In brief: Much language. Many internet. Very culture. Wow.
Full disclosure:Reading copy! Thru work! Out July 23, 2019!
Thoughts: You guysss. I am finding this so hard to review because there is. So much. In this. I can’t even. It’s like McCulloch took the last fifteen years of my life, dumped in half a linguistics text, threw in a bunch of feels, and magicked that into a book somehow.
For serious tho, this book answers questions. What is the deal with punctuation? Why emojis? How do you linguistics? Sarcasm? Why do parents act so weird online? Why *~*~*sPaRkLeS~*~*? Why does the cow lik bred? (K not that one.) And there’s all sorts of web and cultural history, so me reading this was basically galaxy brain, true facts. Also nostalgia and a sudden awareness that I am an old.
Not that this has everything because how can you have everything, It Is Not Possible. (I can has dissertations plzthxbai?) But she covers a lot and opens the way for follow-ups and if you’re online at all you should pick this up because you will learn things. And because good book, obvs.
To bear in mind: ALL the research ideas. Prescriptive grammarians, do not want. Also the 90s. *is dead*
In brief: A linguist looks at the ways the internet has changed English, with digressions into internet culture as a whole.
Full disclosure: This was a reading copy which I received through work, with the expectation that I would like it enough to review it and then order it for stock. This book is out July 23, 2019.
Thoughts: This was a really interesting read, containing a lot of stuff I knew without knowing and also stuff I hadn’t thought about. It’s also a good, well-structured introduction to linguistics and specifically sociolinguistics—not as in depth as a textbook would be, but with compressed versions of the core ideas in accessible, modern language. I liked that McCulloch makes a point to not only lay out her reasoning as to why she focused on some linguistic features over others, but also to cite originators of memes and slang when possible.
As for the contents, they’re a little hard to sum up simply because there’s a lot of stuff covered. The evolution of internet culture and generational profiles of its users. The semantic uses of gifs and emojis. Twitter and Facebook as research tools. Minimalist Tumblr punctuation and the contentiousness of periods in texts. The history of memes. The informality of emails compared to letters. Emphatic letter duplication. Just for starters. Like I said, I knew a lot of the content just from living on the internet for so long, but it was nice having it verbalized and the sociology I largely did not know and it was very cool.
And while McCulloch doesn’t cover everything—the “because + noun phrase” formation doesn’t appear despite the title, for instance, and the spread of internet usages into spoken English is barely touched on—a lot of those gaps are things you could do a dissertation on and internet linguistics is a pretty new field, so I have hopes for either a follow-up or a book by somebody else. She definitely leaves things open and encouraging to anyone wanting to follow her lead. (Doing linguistics research and stumped for ideas? Hit me up. I have thoughts.)
So yeah, definitely a good book and very much written for me the internet goblin linguistics nerd. Anyone who’s interested in language, the internet, understanding what the heck is up with kids these days, and/or the social history of our times should add this to their TBR.
8/10
To bear in mind: Will challenge your ideas about language and the internet, unless you’re a linguist already. If you’re already a linguist, will give you at least ten ideas for research papers. Might also give you flashbacks to the 1990s, regardless of educational leanings.
