Emerging fiction writer/poet of mixed heritage, Haudenosaunee (Cayuga) and Hungarian, living in Ontario, Canada. Published in Room Magazine, Vocamus Press, Humber Literary Review, Canadian Authors Association – Toronto. Love #writing, #art, #tech, and how they intersect. On Mastodon @annewalk@tootsweet.social
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Amanda Leduc's brilliant new novel, woven with fairy tales of her own devising and replete …
The concept was interesting from the start. I enjoyed the interweaving of two story genres - myth and apocalyptic disaster. The execution fell short for me, unfortunately, making it difficult to care about the characters or the story world.
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember …
It took me a while to get into this story but I'm glad I stuck with it. If you like stories with a lot of battles between heroes and monster villains, this is your book. While I enjoy a superhero show as much as the next person, reading fight scenes in a novel is not to my taste. As the story unfolds, the social commentary ramps up. Would be especially relevant to New Yorkers who are familiar with personalities of the city's boroughs. As an outsider, I understood enough to see where the story was headed but I'm sure it offer more to New York inhabitants. I read this book via audiobook and enjoyed the voicing and dramatization.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a 2007 novel written by Dominican American …
I liked the use of a strong narrative voice in this book, and that the story is narrated through the eyes of one of the side characters. The world inhabited by the characters is dangerous and difficult and I really got a sense of it. I did find the language (racism, misogyny, fatphobia, etc) difficult to deal with. I didn't like the protagonist, Oscar, a young man with Incel/stalker tendencies, and I had a hard time empathizing with him. This isn't always necessary in order to enjoy a novel but, in this case, I thought my ambivalence toward him lessened the effect of the conclusion. Overall, I'm glad to have read this story. I may go through it at a later date and read through the footnotes which I left out as they slowed the pace of the story.
Marie Antoine is the charismatic, spoiled daughter of a sugar baron. At age twelve, with …
A fun read with lively characters. I enjoyed the voice of the book, the short, snappy sentence structure, the witty language. An inordinate number of similes. Unbelievably so. Once I noticed, which was early into the novel, I couldn't un-notice. Wild imagery. Satisfying ending.
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember …
Listening to the audiobook while driving.
This was a difficult read. I listened to it in audiobook form which heightened the story as well as the tensions surrounding the themes (CW. This book is about sexual abuse and, in particular, grooming). I was, at times, angry with the author. For most of the book, it feels apologetic, minimizing, even encouraging. This is because we are in the mind of the fifteen year old girl who is experiencing the abuse. If we feel confused, it's because she feels confused. This type of close read of a complicated and complicating character can be difficult. It can even be seen as problematic. I thought it was inspired. I recognized this girl. This book will stick with me, always, in good ways and bad. (tip: Stay for the interviews at the end of the audiobook)
This epic at the speed of trees taught me to pay attention to the journey. It took me nearly a month to read and was not time wasted. Profound, illuminating, reality shifting. I'll be chewing on it for years to come.
Started reading this morning. Already astoundingly beautiful. A slow read. I think I'll be with this for a while.
This new world weighs a yatto-gram.
But everything is trial-size; tread-on-me-tiny or blurred-out-offocus huge. There …
Wonderful. Winterson claims that the mind can't tell the difference between the past and future. Only now and not now. And the story goes round and round and round.
Until he was thirty-two, Charlie Gordon --gentle, amiable, oddly engaging-- had lived in a kind …
This was part of my middle school curriculum. I initially read it in seventh grade and a few times later in my early teens. This is one of the few books that I have a full memory of. It haunted me. It still does. Is it better to have something and lose it or never have it at all?
Until he was thirty-two, Charlie Gordon --gentle, amiable, oddly engaging-- had lived in a kind of mental twilight. He knew …
A young girl's journal records her family's struggles during two years of hiding from the Nazis in war-torn Holland.
Most texts on creative writing emphasize either sources of inspiration or strategies for editing. The …
Lots of useful information on writing poetry and exercises to practice the concepts learned. It's like taking a class without the tuition. If you're like me and know next to nothing about the mechanics of poetry writing, this book is for you.
Most texts on creative writing emphasize either sources of inspiration or strategies for editing. The process of getting from initial …
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother …
My mother was a teenager when she gave birth to me. She read this book while she was pregnant and, when I was born, she named me after the protagonist. Anne with an "E". I first read this book when I was nine years old, sitting in a car during a rainstorm. I started in the morning and finished just as it was getting dark and my mother called me inside. I've read it many times since, along with the entire series. It gave me a safe world to live in. I love them all.