Wanderer Thoughts Vol. 1 Poetry Book Review

Hey there.  Do you know why poetry is so awesome?  I'm certain that the question may be answered with many different responses.  And that, my friends, is the reason why poetry is so awesome.  Poetry is art as words.  The same way a painting can have different meanings to different people, a poem can convey that same effect.  Words can be a powerful medium.  The author can use a set of words to not only create a meaningful composition but use those words in such a way that the meaning can be whatever you interpret it to be.  That's pretty awesome, if you ask me.  But what if the author is restricted by certain words?  Can you imagine an artist creating a beautiful visual using only a set amount of colors?  Justin Germino, the author of Wanderer Thoughts Vol. 1 did the equivalent of that.

Justin collects words given to him by his Twitter followers to create poetry.  Twitter users provide Justin with words during his daily Random Twitter Poetry Game and he creates a daily poem using those words.  He has amassed quite a few words and has created well over 600 poems.  Vol. 1 takes some of those poems and gives us a glimpse into some of the poetry that Justin has created.  Some of the poems may be whimsical while others are more dark.  Personally, I love the first poem in this volume, The Lust Queen.  It flows seamlessly and paints a clear picture.  It's exactly what I would expect from a well versed poet.  But don't take it from me, go and check it out!  If you have a buck to spend, go ahead and get the book and check it out.  If you are part of Amazon Prime, go ahead and borrow the book.  It's a great read and something that every poetry enthusiast will enjoy!  If you are interested in checking out some of Justin's this and other poetry, make sure to check out his site of poetry, Wanderer Thoughts.  Later!

Not All of Them About Zombies: A Book Review

Hey there. I need to read more. I haven't read a good book since my last attempt to read literary classics. I bought 2 books that I have read and love, Siddhartha and Cather in the Rye, and that was about it. Now that there's a Kindle Fire in the house, I'm going to try this reading business again.  I think it's great that you can borrow books to read if you're an Amazon Prime member and I'm hoping to get some reading done using the service.  The first book up for review? Not All of Them About Zombies by Matthew Rowe.

Not All of Them About Zombies is a collection of short stories. The short stories range from humorous to horror. At 196 pages, it is a pretty short book that can be finished in a single sit through. Even though the stories are short, they are thought provoking and the absolute best part of the book is the introduction. It gives a glimpse of Matthew Rowe's train of thought of how the story came to be. It gives you that insight that makes you want to read the stories to see how they panned out.  I found that after reading the short introduction, I wanted to skip ahead to check out the story.  What twist did he add?  How was his interpretation of a thought was a conveyed?  What spin on a classic tale did he use?  The only problem that I had with the introduction is that all of the stories introductions were grouped together.  It would have been better if the intro were to be placed right before the story.  This would avoid having to go back and re-read the intro before reading the short story, like I did for each one.