Here’s a list of 10 great books about Latin America, that can help you know more about these countries, their people and their culture :)
1) Open veins of Latin America - Eduardo Galeano - in my opinion, this is the best book to read if you want to know more about Latin America. It tells the story of the continent during the last 500 years, and its relation to Europe and the United States. A lot of people say it’s baised and very political, but I personally think its a great way to learn about Latin America, and it tells the truth about the both the ancient and modern colonization of the continent
2) I, Rigoberta Menchú - she won the Nobel peace prize and she is an amazing human rights activist from Guatemala who is fighting for those who don’t have a voice in Central America
3) 100 years of loneliness - Gabriel García Márquez - a book about love and life in Latin America, it’s often listed as one of the best books of the 20th century
4) The savage detectives - Roberto Bolano - to be honest I haven’t read that book yet but I keep hearing it’s very good. It’s divided in three parts that tell the lives of different people in Latin America
5) The house of the spirits - Isabel Allende - I haven’t read this one either, but it’s Isabel Allende first novel, had a lot of success and talks about “the post-colonial social and political upheavals of Chile”, so it must be interesting to read it
6) The motorcycles diaries - Che Guevara - whether you agree with the Che or not, it’s a very interesting book to read to understand better his life and his ideas, and it’s also a great adventure in Latin America (it’s actually one the books that made me want to travel in South America)
7) Lost City of the Incas - Hiram Bingham - the story of how the Machu Picchu was (re)discovered, told by the man who (re)discovered and restored it
8) The time of the hero - Mario Vargas Llosa - any book by him is highly recommended (he won a nobel prize), as he is one of the best authors of the 20th century (and probably one of the best authors ever). I recommend this one because it’s his first book and I really liked it, but you should really check out his work and read at least one book from him
9) A people’s history of Latin America - Hernán Horna - I haven’t read this entirely, but if you like history and want a very historic perspective of the continent, it’s a good read
10) Slaves no more - Aline Helg - this one is not exclusively about Latin America but it’s about the history of slavery in all Americas, from 1492 to 1838
Eleanor walks in on her cruel grandmother Vivianne’s murder, but her prosopagnosia (inability to recognize faces) leaves her unable to identify who she saw.
The introduction puts you right in that police interview room after the crime before going back in time to the events that led up to that room. Now five months later, still with no idea who could be the killer or how close they are, Eleanor has inherited one of her grandmother’s homes and everything helps to contribute to the creepy, atmospheric power of this read.
This book alternates between Anushka in 1965 and Eleanor present day. This book was a great read! From the creepy inherited manor to the discovered diaries, never knowing who it was that Eleanor walked in on murdering her grandmother, and the alternating stories. I think sometimes, especially early on before you get truly invested, that back and forth with the time can feel like it’s giving you whiplash, but once you get started, you’re in!
Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martins Press, and Camilla Sten for this advanced review copy.
Let it be known that I have yet to finish this book, but it has already been such an invaluable read that I feel compelled to recommend it, with a bit of a disclaimer.
I’m on Part Four, Chapter 11, Page 171. I’ve had it for six weeks. It’s due back at the library now. I’m going to have to (gladly) purchase a copy to get through it. It’s been such a challenging read. I put it down a few weeks ago because I was experiencing unpleasant visceral reactions during/after reading it.
On that note, I would advise exercising awareness while reading this - if you become disturbed, tense, or sick, put it down, take care of yourself, and come back to it when you’re able. This is especially important for anyone with a history of acute, prolonged, and/or repeated exposure to trauma/abuse.
It focuses primarily on childhood trauma/abuse/neglect and the effects it has on the developing brain and organism. Thoroughly enlightening stuff here. While the information presented isn’t entirely foreign to me, having it all laid out in this way has put so much in perspective for me, in terms of my own behavior and that of my partner’s, as well as a great deal of the human population for that matter.
Anyway, it’s a must read imo. And I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of it before this year, but I guess I just wasn’t ready for it - I hardly am now.
I live in the UK, and it’s been raining every day this week. If you’re anything like me, you’ll enjoy these atmospheric books to read while you’re curled up in your warm bed, it’s dark outside, and the rain and wind are tapping against your window. (ig: @allie.writes)
I’m surprised it took me so long to read this book, I’ve had it on my bookshelf for a couple of years now but never had a moment to sit down and really get into it. I had zero expectations of this book and had heard very little in relation to what it was about or what people thought of it - so it was so nice to read a book and just let it take me on its narrative journey without any initial idea what it was about!
The way Plath describes New York in the 50’s just makes me wish I could have seen it for myself! There is a sense in the book that you are really living through the main character and it’s very easy to feel quickly engrossed and connected to the character and story line. The way she described the city, the fashion, the dinners and the architecture genuinely make me feel like I was born in the wrong era!
Without revealing too much, this book is fantastic - the way the writer really toys with your emotions and expectations of the book too. Set in New York, the book follows Esther, a young woman trying to figure out her future and how to make her mark on the world. The book touches on themes of femininity, sexuality, women’s rights and most notably mental health. Before I read this book I already knew about Plath’s own mental health story and so when reading this book made very close links between her own story and Esther’s. Plath caught me completely off guard, and the end of the book was so moving and left me with so much to think about. Set a time when liberation for women was occurring, it really is heartbreaking to read this book as a modern woman and compare how different my life is compared to the characters within the novel.
