Tag: poetry

Monthly roundup – February 2023

Posted on by Traumadoll

When I look at these collages I make every month, count 11 boxes, and think I had a slow month, I feel a little silly. I read 11 books! Sure, some of them were short. Two were audiobooks. One was a collection of short stories. My page count probably isn’t very high. And ultimately the numbers don’t matter. I read 11 books and enjoyed them all. But there were several days when I didn’t read anything because my brain just didn’t want to brain. Depression. And that makes me feel like it was a slow month. Depression brain is weird.

The books I did manage to read were pretty great. My favorite was Bowery. It’s not a joyous story, there is no happy ending. But it made me feel things and that is the mark of a good story to me. When people ask me why I read so much extreme horror, the answer is simple. I want to feel things. I read bizarro for wonderment. I am always so amazed at the sheer absurdity that some of these authors I love come up with. And Matt Shaw just makes me laugh. One day I’ll do a full why I read the things I read post. Today is not that day.

On the agenda for March, I have a few ARCs from Planet Bizarro that I’m excited about. Hoping to finish Wanderers, by Chuck Wendig and read the next book in the Gone series. I also have a couple of collections of short stories that I’m itching to read. And of course whatever Book Lovers Cafe chooses for the group read. It’s looking like it’ll be a Grady Hendrix book, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for Jennifer Weiner. I know, that makes no sense when you look at the collage above. I do stray from horror and monster porn on occasion.

In other news, I am in the process of redesigning this blog. When I resurrected it about a year ago, I chose a free template and picked some colors I liked and didn’t really think much of it because I wasn’t sure of where I was going with this. Totally Normal Human is now Cool Ghouls Book Club. I feel like that’s more fitting of the content and of me as a person. I’ll still post random totally normal human things, like my old band appreciation posts or the compartments. It’s gonna take a minute to figure out how I want this place to look, but I’ll get there.

Monthly roundup – January 2023

Posted on by Traumadoll

My January reads. Nearly all were great and I’ve added a few more authors to my unending tbr. Just bury me with my kindle.

It would be easier to tell you which ones weren’t my favorites. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck was a reread for book club. It’s not bad, but it’s super repetitive and could probably have been a blog post. I still consider it the best self help book I’ve ever read. I’m Still a 10-year-old Boy and Spare are good for what they are, memoirs. I don’t like to be too harsh on memoirs because it feels like I’m judging their lives and I really don’t want to do that. Nancy Cartwright’s book is carried by her colorful narration. This is great for Simpsons fans or anyone who is interested in voice acting. Prince Harry’s book is about what I expected. In a lot of ways, he’s still that sad little boy trying to make his way through life as a Royal after losing his biggest ally, his mother. White Noise was a chore to get through, but still not terrible.

Here are some links to my full reviews for the month. All ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Incel, by Matt Duchossoy
Like a Tramp Yelling at Trains, by Peter Caffrey
They Are All Monsters, by J. Boote
Strangled Epitaphs, by Axl Barnes
Peculiar Monstrosities, A Planet Bizarro Publication
Songs About My Father’s Crotch, by Dustin Reade
Goddamn Electric Nights, by William Pauley III

I’ve got quite a few ARCs lined up for February. Lots of horror, bizarro, and monster porn. My favorites.

I read a book: Like a Tramp Yelling at Trains, by Peter Caffrey

Posted on by Traumadoll

This is my first Peter Caffrey book. According to the man himself, he is “not a poet, which is why this collection is free. A few of you might find something which amuses, and others won’t. If you’re in the latter group, remember, it’s fucking free.” This collection is full of humor, darkness, and heart. Caffrey says he is not a poet but he totally is.

