jessicaxmaria's Reviews (1.04k)

I enjoyed every bit of Alison Bechdel's retrospect on the relationship between her and her father. It would have been a faster read if I wasn't afraid I'd miss anything - there's a lot of witty detail in the drawings and in the narration. Bechdel is also endlessly witty, and uses her love of literature to help reflect on her past. It was a great way to read an autobiography - after reading other graphic novels that nearly all include superheroes and sci-fi connotations, I'm not sure I was convinced something reality-based could succeed as such. But, I almost wish all autobiographies could be related in Bechdel's way; it didn't feel like I was being "told" something, I felt like I was peering into the very memories of her and her family's lives. And Bechdel's story is riveting at every turn.

I think this is one of those books read at exactly the right time; had I read it when I was younger, I wouldn't have understood much of it. But now, after having lived in New York for three and a half years, it's all very relatable in a certain way. Not in the "I'll-be-a-prostitute-today" sense or the drugs sense, but there's a melancholy in Gaitskill's stories that tugs every now and then at the truth. However, my favourite of these short stories had to do with female friendships or the falling out of them. There are not very many women friendships portrayed in a relevant, real, adult way in the books I've been reading, and it was surprising to realize that. It's always interesting to read something that's so clear in my mind and see it displayed on paper so accurately.

Overall, the stories are quite sad and even depressing, but sometimes I relish those moods and I can't wait to read this collection again in the future.

After many years of people telling me to read this book, I finally did. And they were right: I loved it.

I was captivated primarily by the main character, Ender Wiggins, whose thoughts and presence made long (and what could be considered repetitive) scenes of a game simulation actually riveting. The story plays out perfectly, and portrayals of the future are always highly interesting to me - especially as this one has children as the central characters.

I would recommend this to everyone, at any age, though the next time I'm shopping for a gift for a kid above 4th grade, I'll be buying them this book.

The beautiful prose of The Lover drew me into the story, and though the narrative jumped around endlessly, Duras' writing never made it feel stilted or jarring. The narrator's voice is certainly detached from the events she is telling, but the center of the book lies in her descriptions of the tumult of emotions of the characters. I felt truly sad at the end, for it being over, and for what she writes as the final words. I have a feeling I'll be re-reading this book many times over my life.

Ryan Adams has been one of my favourite songwriters for years now, and though I don't read poetry much, I figured that since I loved his lyrics (which are essentially poems), I might like his poetry. I was right, though not in the way I thought. Ryan has a gift with words and playing them off each other, but Infinity Blues also displays his humor, his dark side, his fears - it displays his range.

I took about two months to read all poems, because I've found that poetry isn't actually fast to read. It takes time to swallow it all in. I digested it, and was able to parallel many of his personal issues with what I already know about him: Ryan used to do a lot of drugs, used to drink a lot, and he's someone people write about and pay attention to. He's sober now, but it's obvious that it's a struggle for him not to think of those days and going back to them. He writes about death a lot, and questions his own mortality...

And then there's women and love and sex and relationships and all the good memories, or anger, or sadness these subjects conjure up in Ryan. Mainly sadness, though. And being alone. And his mistakes. In the titular poem, "Infinity Blues," Ryan touches on some of these subjects, and growing old:

i don't address you
when you read
because it was only one girl i wanted to need
who i wanted to write to
or for
only one set of legs
for me to set the seed
i am a dirty old fuck on the inside
but not
i am all kinds of trinkets and Southern things
forget
spoiled by loneliness
and made of forgot

In the poem, he repeats the line, "and i AM going to die," as if he's reassuring himself that the pain he feels will end at some point, at least. There's that.

And for all his prolific writing, Ryan has dealt with many a critic, which he addresses in "Joy" -

When you say a thing that I write too much
I dream myself a thousand-plus
more book I wrote myself
and imagine them in a swinging stack
fainting
and collapsing onto you
as they crush your bones
in the name of art

I think Ryan's poetry can only really make sense to those who do know the background of Ryan's own career and struggles - or maybe not. Maybe that's just extra goodness to someone like me, a huge fan of Ryan, and un-used to poetry.

