Category: Senior Literary

“Take Good Care of Your Feet”

I’m almost unsure how to even approach this song’s lyrics.  They are simply so absurd that I can’t reasonably be upset with them or even disappointed.  Where “Long Promised Road” seems to shoot for the stars and stumbled somewhere along the way, this song is aiming somewhere else entirely.

“Long Promised Road” almost feels like you’ve been offered authentic Italian food and then being given an amateur cook’s first attempt at spaghetti; meanwhile, this song is more like being offered a vanilla Big Mac by a guy holding a Burger King bag, and before you can confusedly ask, “What?” he drops the bag, and a cat runs out of it and into an alleyway.  The thing is, a cat is a good pet, but it surely isn’t a vanilla Big Mac, whatever that would be.  This is a good song, but you’d be lying if you said you were expecting it based on the last two songs from the album.

To fans that followed The Beach Boys through the post-Pet Sounds sixties and into the early 70’s, this song may not be so much of a surprise.  It is actually rather reminiscent of some of the songs from Smiley Smile, particularly songs like “She’s Goin Bald” and “Vegetables.” (both excellent songs by the way.)  This song would fit in perfectly with those on that album, but it’s not on that album; it’s here on Surf’s Up which has so far failed to truly establish an identity for itself.  It’s almost astonishing to think that just a few years ago, this very same band had put out Pet Sounds, one of the greatest and earliest concept albums in all of pop music.

“Take Good Care of Your Feet” doesn’t fit in among the other songs of the album, but that’s hardly its fault.  Let’s take a look at the song itself to see if it warrants almost giving its listeners whiplash for a second time now after dropping their needle on this confused record.  Thankfully, I can say that it does manage to stand on its own two feet (pun intended) despite the album’s identity crisis and it’s own inherent oddness.  Listening to it, I can’t help but think about Brian Wilson’s personal obsession with health during the time he worked on Smile and wonder if it influenced this song in anyway.

Perhaps, this is a cautionary tale from Wilson’s perspective who was not left in good shape himself by the end of the decade.  Maybe it really is just a weird song about feet that Wilson, Al Jardine, and Gary Winfrey thought would be funny.  Either way, I have a soft spot for it.  The lyrics feel very earnest.  I believe that this narrator really does rub his feet with avocado cream.  I believe that he wants me to as well.  For that, I admittedly do like this very weird song.

7.5/10

 

Everyone has been talking about Call Me By Your Name since it was published/released as a movie, and I think I went into reading it with too high of hopes. (Or, quite possibly, I just don’t understand love like the author does.)

It was incredibly hard to read through the first chapter, even though both the main character and love interest were introduced within the first ten pages. The entirety of the book felt to me a bit rushed, but at the same time, it took way too long to get to the meat of the story.

There were very beautiful lines in this book that created interesting characters, and the word choice was not what I would have chosen, but it definitely added to the piece. However, the lines were all dragged out, and I felt as though Andre Aciman (the author) could have given me some shorter lines so my brain had time to breathe in  between sentences.

I hate this, but I also skipped over a few pages at times and still understood the story, and I wish certain parts were not included. I don’t want to give spoiler alerts, so I’m not going to, but any parts that were about Elio, the main character, considering his love for Oliver were my favorite. They showed how unreliable he was as a first-person character, as well as the confusion and wishy-washy reactions to falling in love with Oliver.

I was actually very uneasy about the age-gap between both characters. (Oliver was 24 and Elio, 17.) That was something that I found very threatening, almost, and I was shocked to see how Aciman decided to go about handling it. That beingsaid, the ties the two had in religion were interesting. I still don’t know how I feel about it, but whatever.

The setting really did wonders for the growth in love in this piece. I do not think this piece would have been as successful in any other setting. The life Andre Aciman gave this small town was wild, the fragrances, foods, and style was something that kept me wanting to read. Having the ocean in this piece also gave a heavy, pulling feeling to my gut. It definitely was one of the most sensory aspect that painted a great picture in my head of setting.

