August GenreCAT: Poetry/Drama/Graphic Novels

The GenreCAT topic for August is Poetry/Drama/Graphic Novels

Poetry: literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm. (Oxford Languages)



The Iliad - Homer
The Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri
The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allen Poe
Collected Poems: Edna St. Vincent Millay
The Weary Blues - Langston Hughes
The Undressing: Poems - Li-Young Lee
Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur
Brown Girl Dreaming -Jacqueline Woodson
Come Thief: Poems - Jane Hirshfield

Drama: a composition in verse or prose intended to portray life or character or to tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through action and dialogue and typically designed for theatrical performance; play.(Wikipedia)



Angels in America- Tony Kushner
Medea- Euripides
A Doll's House - Ibsen
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
True West - Sam Shepard
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide.. -Ntozake Shange
Wit - Margaret Edson

Graphic Novel: a novel in comic-strip format (Oxford Languages)



A Contract With God - Will Eisner
Watchmen- Alan Moore
Ghost World - Daniel Clowes
Saga - Brian K. Vaughan
Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore
Lumberjanes - Noelle Stevenson
Pumpkin Heads - Faith Erin Hicks and Rainbow Rowell
The Prince and the Dressmaker - Jen Wang

Please posts your books to the wiki.
Here's a link to the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/GenreCAT_2021#August:_-_Theme:_Poetry.2F....

For this challenge I'm thinking of reading:

Poetry:
New American Best Friend
Still Can't Do My Daughter's Hair
Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction
Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass

Drama:
Dear Evan Hansen

Graphic novels:
Check Please! Book 1: #Hockey!
Monstress - Vol 1-5

I will be reading Sandman Vol 6:Fables and Reflections. I may also read The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

I am looking forward to getting back to Descender by Jeff Lemire. I hope to be reading, Volumes 4, 5 & 6 of this graphic novel series.

I haven't figured out which yet, but it is most likely I will be reading a graphic novel in August.

I am planning to read With A Star in My Hand: Rubén Darío, Poetry Hero.

I have a book of poetry by Simon Armitage unread. However I quite like listening to poetry, so I may find something to download and hear as well or instead.

That's nice and vague, isn't it?

I'm going to be reading An American Sunrise by Native American Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.

I'm planning to read Flight of the Raven by Jean-Pierre Gibrat, which is a graphic novel about the French Resistance in World War II.

I just got the graphic novel version of Turtle in Paradise so I will probably read that one.

Of my many graphic novel options, these are most appealing to me at the moment:

- Paper Girls / Brian K. Vaughan
- Tomboy / Liz Prince
- Fairest, Vol. 1 / Bill Willingham

I'm going to read English Street, a collection of poetry by Irish poet Damian Smyth. It doesn't seem to have a touchstone (I'll add the book in a bit and see if that helps), but it gave me a lot of pleasure going through the suggested touchstones and seeing so much Sesame Street there!

I'm also going to read Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh, although I'm not sure how well the cartoons will work on the kobo - we'll see!

I've set aside The Rez Sisters, a play by Tomson Highway, for this CAT.

>8 dudes22: I really enjoyed that collection. I read it last year and it still sings to me regularly. I don't read a lot of poetry but this was right up my alley.

Not sure what I'll read for this challenge. I have Devotions on my Kindle so I may turn to that. I also have my eye on Whereas and The Song Poet on my virtual TBR.

I have several graphic memoirs on my TBR--
They Called Us Enemy
Green Almonds
Daytripper

All of these still look wonderful to me...which one/s will I get to in my very busy August? I'll report back.

>14 beebeereads: - Thanks for the encouragement - I'm not a big reader of poetry either.

I'm running behind on my poetry category this year so I will try to find some things that fit. I probably won't pick anything up until we get back to work August 9 unless something in a bookstore catches my attention while I'm on vacation that first week of August.

I'm planning on reading Plot by Claudia Rankine. I've loved her previous poetry collections and been meaning to get to this one for a while.

I got a head start with a short poetry collection I got from the library/Overdrive, Helen Mort's No Map Could Show Them.

I've just finished Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half, I thought it was excellent.

And today I finished a poetry collection, Northern Irish poet Damian Smyth's collection, English Street.

Starting The Emperor's Babe by Bernadine Evaristo, a novel in verse set in Roman Britain

>21 Robertgreaves: Sounds fascinating. I just put it on hold at my library.

