reading – Page 3 – thoughts of Melissa

Book Recommendations – Feminism & More

Posted on March 28, 2016January 17, 2018 by melissaburgess

I thought an appropriate segue into revisiting this blog would be to discuss some of the books I’ve read recently, how I came to pick them up , and my overall reflections once I’ve finished them.

Many of these books discuss feminism, with a few of them coming onto my reading list as part of Emma Watson’s feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf. The others I mostly picked up on my own, just out of pure searching, or recommendations from others on Goodreads.

Oh, and the best part? I picked up all of these at my local library! FOR FREE! I can’t overstate the importance of libraries and how incredible they are. If you’re interested in a book and perhaps can’t afford to purchase the books, or don’t want to, your local library system is a wonderful resource! (Can you tell I work at a library?)

Without further ado – here are the books.

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Books, Reviews

Book Review: Bluets by Maggie Nelson

Posted on September 14, 2015January 17, 2018 by melissaburgess

Another book that had been on my “to-read” list for a while: Bluets by Maggie Nelson. I have to say I was intrigued by this book before picking it up; after all, how often do you see an entire book based around a single color? It’s an interesting premise, and led me to investigate. After requesting the title through my Interlibrary Loan (a great feature, for the record), and waiting a few weeks, I finally got my hands on it.

It’s a fairly short title – just about 100 pages, depending on which edition you read – and as a result, took me only about a day to get through. The lyrical, prose-style writing is also quick and generally easy to read.

So – how can I summarize this book? First & foremost, it’s about the color blue – but it’s also about love, relationships, sex, depression, music and more. The author interlaces the color blue with all of these facets of life; the result is often deep, sometimes basic, sometimes genius, occasionally breathtaking and generally… humorless. If you’re looking for a “funny” read, this isn’t going to be it – but it is a somewhat philosophical memoir/mediation/whatever else you want to call it.

I enjoyed this book in the beginning, but as it went on, it got a little away from me. There was no real plot, which made it challenging to stay attached to any piece of it. The quotes included are appropriate and thoughtful, but they may be some of the most thoughtful parts of the entire book. It also gets somewhat awkwardly and uncomfortably sexual at points – not exactly what you’d expect from a book that starts off with the author talking about how she didn’t choose to fall in love with the color blue.

In the end, I walked away from this book feeling, well, undecided. It didn’t make me look at the world differently, didn’t make me appreciate things more or look at colors more deeply or anything; it was disjointed and stilted. It wasn’t horrid, it wasn’t great, it just…. was.

Books, Reviews, Uncategorized

Book Review: “Every You, Every Me” by David Levithan

Posted on August 21, 2015January 17, 2018 by melissaburgess

“Every You, Every Me” wasn’t the first David Levithan book I’ve ever read, and it surely won’t be the last. However, I can’t walk away from it saying that it was my favorite.

“Every You, Every Me” tells the story of a teenager named Evan. One day, Evan starts mysteriously getting photographs dropped off in random places — just for him. First it’s a photo of the clearing where he’s standing; the next photo is of him, and so on. As he tries to discover who’s behind the project – and what the connection could possibly be to his best friend Ariel – it gets more and more intense. Soon it takes a harsh toll on Evan, and he starts to just…. fall apart.

I picked this book up primarily because I like some of Levithan’s works, but this one felt a little off. There were a few things that I, as a reader, didn’t pick up on right away, which made reading this a little more confusing.

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Books, Reviews

Mission: Shakespeare

Posted on July 15, 2015January 17, 2018 by melissaburgess

For those who may not know, I absolutely love reading. I’m particularly a fan of young-adult fiction (what can I say? Though I’ve certainly passed my YA years, it’s generally light, it’s easy to read and overall, it’s fun), but I also enjoy historical fiction from time to time, as well as…. well…. pretty much anything.

A few years ago, I picked up a true treasure at a library book sale in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: the collected works of William Shakespeare, hardcover, for $4. What an amazing find! I absolutely had to buy it – how could I pass up such a treasure, and at such a low price?

Thus, it became one of my reading goals to dive into more Shakespeare, and to eventually read all of his works.

Instantly, I could check three works off the list. In high school, I read Hamlet, Othello and Twelfth Night. Three down, plenty more to go.

It wasn’t until last week that I really decided to pick up on this project and get it going, even though a) I’ve had the collected works for several years and b) there’s been absolutely nothing stopping me from doing it until now.

Last week, I began my endeavor with The Comedy of Errors. I tend to be a pretty fast reader, but I gave myself the whole week to really dive in and absorb what I was reading. Some may say that even a week is too short a time, but I don’t know that I could bear dragging it out any further. If I have the time to read – ie., on the bus, on my lunch hour, etc. – I’m probably going to be reading.

This week, my piece is Romeo and Juliet, which I decided upon after seeing the play performed live at Buffalo’s “Shakespeare in Delaware Park” this past weekend. It really was a lovely show – my first time seeing it live – and made me choose the play as my next Shakespeare selection.

I’m not going in any particular order; I have no idea what title I’ll choose after Romeo and Juliet. I try to read a little bit each day, but then again, I’m in no rush. If anyone has any suggestions as to what my next Shakespeare piece should be, please feel free to leave it in the comments! I’d also love to hear what your favorite work of his is as I continue on this Shakespearean mission.

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”

Books

Reading Goals for 2015

Posted on January 1, 2015January 17, 2018 by melissaburgess

My goal for the year of 2015 is to read 52 books, amounting to (essentially) one book per week. I’ll be using this post throughout the year to keep a list of what books I read, but you can also follow me on Goodreads to keep track of my progress there. This page is always accessible on my blog by clicking the “Books” tab near the top of the page.

Books Read in 2015