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Books

Giving Poetry A Chance

To celebrate National Poetry Month, today’s post will focus on the importance of poetry as a literary and artistic form. While I was a student at University, I was lucky enough to take a modern poetry class under the tutelage of Trinidadian-Bahamian poet Christian Campbell. As an ardent poetry lover (and sometimes, writer of poetry), I went into the class excited and curious. Poetry is often an underrated or underappreciated art, and I think this is because there is a correlation with shortness of length to lacking substance. A poem, generally, is much shorter than a novel, as well as…

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Books

5 Ways to Enjoy Books this Summer!

The days are getting longer, the heat is starting to creep in and the sun is finally coming out! Finally! It sure has taken its sweet time. And now all I want to do is spend as much time as I can outside, enjoying everything that I missed throughout this long winter. And because of that, I almost feel guilty spending any time reading during the summer. For avid readers like myself this is a conundrum I face every year. How to still get time to read and make the most of summer before the cold of winter sets in…

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Books

The Importance of Autobiographies

As a fiction lover, I rarely deviate from my preferences to consider non-fiction or creative non-fiction options, like autobiographies or biographies, even though they have had prominent places in literature. Some like, The Diary of Young Girl by Anne Frank and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings have even been credited as the best autobiographies of all time. Similarly, the autobiographies of famous personalities, including political figures such as Malcom X, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi and more recently Barack Obama are seen as important insights into the political issues of our time. Other autobiographies, such as that of…

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Books

Is the Joker Really a Villain?

I’ve recently found myself in the mood for non-traditional forms of literature, specifically graphic novels and this got me onto thinking about one of my favourite characters in comic book history: The Joker. Real name unknown, the Joker is probably the ultimate supervillain from the Batman universe, a mastermind criminal with a slightly bizarre aesthetic, but hey, I’m not going to judge. One of Batman’s earliest foe, the Joker has developed alongside the hero, taking on layers upon layers to create the entity that he is today: a mysterious, intense, terrifying and genius killer. Knowing all this, I am still…

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Books

Unpacking Race in “Americanah”

“I only became black when I came to America” says Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s protagonist, Ifemelu, of her latest novel Americanah (2014). This line stuck with me long after putting down this incredible book, which brought to light some of the complexities of race. Adiche has made multiple headlines in recent years with her unapologetic approach to race and gender issues, namely ignorance surrounding those issues. Most recently was her clapback to a French interviewer asking if libraries existed in Nigeria. So, it is inevitable that this same unapologetic attitude would appear in her writing, particularly so in Americanah. As a…

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Reflections

“Call Me By Your Name”: Film & Book Comparison

A book and film comparison of the critically lauded story, “Call Me By Your Name.”

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