The way this was written makes the book timeless. If you took out the small parts with technology and recent news, the piece could’ve been created a few years back or a hundred. The timelessness was also one of the most incredible aspects to this piece that drew me in. Andre Aciman is a peculiar writer to me, and I still don’t necessarily understand the love wholly in the book, but I did enjoy it and want to further study the piece.

I think I am going to read this piece for the November Coffeehouse, part because I am still searching for a poem that deals with time and is also something I can relate to.

Charles Bukowski always has a way of making me come back to his work, no matter his reputation and personality. (He’s kind of trashy, etc. etc.) I feel grounded in his poetry, in all of his pieces actually-this one is just something I felt the need to unpack and smear the personal revelations I understood from it into the blog-sphere.

Why does he do this to me? Why, “every day should be a miracle instead of a machination.”

First of all, is “machination” even a word? And secondly, my guts are sore from aching all the god-damn time, Mr. Bukowski, these lines are just too powerful for me.

The poem is real, it’s beautiful-I love it because of it’s authenticity. Realness is something I yearn to find in my own writing. It is something I haven’t discovered in my youth, and hope to find as I continue my life into adulthood and stop mooching themes from other authors.

I don’t think Charles Bukowski mooches as much as the rest of us do. I think he was born into the world an old, tired man, and all of his ideas are his own-they are impenetrable.

He titles the piece: FINGERNAILS; NOSTRILS; SHOELACES

he then begins a life-within-a-life story, some parts choppy, but all centering back to a central theme that can be found at the beginning, middle, and especially end of the poem.

The meat of this poem:

“it’s not so much that nothing means anything but more that it keeps meaning nothing.”

I love and hate his self-awareness and reflection at times. I love and hate having to grapple with my own image after reading these lines. This poem requires that I try and I give up all at once; it gives me a hundred headaches with each syllable. Love and hate, but mostly hard work, are needed here.

“such a sadness: everything trying to break into blossom.”

he is talking of horses being released from their shoots during a race, so too is he referring to himself and me and whoever else wants to existentialize horse races.

There is something soft-footed about his lines, something that wants to be heavy but cannot for the moment seem to find grounding. It makes me thoughtful, it makes my own body feel it’s weight instead of the words.

The poem almost makes up for Bukowski being such a s****y man. (I said almost.)

“the more people say, the less there is to say.”

You said it, Mr. Bukowski.

 

(SPOILERS!!!)

Kingdom of Ash is the final installment of the Throne of Glass series written by Sarah J. Maas. In the final book all of the loose ends tie together bringing all of the stories to a close. 

The book begins three months after the end book six; Aelin, the main character, has been trapped in an iron coffin and tortured for the entire three months by her aunt that is but one of the main villains that wants to take over their world. Aelin is close to breaking and is ready to end her life before she can give her aunt the information that she needs to find the last of the keys that will allow her to travel between worlds.

Rowan, Aelin’s mate, along with a small group of their court is at the same time traveling trying to find Aelin and rescue her so they can meet up with multiple armies from all over the world ready to defeat Erawan, the big bad that wants to end all of humanity. 

As the story progresses all of our favorite characters ranging all the way back to book one are seen again and play a large role in defeating Erawan and his demon army. There are large sacrifices made by all and many of the characters we have grown to love do not make it to the last page, but in the end, the good guys win and everyone is happy and healing. 

This series is one of my favorites for many reasons. For starters, most of the main characters are strong, capable, brilliant women that only have men around because they want them, not because they need them. Along with that fact, Sarah J. Maas creates the most well thought out world that I have ever read. It it filled with color and beauty that I have never read before.

My most favorite thing, though, about this book and the entire series is that it has a happy ending. I started reading these books about four years ago, when I was not in a great place mentally, and reading these books about this strong female lead that was just as equally human, was extremely good for me. I took solace in the fact that, though the characters are not real, they could go through the horrible events and still find happiness and love and peace. 

I read something somewhere one time that said you need to write the story that you need to hear. I think it also spans to read the story that you need to hear. If you need that courage and hope, then this is the series to get you started. 

“Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.”

The second book in this three book trilogy is action packed, with relationships breaking, where others build. Mare, the main character, must learn who to trust; but it seems as if that remains no one.

