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bookslover-y · 5 years

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from @gallerybooks - IT’S THRILLER SEASON! These three will have you at the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next. 📖 You can get your hands on TEMPER and PRETTY REVENGE on July 2nd, but MAN OF THE YEAR is out now! 👀 . . . . #gallerybooks #scoutpress #temper #temperbook #laynefargo #manoftheyear #manoftheyearbook #carolinelouisewalker #prettyrevenge #emilyliebert #thrillerbooks #thrillerreads #2019books #bookstagram #bookcommunity - #regrann https://www.instagram.com/p/BzM0YcInss_-R9o2F3e7Wps0cf5qPI6Nr3EksU0/?igshid=ocg9lzrvjilq

#gallerybooks #scoutpress #temper #temperbook #laynefargo #manoftheyear #manoftheyearbook #carolinelouisewalker #prettyrevenge #emilyliebert #thrillerbooks #thrillerreads #2019books #bookstagram #bookcommunity #regrann

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thelonelyrdr-blog · 7 years

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Thoughts on Tuesday Nights in 1980

As is the case for most readers, I assume, the cover of a book draws me in, but the cover copy decides whether or not I'll read the book. Thus, as soon as Tuesday Nights in 1980's cover copy compared it to Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, I inwardly groaned, and, had I not received my copy free through YPG's Little Big Mouth program, I would have put the book down right then. I can’t stand stories where the POV characters' narratives are removed from one another only to intersect due to the contrivances of "fate" (i.e. the author). Which is why, although I know that it's among many people's favorite Christmas movies, I really disliked Love Actually, even more so than A Visit from the Goon Squad. However, as previously mentioned (here and here), with free books, I'm not picky. So I dove in, and considering how much I ended up loving this book - it may be one of my favorites of the year, if not of all-time - I'm thinking that in the future I shouldn't judge a book by its cover or by its cover copy. (But then how will I choose which books to read, you ask? Solution: just read everything.) I can best convey the experience of reading this book as follows: Eyes: Glazing over every time this motif recurred. Tearing up when the characters were at their most desperate. Ears: Distantly aware of the praise that will undoubtedly be heaped upon this debut novel and its author for her experimental writing techniques. Mouth: Opening in awe of the author's talent at times and yawning at others. Silently screaming at Lucy, whom I found insufferable for all of the reasons that Engales ultimately did, even if it is believable for the youngest character to be naive and idealistic and dependent on others to define her: Face: Turning the pages frantically, sometimes prematurely, to find out what would happen next. Then, as I neared the end, turning pages more slowly to prolong reading the book. Heart: The same one beating in the chests of all of the POV characters. The same one bleeding onto the page through the author's pen. Kind of a cool method of reviewing a book, right? Now imagine that I used this technique three or four more times during this review. Would it still be cool? Then again, if Prentiss intended her writing itself to imitate art, then her repeated anatomical deconstruction of scenes is appropriate regardless of its subjective appeal: like art, these passages are, at their worst, obtuse and pretentious, but at their best, they're evocative and alive with meaning and sensation. Most of the time, I adored the writing in this book, pausing to savor lines and mark their pages for later reference. Other times, the writing struck me as tedious and trying too hard. But the former instances surpassed the latter in frequency, and even when Prentiss's writing frustrated me, I always, always admired the effort and artistic ingenuity it displayed. Aside from the writing, my favorite aspect of this story was its characters, as they read not so much as characters as they did people with lives and histories. The interview with Prentiss included in the back of the book revealed that it took her seven years to write Tuesday Nights in 1980, and that in that time, each character underwent several evolutions. I might've guessed the length of Prentiss's writing journey by how intimately she seems to know her characters. I might've guessed it by how well she portrays their sadness too. Authors - and lowly writers like me - like to joke about the cruelty we inflict on our characters, but often I come away from a book with a sense that its author has tortured the characters merely because tragedy is more realistic and yet more literary than happiness. Not Prentiss though: she breaks her characters to great effect. I reveled in their brokenness. Had she made less bleak narrative choices, the book would not have been as powerful. (What's with everyone in this book not feeling like eating when they're sad though? Could there not have been at least one character who gained rather than lost weight due to depression and loneliness? Or perhaps that's not how "beautiful" people grieve.) Of all of the characters, none is more miserable than the setting, which, yes, is itself a character. Through her sensuous, affecting descriptions of New York City, Prentiss captures everything I love and hate about the place. If sometimes these descriptions tire or overwhelm, then this mirrors the sensory overload characteristic of the city. The below line, in particular, resonates with my image of New York City: It was then, on his very first day, that he knew he had found his place in New York, a place for the deranged and wrecked and bold, a place where pity couldn't exist if it wanted to because there would have to be too much of it. That is exactly how I feel when, every morning as I'm trekking to work from Penn Station, I avert my eyes from the numerous homeless people lining the sidewalks. I wonder, then, if I'm the only one purposefully ignoring them (and my conscience), if my fellow pedestrians no longer notice them at all. Each time I swallow my pity, choke it down until it settles uncomfortably yet harmlessly in the pit of my stomach, I think, "I couldn't give change to all of them, even if I wanted to." The same is true of emotional currency: there is a limit to how much sadness, how much sympathy, a person can feel and still have it be useful to the people to whom it's extended. Don't misunderstand me: I'm not sharing this experience because I want anyone to feel sorry for me. I'm merely trying to illustrate, through this example, how profoundly I connected with Prentiss's portrayal of New York City and its inhabitants. Perhaps that's the root of why this novel was more enjoyable for me than the structurally similar A Visit from the Goon Squad: unlike the latter, Tuesday Nights in 1980 is about poor, hopeless people. My people. The people I am and am surrounded by every day. People who have earned their sadness and thus can wear it more credibly than Egan’s white middle- and upper-class characters . How much I liked it aside, this book has also helped me begin to overcome my writer's block. I probably sound like I'm full of crap, especially because I'm posting this review a week late, but hear me out. When, toward the end of the novel, James decides that it's worth writing merely because he can and Engales can no longer paint, I lingered on that sentiment for a long time. Strangely, I'd never thought of the act of creating from the perspective of someone who'd lost the ability to create. The tragedy of Engales's accident persuaded me like no other purely intellectual argument ever had that I should write as much as I can while I can, even if what I'm writing is complete and utter garbage, as I often deem it. Not only is there inherent value in the act of creating, but hey, I might be dead tomorrow! Barring my sudden and untimely death, I might grow old and get dementia; I might be young and get dementia. I might go blind, develop arthritis, lose a hand, and in any of these instances, how I wrote, if I still managed to write, would irrevocably change. Thus, I want to take full advantage of being able-minded and -bodied, because writing time is not infinite. (And to address the late blog post, despite what fiction would have us believe, revelations don't inspire immediate change: overcoming writer's block in order to write more consistently will be a slow process for me, for sure, but it's one that I'm committed to undergoing in a way that I wasn't before.) Reading time isn't infinite either, which is why I rarely reread books anymore, but Tuesday Nights in 1980 is one book that I strongly believe would improve upon rereading. I mentioned in a previous blog post that I dislike it when I can visualize an author's notes while reading, but Prentiss is such a master at concealing hers that I think it might be fun to go back and try to reconstruct them with the novel’s resolution in mind. Aspects of the plot are somewhat predictable, but they didn't feel predictable while I was reading, which is what matters. In conclusion, read this book, and, if you're both a reader and a writer like me, cry because you can never write anything as true or as beautiful as just one line from this novel. Then be like me and James and try anyway.

