#deb olin unferth

[readreadbookblog]

The dog and i spent the day in our cages, he in his smaller one, I in my bigger one, and we were quite content. at a certain moment he grew impatient and at a different moment i did, but we were each other there to comfort the other both times. as night came on we crouched and listened for the man of the house to come home and rattle our bars Yesterday (174), Wait Till You See Me Dance: Stories by Deb Olin Unferth

[sodisco]

[violentdevotion]

i tried to read patricia lockwood's 'saving a life' and found the tone an especially insufferable white woman brand of writing where every semi serious statement is punctuated by a 'im so silly and goofy!!!!' impression of a joke. so i searched her name on tumblr to see if anyone else is a hater like me, and she's the one behind the miette tweet ! which isn't entirely surprising

[therainbowfishy]

Books read in January 2023

THISTLEFOOT by GennaRose Nethercott

I, PARROT by Deb Olin Unferth & Elizabeth Haidle

THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS by Ross Gay

HOOKY by Míriam Bonastre Tur

WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER by Tae Keller

AMERICANA by Luke Healy

THE RUPTURE TENSE by Jenny Xie

THE SAY SO by Julia Franks

THE HENNA WARS by Adiba Jaigirdar

[hummelig]

my fav books

I just gave someone a list of my fav books and I guess Imma post it here too enjoy please give me ur unfiltered opinions

The Setting Sun (Osamu Dazai), Earthlings (Sayaka Murata), Effie Briest (Fontane), Solitaire (Alice Oseman), Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo), Woyzeck (Georg Büchner), Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe (Ödön Horvath), The Kangaroo Chronicles (Marc Uwe Kling, better in German), Steppenwolf ( Hermann Hesse), Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 (Cho Nam-Joo), Animal Farm (George Orwell), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon), Eating Animals (Jonathan Foer) and Barn 8 (Deb Olin Unferth)

[foxfren]

Books I’ve Read In March

In a shocking turn of events, I actually read the books on my tbr 🦐

A Lesson In Vengeance by Victoria Lee || 3.5/5

But bitch felt like a harsh word to apply to a girl who was fighting so hard to make space for herself in a world that didn’t want her.

Incredibly atmospheric, though it didn’t really add to the plot until around the last third of the book. Also, for a book about magic and witches, there wasn’t really a lot of either? Idk I just wish the author went into further depth about it. I will say though, the last third part of the book was my absolute favourite; after the plot slowing down in the middle (by a lot), it escalated very quickly. Although the pacing could’ve been done better, it was still a fun and charming murder mystery story.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston || 5/5

That’s the choice. I love him, with all that, because of that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.

IDVWKDHEJDB???? Initially, I was put off from this book because I really didn’t like the cover (seemed a bit tacky), but the writing is literally so good?? I’m very glad I got around to reading this. Amazing execution of the enemies/rivals to lovers trope; the way that Alex and Henry navigated their relationship was just so lovely, in every essence of the word. Truly riveting.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black || 5/5

Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It’s disgusting, and I can’t stop.

Political intrigue, enemies to perhaps something more 😋, detestable villains (and one with a sympathetic past), and an absolute baddie of a protagonist; literally what more could I ask for? This is simply chefs kiss. 🧑‍🍳💋 The author ate this up and left no crumbs (real) ✨

Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth || 3/5

In the shifting sky, the stars were the only objects humans could see and not destroy.

I was immediately gripped by the premise: two farmers scheming to steal a million chickens from a farm in one night. Sorry, what? And it just gets more wild from there! The characters were amazingly written, and the multiple pov really worked in the story’s favour. I’m a bit disappointed that the chicken heist took a while to actually start, but understand why the author delayed it. Anyways, I found the ending satisfying, albeit quite sad.

Numb To This: A Memoir Of A Mass Shooting by Kindra Neely || 3.5/5

I think everyone wants to be heard and has a story worth sharing. And the last thing that should keep us silent or from listening is one another.

An incredibly raw and moving story, and one that absolutely needs to be told. It does a good job at exploring the aftermath of such a traumatic event, and I am proud of the author for telling us her story.

