Siel Ju's Blog, page 17
March 2, 2017
March giveaway: Louise Wareham Leonard’s 52 Men
“I find a list of pros and cons about me. Pro: Great sex. A good person. Con: Needy, both emotionally and financially.”
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52 Men is a thinly veiled memoir by Louise Wareham Leonard, written in tiny, flash pieces. Each of the 52 snippets features a guy with whom the narrator had a relationship — some affairs brief, some longer, some intimate, some cruel.
The 52 men glimpsed through this book all are so unique — there’s one guy that sounds curiously like Jonathan Franzen, another who jousts wi...
February 28, 2017
February Book Reviews: Whole new worlds
Brief reviews of books by contemporary authors I read this month — along with photos of what I ate while reading. The list is ordered by the level my enjoyment:
Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin, 2017)
“Curious girls get what they deserve.”
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If you haven’t read Ottessa Moshfegh’s stories yet, treat yourself to them now. No one writes self-loathing and disgust quite the curiously addictive way she does. One of the things I love about Ottessa’s writing is her precise, un...
February 22, 2017
Boca de Oro: An art and lit fest in Santa Ana
Need a literary staycation? Take a daytrip to downtown Santa Ana for Boca de Oro, Orange County’s art and lit fringe fest.
It happens Sat., March 4th, and it’s all free! With readings by esteemed local authors, writing and bookmaking workshops, collaborative art projects, open mics, and lots of readings, the all-day event should be really interactive and community oriented.
One event seems especially fun: A panel with authors included in a brand new anthology, Orange County: A Literary Fiel...
February 17, 2017
AWP 2017: Books, Literaoke, chocolate & Cake Time
AWP 2017 was my favorite AWP conference ever — partly because I got to see the first copies of Cake Time, my first book! And it came with chocolate!
AWP, if you’re not familiar with the acronym, stands for Association of Writers & Writing Programs — a professional organization for writers with a focus on college and university writing programs. Each year, AWP has an annual conference that brings many thousands of people together, and this year that happened last week at Walter E. Washington...
February 14, 2017
Current Events Reading Group: Passionate discussions over complex books
If recent political developments have made you want to tackle deep, heavy books and engage in meaningful dialogue with other concerned citizens, come join Skylight Books’s Current Events Reading Group.
I made a new year’s resolution to be more politically engaged — which is why I decided to go to my first meeting of this book club last month. And I’m so glad I did! The conversation at this event was one of the most wide-ranging, passionate, and smart discussions I’d had about socio-political...
February 9, 2017
Five Firsts: Julia Scheeres on reshaping trauma & exposing injustice through writing
Every month, I interview an author I admire on her literary firsts.
February’s featured author is Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land — a searing memoir that tells the story of Julia and her adopted black brother David, both of who were not only taunted by racist peers at school but abused and neglected by their religious, punitive parents at home.
As I mentioned before, the book takes a fascinating and disturbingly close look at key social issues that still plague us today: racism, sexual a...
