As the year draws to a close, it’s worth reviewing the books that left the greatest impression on me. I read 40 books this year, blowing away my goal of 25. I made an effort to include new books, rather than rereads and it really paid off. While there was a lot of blah or just mediocre, it was worth it for finding these 5 jewels, which I’m happy to share with you today.
Continue reading “My 5 Favorite Books of 2019”
Warchild by Karin Lowachee is like a meandering Ender’s Game meets book five Harry Potter–you remember, the one where he was really angry and agonized, all the time.
This review contains spoilers for the story.
Continue reading ““Warchild”–A Tortured Young Man Caught Between Worlds”
Let’s talk about Ocean Vuong.
I first learned of Mr. Vuong at a poetry reading held at the University of Maryland–the Writer’s Here & Now series, specifically. Mr. Vuong was the featured poet and took the stage as an underwhelming presence. Quiet of voice, small of stature, yet Mr. Vuong’s poetry dealt me such a blow that when I left the event, I was breathless. I felt as though my chest had been cracked open by his powerful, lyrical poetry.
Mr. Vuong invites you into his world and you go, expecting an easy ride. But even here, on the “Threshold”, he is beside you, saying in his soft, soft voice:
In the body, where everything has a price,
I was a beggar. On my knees,I watched, through the keyhole, not
The man showering, but the rainfalling through him…
In his latest work, “Night Sky with Exit Wounds”, Mr. Vuong wrestles with heavy issues. His familial history: “An American soldier fucked a Vietnamese farmgirl. Thus my mother exists. / Thus I exist. Thus no bombs = no family = no me. / Yikes.” (“Notebook Fragments”). Language barriers: “She doesn’t know what comes after. / So we begin again: / a b c a b c a b c” (“The Gift”). Sexuality: “To love another / man–is to leave / no one behind / to forgive me.” (“Into the Breach”).
I don’t want to spoil the whole work for you, though I would happily share every single poem if I could. I’ll end by mentioning one of my favorites, one of the most moving and heart-wrenching,”Seventh Circle of Earth”, about Texan couple Michael Humphrey and Clayton Capshaw, who were murdered in their homes. The poem appears as numbers leading to footnotes, which contain the meat of the poem.
But Mr. Vuong’s experimental formatting is never better than right here: Tilt your head to the side, and suddenly you’re looking at a constellation, an American tragedy of two lovers placed in the sky. A better fit for our modern times, perhaps, than some distant Greek myth.
I highly recommend that you check out Mr. Vuong’s work. I, for one, can’t wait to see what he does next.
