#for me it's song of solomon by toni morrison
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Please forgive me for being forward as I know this is an intimate question, but I would very much like to know what books are on your bedside table right now, like right this very moment.
#answer in the tags#tell me please#👀👀👀#i gotta know#like#i gotta#for me it's song of solomon by toni morrison#woman hollering creek by sandra cisneros#and pleasure activism by adrienne maree brown (because i am literally always reading it)
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“All this for your sake, […] to be worthy of your hell! And you reject the damned soul! Oh, let me tell you all! more still, something yet more horrible, oh, far more horrible—”
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
#words#this quote makes me INSANE 🫣#my commonplace book is filled with absolute bangers like this#literally filled two pages w selections from song of solomon bc toni morrison is too brilliant for words
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WE CUT HEADS, a reading guide to yah yah's sweeney todd retelling
Some books I've read/will be reading to help me write We Cut Heads! I definitely expect this this will grow, but these are the ones on my mind right now. The ones I've read already are italicized!
THOSE BONES ARE NOT MY CHILD by Toni Cade Bambara
WE REAL COOL: BLACK MEN AND MASCULINTY by bell hooks
BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASKS by Franz Fanon
AFROPESSIMISM by Frank B. Wilderson III
TENDER IS THE FLESH by Agustina Bazterrica
NO LONGER HUMAN by Osamu Dazai
MACBETH by William Shakespeare
SONG OF SOLOMON by Toni Morrison
THE DELECTABLE NEGRO: HUMAN CONSUMPTION AND HOMO-EROTICISM WITHIN U.S. SLAVE CULTURE by Vincent Woodard
THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison
FROM HELL by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell
THE JUNGLE by Upton Sinclair
#🦢#we cut heads#wip; we cut heads#i wanna do a film version for this too b/c like. the movies...the MOVIES.
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just wanted to say that i really love the way that you write. amber skies hit my brain in every right way, and all the little shorts you post do the exact same. there's something about the way that you select details and craft an atmosphere that i've been trying to crack for a while because it's an aspect i want to be able to imitate a lot - it actually reminds me some of how toni morrison made these little packets of unreality in song of solomon, the way that something so unreal feels so tangible. you just do something with the words where i can feel the layers of them even if i can't consciously point them out. felt the need to let you know that your prose has inspired me a lot, thanks for writing :)
Hey I really appreciate it!
I find myself returning to the Shirley Temple mug at the beginning of Bluest Eye. It's such a simple object, a mug with a picture of Shirley Temple on it, but within the story it becomes this deeply symbolic vessel emblazoned with a symbol of white beauty that Pecola literally attempts to consume whiteness out of to the point that it makes her sick. But its also just a mug.
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not only did you beat me but i am horrifically late.. how embarrassing for me! however(!), i have finally made it to ask you the oh so important question: how much chocolate did you eat over the easter weekend? do you get a long weekend in the us? oh and i guess how did your march reading go? any spring time specific reads or other things you’re looking forward to?
FEELS GOOD TO WIN ONE!!!! 😪👏 tbh I'm not that big on sweets + easter treats especially seem like overload to me BUT I've been rationing a bag of cadbury mini eggs for the past week and it's been a delight in my day!!! pep in my step!! my work gave us friday off + IIRC they do the same in schools too? but I also took off thursday bc I was going to a wedding with friends so extra long weekend praise be 🏝️ oh yes and the reading part!!
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
I think I was halfway thru this during our last round-up and I already knew it was gonna be my fav Morrison thus far but Wowwwwwowow an already gripping story and then the final third just smacks ya outta nowhere and floors you!!! which is wild because I was already completely into it when things were unraveling in the way of slice of life / reckoning with family history and curses - such a fleshed out setting and cast of characters - but then it twists into this epic adventure at the very last second and it's just crazy how something already so layered can get even dizzier, and how complete it still feels! not overdone or rushed at all, just complete magic!!