Among Mare’s escape at the end of Red Queen, she discovers that her once pronounced dead brother, is in fact, very much alive.

Between rescuing her own heart, having mixed feelings for a fallen and betrayed prince, and saving New Bloods who are like her, Mare is living the busiest of lives.

When all else fails, she know she can rely on herself, and if no one else can help her, she knows she will.

In this story, secrets are revealed, allied are made, enemies are defeated and reappear.

After narrowly escaping the burning city of Naercey, Mare and her friends make their way to a secluded island where her family and the Scarlet Guard lie low. Bruised and beaten, Mare quickly realizes she can’t trust anyone, not even her closest friends—maybe not even family. But Mare has a plan: she’s going to track down the rest of the newbloods—Reds with unknown powers that rival the strongest Silvers’—and build an army. She sets out with those closest to her, including Cal, the now disgraced prince. Feeling incredibly alone, she can’t help but gravitate toward him; they share an ache for the person they both believed Maven to be before he became a treacherous king. As her conviction rises, so does the body count, and it isn’t long before Mare becomes eerily like the killer she’s trying so hard to destroy. Though her friends are disturbed by what she’s become, not even they can stop her now. Her quest is fraught with trials and bloodshed, but the action lags; the traps begin to feel too familiar, and the first-person, present-tense narration spares no detail. Tragedy seems to be a certainty before the end, but the spectacle still packs a surprising punch.

let me be clear: this book will destroy you. it will make you ache in ways you didn’t think were possible to ache before. you will feel it heavy in your chest for days – maybe even weeks – after, certain words echoing in the empty spaces of your life.

and you’ll love it for doing so.

when i read books, i always have a little sheet of post-it flags tucked into the front cover. why? to keep up with things i want to remember, to make note of the particular ways in which a sentence was worded that fell just right on my tongue or my ears, to make note of little phrases that punch me in the gut in just the right way that i never want to forget them.

with this book by benjamin alire saenz, i wanted to put a little flag on every. single. sentence. and every time i come back to this book, i somehow manage to find another little bit i love but never noticed before, and i have to flag it, too.

now, don’t get me wrong. i have read at least a couple books that have emulated a similar near-obsession with their contents. i have read plenty of pretty stories, or stories that are told in pretty words.

but this book is beautiful.

i stayed up well into the a.m. several times reading it, simply because i physically couldn’t muster up the conviction to tear myself away from it.

at its core, i find that this book is simply about adolescence. adolescence and human connection and discovering all the secrets of the universe, in the simplest (and most meta) of terms. readers witness our main characters, ari and dante, open themselves up and shut themselves down – to both each other and their families. our boys learn how to swim and run around desert flats in the rain and save birds. they love and they hate and they learn so much and so quickly, because that’s what being 15 is.

what saenz manages to do with this book is truly capture the whirlwind and complicated and – at times – ridiculously trivial nature of growing up, in a way that somehow manages not to feel cheesy or unrealistic or… well, like it was written by a 60-year-old man. this book is feeling things you still don’t quite understand, feeling things you’re terrified of feeling. it’s how easily we allow ourselves to act without thinking, yet still manage to be pensive about things we really should have done a long time ago.

when asked about my favorite book, this one is the first that comes to mind. when asked about my favorite author, this one is the first name on my tongue. when thinking of things to look forward to, this book’s pending sequel and film adaptation are at the forefront.

this book is everything i hope to be and more as an author. this is how i hope to use my storytelling, and these are the stories i want to tell.

And by Alan Haehnel is a roughly thirty-minute play that made my jaw drop. The main character, Aaron, starts out on the stage with comparing “the heartbeat of the world” to the sounds “and-and, and-and, and-and.” Actors begin coming in, saying the same thing to the beat. He calls it “the great connector.”

That is enough to compel you to stay interested, but once the plot gets started, it’s amazing. The other actors begin listing their problems, varying from fathers dying of cancer to no one noticing her haircut.

The continuous use of “and-and” in the first section of the play is an amazing auditory effect, especially when they crescendo. Aaron even compares using and to then, but, and because, but he claims that things are happening at the same time. This is the point of the whole play: everything is happening simultaneously. This happens, and this happens, not then, but, or because. He almost tells his story, but changes his mind, and then we get deeper into the other characters’ stories. In between, however, he always says “and” before the next person speaks.