#tuesdaynightsin1980 #mollyprentiss #literaryfiction #books #bookreviews #reading #scoutpress #simonandschuster #ypg #littlebigmouth #publishing #avisitfromthegoonsquad #jenniferegan #loveactually

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bookybooky90 · 5 years

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Really loving this book so far! The story is fantastic and just look at that cover! So pretty! #Queenie #CandiceCartyWilliams #books_of_instagram #reader #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #ARC #IAmQueenie #scoutpress #ownvoices (at Key West, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvIL3e_HPHw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1wxsmx8cq6aoe

#queenie #candicecartywilliams #books_of_instagram #reader #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #arc #iamqueenie #scoutpress #ownvoices

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spinesvines · 5 years

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The moment I saw this gorgeous cover and read the synopsis I immediately added QUEENIE by @candicec_w to my TBR list. I’m smiling from ear to ear because I rarely win anything but that all changed THANKS to awesome giveaway from @the_grateful_read & @gallerybooks!⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Overview:⁣⁣ Bridget Jones’s Diary meets Americanah in this disarmingly honest, boldly political, and truly inclusive novel that will speak to anyone who has gone looking for love and found something very different in its place.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.⁣⁣ 👑🧡⁣ Out March 19, 2019 ⁣ ⁣⁣ Now this is how you kick off a new year! What book are you looking forward to reading this year?⁣⁣ 📚🍷⁣⁣ .⁣⁣ .⁣⁣ .⁣⁣ .⁣⁣ .⁣⁣ #spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #wocwriters #queenie #queeniebook #candicecartywilliams #scoutpress #gallerybooks #bookstagram #iamqueenie https://www.instagram.com/p/BsTY_4qn5IT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=9cpipiq9k4n5

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #wocwriters #queenie #queeniebook #candicecartywilliams #scoutpress #gallerybooks #bookstagram #iamqueenie

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stacyalesi · 3 years

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THE CAVE DWELLERS by Christina McDowell

New #bookreview: THE CAVE DWELLERS by Christina McDowell, "a fascinating, gossipy glimpse into the lives of the 1% (with footnotes)" set in our nation's capital...the irony is inescapable and delicious. @author_mcdowell #Gallery/ScoutPress @simonschuster

CLICK TO PURCHASE From the publisher: A compulsively readable novel in the vein of The Bonfire of the Vanities—by way of The Nest—about what Washington, DC’s high society members do away from the Capitol building and behind the closed doors of their stately homes.They are the families considered worthy of a listing in the exclusive Green Book—a discriminative diary created by the niece of Edith…

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#Book Discussion #Literary

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weeshubbasworld · 7 years

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‪#BookReview: The Party by #RobynHarding ‬ ‪ http://weeshubbasworld.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/bookreview-party-by-robyn-harding.html (or link is in my instagram bio depending where you are viewing this post lol) #booknerd #bookblogger #bookstagram #booknerdigans #instabook #scottishblogger #scottishbookblogger #glasgowblogger #glasgowbookblogger #bookreviews #reviews #edelweiss #simonandschuster #scoutpress #adultfiction #dramabook #suspense #like4like #likes4likes #likeforlike #likesforlikes

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