A read that will definitely lure you into a false sense of comfort and completely break your heart! I gave it a 6/10 purely when comparing it to other books I’d read recently that were more fast paced - this book can feel like the storyline doesn’t really progress within a whole chapter, but that being said I still loved it! I definitely recommend it, an absolute classic!
A few weeks back, I received a package from a lovely woman my sister knows. Little did I know, this woman would turn out to be one of the most unique voices in literature I’ve come across. I finished her book in no time and I’ve been tossing and turning ideas in my head, trying to find out how I’m going to give this book a review that does it justice and is honest at the same time.
Rosehead is story about a girl *ahem, anyone singing the Nirvana song?* who believes her grandfather’s rose garden eats people. The story presents an intriguing interplay between elements of fantasy and mystery. I spent a large portion of my time reading this book stopping to think about whether I believed what was going on or whether the protagonist was making it all up. To me, it’s always an interesting experience having a seemingly unreliable protagonist - and I say seemingly, because the story unfolds beautifully.
Speaking of the protagonist, Lilith is an intelligent 12 year old girl. She is quite snarky for her age; which might seem unrealistic but I didn’t mind it. I’d rather read about unusual characters anyways. Despite her wit, I was constantly reminded that she really is just a child - through her arguments with her mother, temper tantrums and sense of adventure. I was always looking forward to her next excursion with her pet, Panther because that’s when things got really exciting.
Now on to the hard part, which is the things I didn’t like about the book. It’s hard to fault a book you like so much. That being said, I really would have liked more background in this book. I wanted to know more about her past, her “diagnosis” and her parents specially. I didn’t like that when it came to discussing what was wrong with Lilith, a few diagnoses were just rattled off (but that’s just me, I’m a med student and get irked by these things).
The book ended with a cliffhanger - which I’m not sure if it means there will be a sequel or it’s just to keep you wondering. I quite liked that the whole book kept me wondering about what’s coming next, but I would have preferred for the ending to come full circle if this is a stand-alone.
I have to applaud the author’s beautiful descriptive writing. She painted a beautiful and gory garden that I couldn’t stop picturing and I think would make for one heck of a movie. Like I mentioned before, she has quite a unique voice. I wish I could say more about the way she writes but I’m at a loss for words *pun totally intended*.
I’d like to thank Ksenia for the wonderful experience she provides through this book and for graciously sending it to me. And I hope this book reaches more people as it is highly underrated. Find Rosehead on Amazon.
New book out by Dr. Michael W. Cole! This book looks at the education and career of Italian Renaissance artist, Sofonisba Anguissola. I received this for my birthday and am looking forward to reading it and using it for my thesis!
My current read “mindset” by Dr. Carol S DweckRecommend to everyone, really. It’s easy to understand yet crucial to comprehend the importance of mindset. You don’t have to limit or categorize yourself, simply whatever works best for you.
Time to throw the concept of “hard work = no talented” & “mistakes = failures” out the door.Learn from them, try, work harder, embrace opportunities.Skills can…
The Sentence is more than just a ghost story. #bookreview #TheSentence @Chatt_LErdrich
The Sentence is more than just a ghost story. It’s a beautiful picture of indigenous life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Taking place over a span of decades, The Sentence follows an Ojibwe woman named Tookie as she lives through incarceration, a haunting, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the protests following George Floyd’s murder. This book is a powerful snapshot of modern day life as an indigenous woman…
I need more fairytales written by current day authors.
I need anthologies or even poetry like “The Lives of Saints” / “The Language of Thorns” by Leigh Bardugo and “Fierce Fairytales” / “Great Goddesses” by Nikita Gill.
They’re a necessity and if you have recommendations please leave them in the replies
Favourite Colour: I’m a big fan of gem tones, and also hot pink. And black. And that green-gray misty rainy colour that everything blends into in the distance on a fall day when you can just sit at the window under a blanket with a cat and listen to the rain.
…I think I will go with that last, it sounds very soothing right now.