Of Death. Minimal Odes by Hilda Hilst
there's just somethin about Hilda!!! perfect balance between bare bones simplicity + profundity to me - maybe it's striking because of how simple it is, or conversely reads as straightforward (a minimal ode if U will) because it's as if she's speaking truths that could only be articulated in a surreal way. WHO KNOWS !!! similar to my experience with With My Dog Eyes I was left with this certain ennui where it seemed like something didnt click immediately but then ofc I thought about specific lines for days and weeks after + craving more of her writing. a slow burn of affection! and the translation is so beautiful!! got me thinking about how a translator isn't ever Just translating, but also has to wear the hat of the author they're translating which is so beautifully layered to me + I have so much respect for it as an art itself
Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus
I was excited for this bc riot grrrl is interwoven in so many things/people I admire but it fell pretty flat. didn't care for Marcus's uneven prose throughout which felt peppered in as an afterthought + it was clear which topics/bands/figures Marcus favored in how much more attention + depth she gave them, which maybe is inevitable when you're personally connected to a subculture but I feel like if you're describing a book as "an epic, definitive history" of a movement, you shouldn't be so blatantly biased? it's also kinda funny in an ironic way how she condenses the experience of queer women and WOC feeling left out in a matter of like. 4 pages total. then goes back to essentially a Kathleen Hanna love fest (whomst I also love!!! but that's not what this book should've been!!) then again, I don't expect a white woman to sufficiently examine and/or encapsulate the intricacies of intersectionality so whatevz . flopperoni
Assata by Assata Shakur
I've had a copy of this for yearssss but I'm kinda glad I waited til now because it made me think so much of Leila Khaled's memoir at parts in their undying loyalty to the cause and unashamed criticism of the radical groups they longed to be apart of - in this case, the BPP and its gendered hierarchy - and it's just nice to be able to have this bridge between revolutionaries + revolutions, the embodiment of fighting the same struggle / no one being free until everyone's free. powerful and unflinching yet completely grounded and lucid in reflection - no detail felt out of place and no indictment felt gratuitous. completely demoralizing at parts (as if the american justice system could seem any more like a joke) and particularly bleak to see how relevant so much of this feels decades later (but also unsurprising when you think about america's enactment + sustaining of brutality as a well-oiled machine, the very core of its existence). just all around special and profound
for april I planned to read some short story collections but already I feel myself straying + craving something juicier so I may just let this be another wildcard month as far as ~theme goes like sorry but the heart wants what it wants and in this case it's bret easton ellis seediness!! happy spring!!!
#wishing hoping praying I dont get flagged for that hilda hilst cover it's just too good PLEASE LET US HAVE ONE NIPPLE 🙏#asks#devitalise#reads
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Hey girl. What author most inspires you? Popular press or obscure, dead or alive - no matter. Bonus Q: What author's work is like your comfort food, that you find yourself coming back to at different times in your life?
Whoa, how much time do you have? 😂
Let’s start with the obvious and kill two birds with one stone:
I love Neil Gaiman, and The Sandman absolutely is my comfort.
I don’t even know how often I’ve read it cover to cover, so to speak—my guess is roundabout 15-20 times (and that doesn’t even include dipping into individual arcs or stories just because)?
It’s just a work that has matured with me, and I’m honestly not tiring of it. I still feel I discover new stuff on every reread. It’s honestly the work that’s been most influential on my life in so many ways.
But it’s not just The Sandman. I love The Graveyard Book (I don’t care if people say it’s a children’s book). I really like Neverwhere, literally everything in Smoke and Mirrors, Norse Mythology, The Sleeper and the Spindle, and Snow, Glass, Apples. I also like his other stuff, but the “big ones” aren’t always highest up my list (like Anansi Boys, American Gods, Good Omens and Stardust)—make of that what you will 😂
Also: I really love Art Matters and The View from the Cheap Seats (for some of his non-fiction stuff).
And of course his children’s books.
I just love his worldbuilding, it honestly awes me.
But it’s not just Neil Gaiman. Matt Haig. The Midnight Library and How to Stop Time in particular. His children’s books are wonderful too, especially To Be a Cat, The Truth Pixie and A Mouse Called Mika. And Notes on a Nervous Planet is always worth a read (I think it’s also a comfort one).
Other books I frequently revisit:
Joan Aiken’s Midnight is a Place.
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.
Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (she writes great dialogue)
I also like Tolkien, but I feel I need to be in a very particular mood. His overly descriptive prose irks me on occasion (nothing to do with him, but all with me), but the overall story and worldbuilding makes up for it.