The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard || 3/5

Do you think I should explore forgiveness more?

I was really intrigued by the premise, and found the book interesting. However, I think that the story would’ve been a lot more satisfying had it not drawn out the mystery behind Belinda’s death. I was not consistently held captivated; certain elements (e.g. the mysterious caller) changed from compelling to tedious and repetitive. Was it a good story? Yeah. Am I a tad disappointed? Also yeah.

The Girl From The Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag || 4/5

Sometimes plans change, my love.

A charming story with lovely art. Some of the twists felt a bit sudden, but I think I just wish that there was more content; overall it was a very heartwarming book. I didn’t expect for the ending to be so bittersweet though. 😭

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver || 0/5

Every success deserves a celebration.

As a nonbinary person myself, I appreciate what the author was trying to do, however, I actually despise this book. The characters were all flat and one dimensional, there was absolutely no chemistry, none of the characters had sufficient growth, and the plot was just so drab (literally nothing happens throughout most of the story). Furthermore, the random biphobia and performative diversity sprinkled in really soured the whole thing more. I have no idea how I finished reading this, and am thankful that it is over.

[writerly-ramblings]

@classical-vanity tagged me (thank you!) to list ten books I’m planning to read in 2020, so here we go:

1. The Mirror and the Light (Hilary Mantel)

2. The Odyssey (trans. Emily Wilson)

3. Icarus Girl (Helen Oyeyemi)

4. The Source of Self-Regard (Toni Morrison)

5. The Starless Sea (Erin Morgenstern)

6. Hopscotch (Hilary Fannin)

7. Wait Till You See Me Dance (Deb Unferth)

8. The Collected Stories (Grace Paley)

9. What Are We Doing Here? (Marilynne R.)

10. Legitimacy and International Courts (edited by Harlan Grant Cohen)

Tagging @thiswaitingheart, @pemberlaey, @isfjmel-phleg, and @soldier-poet-king, because, apparently, we’re all going to have a lot more time to pretend to be productive.

[franklinparkreadingseries]

This month on March 16, we're thrilled to celebrate our 11th Anniversary with a slate of trailblazing authors sharing newly released fiction and poetry: Deb Olin Unferth (Barn 8), Clare Beams (The Illness Lesson), Sam Pink (The Ice Cream Man), Malcolm Tariq (Heed the Hollow), Mary South (You Will Never Be Forgotten), and Tariq Shah (Whiteout Conditions)!

[litafficionado]

Draft/Deb Olin Unferth:

Everywhere she looks she finds pieces of the story she wanted to write. A shred here, a shred there. She even made an audio recording, though she sounds halting and frozen, her voice weak and unnatural, her word choices graceless. Still, all the pieces add up only to scraps—more racket than song, more stones than statue, more rags than rug, more twigs than nest, more brambles, more dust, more flotsam than mermaid, more failing ocean, more drying river, more coming darkness, more clumsy removal of clothing with a stranger, decaying skin, dreams scattering at the alarm, shifting dots of sunshine on the floor, less alphabet, less table of elements, more stuttering excuse, more racing doubts, more hesitation, drifting thoughts, more spreading universe, more space debris, lost star system, more wheelchair-assisted disembarkation than stride, more botched bloody murder where you’re chasing a half-dead deer through the woods and aren’t you proud that you almost but did not kill an animal cleanly.

[philosophenstreik]

wenn doch auch die hühner in den legebatterien so viel platz hätten, wie die “30 chicken” von holly frean, die julie august hier für die umschlaggestaltung hinzugezogen hat - da könnte man dann fast von einer “happy green family” ausgehen... insofern eine sehr gelungene einbandgestaltung, die jedoch sehr wenig über den inhalt verrät - außer vielleicht, dass hühner hier eine hauptrolle spielen.

[readreadbookblog]

Wait Till You See Me Dance: Stories by Deb olin Unferth

Wait Till You See Me Dance, by Deb Olin Unferth, is a book of mostly short stories with a few long ones. When I mean short I do mean short as in lots of the stories are half a page long stories, almost reading more like poetry than a narrative tale. I, personally, do not like that style and see it as meaningless pretentious bullshit. Part 1 and 4 of the book are all long stories and they are for the most part readable and enjoyable. Parts 2 and 3 are where they are so short that I found myself rereading them to see if I had missed a twist or some profound meaning or statement, which really no I did not, they were just short bad stories.

