Books – Page 2 – TERSE. Journal

Liebestrasse: A Review by T.S. McNeil

There is a notion, particularly among reactionary conservatives, that LGBTQ folk, though that is not the term the likes of Gavin McInnes use, have only existed since the 1960s. A blinkered opinion based on ignorance and queer as a three-dollar bill that utterly ignores landmark works of queer culture like The Boys In The Band,…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 102 by Annie Walton Doyle

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen At first, Amanda registers it as a dog or a bear, but it looks almost human, its contours twisting into an expression that is equal parts hunger and despair – a deep, almost prehistoric longing. The critique of books as “lightweight” or “women’s fiction” tends to be veiled…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 76 by Annie Walton Doyle

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth “He’s not like his mother because he has me, and I will save him. We’re special, Ralph and I. I can cure Ralph. Because it’s what I was born to do. Remember that, Abby, vanquishing this depression is your true calling as a wife.” The strange, almost twee setting of Ainslie…
Storyteller: A Review by T.S. McNeil

The first stories, at least in the Western tradition, were sung. Going back to ancient Greece, long before the written tradition, foundational narrative works such as The Iliad and The Odyssey recited in poem form, often with the accompaniment of a lyre. A bardic tradition carried on well into the 14th century by the troubadour…
To See Something New In Your Own Backyard: A reading list for appreciating nature’s minutiae by Brennan Keifer

Because of the Climate Crisis, we often think about nature and the environment on a large, often global scale. The question then asked is what can we, as cities, states, and nations, do to protect the earth and offset global warming. There is utility in this way of thinking. In fact, the Climate Crisis has…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 75 by Annie Walton Doyle

Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe “She has a power over the people who find her; once you’ve known her, it’s hard to go back to a time before.” While there is always an attraction to a manic, frantic, crisis-led novel, Chrysalis instead unfolds in a still, calm, and even slow manner. This works to maintain an…
Bell Jar Barbie: A Poetic Rituals Mini Book reviewed by Dorka Tamas

At the first glance, Katy Telling’s pamphlet Bell Jar Barbie reads like a physical manifestation of a Valium-infused surrealist dream of a 1950s housewife. The twelve-page mini book is printed on a similar shade of pink as the Smith memo papers Plath wrote The Bell Jar and many of her poems, creating a magical-poetic synthesis between Telling’s experimental work…
365 Books in 365 Days: Episode 72 by Annie Walton Doyle

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder “To what identities do women turn when those available to them fail? How do women expand their identities to encompass all parts of their beings?” Explorations of female rage always make for an interesting read, to me – but Nightbitch managed to pique my interest further. What if rage became so…
Shadow Voices: A Review by T.S. McNeil

When most think of great literary nations, Ireland is likely not the first place that comes to mind, literal statues of writers in Dublin notwithstanding. Despite some high profile, and somewhat overrated works of impenetrable literary fiction by James Joyce, and what is thought to be the first instance of vampire fiction – but isn’t…
365 Books in 365 Days: Episode 56 by Annie Walton Doyle

The Pisces by Melissa Broder I, like many others before me, first came to The Pisces by Melissa Broder because of the promise of sex scenes with a merman. And if you, too, are intrigued by that simple premise, then you won’t be disappointed in this engaging and exciting novel. But the truth is, The…