At the end of this, he begins his own story again that happened three nights ago. He changes his mind again, and we are able to dig even deeper into the other stories. It becomes obvious that he is simply dodging the question of what he was doing while all the other things were happening. He even becomes seemingly more frantic as the play goes on, knowing that he is eventually going to have to tell his story.

The use of the auditory sense is only strengthened as the play goes on, as he makes them talk all at once to show how it really is instead of one-by-one like they were all telling the stories. However, it was the only way to make them decipherable. In reality, it is “pandemonium.” He keeps emphasizing how simultaneous everything is: someone having a hangnail, someone’s brother going off to war, someone worried that candy bars are getting smaller, and everything in between.

Once Aaron gets ready to tell his story again, he goes backstage and pulls out his mother, father, a bed with two bodies under the covers, his little sister, and himself (as he was playing video games three nights ago) for visuals! It’s a bit shocking, them all being on separate rolling platforms, but it’s so intriguing. We go through all of the character’s stories again, him still saying “and” in between, and he describes what everyone was doing in his house. What is the most interesting is his sister, Adrian: she was under the covers with someone else.

We then go back to the character’s stories again, which at this point, is getting a little tiring, even with the change of all the stories mixing together in a way that didn’t make sense. Aaron’s slightly ridiculing comments are funny, however. He becomes even more frantic, talking about how smart he is, and he could not have known. At this point, you have a pretty good idea of what is happening under Adrian’s covers.

He then categorizes everyone’s problems with a number, which didn’t seem as important to the play. He ranks and groups them, until his sister comes onto the stage. She keeps asking him what’s wrong, as she still has not told her mother and father what has happened. He keeps apologizing and asking how he could not have known. His sister is obviously strong, remarking that she isn’t as fragile as he thinks. Finally, it is said out loud that she was raped by someone that she thought loved her. This play was just Aaron’s way of processing the fact that he was playing video games, and everyone else in the house was doing something else while she was being raped.

This unique point of view on rape, a little brother the room over, is very interesting. Their moment together was raw, tender, and sweet, as were the moments when he kept trying to talk about his story and couldn’t. This play was a wonderful and unique situation that was a delightful read, even if it did get a little bit repetitive at parts. It was amazing getting to see someone work through something that serious on stage that didn’t even happen to him, but his sister. Seeing his sister at the end was equally amazing. Overall, I recommend watching or reading this play.

Last month, I reviewed Kore Yamazaki’s The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol. 1. This month, I continue to review the 10 volume manga series with this blog focusing on volume 2.

So, if you read last month’s blog, you’ll know that Yamazaki left us hanging at the end of the volume. Renfred and Alice (Renfred’s apprentice) captured Chise as she was starting the purification spell that would destroy the blight that had been giving the Cats of Ulthar problems.

Just like Volume 1, Vol.2 is jam-packed with background information, filler content, and ends with a cliff hanger that makes me want to pull my hair out.

So to begin, the first really important bit of the book is probably the very beginning where Yamazaki starts right where he left off. As i already said, the Alchemists have Chise and Ariel in his grasps. Chise, of course, makes a rash decision and escapes, saving Ariel from the very literal iron fist of Renfred and ends up only slightly injured in the process. Pilum Murale (or Elias) uses his magic to teleport(?) to Chise.

While this is all really interesting artwork and action, the most important aspect of these scenes is the dialogue. We learn that as  Sleigh Buggy, Chise’s lifespan is very short. We also learn that Elias is using her as a “guinea pig” of sorts. Once again, Chise is offered a way out of the magical lifestyle she has been thrown into, but she doesn’t take it. Instead, she states very clearly that Elias is her family now and that she will stick by him until her death which is presumably coming very quickly.

But anyways, Chise purifies the blight and then goes into a fortnight (2 week) long coma.

The next really important scene takes place in Chapter 8: The Faerie Queene. In this chapter, Elias visits Chise as she sleeps in the forest. Apparently, he thought this was the best way for her to regain her magic and consciousness because nature. But no matter how ridiculous that is, he visits her out in the woods.

