Fiction I Read in 2021

  Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay (also in poetry) is a novel written as a series of poems. Tregay does an excellent job pulling the reader into the life of Marcie. Marcie's mother moves the two of them across the country when Marcie's father leaves for another man. Marcie is devastated to learn they're not returning to Idaho at the end of the summer. As she seeks to feel connected to someone, anyone, she makes some questionable decisions as many teens do when faced when suddenly having to be the adults when a parent is unable to be a parent. The reader is taken along as Marcie faces her life, her parents, her decisions, and the consequences of expectations and conformity. This story contains elements of a love story but on a far deeper level is about how to embrace being one's self in a world that often tells us who we are is unacceptable. 

Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe (also poetry) is a compilation of Edgar Allan Poe's fiction and poetry. Here I will discuss the fiction, to see my thoughts on the poetry, see that post. I read two books of compilations of Edgar Allan Poe's work simultaneously because while both claimed to be complete, there were works not in both books. The works were also in different orders. This one was chronological with the poetry in a separate section. I read the fiction in this book. I was surprised to discover that I didn't enjoy Poe's fiction nearly as much as I remembered. I still don't know what to make of that. Perhaps I've changed that much. Perhaps it was because I started reading it while in the midst of grief and all the talk of death and burial just felt too dark and overwhelming. However, I also found that the language and casual racism and sexism were hard for me to get past even though I kept reminding myself of the times in which the work was written.

The Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe (also poetry) contained the same fiction as the other Poe book I read but in a different order. It was sorted by category rather than chronological. I do wonder if reading it that way would've felt like a better read than reading it chronologically. I wonder but not enough to read this book from start to finish to find out. However, I think I would recommend this book over the other one simply because the print was easier on the eyes when I read the poetry in it.


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