Sinclair Lewis (surprising, I know 😂), John Steinbeck, David Foster Wallace 😢
And many more, so that’s all just from the top of my head and very unfiltered.
#asks open#send asks#about anything really: sandman | writing | life#writers#what i read#writing inspiration#great worldbuilding#great dialogue#inspiring writers#asks answered#asks
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Fuck it I'm literatureposting. Was stuck on a paragraph while writing so I decided to pick up 'Song of Solomon' and do a bit of a style study (yes i write in books that I own don't jump me)
For this section, I decided to analyze how Toni Morrison likes to establish character, and how her dialogue flows (i have a lot of trouble with that!) It's so impressive to me how she's able to tell us so much about this woman she has just introduced with only a couple paragraphs and a few quick lines of dialogue!
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It's fkn insane that Toni Morrison, shouldering most of the responsibility, successfully raised two children, while publishing The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, and starting on Beloved, all before they turned 20 lmao. HOW. But in general, for men, is good writing incompatible with good parenting? Joyce seemed more cruel to Stanislaus than he did to his children, if he was ever cruel to Giorgio or Lucia. He may have been blind like Milton, and a drunk like Faulkner, but he wasn't a mean blind, nor a mean drunk. (A mean blind would have made for a great O'Connor character.)
Yes, she was prodigious. The 9-to-5 job would have killed me more than the parenting. I've never found creative work and wage work at all compatible, speaking only for myself. The posture of cringing servility into which it forces one, and for mostly worthless purposes, just the soul-dead busywork of a service economy, can't help but spoil the freedom of the imagination all day long. I wasn't born to an economic class whose members are able to avoid the 9-to-5, but I've had to find a way. Of Sontag, who was born into the same class I was, Sigrid Nunez observed that she judged it degrading to take any job. (Aside from Morrison, the great writers with day jobs—Eliot, Stevens, Williams—were lyric poets. And Morrison's novels got longer and looser and denser and more complex once she quit.) Teaching has been the only exception to my personal ban on remunerative labor, but that's not really a job—just talking about books and ideas and making jokes, which I'd do for free. Other people, however, find teaching intolerable vis-à-vis their art, more intolerable than they'd find clerking in a bank or stocking shelves or waiting tables. Everyone's different.
As for Joyce: far be it from me to sit in smug judgment on anyone's personal life, but, as an alcoholic also averse to the 9-to-5 and, still more, committed against commercial literature, he subjected his children to more instability than could possibly have been good for them in their early lives. I respect his quixotic quest—in part I share it—but it's a quest his kids didn't ask to join him on.
I believe there will always be tension between any serious vocation and more settled forms of domestic and/or working life. "Can women have it all?" feminists sometimes debate. Of course they can't. No one has it all. What man has ever had it all? Because everybody's life is different, I don't make specific recommendations to humanity in general—the only thing there's more of online than porn is unsolicited advice—I would just suggest that, since we can't commit to everything, we should choose our commitments carefully.
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100 Books to Read Before I Die: Quest Order
The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
Under The Net by Iris Murdoch
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A Passage to India by EM Forster
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
1984 by George Orwell
White Noise by Don DeLillo
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Oscar And Lucinda by Peter Carey
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Ulysses by James Joyce
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Herzog by Saul Bellow
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
A Dance to The Music of Time by Anthony Powell
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Little Women by Louisa M Alcott
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
Watchmen by Alan Moore
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Money by Martin Amis
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
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isha @cosmicrhetoric has tagged me to share 9 book recs and after racking my brains I have finally come up with 9 things that ive read & think other people should read. details under the readmore
song of solomon by toni morrison: This is the first of her books that I read so while I'd recommend any of them this one is my favorite lol. it's the first novel she wrote with a male protagonist and iirc because of this she wrote it w the "hero's journey" monomyth more closely in mind. so it mainly follows the protagonist's upbringing in early 30s segregated michigan and his journey south to recover a piece of his family's history. however the story spins out to examine his whole extended family in detail and paints these really vivid portraits of their lives and how they all tie together. there's an element of magical realism to it, it's very grand in scope and equal parts awe-inspiring and tragic. I'd suggest giving it a read if only because any summary of mine is not gonna do it justice
piranesi by susanna clarke: short but gripping book about a guy who has been living in and studying an infinite labyrinth for a couple of years but has no recollection of his past or how he got there. I read this in about a day on isha's recommendation and basically couldn't put it down the whole time
quantum criminals by alex pappademas and joan lemay: essential reading for any Steely Dan enthusiasts or even the casual danfan. collection of nonfiction essays divided up by "characters" from the songs and accompanied by terrifically vivid illustrations of said characters: hoops mccann from "glamour profession", the gaucho amigo from "gaucho", etc... really well-researched and not super concerned with dissecting the "meaning" of individual song lyrics (which is fine. i have already read too much comments section discourse about who the rival from "my rival" actually is), but great at contextualizing each song in the big picture of SD's career.