Here, Titania, the Queen of all Faerie, and Oberon, her husband, visit Elias and a sleeping Chise. Oberon actually uses his magic to awaken Chise. We are also reminded that Chise is not only Elias’s mentee but his fiancèe as well.

We learn of some interesting new conflicts when the queen and her husband leave through their guard, Spriggan. After the queen invites Chise and Elias to Albion, the Fae kingdom, he threatens Elias by saying “…do not dream of setting foot into our lands. A flesh clad halfling like you has no place there.”

This is interesting because this is not the first time we’ve heard Elias be referred to as a halfling. At the beginning of Vol. 2, Renfred makes a comment saying how Elias will never be human and can never be Fae again.

But that is all we receive from Yamazaki in this volume on that specific matter.

Anyways, Spriggan then speaks to Oberon and says, “The liath anam herald disaster and despair… How many souls have been lost because of him?” This only deepens my curiosity about Elias and his past in Albion. But Yamazaki gives nothing more on this either.

The next big event occurs in Chapter 10: Speak of the devil, and he is sure to appear. This is happens to be when we learn of the “main bad guy,” an alchemist. Alice, who was captured by Chise, speak of the boy(?), and he appears just as the title references.

This volume ends with the Alchemist injuring Chise when she tries to save Alice from getting attacked by the Alchemist’s chimera.

 

“Red Queen is a young adult fantasy novel written by American writer Victoria Aveyard. It was her first series and her first novel. It was published in February 2015. Its sequels are Glass Sword, King’s Cage and War Storm”

“A sizzling, imaginative thriller, where romance and revolution collide, where power and justice duel. It’s exhilarating. Compelling. Action-packed. Unputdownable.” (USA Today)

“Aveyard weaves a compelling new world of action-packed surprises… inventive, character-driven.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“A volatile world with a dynamic heroine.” (Booklist)

“Breakneck pace and engaging characters.” (School Library Journal)

“ [Aveyard] sets her audience up for a gaspworthy twist that reconfigures nearly every character’s role and leaves Mare with no one to trust but herself… This blend of fantasy and dystopia will be an unexpected and worthy addition to many genre fans’ reading list.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books)

“Fascinating world building… Readers will be intrigued by a world that reflects today’s troubling issues concerning ethnic inequality, unfair distribution of wealth, pollution, warfare, political corruption, and the frightening power of the media.” (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

In a world where opposites don’t attract in the slightest, Mare Barrow is in the middle of it.

This story starts off as your average poor girl just trying to make ends meet and save her family and only friend from absolute poverty, all while trying to save herself from conscription, compulsory enlistment for state service, typically into the armed forces.

Mare has seen her brothers before her, leave to fight a war that is not their own, her own, but soon she will be apart of it if she doesn’t find a way out.

And above all, she must sit through mandatory displays of power by Silvers; the rich, wealthy, and all powerful beings of silver blood. Mare finds herself hating the Silver kind, but also comparing them to that of Gods.

Mare’s life is in an unending spiral, especially when she gets her sister into a situation that leaves her with broken fingers, and Mare a guilty heart. Soon after, Mare meets a man who changes her life, later finding out he is heir to the throne of Norta. He gifts her a job within the palace, which is fine and dandy until her life is put on the line.

Mare’s life flashes before her eyes as she plummets into a pit of electricity at the Queenstrial event, to choose the next queen. But instead of dying, something incredible happens.

Mare beats death and as a cover up, the King and Queen of Norta throw Mare into a life that is not her own: the forgotten princess Mareen Titanos.

She is then betrothed to the second son of the king: Maven Calore, the prince, and that is all he will ever be.

Along with her new life, Mareena is put in the routine of becoming a “proper lady” which is unlike herself.

Mare and Mareena are two different personas, but she feels as if they are often morphing, forgetting herself.

Mare must prove herself to the Queen, who torments her at every turn, the Red Dawn; people of her own kind who fight for a cause and against the crown, and the crown and the royalty behind it.

There is a twisted turn at every point of this story and it will for sure keep you on edge.