Some highlights from a handful of the poems:
One Small Step – well that took an interesting turn. Probably shouldn’t have laughed, but I did.
Honeycomb – that last stanza…oof. Relatable.
Untitled – a bit rhymey, but a satisfying little vignette
The Light Side – that giggle at the end, love it
Shared Guilt – wherever you are, I am also
Despite All This – eat your hearts out, Hallmark
All Hallows – ok this one cracked me up
Happy Not Happy – utopia
Dead Exciting – titillating
The Poet – perfect way to close this collection

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I picked up Like a Tramp Yelling at Trains, by Peter Caffrey for free on Godless. To my delight, this book of poetry was not only free but included an audiobook narrated by the author and it is so great. I kind of want him to narrate my life now. You should read this. Hell, Caffrey will read it to you.

I read a book: Strangled Epitaphs: A Poetry Collection, by Axl Barnes

Posted on by Traumadoll

I read a lot of horror and I read a lot of poetry. So when the odd combination crosses my path, I gobble that shit right up. Axl Barnes is an author I discovered via Instagram. His bio describes him as a horror writer, philosopher, avid reader, and metalhead, attributes I sometimes ascribe to myself (horror review writer anyway). He reads authors I love and writes honest reviews, and he writes dark poetry with horror elements. So there’s lots of common ground. I snagged two of his books, Strangled Epitaphs and Stillborn Gallery when they went on sale for 99c. This is about the first one I’ve read, Strangled Epitaphs: A Poetry Collection.

Let’s talk about a few of my favorite poems. The first to really make me stop and think about what I’d just read was The Barren Clock. The first few lines describe vaginas with no bodies growing around a clock giving birth like meat grinders. The imagery is dark yet vivid and takes the reader on a grotesque journey. Is it a world ending epidemic? Who knows, but I’m all in. Human Spill in Aisle 5…well, you’ll never look at a grocery store the same way. Descriptions are graphic yet poetic. Too Late for Suicide struck a chord with me, particularly the last stanza. Here I am, committed to gray skies and empty parking lots…too tired to create something out of nothing. Junked struck that same chord. Her Portrait in Darkness is bleak yet romantic. Andrea broke my heart. Blow and Go got a laugh out of me. It’s not funny, but my dark sense of humor disagreed. Dumpster Love has some serious bizarro vibes, and you know how I love bizarro. My Pyramid of Books does not reach the levels of macabre as the rest of this book, but this book lover loved it all the same. Bury me inside my pyramid of books…

The artwork that punctuates this collection is as hauntingly beautiful as the poetry. Check out more of Thomas Stetson’s work on ARTUS Collective.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. Rating poetry is always so difficult because it doesn’t follow the same rules as novels. I rate based on how I feel when I finish reading and whether I’m still thinking about it when I’ve put the book down. I finished reading this collection days ago and I keep coming back to it. The imagery in these poems will make you uncomfortable. It’s supposed to do that.

Big thanks to Axl Barnes for following me on Instagram and introducing me to his work. You can buy Strangled Epitaphs: A Poetry Collection, by Axl Barnes on Amazon in digital or paperback format. At the time of this writing, the kindle version is on sale for 99c. Go buy it.

Monthly roundup – November 2022

Posted on by Traumadoll

November was a month of great reads. I got in a good amount of horror and poetry, and even some with seasonal themes. And I read 6 ARCs, which is super productive for me. Nevermind that two of their reviews are incomplete. I’ll get them published eventually. Since I rated so many of them ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, I’m not going to do a full breakdown. However, I will talk a little about my favorites.

My favorite in the monster romance category was Desire in His Blood, by Zoey Draven. Draven is already an author I know I like, so when I saw this first volume of a new series, it was a no brainer. Downloaded it immediately. There’s so much I like about this book. The heroine is so great. Able to adapt to any situation. Gemma takes care of her father’s financial problems and shields her sisters from all the things that are stressing her out. This whole marriage to a wealthy (scary) alien was her way of protecting them in the long term. She learns to navigate her new, sometimes frightening, husband and her new home. Of course she didn’t understand what she was getting into and what secrets she’d learn and what wrongdoings she’d eventually find a way to fix. Because that’s who she is. She’ll do whatever it takes to make things right. Azur is hard and cold on the beginning, having arranged this marriage with nefarious intentions. It doesn’t take long for him to catch feelings and he spends a lot of time wrestling with his emotions. There’s a lot of conflict. And spice. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so I won’t continue. But I will say they get their HEA and we get more of Gemma’s cleverness and Azur’s heart. Her Orc Warrior, by Zoe Ashwood was also really enjoyable! You can read my full review here.