a visit from the goon squad by jennifer egan: ten or fifteen short stories from varying povs and time periods, loosely centered around a music industry exec and his assistant. each story shares at least one link to the preceding one, and then near the end they get even more densely interconnected. i read this primarily because i was thinking of the elvis costello song "goon squad", and I'd heard one of the chapters was told as a child's powerpoint presentation (on "great rock and roll pauses"). as it turns out the book title's got nothing to do with the song but it's still a lot of fun to read
rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead by tom stoppard: if you are even glancingly familiar with hamlet and have not read/seen/etc. this play: RUN don't walk to get your hands on a copy asap this shit rocks. simple as
the crying of lot 49 by thomas pynchon: i get that Pynchon has a reputation but this is a great first novel of his to read. it's short plus it manages to fit in all the long tangents, postal service conspiracies, 60s paranoia, and guys with insane names that you could ever want (emery bortz is my favorite). there's a passage near the end, where the protagonist considers spreading her inheritance among the transient population of america, that mentions people sleeping up in telephone lines among "the secular miracle of communication", and I'm not really doing the whole thing justice but it's stayed with me for years after first reading.
the wall by jean-paul sartre (translated by lloyd alexander): collection of five existentialist short stories, very chilly and evocative. i was handed a copy of this as a teenager by my deadbeat uncle who solemnly informed me that the 'wall' in the title was not just the literal wall from the first story, where a group of prisoners are sent to be executed, but a 'wall' separating the protagonist of each story from the rest of society. i may not trust that uncle on most things but i do on this one
something that may shock and discredit you by daniel lavery: transition memoir from the guy who used to write for dear prudence that came along at the exact right point in my life hahahaha. but it's worth reading even apart from that lol it's got some analysis of columbo, 1979 steve martin movie "the jerk", biblical scripture, etc. mixed in, it's written in a very funny and conversational tone that works well as a whole.
monstrous regiment by terry pratchett: book that got me into discworld!! on its face it's a mulan story where a girl disguises herself as a boy and joins the army to find her missing brother. then it's a balls to the wall farce where she gradually discovers that each of her fellow soldiers has some kind of secret to hide. then it's a serious interrogation of blind faith and patriotism and the horrors of war. however it's still the other things at the same time so while all that is happening she's getting bit in the nuts by a horse and having to fake being in pain bc the horse bit a rolled up sock. also it's nice to see gay and trans characters written with tact and depth and dignity in a comedy book that came out in the early 00s
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going to tag... @jillianajones @pastelrabbits @ringneckedpheasant @mousetrapreplica @thatfrogisbog @lavendercountry and anyone else who sees this & wishes to share book recs. as always no obligations 👍
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WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM BLACK AUTHORS
by Tiana Dunkley
I am not an avid reader. For a long time, graphic novels with fantastical illustrations were the only stories I found worth reading. When I started high school, I thought it was time to give more reading a try. So, I decided not to leave my reading experience in the hands of my English teachers, and I visited my high school library.
I read Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart and became familiar with the names Okonkwo, Nwoye, and Ikemefuna. But after I returned the book to the library, I felt somewhat deprived. For me, Black history usually started with the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, but in his novel, Achebe shared stories of pre-colonial life in Western Africa. As a place populated with tribes all bearing different languages, customs, and traditions, I was rarely given the chance to explore West African culture outside of Achebe’s words. His story wasn’t a fictious work to me, in my mind it must have always existed. Reading it made me realize all that I had been missing.