Currently Reading: >wide-eyed stare<
I’m up-to-date on the Neon Hemlock novellas (seriously, people check out Neon Hemlock, their post-apocalyptic queer survival anthology Glitter + Asheswasamazing);
I’m working through Veronica Schanoes’ heartwrenching collection Burning Girls;
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are delivering beautifully dense noir stories in graphic-novel format with the Reckless series; and
it is an absolute crime that there is not more noise about Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Firebreak. It teases a focus on a VR game and then absolutely charges towards an anti-corporate plot that reminds you that both rage and grief can be so very deeply rooted in caring. I love this book. More people need to read it. More people need to tell other people to read it. (Also, zero-romance book with ride-or-die friendships and aro-ace protagonist with a platonic crush.)
I finished sixty books this year. I’m not sure how. I need to go to the next question now.
(Seriously.Firebreak.)
Last Song: I’m honestly not sure, but what comes to mind when I try to remember it is Patent Pending’s absolutely glorious heartsong “Punk Rock Songs” which warms my heart, so let’s go with that.
Last TV Series: I am keeping up with Wheel of Time (I only read the first book, but with the LOML the books have been a background element of my life for… jeez, I want to say twenty years?), and it’s interesting. I’ve got decent secondhand knowledge of events, and I’m watching it with this weird blend of “oh hey I think they’re making a reference” and “you know, taking away what I know from hearing you talk, I could infer X here”. It’s interesting.
Also part of me is praying for a specific change from the books. It will cause wailing and gnashing of teeth from a bunch of people, and I will salt my popcorn with their tears.
For Arrowverse, I’m up-to-date on Legends, a little behind on Stargirl, and more behind on The Flash. (I… time has been very hard lately.)
(”Thespace ship,Gary!” remains one of our all-time favourite lines, I swear to god.)
Last Movie: Fhhhhhhm. Goddammit, there’s a weekly movie event we’ve been doing safely distanced for over a year, and I am still having trouble remembering…
Ah! It was House of the Long Shadows. My suggestion, actually; it’s a send-up of Old Dark House movies (kind of like how Cabin in the Woods was a send-up of Cabin In The Woods movies). It also stars Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and John Carradine, none of whom are playing the titular protagonist. I swear to god that if that movie had nothing else going for it I could still happily watch it for the sake of Price and Lee doing dueling eyebrows.
Sweet, Savoury, Spicy: Usually sweet, and for about the last month I have absolutely been craving sweet in ridiculous amounts. Let-me-demolish-the-post-Hallowe’en-sale-stashes amounts. It’s kind of unnerving.
(I still take my coffee black and unsugared, though.)
Currently Working On: Not as much as I’d like to be.
I’ll be honest; I’m tired. I’m really tired. I’m not unhappy, but I’m feeling extremely wrung-out.
In terms of writing… I’ve gotten some edits done in the last four months? (And a couple of those are for things that were accepted, and I have to say I am over the moon about one of them, and a competent editor is a joy above rubies.) But that’s pretty much it. I’m trying to clear some more time and I’ve just barely gotten back to the point where I’m getting sentance fragments meandering gently by.
In terms of not-writing… we have a new cat, I have a new boss, I have a new trainee, and I am coping by deciding I want to repaint parts of the house. This is suboptimal.
“When Tess kissed the devil, she tasted death on his mouth.”
Review — The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino
Rating — 4.25/5⭐️
Release Date — 10/08/2021
At first I was not compelled by Tess and her sticky note insults but the story grew on me, ink seeping into my veins. The Devil Makes Three is a fascinating, fast paced YA horror with demons in books, a girl with the world on her shoulders and a tragic boy with a complicated secret and a hidden tattoo. I just didn’t want this story to end and I’ll be thinking about this haunting tale for a very long time. Would highly recommend!
I recently looked at some of my all time favourite books and realised that they all contain a historical element. It’s funny because I was never really inclined to read any historical fiction but The Raven Cycle, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, One Last Stop and These Violent Delights all give us glimpses into the past through a new lens.
This is why I was so excited when PanMacmillan South Africa sent me a copy of Lucy Holland’s Sistersong. This book sounds right up my alley and I’m very interested in reading it as soon as possible.
“The First Daughter is for the throne. The Second Daughter is for the Wolf.” - Hannah Whitten
For the Wolf was such an entertaining read. I started reading it for the Read Better Book Club and I found myself finishing the book in a matter of days because I couldn’t put it down. It was just so engaging and had ALL THE TROPES I love. Marriage of convenience, ONLY ONE BED, grumpy/sunshine. Would 10/10 recommend!