In the horror category, Night Stockers was the standout. I haven’t read a book with Kristopher Triana’s name on it that I didn’t love, and now I want to read more Ryan Harding. It is an extreme horror offering, but it’s more than just torture porn. Don’t get me wrong, it is brutal af, but the characters and the story are interesting and honestly pretty fucking funny. If that makes me a weirdo, so be it. This was a tough category though because all of them were so great. Several were my first tastes of new (to me) authors and they all left me wanting more.

The poetry was also mostly great. I would say The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On was probably my favorite because I found it most relatable. I found myself rereading poems in nearly every collection though. 4 out of 6 poetry collections I read in November were ARCs and all but one were fantastic.

As I mentioned earlier, I read 6 ARCs in November. That’s some kind of record for me. Even more impressive to me is that 5 out of 6 of them were amazing! Poetry ARCs are hit or miss for me but these were so good. Only one was underwhelming. Anyway, no one is reading this. I’m done rambling. Read some books.

I read a book: Musical Tables, by Billy Collins

Posted on by Traumadoll

I picked up this book because of the cow on the chair and the color scheme of the cover art. The muted green adds to the serenity of the cow seated with its legs tucked beneath its body, looking comfortable like a cat in loaf mode. Billy Collins is a familiar name to me, but I hate to admit that it is only the barest familiarity.

“Whenever I pick up a new book of poems, I flip through the pages looking for small ones. Just as I might have trust in an abstract painter more if I knew he or she could draw a credible chicken, I have faith in poets who can go short.”

Billy Collins

I admit I do the same when I pick up a book of poetry at a bookstore. I flip and read a couple of the shorter poems, and if they make me feel things, the book comes home with me. This method rarely fails me and I have loved nearly every book chosen in this way.

Unfortunately I don’t think the short form works so well as a complete collection. Most of these poems are a couple lines long, mere quips rather than fully formed thoughts. Some are amusing and made me crack a grin. Others are more heavy hitting. Some of my favorites are Headstones, The Code of the West, Teenager, A Small Hotel, Jazz Man, Divorce, and Carpe Diem.

No more heavy ball,
just the sound
of the dragged chain
with every other step.

Divorce

⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. This wasn’t my favorite, but there are some real standouts that make it a worthwhile read. Billy Collins is a former United States Poet Laureate and prolific writer and I don’t believe this is representative of his work, so I will be reading more to get a better feel for him. If you like short form poetry that isn’t haiku nor limerick, you’ll enjoy this.

Big thanks to Billy Collins, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can pre-order Musical Tables on Amazon and begin reading it on November 15, 2022.

Monthly roundup – October 2022

Posted on by Traumadoll

Spooktober was filled with mostly great reads. I read horror year round, so this month wasn’t really different except that I hosted two Book Lovers Cafe group reads because my first choice didn’t win. My insistence on exposing the masses to extreme horror (and doing 31 days of horror movies) did get in the way of my usual schedule, so I didn’t get to everything I had planned. However, I did get to a bunch that have been on my tbr for a while (and they were amazing!) so I consider it a win.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
A Soul to Keep, by Opal Reyne
Full Brutal, by Kristopher Triana
The Troop, by Nick Cutter
Gyo, by Junji Ito
The Girl on the Glider, by Brian Keene