In another trip to the library, I found James Baldwin’s Nobody Knows My Name. I discovered how effective well-crafted essays can be. Baldwin’s words rung as a deep analysis of the American psyche—in ways that are more complex than any history or psychology class put together. “No one is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart: for purity, by definition, is unassailable,” he writes. His words are profoundly relevant as checking our biases becomes more of a common practice.
My reading journey continued with Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a novel that explores the vastness of the diasporic experience. Then, I time-travelled to the Antebellum South in Kindred, a science-fiction story only Octavia Butler could think of. And finally, after letting go of what was weighing me down, I learned how to fly with Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.
Black literature taught me everything I know about literature. I will always cherish the emotions these novels evoked and the ideas they left me with. I often wonder: would I have ever discovered these authors within a school’s curriculum? Black literature exists outside of the bounds of Black history month. With this, I think about books banned from the shelves of countless libraries around the world.
So, to writers like Baldwin, Achebe, Morrison, Butler, Adichie and all the rest I am left to discover—thank you for telling me how you see the world. Thank you for showing me that amid pain and destruction, there is also love and wonder. To readers like myself, I hope you find the value in literature—especially in the pages that you haven’t discovered yet. The new Black perspectives, experiences, and tales that we read educate us on individual human experiences that will forever bind us. The more time we take to understand each other, the better off we will be.
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Top-5 books and top-5 films you recommend?
i couldn't just name 5 books so here are some assorted favorites:
the autobiography of assata shakur. an incredible memoir about activism, imprisonment, violence, and innocence. every chapter made me cry.
house of leaves by mark z danielewski. might not be for everyone, but it is certainly for me. a twisty turny horror that bends the borders of fiction, an experience like no other. i read it once a year.
do you dream of terra-two? by temi oh. a gorgeous and ponderous science fiction about loss and rebirth as a group of teenagers specifically trained to colonize a foreign planet deal with the mounting pressure of their journey. this one gets sad in a way i didn't expect.
notes of a native son by james baldwin. beautifully composed essays that combine memoir and cultural criticism. read for a research project and fell in love.
song of solomon by toni morrison. i remember the ending so clearly. a beautiful and simplistic narrative about privilege and fear.
less than zero by bret easton ellis. sharp, minimalistic fiction that gripped me from the first page. the film adaptation departs from the text in many ways, but is still great.
i crawl through it by a. s. king. a bizarre and abstract little novel about four outsiders and their struggle to find community.
frankenstein by mary shelley. the final third of this book is flawless gothic suspense. simultaneously made me want to cower in a corner and conquer all of my fears. worth the hype.
top 5 movies:
in her time by diane severin ngyuen. currently on view as part of the whitney biennial, the film chronicles a young chinese actress as she prepares for her first big role, playing a woman in a movie about the rape of nanking. reality, history, and fiction all whirl together til unrecognizable.
the lobster by yorgos lanthimos. there is nothing i would change about this story. a disarmingly odd critique of love and marriage that gets everything right.
border by ali abbasi. some people really hated this, i'm glad i'm not one of them. grotesque fantasy combined with a crime thriller with interesting things to say about truth, gender and oppression.
sorry to bother you by boots riley. in 3 words: so fucking weird.
jesus shows you the way to the highway by miguel llansó. absolute cinematic madness. i'm someone who likes freaky narrative structure but this is almost too much for me. i think i only rated it 3 1/2 stars on letterboxd; it's legitimately not that good but also incredible. no words.
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fran's 2023 read it and weep 🫵
a comprehensive list of everything i read this year and why you should (or shouldn't) read it as well...
how to read literature like a professor by thomas c. foster
i picked this back up again when i took on a teaching job as a refresh - it was my fourth or fifth reread and as always my main man thomas c. did not disappoint!! not joking when i say i quote this thing on the reg: it's a symbol if you think it is became a permanent fixture in my vernacular ages ago. this book aligns perfectly with my yes the curtains are blue on purpose agenda and serves as an excellent foray into deep/active reading, which i am constantly preaching about to my kids. fun and fresh literary analysis, just the way it should be!
tiny beautiful things by cheryl strayed
gritty, witty, and full of heart. this advice column-turned-book is shocking but so very human, and it got me out of a months-long reading slump.
