Eat the World: A Collection of Poems by Marina Diamandis

It has been a few years since I last wrote a book review so perhaps I am a little bit rusty but here it goes.

To begin with let me say that I first came to know Marina Diamandis as a poet rather than a very successful singer/songwriter. I've slowly started getting to know her music after reading this collection. Some of the poems here came as a point blank shot to my heart, others brought back to my mind memories from a time and a youth long past.

One of the things I can say to describe this collection is that it is refreshingly honest. Diamandis lays everything out for all to see and I'm guessing that felt quite liberating to her: “The things I need to write about are the things I'm scared to write about,” she says. And elsewhere: “I'm scared to be happy/I'm scared that I'll miss being sad...” Well said.

In the poem titled Denominator she seems to indirectly quote the famous Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis as she declares: “...my thoughts are the paint/words are my brushes...” But elsewhere when she decides to talk about one of people's most favorite subjects she hits hard: “...my relationships hang/like broken spider-/webs in the sun...” And I believe she talks for most of us when she exclaims: “Fuck others/ Why do I have to bear/the weight of the discomfort?”

A lot of these poems sound kind of bittersweet. They are all about losing something and gaining something else and they talk about the sweet freedom of simply being yourself. They also speak of the sadness and joy of living and the will to change, when time comes, and break out of the cage that keeps you still. As she says: “Metamorphosis/awaits every being/in the end...” and “...Now I can see to truly/live, parts of me/had to die...”

I have been reading a lot of poetry this year and I have to say that this collection was the one that got stuck in my head for the most time. Its rawness and directness really spoke to me. I look forward to reading more from Diamandis. She really has quite a few things to say.

My (Previous) Year in Reading: 41 to 50

…in chronological order.

2015 has been a great year when it comes to reading books for me. During it, according to Goodreads, I have gulped down 212 volumes that were not only novels for adults but also volumes that belonged in many other genres: YA, graphic novels, poetry, children's stories, short stories and books in translation. This has also been a year that I stopped writing reviews since I had much else occupying my mind and time, so below I'll give you no more than a few words about the books I have read. I hope some of my choices echo yours and I look forward to an exciting new year of reading.

So here it goes:

 

41) Oddly Normal Book 1 by Otis Frampton. How can someone be oddly normal? Well, in comic books anything can happen and it does. This is a story of magic and adventure and big discoveries. And a story about friendships and the past that more than less determines the future. A brilliant idea by the creator, with a great delivery on the page as well. Read it if you can.

42) Madame Frankenstein by Jamie S. Rich, Megan Levens and Joelle Jones. As you can probably guess this graphic novel is yet another take on the popular myth, and you know what, if you liked the original probably you will like the tome at hand as well. This is the story of a man who's trying to create the perfect woman with catastrophic results. Good story, lovely art.

43) The Frog in the Tree by Paul Waters. This children's book I admittedly enjoyed more than I thought I would. Perhaps it has awaken the child in me or some other such cliché. Anyway this is a great story that explores friendship and courage, and it's also a road trip of sorts, a journey towards maturity. Beautiful prose and illustrations that capture the spirit of the tale wondrously.

44) Give to the Heart Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Wann. This graphic novel arrives to us from the far shores of South Korea and it describes the world in the distant future, after a major catastrophe which saw whole civilizations go extinct. In that world… gods happen, or at least godlike creatures exist, and as such, even among the ruins, they do everything possible to achieve their own personal goals. Very good myth, though the art looked a little bit strange to my western unaccustomed gaze. Nevertheless, I have to point out that I liked the second volume more than the first one.

45) Final Meeting: Selected Poetry by AnnaAkhmatova. This is the second collection by the poet I've read this year, though unlike Evening this is a bilingual one. Unfortunately I don't speak Russian and thus I cannot tell as to whether the translator did justice to the original. What I can say is that I really enjoyed reading these poems, and that I'll definitely dive into more of AA's work in the future.

46) Cimarronin by Neal Stephenson, Ellis Amdur,Charles Mann, Mark Teppo and Dean Kotz. Well, just writing the names of the creators took about all the space I have. Anyway, jokes aside this is a very good graphic novel. If you are fond of westerns and big adventures, of lonesome warriors and things like that, you'll surely enjoy this volume that recounts the exploits of an exiled Samurai in New Spain. Breathtaking at times.

47) Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala. This is one of the most heartbreaking stories that I've read last year. It's a tragic tale that talks about child soldiers in Africa and about how they get to lose themselves in the paranoia of war. These children, though innocent at first, become more and more bloodthirsty as time goes by, and the author spares no detail in explaining why. Don't read it if you don't have the stomach for it. Read it if you are interested in great life-based fiction.

48) The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller. This novel is different from the one above in many ways, but similar in some. The former is preoccupied with war, the latter talks about forced-labor camps. They both have young protagonists to whom life has gifted naught but hardship and pain. The hero of this story has to work his way to freedom, though he may never quite make it there. A harsh, harsh tale, rich in events and emotions, and thus well-worth reading.

49) Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Hortonby Don Tate. Who said that poets can't change the world? The hero of this story is a man that did change it in a small but important way by becoming, all the way back in the 19th century, the first African American to be published in the South. It only takes the author 32 pages to tell the children all about him, and they'd better hear his story. Good work.

50) In the Flesh by Christa Wolf. There's a scenario made in nightmares playing out here. A woman is hospitalized for various symptoms, but then life itself seems to become a symptom for her as well, as she seems to lose herself into the narrow corridors of the past, the hospital she inhabits and her own mind. She cannot tell what's real and what's not anymore and she even comes to doubt her sanity. A story as dark as they come written in an almost spare, straightforward way.

To be continued.

Read also: 1 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30, 31 to 40
 

My (Previous) Year in Reading: 31 to 40

…in chronological order.

2015 has been a great year when it comes to reading books for me. During it, according to Goodreads, I have gulped down 212 volumes that were not only novels for adults but also volumes that belonged in many other genres: YA, graphic novels, poetry, children's stories, short stories and books in translation. This has also been a year that I stopped writing reviews since I had much else occupying my mind and time, so below I'll give you no more than a few words about the books I have read. I hope some of my choices echo yours and I look forward to an exciting new year of reading.

So here it goes:

31)  The Ballad of the Sad Caféand Other Stories by Carson McCullers. I fell in love with the language whilst reading this book. Don't get me wrong, the stories and the characters are great as well, but the language, well, that's something else. The Ballad is one of the best novellas I have read in a long time and I'd recommend to any fan of the genre.

32) The Sculptor by Scott McCloud. Wow! What an amazing piece of work. This is what I talk about when I talk about Graphic Novels. Excellent story, great art work, and enough twists and turns to keep you turning the (many) pages without a pause. And the ending, well, that is one of the best I've ever encountered in fiction, and I'm not only talking about this genre only. It easily slips into my top 5 reads of the year list.

33) Nanny and Me by Florence Ann Romano. This is one of those books that fall under the category Not For Me, for the simple reason that I'm not a parent, and I have little to no experience with small children. However, all the other people who read it found it quite good, including a good friend of mine, so I seem to be on the wrong side of things in this one.

34) Rungle in the Jungle by Robert Logan Rogers. Whilst in the previous book I belonged to a minority of people who didn't like it much, here I belong to the one that liked it more than most. For me this is exciting adventure story for younger readers, full of imaginative leaps and a few nice twists and turns. Well, you can't agree with all the people all the time.

35) The Dogs and the Wolves by Irène Némirovsky. She is one of the most popular non-English writers of our days and I can see why. Though her stories are all set in the distant past, which comes as no surprise since she died in 1942, they all have something to say to the modern reader, as they talk about love and loss, about immigration and nostalgia. This is a somewhat difficult novel to read but in the end it's worth the trouble, since it rewards you with a story that's hard to forget.

36) A Glance Backward by Tony Sandoval. Yet another great graphic novel. This is a tale of a boy that all of a sudden finds himself in a strange and in many ways surreal world, in which he has to fight hard to survive. Despite his fear and the mystery that enshrouds his whereabouts, he manages to do exactly that, and on the way he also finds himself becoming a different person, someone who's determined to succeed in a quest that at first seemed impossible.

37) Hinges Book 1: Clockwork City by Meredith McClaren. To be honest I didn't like this volume as much as I thought I would. Perhaps I'm not enough of a geek, or probably, the story itself is to blame. What I mean is that it left me a little bit disappointed. There are tons of potential here, and if the script and the art were a little bit better, maybe I would now speak about a masterpiece. Who knows, perhaps the next installment will do the trick for me.

38) Edward Scissorhands Volume 1: Parts Unknown by Kate Leth and DrewRausch. I came to this as a big fan of the original movie and somehow I expected to be disappointed. Thank Buddha I wasn't. This is a very good graphic novel that stays faithful to the original and when needs expands on it in a great manner. I have already read the next volume which I've enjoyed just as much.

39) Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the FingersBegin to Bleed a Bit by Charles Bukowski. Some people say that you can either love or hate Bukowski. I guess I belong somewhere in the middle since there are parts of this poetry collection that I like and others which I don't hate, but find that they are out of place. So unable to really make up my mind I awarded this three out of stars, and I stand behind that decision.

40) Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman. There is so much material in this collection that the fans of the author, and I am one, should absolutely love it. Well I've awarded it four stars instead of five, exactly because of that abundance of material, since I believed and still do that some of it doesn't belong here. I enjoyed this book, I really did, but…

 

To be continued.

See also: 1 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30

 

My (Previous) Year in Reading: 21 to 30

…in chronological order.

2015 has been a great year when it comes to reading books for me. During it, according to Goodreads, I have gulped down 212 volumes that were not only novels for adults but also volumes that belonged in many other genres: YA, graphic novels, poetry, children's stories, short stories and books in translation. This has also been a year that I stopped writing reviews since I had much else occupying my mind and time, so below I'll give you no more than a few words about the books I have read. I hope some of my choices echo yours and I look forward to an exciting new year of reading.

So here it goes:

21) Gronk Volume 1 & Volume 2 by Katie Cook. Are you afraid of monsters? If yes, you should read these comic book adventures to get over your fear and have some fun on the way. If not, read them anyway, because, well, they are fun. This is the story of a monster who's not scary and her friends who are not monsters. A story as simple, and as beautiful, as they come.

22) The Lost Aztiki Tribe and the Mysterious Cave of Gold by EdwardLoffredo. The synopsis of this tale sounds quite promising but I have to admit that I felt a bit disappointed at the end, because somehow I expected more. Don't get me wrong. This is a good story, but perhaps, in my eyes, it's not good enough. What is it about? A great quest with the end product being treasure.

23) Peace, Bugs and Understanding: An Adventure in Sibling Harmony byGail Silver and Youme Nguyen Ly. It seems that most readers liked this book more than I did. I don't know why that is. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I don't have children of my own or something. Anyway, there's not much to say here, as the title explains it all.

24) The Tell-Tail Heart by Monica Shaughnessy. This is one of the books that I really enjoyed reading this year. It's the tale of Cattarina, Edgar Allan Poe's cat, that finds herself involved in the investigation of a crime that will lead her down  a lot of dark alleys and put her life in danger. I can still remember that I was smiling most of the time while reading this tale, which means that this is as special as they come.

25) Outcast Volume 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him by Robert Kirkman, PaulAzaceta and Elizabeth Breitweiser. I love my comics dark and the one at hand does justice to my obsessions. The story, a tale of a man possessed by demons and looking for answers, is superbly told and the art does not disappoint. A lovely tome. I look forward to whatever comes next.

26)  Bang! Tango by Joe Kelly and Adrian Sibar. 2015 was a big year when it came to graphic novels, and I have to admit that some were better than others. This one could have been a little bit better. Though I liked the background story and some of the scenes were really good, whilst reading it I kept thinking that this was a rush job. The talent is there, but…

27) His Day Is Done: A Nelson Mandela Tribute by Maya Angelou. The truth is that this is the first book by the poet that I have ever read. I knew some of her poems, but I never really got into reading her in a comprehensive way. And now that I did I kind of feel like a fool for what I was missing. This hymn to the great man I absolutely loved reading. Words like serene streams running through the pages.

28) Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? by Maya Angelou. See what I'm talking about? Yes, I've read two books by her in a row. And though I didn't like this one as much as the last, I did find in its pages some gems, a few turns of phrase that made me feel like I was in the presence of a genius. One thing is for sure, this will not be the last book of hers that I read.

29) Cat vs Human: Poems About Cats by Yasmine Surovec. Oh the cats, most people just love to love them and so do I. I adored this book for its rhymes and its illustrations but most of all for its meawy ways. This is the second book that I've read about cats last year and I enjoyed them both just as much.

30) The Malady of Death by Marguerite Duras. I have read this book twice in a row. The first for pleasure and the second for an exercise in translation. Yes, I have translated it into Greek but no one will ever get to read it, since I did it just for me, in an effort to replicate the mellifluous words and sentences of the author. A short gem.

To be continued.

See also: 1 to 10, 11 to 20