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
The Tooth Fairy, by Davide Tarsitano
The Haunting of Ashburn House, by Darcy Coates
Lil’ Bastard, by Matt Shaw
The People Look Like Flowers at Last, by Charles Bukowski
Morning Glory Milking Farm, by C.M. Nascosta

⭐️⭐️⭐️:
Against the Lockers, by Aiden E. Messner
Jokes to Offend Men, by Allison Kelley, etc
When the Dark Spoke to Me, by Christabelle Marbun
Heartstopper Vol 4, by Alice Oseman

The rest kinda sucked. Two were Halloween themed monster romances that are actually pretty well liked on Goodreads. They just didn’t do it for me. One was straight up bad. Honestly don’t even remember how I came across the Hucow stuff. I don’t think I’ll do that again. And the last one was Little Women, but with vampire references woven in. I was not impressed.

Pictured but not rated: Island of the Dead, by Brian Keene. This is not actually a book, it is a Kindle Vella series. The story was interesting, but I kinda hate the serial format.

All of my four and five star reads have been on my tbr for a while and all were amazing. Several of those authors were already on my insta-buy list and now the rest are as well. Beyond that, the only one I’m interested in reading again is Messner. I feel like they’re gonna be one of those writers who just gets better. Time will tell.

On the agenda for November? One book club read (thriller), two Cool Ghouls books, the backlog of loaners from my enabler, the next Duskwalker Bride book, and hopefully several from my NetGalley shelf. I have a few Thanksgiving themed horror books and movies to share. Holiday baking. Dragonflight! Lots of fun stuff coming up.

I read a book: The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, by Franny Choi

Posted on by Traumadoll

If the title sounds familiar, that’s because the titular poem of those collection was published in Poetry Magazine December 2019 issue. That said, I was not familiar with Franny Choi’s poetry before picking up this book. I chose it based on the title alone because I think that the idea of constantly feeling like the world is ending but then carrying on is something we can all relate to. It felt like words I’d spoken myself. My kiddo likes to ask me how it feels to live through big life changing events every time something happens (another school shooting, pandemic, war, racial injustice and protests, political attacks on basic human rights for marginalized people) and I always tell her that the world has been ending my entire life. I was her age when the shooting in Columbine happened, a little older for 9/11, and there’s a different outbreak every other year. Certain lawmakers and special interest groups have been working hard at erasing social progress for years. How do you know so much about such and such, she’ll ask. And I’ll respond, because it’s not a new fight.

Every once in a while I read a book that makes me want to go back and read every word the author has ever written. This is one such book. I don’t usually read collections of poetry in order, or even in full, but this one is something else. Choi covers a lot of hard hitting themes in ways that don’t make you feel like you’ve read these poems before. Lots of people write about things like war and race and social justice, but not everyone gets it right. There’s also the idea of where one fits in and togetherness strung throughout. Who are we? Who am I?

Lord, I confess I want the clarity of catastrophe but
not the catastrophe.
Like everyone else, I want a storm I can dance in.
I want an excuse to change my life

Catastrophe is Next to Godliness

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. Poetry can be difficult to rate because it doesn’t follow the same structural and grammatical rules as novels. There is no plot to follow, no twists to surprise you. So I rate poetry based on how I feel when I’m finished and how often I find myself thinking about it during and going forward. Topics are both relatable and timely. I truly enjoyed this collection.

Big thanks to Franny Choi, Ecco, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can pre-order Book The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On directly from the publisher, or on Amazon in multiple formats and begin reading it on November 1, 2022.

I read a book: When the Dark Spoke to Me, by Christabelle Marbun

Posted on by Traumadoll

I went into this book completely unaware of the background of this author. She’s young. In fact, she is a well established child actor in Indonesia. And at 18 years old, this isn’t even her first published collection of poetry. Here I am pushing 40 struggling to keep up with my review schedule and this person has a couple books and over 100 movies under her belt. So says the blurb on her newest book’s Amazon page, though a quick google search does not confirm that claim. Still, even one movie and a pile of poetry is an accomplishment for anyone. Good for her!

