

It by Stephen King

December 22, 2011 by Serena

It by Stephen King is more than 1,000 pages and very detailed; set in Derry, Maine, (a fictional town) evil lurks beneath the city streets and in the sewers. This novel has everything readers are looking for in a book: family drama, coming of age story, friendship, an evil clown that is much more sinister than he looks, mysticism, a highly detailed world, and triumph. The main characters are young kids — six boys and one girl — who are the misfits in school for one reason or another and whose families are loving for the most part, though there are a few with messed up parents. The town is at the center of a rash of child killings and the killer is still on the loose in 1958, and their parents and the town adopt a strict curfew. Bill, however, is the most touched by It when his brother is killed by the silver-suited clown with orange pom-pom buttons, and his family begins to pull away from one another, leaving Bill to blame himself.

“Smells of dirt and wet and long-gone vegetables would merge into one unmistakeable ineluctable smell, the smell of the monster, the apotheosis of monsters. It was the smell of something for which he had no name: the smell of It, crouched and lurking and ready to spring. A creature which would eat anything but which was especially hungry for boymeat.” (page 6)

The kids — Ben, Bill, Richie, Mike, Eddie, Stan, and Beverly — join together to form the Losers club and stand up against the town bully, Henry Bowers and his cronies on more than one occasion. Readers are left in the dark as to how the gang gets rid of It until the very last 200 pages, but it is worth the wait as King allows his readers to get to know each character so well that they become friends. Readers feel like they are part of the gang, and they begin imagining their worst nightmares come to life when It arises from the sewers to take another child or to taunt the Losers. King is adept at handling seven major characters and showing readers facets of their personalities and back stories like no other author. His prose is not flowery and is very straightforward, but he captures the emotions and thoughts of all of his characters well, making them vivid and real.

In a world where evil lurks to strike at any moment and without warning, readers are taken on a Herculean journey in which seven children believe that they are the only ones capable of stopping It from destroying more families’ lives and taking the town down. Belief and faith play a major role in the book, and King raises a great many questions about the role they play in having power over each of us as individuals. Some instances of faith and belief can be good and positive, but others can be utterly destructive. Like most of us, each of the members in the Losers Club has a crisis of faith and this is when they become the most vulnerable to It.

Through a back and forth narrative between 1958 and 1985, readers unravel the mysteries of Derry, the mysterious ritual that saves the town and is performed by mere kids, and are swept up in a journey that will leave them on the edge of their seats until the very conclusion. It by Stephen King is a fantastic read even the second time around. One of the best King has written.

I read this is part of the Stephen King’ It Read-a-Long I co-hosted with Diary of an Eccentric. Please visit the more in-depth discussions for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

Filed Under: Events, fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2011, reviews, Stephen King's IT Read-a-Long 2011 Tagged With: IT, stephen king