My personal favorites stories of the bunch were the long ones of course. The title story, is a good one as there are some dark turns in the story and at the end you reflect and connect the dots together and understand a bit more (imagine if she left her in the hole, shivers). ‘Stay Where You Are’ is about a nonstop traveling couple that get caught captured by a guerrilla soldier and boy is it a tense story with great detail and inter dialogue of the characters. I do find the soldier’s part of the story a bit clique but overall the story is a great read. ‘The Vice President of Pretzels’ may be short but it leaves a haunting feeling with the amount of years that pass by with the story’s ending. I can imagine the years going by until finally one day without notification it stops, eerily. Two other stories I enjoyed were ‘The Mothers’ and ‘Final Days’.

There are other stories but really they are not bad expect for the fact that the short stories are essentially just very short meaningless gimmicks. Forgettable and useless I would describe them. The long stories are the highlights even if they don’t all hit. ‘Voltaire Night’ for it’s hype and built-up has a terrible ending that does not justify the title of saddest tale a person could have made up. The interview chapter seems more like the author, Unferth, confusing her work habit and style to an editor that just hits the spellcheck button on their program before declaring the book fit to publish. It kinda of reminds me the King Missile song.

I enjoyed the long stories and found the short ones as just throw away trash and filler. I did not find any theme or connection for the reason that the stories were written or published beyond here are a bunch of stories written by Unferth that were published elsewhere but now in one convenient book. There are a number of women protagonist but again I didn’t see any theme with them. I’ll look forward for any other works by Unferth but will stay clear from anything not ten pages or longer.

[bigtickhk]

Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth 

US: https://amzn.to/2Tw2Rnu 

UK: https://amzn.to/34ODxNB

[randomshoes]

What are some irrational fears you have?

So, I have an anxiety disorder…

What are some irrational fears I don’t have? I’m not particularly afraid of snakes or spiders. Well, some spiders aren’t great…

Okay, I think I’m going to answer your question with someone else’s short story:

Deb Olin Unferth by Deb Olin Unferth

No one in Wyoming thinks that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup.

No one in Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, or Kentucky thinks that Deb OlinUnferth is a fuckup. Nobody in Morocco, Hungary, or anywhere in theSahara thinks that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup. Nobody in Mexico.

There may be someone in Alabama who does. There may be someone in NewHampshire. Maine. Members of her family may (Phoenix, Chicago).

In many democratic nations where the opinion of the individual is amatter of consequence, no one thinks that Deb Olin Unferth is afuckup. In many fascist nations, in countries with dictators, failingoligarchies, puppet parliaments, poverty, and vice, people, many manypeople, do not ever have the thought that Deb Olin Unferth is afuckup.

No king or any member of any royalty thinks or ever thought that DebOlin Unferth is a fuckup. There was a man who people thought was aprince who may have thought that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup but itturned out he was not a prince, although he did live in a castle andthe word “prince” was part of his last name. In any case it isn’tcertain that he thought Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup but it ispossible.

Many famous writers never thought that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup.Gertrude Stein, Marcel Proust. Balzac.

Many thinkers of all sorts never thought that Deb Olin Unferth is afuckup. Margaret Mead, Plato, Wittgenstein, Kant. Thucydides.

Nobody who fought in World War I, the Crimean War, the FenianInvasion ever thought that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup. There may bea vet or two from the Gulf War or Panama who think that Deb OlinUnferth is a fuckup.

Nobody in Ethiopia thinks that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup.

There may be a few people in Florida who do, and a man in El Salvadorhas his doubts, along with a couple in Cuba, but otherwise theCaribbean latitudes are safe.

Nobody in any time zone where it is midday when it is midnight whereDeb Olin Unferth is thinks that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup.

