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My wife's been out of town the last few days, so I took a break from American Gods and read through The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. Not bad, but kind of underdeveloped.
Joined: Wed February 06, 2013 2:47 am Posts: 17516 Location: Scooby Doo
Short story is this young guy was a really good cricketer, a child prodigy. He was struck by cricket ball and died at 25. Spoiler alert not necessary. This is a happy and sad read that's affecting me more than I thought it would.
Joined: Wed February 06, 2013 2:47 am Posts: 17516 Location: Scooby Doo
These happened last week too.
I'd read this before and it's quite enjoyable (if you liked High Fidelity this should be considered but where Hi Fi is Corduroy, this would be Whipping. Good but not essential.
And I finally finished this although I started it again. Not sure if it's total wank or just moments of indulgence. Some parts resonated really well with me while others seemed to meander with self indulgence. It's no Vernon God Little (which may be my favourite read ever). Joe, have you read VGL?
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:03 pm Posts: 9359 Location: Washington State
Quote:
Flora 717 is not like other bees. As a sanitation worker, she is a member of the lowest caste in an orchard hive where hard work, sacrifice, and worship of the Queen are greatly valued. But unexpected circumstances lead her to the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she makes a shocking discovery that will change the way she sees the hive forever.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:03 pm Posts: 9359 Location: Washington State
I need some help with poetry. Specifically, Bukowski. I picked up "You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense" and I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to be getting from this. I'm trying to not read it like a book, but I think a lot of it's inflection. For example, I tried reading Shakespeare and couldn't get into the story because I was trying too hard to understand what was going on. But then I watched some of The Hollow Crown and it all made sense, somehow. So maybe I need an audiobook of poetry instead of trying to just read it.
One or two really spoke to me, but I'm about 25% of the way through the book so that's not good, I think?
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 7:41 am Posts: 19719 Location: Cumberland, RI
bune wrote:
I need some help with poetry. Specifically, Bukowski. I picked up "You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense" and I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to be getting from this. I'm trying to not read it like a book, but I think a lot of it's inflection. For example, I tried reading Shakespeare and couldn't get into the story because I was trying too hard to understand what was going on. But then I watched some of The Hollow Crown and it all made sense, somehow. So maybe I need an audiobook of poetry instead of trying to just read it.
One or two really spoke to me, but I'm about 25% of the way through the book so that's not good, I think?
I don't read a ton of poetry, but I did study a lot of poetry and drama. Just a couple of things that help me:
1. Poetry does rely on the spoken word a lot due to the importance of rhyme, meter, and sound. If you haven't been a big poetry reader before, I think it could help to listen to people read poems in order to get yourself acclimated to it as a genre. A couple of options: with contemporary poets, I'd search YouTube and see if there are recordings of their readings--you can read along and see how their voices move through the poems, and once you get a sense of their flow, you'll be able to read their other work with more ease, I think. With something older, like Shakespeare, I'd advise the same thing, just try to find a very faithful reproduction and read along to get a sense of how things move. I think people actually make the mistake of reading Shakespeare too slowly--it's meant to be fast and snippy (except for long, dramatic monologues), not slow and plodding.
2. Try to get out into the real world and hear poetry! If there's a college or a half-decent bookstore near you, they probably do poetry readings every once in a while. Now, there are probably open-mic nights and those could work, but I'm really talking about published authors on book tours discussing their work, or poets invited to speak at schools. Even if they're not poets you're reading (and it might even be better if they're not), you'll get a myriad of voices and begin to understand the variety of ways in which poetry can be read and heard. This will help, I think, when you encounter new poets and are trying to get a sense of what they're all about.
3. Just like with any other genre of writing: don't get caught up in "having" to like something--if you're not connecting with a certain poet or poem, then fuck it! Go read something else. It'll be more fun that way.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:03 pm Posts: 9359 Location: Washington State
Simple Torture wrote:
bune wrote:
I need some help with poetry. Specifically, Bukowski. I picked up "You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense" and I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to be getting from this. I'm trying to not read it like a book, but I think a lot of it's inflection. For example, I tried reading Shakespeare and couldn't get into the story because I was trying too hard to understand what was going on. But then I watched some of The Hollow Crown and it all made sense, somehow. So maybe I need an audiobook of poetry instead of trying to just read it.
One or two really spoke to me, but I'm about 25% of the way through the book so that's not good, I think?
I don't read a ton of poetry, but I did study a lot of poetry and drama. Just a couple of things that help me:
1. Poetry does rely on the spoken word a lot due to the importance of rhyme, meter, and sound. If you haven't been a big poetry reader before, I think it could help to listen to people read poems in order to get yourself acclimated to it as a genre. A couple of options: with contemporary poets, I'd search YouTube and see if there are recordings of their readings--you can read along and see how their voices move through the poems, and once you get a sense of their flow, you'll be able to read their other work with more ease, I think. With something older, like Shakespeare, I'd advise the same thing, just try to find a very faithful reproduction and read along to get a sense of how things move. I think people actually make the mistake of reading Shakespeare too slowly--it's meant to be fast and snippy (except for long, dramatic monologues), not slow and plodding.
2. Try to get out into the real world and hear poetry! If there's a college or a half-decent bookstore near you, they probably do poetry readings every once in a while. Now, there are probably open-mic nights and those could work, but I'm really talking about published authors on book tours discussing their work, or poets invited to speak at schools. Even if they're not poets you're reading (and it might even be better if they're not), you'll get a myriad of voices and begin to understand the variety of ways in which poetry can be read and heard. This will help, I think, when you encounter new poets and are trying to get a sense of what they're all about.
3. Just like with any other genre of writing: don't get caught up in "having" to like something--if you're not connecting with a certain poet or poem, then fuck it! Go read something else. It'll be more fun that way.
That's good advice, but also difficult because it's hard to tell if I'm not liking it because I don't know wtf I'm doing or if it's not a good poem.
Joined: Wed December 19, 2012 9:53 pm Posts: 22487 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA
It's young adult, but I like how the story is set up so far. Some boy gets his mind switched with a version of himself in another dimension.
It was immediately followed up with another novel that follows the kid who got switched from the new universe back to the kid's original universe. Does that make sense?
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