InAlyssa Cole’s psychological thriller When No One is Watching, Sydney Green is adrift in a Brooklyn changing faster than she can keep up with. Lifelong neighbors are disappearing, white, paranoid, disdainful people are moving in, vulture real estate agents are trying to get her to part with her mother’s home. She teams up (reluctantly) with new white neighbor Theo to put together a more accurate and inclusive tour of the neighborhood and try to preserve some of its real history.
But as they dive deeper, weird things continue to happen in the community. Things get darker, stranger, the treats get bigger. And soon, they’re embroiled in a conspiracy that no one will believe.
I read this book in one day. I started it on the edge of the lake and finished it while eating dinner later that night—I could literally not put it down. Cole brings white woman tears, the slow prowl of a cop car, the microaggressions of neighbors, the frustrating bullshit spouted on a NextDoor page, rising rent, impossible binds, and more into a Get Out–like tale of psychological horror—surveillance, shadows, doubles, threats, set-ups, intruders.
And most of all, Cole infuses her book with an overwhelming dread that is based more in reality than in any conspiracy: the dread of what will go next, which neighborhood institution will fall overnight, which neighbor will disappear without saying goodbye. Cole’s thriller left me buzzing with anxiety and anger in all the right ways.
Content warnings for medical bias and neglect, gentrification, racism, depression, panic attacks, forced institutionalization, gaslighting, deportation threat, land theft.
in no particular order and not saying that they are good just that i enjoyed reading them and just keep coming back to reread them
1. the hating game by sally thorne
i feel like most people that are into romance have already read this and loved it and i am one of them. this books is just so cute, there’s some angst and also the sexual tension..
2. midnight blue by l.j. shen
i. love. this. one. so. much. i mean i really can’t believe that l. j. shen actually wrote this. i’ve never really liked any of her other work (vicious was okay) but this one just stuck w me and i keep coming back to read it again and again
3. the trouble with love by lauren layne
layne’s books are a hit or miss for me but this one was definitely a hit. there’s just something so sweet and sensual about old love coming back to u and i can’t get enough of the story and characters
4. you deserve each other by sarah hogle
one word. adorable. that’s how i’d describe the main character, the love story, the whatever town they’re living it, the whole book. it’s just so cute. and honestly if u like the hating game this one is definitely for you. not only is it enemies to lovers but it’s LOVERS TO ENEMIES TO LOVERS.
5. after i do by t. j. reid
this one if for everyone who likes old lovers reconnecting, it’s about a marriage between 2 people and how they grew apart and also how they’re dealing w it. it’s heartwarming, angsty and also shows us that marriage w the one u love isn’t just a straight road and there are gonna be some bumps.
6. blue-eyed devil by lisa kleypas
first of all this book won’t be for everyone, the love interest is kind of animalistic (irdk how to describe him?) but not in the weird way, at least for me. it’s not really visible until a certain part in the book but from the whole series this one is the one i keep coming back to. not only does it show the ugliness of domestic abuse it shows a woman getting out of it and then falling in love again.
7. before we were strangers by renee carlino
absolutely heartbreaking and so well written. this book is packed with nostalgia, young people falling in love, the college life and reminiscing about those years. i read this in like 2 hours because i couldn’t put it down and most of the time when i read/watch smth that fast i just forget about it but this. book. is still to this day in the back of my mind. i can’t describe how i feel about this one but the energy that comes from this one when the main characters are remembering their past is undeniably heart-wrenching. so if you like old lovers coming back together this is the one you need to pick up
i think these are all the ones that i consider v much worth the read, some i think are really good in the ‘so beautifully written and will be forever thinking about’ way and others in the ‘this is so fun to read i can’t put the book down’ way.
no one’s probably gonna see this but no one is talking about one day in december by josie silver anymore, like that book is amazing?? it’s just so sentimental and nostalgic and even tho there are some things i’d change (the ending was too cheesy) it’s still an amazing read for anyone who likes romance. it goes through 10years of longing and yearning for the one even if they are not really aware of it, i’m so glad i picked it up and it’s just a a wholesome winter read that you can snuggle up with