bridge of clay by markus zusak
yes, a boy named clay builds a bridge, but it’s sooooo much more than that. this book weaves the past and present together in a beautiful way and really brings meaning to the concept of haunting the narrative. the descriptions are vivid and lived-in which makes the setting - 1980’s australia - entirely accessible, even to a foreign homebody like me. the family dynamics at play are outrageous and charming and the whole thing is gorgeously written and it made me cry. read it right now.
the hunchback of notre dame by victor hugo
i LOVED this book but unless you are just as obsessed with the story as me, this is not a rec. victor hugo anything is more of a warning or an i-read-it-so-you-didn't-have-to. did i learn more than i ever wanted to about french gothic architecture and the paris catacombs? yes. was i still utterly enthralled by the layers upon layers of tragedy woven together? also yes. it was so neat to see the (obviously many and major) differences from the children's movie and musical that i grew up loving. so many good quotes for my commonplace book in this one.
song of solomon by toni morrison
i had read just about every toni morrison book except this one, and since this is like theee book i figured it was high time i rectified that. to no one's surprise, i loved it. a brilliantly written coming of age novel with family history and family mythology in dialogue with cultural history and cultural mythology. who are we but the stories we tell ourselves? is common history alone enough to have in common? morrison is an author who poses difficult questions and lets her readers grapple with difficult answers and i always come away from her work feeling exhilarated. if you let me influence you in anything let it be this - whatever book of hers you choose, Everyone should read toni morrison and experience her brilliance firsthand.
the first law trilogy by joe abercrombie (the blade itself, before they are hanged, and last argument of kings, respectively)
gritty political fantasy with the most lovable evil bastards of characters you ever met - it's safe to say i'm obsessed. each and every character has themes and lines of repetition that carry through the series, but they're Anything but one-note. this trilogy is all about cycles, and what i love is that everything - literally everything - comes full circle while still feeling fresh and true to both the story and its characters. also logen ninefingers is my wife now.
the pale blue eye by louis bayard
i watched this movie first on netflix and had a great time, but to no one's surprise i'm going to tell you that the book is better. the character voices are strong and enjoyable - the kinds of personalities that keep you turning pages - and the mystery itself is full of wonderful twists and turns. it's in dialogue with sir arthur conan doyle, as all post-holmes detective fiction is, but does not feel shadowed by or beholden to it. the historical fiction aspect is fun as well!
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i've never read any of toni morrison's novels (though i did read her play desdemona in college), so i've decided that one of my resolutions this year is to read a novel by here. however, i am indecisive about which one so i'm making the internet pick for me instead of deciding myself.
#vote away and we'll see if the winning result is actually binding haha#toni morrison#beloved#song of solomon#sula#books#lulu speaks#lulu reads#2024 reads
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Books I enjoyed in 2022
Inspired by the legendary @gaudigf 🌷!
Memorial: an Excavation of the Iliad by Alice Oswald (read in February). Potentially the most influential poem I've ever read + where my blog title comes from! Just look at the scene of Hector's death:
And HECTOR died like everyone else
He was in charge of the Trojans
But a spear found out the little patch of white
Between his collarbone and his throat
Just exactly where a man’s soul sits
Waiting for the mouth to open
He always knew it would happen
He who was so boastful and anxious
And used to nip home deafened by weapons
To stand in full armour in the doorway
Like a man rushing in leaving his motorbike running
All women loved him
His wife was Andromache
One day he looked at her quietly
He said I know what will happen
And an image stared at him of himself dead
And her in Argos weaving for some foreign woman
He blinked and went back to his work
Hector loved Andromache
But in the end he let her face slide from his mind
He came back to her sightless
Strengthless expressionless
Asking only to be washed and burned
And his bones wrapped in soft cloths
And returned to the ground
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (reread in March). This shaped my identity fundamentally. A wonderful intermingling of comedy and tragedy.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (read in April). My favourite Toni Morrison! A touch of magic realism. No-one names characters as skilfully as Morrison.
The Iliad as translated by Caroline Alexander (read in May). What is there to say even.
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony (read in May). Genuinely fascinating read about the spread of Proto-Indo-European. Would recommend it wholeheartedly!
The Old Arcadia by Philip Sidney (read in July). Bucolics + cross-dressing, what's not to love?
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (reread in September). Wonderfully constructed familial bonds.
Devotions on Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel by John Donne (read in September). So much rot and putrefaction!
