I would still like to hide in the keys of my laptop rather than not being argued with after I proclaim during class that I "think I talk to much."
Which is probably true. Everyone else doesn't talk so then I get awkward and proclaim how I enjoyed the prostitute piece the most so far in the 2018 Pushcart.
I have strange tastes.
Entertaining tastes?
Taste.
This month though with my bounty of classes and trying to keep up with the blog while not freaking out, my reading habits have been on the decline. A decline that while I continue to embark on the outlook of optimism, I tell myself I can't let happen. Even though I did. Do. I am trying okay? I hate to think that I actually have to try when it comes to reading these days, but I do, and that is the best I can do.
That best, if I am being honest however, means I only read one book this month while working on another. I have, on the other hand, read six literary magazines either online or in print. Though I will never say that I prefer them over a good fat novel, I think I found a good solution for that reading in, or between classes situation I have been missing since high school.
But onward to the real reads. In February, the first thing I read was The Glass Eye by Jeannie Vanasco. In case you didn't already hear or read my response? review? book talk? I LOVED it. I read it until there was no more to read and I am pretty sure that sooner rather than later I am going to read it again so that it can either inspire or cause me to fully doubt myself as writer from admiration.
The Glass Eye started February off right, and it is definitely on my favorite books of all time. I don't know if it hit me in the right moment or what, but the writing was as absolutely gorgeous as the story Jeannie had to tell, both for her father, and herself. I cannot wait to read more from her.
After that wonderful debut memoir though comes the lit mags. All the journals! Ready?
I started the month with New England Review from 2017. I won't deny , like many of these journals, this was for class. It was however, one of the first ever real like print literary magazines that I have owned. I tried to cherish it accordingly even though it was for class and I was stressing about my annotations/response to the magazine as a whole being late.
This is a main reason for why I normally think that the average required novel reading in classes are slightly unrealistic. No matter what the novel- it could be the best in the world -I will at least not like it or enjoy it in the slightest with the responsibility each chapter reading weighing on my back. Each second I am not trying to think about what the author must have "meant" by making the curtains blue I am worried I am somehow reading wrong which is absolutely ridiculous.
But enough of my issues with education's reading curriculum.
After reading the pushcart and doing a little more digging, I found as well that I had a love for stories that were published in The Paris Review. On eBay I found a few of the previous issues and bought them. Three coming in the mail like little presents to me from me as the semester hit that winter droning point. So far out the three, I have read Issue 202. If that doesn't ring a bell, I remember them by cover. So, the purple one with the whimsical flower design from 2012.
Around the time of getting this magazine, my boyfriend had attempted to implement a hour before bed reading time so that homework wouldn't cause burn out. Having that hour for the few days that it lasted got me a good dent into the magazine and only confirmed my admiration for the publication.
We really need to reinstate reading time.
The last two print magazines that I read included Ploughshares Spring 2017 issue in one night before deadline. I sat in the dusty chair in the physics lab while my dude guy played with the fancy new #D printer. I just sort of read and took notes and suffered a bit on the inside. The second of the last print mags was Ecotone's 10th Anniversary edition from last year-- AKA. the one with the gorgeous, not to mention that kind of matte soft you just want to hold all day, cover.
Online wise, I read an older edition of PANK for class- the 10.5 issue.
To round out the month, for class I also read a good portion of the 2017 publications in Little Fiction Big Truths online. I actually found myself able to enjoy this publication completely after figuring out the website, both because I wasn't doing the assignment for it the night before due date, and the stories were entertaining- a quality I find more and more necessary in a piece of writing rather it being literary with a capital L.
And what am I reading now, you ask? Well remember it is February and that means that two of my books I was so hyped about are now available! Both of them are also in my hands right now...or on my desk if we are being literal. So, get ready for some talk about Slutever by Karley Sciortino because it is sure to be coming in all the best ways.
I am sure that coming up Tiffany Reisz's The Lucky Ones won't disappoint either.
Happy last day of the shortest month, everyone. Now we just have to hope there are no surprises before spring arrives.
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