When the Dark Spoke to Me begins with a trigger warning. This book contains themes of Death and suicidal ideation, reader discretion advised. As a person who often thinks about death and suicide, this was appreciated. Sometimes you just don’t want to deal with those themes and that’s okay.

Sometimes though, I’m feeling numb and want to feel something, so I read stuff that may break my heart. Sometimes I want that.

Unfortunately this is not what I was hoping. I read reviews that said it reads like it was written by someone wise behind their years, but I’m not seeing it. It reads very much like it was written by a teenager, because it was. Reading this reminded me of reading my old Livejournal posts. Cringe city. There’s a whole section addressed to Death, referring to Death as her first love that reminds me of being a teenager and exploring darker themes while learning to cope with depression.

There are also glimmers of…something. She is asking questions and writing her way to the answers she seeks. There’s one called The Gifted Kid Burnout that sets the stage for the rest of the collection. You can tell she is trying so hard not to burn out while processing her trauma at the same time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. It’s not bad. I think younger readers in the same stage of their lives as the author would find this collection more relatable.

Big thanks to Christabelle Marbun, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can buy When the Dark Spoke to Me, by Christabelle Marbun on Amazon in multiple formats beginning October 11.

Monthly roundup – September 2022

Posted on by Traumadoll

September reads. So many good ones, it’s hard to pick favorites…but I will anyway! Uzumaki, Future Skinny, The Obituaries, and Motherthing were soooooo good. Highly recommend them to lovers of all things weird and creepy. Also super excited that the author of one of my September favorites, Peter Rosch, shared my post to his insta story. I write my reviews mostly because it helps me remember the books better, and I like to share the ones I loved. I know most of the time I’m the only one reading my full posts. But I get a little thrill when an author I like takes notice, even if it’s something as minor as a like on my post. Shout out to Peter Rosch, both for his fan interaction and his mad storytelling skills. Anyway, here’s a breakdown of my September reads.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
Uzumaki, by Junji Ito
The Obituaries Issue #1, by Aron Beauregard, Kristopher Triana, and Daniel J. Volpe

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
Future Skinny, by Peter Rosch
Motherthing, by Ainslie Hogarth
Flor’s Fiasco, by Ruby Dixon
The Alien’s Mail-Order Bride, by Ruby Dixon
Heartstopper Vol. 2, by Alice Oseman
Like Me, by Hayley Phelan
Thinking About it Only Makes it Worse, by David Mitchell
The Way Back Home, by Courtney Peppernell
The Magpie Coffin, by Wile E. Young
The Creeper, by A.M. Shine
The Librarian and the Orc, by Finley Fenn
Heartstopper Vol. 3, by Alice Oseman
Unknowing, I Sink, by Timothy G. Huguenin

⭐️⭐️⭐️:
Everything else. Well, most of them.

A couple of those ratings are spoilers for reviews I haven’t finished yet. I got distracted for a couple days, then sick for a couple more, and I fell way behind my self imposed review schedule. I may not meet the deadlines I laid out, but I’ll make an effort to catch up before the end of the month. This is the busiest month for my NetGalley queue.

So you may notice that some of my favorites were not top rated. I have to say that most of my 4 star ratings are actually pretty close to 5 stars, but I am sometimes a bit judicious with my stars. Sometimes less so. I mean, splatterpunk and orc porn aren’t exactly highbrow literature, but they make me happy. I guess what I’m saying is take my star ratings with a grain of salt. A 4 today might be a 3 or 5 tomorrow, but I’m not going to go changing my posted ratings every time I think about it. What you get is my initial reaction. Pretty much all of the books on my collage were pretty great. You should read them.

On the agenda for October? Six horror ARCs, one poetry ARC, two book club reads, two more Cool Ghouls books. A deeper dive into the monster romance genre. It’s about to get weirder ’round these parts.