Dancing in Odessa & Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky (read back to back in October). Mesmerizing poetry collections would recommend wholeheartedly.
The Absolutist by John Boyne (read in November). Your typical WW1 drama. The first page was crafted in a lab to enthral me. A traumatized man returns from the trenches haunted by his dead best friend who he had an ambiguous relationship with on a train to return letters said friend had received from his sister… When I saw this premise I gasped because I am 100% earnest this has been one of my little daydream scenarios for years.
Selected Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Susan Ranson and Marielle Sutherland, read in November). Got it for a friend's birthday but naturally had to read it as well to ensure quality. Especially enchanted by the Duino Elegies.
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake (read in December). And recommended by Medli Gaudigf! Mushrooms. Written in a beautiful and informative way.
Poet in New York by Federico García Lorca (translated by Greg Simon and Stephen F. White, read in December). Got this for my birthday :) my first Lorca, gifted by a friend who knew I wanted to get into him, influenced by my infatuation with Leonard Cohen. Beautiful. This edition also includes some letters to his family, they're sparkling and witty and filled with warmth.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (translated by Arthur Wesley Wheen, read in December) read on a flight. More dying horribly in the trenches :D.
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january lasted 100 days and nights and now february has practically flown by BUT i returned to hallowed ground (tumblr) to get your reading recap! did you make room for any romance reads what happened i’m all ears
surprisingly not really any romance specific reads though I think love was sort of the implicit/explicit thread stringing these all together so in a way it was still kinda fitting!! I did watch Touch of Pink (2004) on Valentine's Day which was a silly + sweet (if not slightly troubling) time!!
Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell
if I disembody my adoration for Brontez as a person and try to see this as just any other work of fiction, I could see the kinda jumpy/non-linear structure and casualty not working for me, but because it's Brontez and because I've adore him for years, it's impossible for me not to read this in his voice and demeanor specifically + thus get such a kick out of this!! in fact I'd say the casualty and rough edges are such a big component to its charm + narrative voice. reflective in such a real + funny way without pretension, and I think really indicative of his roots in zines and peak early internet blogging era (at least from my first introduction to him)
Punks by John Keene
poetry! really great when it was good but kinda cliche when it was weak which was disappointing. I'm not a big fan of repetition poetry (? not sure if there's a specific term for it) and there was just one too many in this collection for me to take seriously. could've cut down on a few poems which I feel like I've never thought about any poetry collection before so maybe that's actually a testament to Keene's generosity on not skimping on page count lolol. still I appreciate the good parts for what they are - love letters and testaments to simply existing as a gay man during a time of so much death and strife, proof of life as impossible as it seems to confront sometimes
I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean And Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader edited by Alice Walker
admittedly added to my tbr way back mostly bc of the name alone (which may just be the greatest book title ever) and somehow didn't realize this was a reader/anthology? I knew it included her famous 'What White Publishers Won't Print' essay so I just assumed it was just a collection of essays ANYWAY. I wondered if I would've appreciated this more had I already read the entirety of the works featured (aside from Their Eyes Were Watching God, the only one I've read) or if this was actually an ideal way to get a better sense of Hurston's variety of writing. I'm leaning towards the latter since I really enjoyed just about every piece and genre - folklore and memoir and fiction - and getting to witness the similarities in how she writes each form and also the background context of her life/controversies added so much to the experience. simply love a woman with capital "A" Audacity and it's so clear from the intro alone (amazingly done by Mary Helen Washington) that there was no end to it!! inspiring!!! I also adored the afterword of Alice Walker's journey in trying to weave together Hurston's legacy with varying accounts + recollections of her life while trying to find Hurston's unmarked grave, which honestly could've been its own book bc it was that engrossing. loved this
Sula by Toni Morrison
buddy read this with one of my best gal friends which I think is the best way to read this ugh so damn good I barely have the words. The Bluest Eye floored me and set such a high expectation that Sula somehow surpassed and now I'm finishing up Song of Solomon which has been soooo ??#$?!!? IDK how Toni does it each time, not even just consistently amazing but somehow sharper than before. and with a vengeance!! I love stories about how friendships shift overtime with differing life outlooks n values to the point where you're wondering how you were even friends in the first place, and to create such a rich and complex net of characters and histories in less than 200 pages? just unbelievable. highly highly recommend this one
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