Nobody who ever washed up on dry land, bloated, gutted, chewedthrough, nobody who ever fell over, shot or hacked up, thinks thatDeb Olin Unferth is a fuckup. Nobody who time-travels, nodouble-dimension people, no Klingons, think that Deb Olin Unferth isa fuckup.

That she knows of. It must be admitted that somebody may have sailedoff without telling. Somebody may have moved to Morocco. It islikely. Or it is possible that somebody, a stranger, saw her from adistance and knew what she was (fucked up) and that stranger maystill be out there, with that thought, but doesn’t have a name, onlythe face. The thought is attached to nothing: that woman, thatodd-looking woman, what a fuckup.

Thenumber of people who do think Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup isstatistically insignificant. The thought that Deb Olin Unferth is afuckup occurs in so few minds and in so few places and when oneconsiders the bucketful of thoughts pouring off the earth, all thethoughts, all the minds, and how even those who do think that DebOlin Unferth is a fuckup think it rarely, only perhaps when she ispresent or her name is, when one considers this, then thatthought—that she is a fuckup—is hardly there at all, is not evena weak whine in the scream, is softer than the wavering thoughts ofthose who think that Deb Olin Unferth is nota fuckup: I do not, you do not, we will not ever believe and neverdid, couldn’t believe that Deb Olin Unferth is a fuckup, because sheis not fucked up, or a fucker, or fucked, not then and is not, willnot be ever. 

I hope that answers your question.

[criticalangst]

BOOKS FOR THE BEACH (OR PRISON... WHEREVER YOU’RE GOING): NEW SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS WE ADMIRE

Shorts are just the thing for the summer. One of these should suit you.

WAIT TILL YOU SEE ME DANCE BY DEB OLIN UNFERTH - GRAYWOLF

The odd, wistful, comic stories in Wait Till You See Me Dance often involve the quietly desperate portrayed at pivotal moments in their lives. Unferth’s omniscient approach gives her characters equal time, quickly building emotional landscapes that are funny and affecting.

In my creative writing classes I could use Unferth’s collection of highly compressed sketches as a model to counter the “show don’t tell” adage. Unferth tells remarkably well in these highly compressed tales. Even the shortest pieces have a fully realized authenticity.

The second section of the book contains a series of flash pieces which feel more like vignettes. It’s like Unferth haphazardly cut a chunk of text out of longer narrative and threw in into the wind. Like the longer stories, I also found them strangely satisfying.

BAD DREAMS AND OTHER STORIES BY TESSA HADLEY - HARPER

Tessa Hadley’s wonderful new collection reminds me that books can do something film and television cannot. The author illuminates the intrigue and magic in the everyday through a tour of her characters’ inner worlds.

Recent research shows that reading novels makes us more empathetic and I’d guess that Tessa Hadley’s work is at the top of that reading list. These lovely stories stayed with me like an important experience I had lived. The British author of six novels and two other short story collections, Ms. Hadley is highly regarded and gaining more attention. I feel silly stumbling upon her work just now but I am happy I have.

SWIMMER AMONG THE STARS BY KANISHK THAROOR - FSG

The title story in Swimmer Among the Stars contemplates linguistics, death and the meaning of meaning and does it with humor and flourish. And Tharoor is just getting started. His heady prose makes my heart beat a little too fast -- I feel like I am swimming in the stars, pondering an infinite universe of ideas.

If Tessa Hadley’s approach is psychological Tharoor’s perspective is sociological, an overview of everything. In one sentence in “Tale of the Teahouse” (which was nominated for a National Magazine Award) the author  takes us on a tour of the economic system of a city about to be razed by Genghis Khan’s army. Here is a chunk, “...guards sneaked to the market to hawk their [stolen] loot, and then took their earnings to the brothels, from which prostitutes took their money to the bakeries, from which the pastry makers went to the butchers, who in turn visited the vegetable sellers, who shared the bloody passions of the cockfighters, who loved nothing more than long conversations with librarians, who tickled the fancy of scribes, who penned letters in vain for the washerwomen, who clapped in time of the itinerant musicians…” – Swimmer is dizzying in its scope and something to behold as Tharoor juggles hundreds of ideas page to page. 

[sioneile]