My favourite poems:
Anxiety and Hope
i think i thought i loved you
infinity blues
Cease Fire
Joy
27 Steps (which is somewhat of a short story...)

I was hesitant to read this third book in George R. R. Martin's series - not only because it was 1200 pages long and well, that's daunting, but also because it's almost like marathon reading. It can be quite exhaustive to want to continue reading something at every turn because the writing is so good, the characters are so well imagined, and I become so damn involved in the whole thing. Sean, that illustrious fellow who gave me the first book as a gift, recieved near-daily texts from me of sheer shock at the turns in the plot -

"She's DEAD?!"
"Why do I like Jamie Lannister now?!"
"Horrible, disgusting scene - loved it."
"Just finished the book. WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED. Craziest ending ever. Changes everything. AHHHHHH."

It's worth it to continue on Martin's epic, however, because the characters live so vividly in my mind - I have my favourites, my hated villains, and Martin knows how to play them. He knows how to sentence a favourite character to a worser fate (sometimes even death) and make me stare in shock at the pages, and also surprise me with another side of a villain - which I start to like? Honestly, there are SO many plot turns and revelations I was constantly in shock throughout the book - I opened the paperback so wide at one point as my jaw dropped that I accidentally ripped out a page. Yes, I'm that involved in this series.

And I'll say it here: so far, this third book is the BEST of the series. It's long and daunting, but it's a page-turner. I was always excited to continue in the saga - and now I want to take a breather before starting the fourth book, because the fifth book isn't even out yet! I know others have been waiting for the fifth book for years, but there's no word on when the notoriously slow-writing George R. R. Martin will have it complete and ready to distribute. The only reason I'm okay with this is because I know to produce such detailed and great writing, it must take a lot of arduous time.

Perhaps it was my high expectations, perhaps I was marred by having read [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale|Margaret Atwood|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255648830s/38447.jpg|1119185] earlier this year - I was not wholly impressed by this novel. There are interesting bits, but the unfeeling narration (on purpose, definitely) left me unattached to the events as well. Where [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale|Margaret Atwood|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255648830s/38447.jpg|1119185]'s dystopia left me thinking of my own place in such a world, I hardly thought of what traces of reality were present in Daughters of the North.

To be sure, the journey of Sister from beginning to end is interesting to view upon finishing the book - her evolution (and that of the other women) goes in an unexpected direction. Hall's descriptive writing is at times entrancing in the landscapes, but falls short in showing me the action. Her framing of the novel, as well, leaves much to be desired in the end, though the purpose of such an ending reminds you the focus was the journey itself.

It was definitely not what I was expecting when I decided to read a book about a Zombie War. The book was eerily realistic throughout - perhaps that was because Brooks chose to write the book "ten years after the war" and as anecdotes/interviews from survivors with first-person accounts. It was at times scary, either because the zombie interactions can be quite gruesome, or human reactions are a little too real. I also liked how the story contained a lot of subtle inferences to what may or may not have happened, and sometimes I couldn't help but think of the worst scenario. It's a book that made me think of what my own reactions would be in such a catastrophic, global situation and if I would be a survivor or end up reanimating. Either way, yes, it's a story about fictional monsters, but it manages to provoke basic human psychology. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and it made me think far more than I thought it would, and for that deserves five stars.

Some great articles included in this year's anthology - I was engaged in most of the article whether it was out of happiness, anger, or sadness. I love these books because it's not only a range of great stories, but of incredibly written magazine articles.

My personal favourites -

The Black Sites - Jane Mayer
Specialist Town Takes His Case to Washington - Joshua Kors
"You Have Thousands of Angels Around You" - Paige Williams (this one made me emotional)
Out in the Cold - Mike Kessler
I Am Joe's Prostate - Thomas E. Kennedy (great writing, hilarious)
Casualties of War - Steve Oney

Though I continue to be disappointed by the lack of sports articles contained in these later issues (in earlier anthologies, I was surprised to find they were my favourites), there was still a range of topics here. Also missing was any works of fiction - though, it is easy to read many of these and find them unbelievable.

There's a reason these articles are finalists or award winners - and it's always a joy to read the best magazing writing every year.