COMPLETED The Emperor's Babe by Bernadine Evaristo:

My review:

Zuleika, the daughter of Sudanese/Nubian immigrants to Londinium, becomes a child bride and then the mistress of the emperor Septimius Severus.

A brash bawdy romp told in verse, this is basically a "Carry On Cleo" type of mixture of Roman stereotypes with knowing winks to the audience through references to modern place names in and around London and modern fashions. The cover gives the game away with Zuleika sporting a heart shaped tattoo enclosing the words "SEV IV ME". I loved it, but those who take their historical fiction seriously will hate it.

>23 Robertgreaves: Sold! Downloaded on audio.

I read Turtle in Paradise the graphic novel version. While the artwork was not my fave, I love the story. No offense to the artist, I just pictured things differently.

I read The Magic Flute, a graphic novel adaptation by P. Craig Russell of Mozart's opera.

I finished the Descender series of graphic novels by reading Vol. 4, 5, and 6. I enjoyed both the artwork and the story lines in this futuristic series about AI vs mankind.

I don't read much in these genres, but I do have Wilhelm Busch on my shelves, an early forerunner of comic strips, and I have re-read Humoristischer Hausschatz which includes the most well-known tales of Max und Moritz, Die fromme Helene and Tobias Knopp, among others.

I listened to Plum as read by the author, Hollie McNish. It was an enjoyable collection of wide ranging work.

And I listened to a The Luckiest Guy Alive as read by the inimitable John Cooper Clarke. I know some of those rhymes would not have rhymed if read in my distinctly non-Salfordian accent!

Paper Girls. Vol. 1 / Brian K. Vaughan
3.5 stars

It’s the late 1980s. 12-year old Erin is doing her paper route in the early morning hours of Nov. 1, so there are still people wandering about in costumes from Halloween. When a group of boys starts harassing her, three other girls (also delivering their papers – but they are doing so together) come to Erin’s rescue. They stick together the rest of the night, but there are weird things going on… from something that looks like the spaceship from War of the Worlds to other creepy looking monsters roaming about outside. Not only that, the girls’ parents (at least the two whose homes they went to) seem to have disappeared.

I liked this. Nice illustrations (it’s a graphic novel) and I liked the 80s references. It did end on a bit of a cliffhanger and I definitely plan to continue, but it might take me a while to get to the second volume.

Starting Sandman: Fables & Reflections by Neil Gaiman, volume 6 in a series of graphic novels

I read Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough for poetry, novel in verse but is also about art
I read Preludes & Nocturnes (The Sandman, #1 by Neil Gaiman for graphic novel. I really didn't much care for it so not excited about continuing this series. Unfortunately the whole list is part of the NPR science fiction/fantasy top 100.

This month I read Deep Rivers by José Maria Arguedas, who was known for his poetry. This novel, part of 1001 Books... is full of poetry. Perhaps it is appropriate for this CAT?

>34 Kristelh: Sounds like it fits to me.

COMPLETED

The Sandman: Fables & Reflections
The Sandman: Brief Lives
The Sandman: Worlds' End

Volumes 6, 7, and 8 in Neil Gaiman's series of graphic novels.

I read Mechanism, Volume One by Raffaele Ienco, an sf graphic novel. Humans are fighting a losing battle against an alien invasion, and one scientist has developed a powerful AI to help in the fight.

I really enjoyed this one. There were a lot of hints of things to come, though this is the only trade paperback volume out right now. I'm looking forward to the next.

I am reading a book of Native American poetry Braided Indian Poetry by Pe-ya-ge-ti-se-mo.

I read A Collection of Hope by Helen Steiner Rice

I finished Sparrow Envy by J. Drew Lanham, which resonated with my newfound hobby of birding.

I finished They Called Us Enemy a graphic memoir focused on the internment of Japanese people by the US during WWII. 4*

>41 beebeereads: I have heard so many good reviews of this one. I wish my library had it!

>42 JayneCM: I hope you find it soon. He also has a TED talk which you could search.

I read Poems from the Women's Movement edited by Honor Moore. This is a collection of approximately 100 poems written by 58 poets between 1966 and 1982, and supposed to be revolutionary. Perhaps I've read too much poetry by women written before and especially after that to feel this is the case. Personally, I feel that too many "minor" poets are included. Also, the brief biographical information about the poets, including their publications, is presented at the end of the book. I would much preferred to have it with the poets' poems as occurs in many poetry anthologies.

>43 beebeereads: I found the TED talk - thank you. I didn't know he was an actor on Star Trek - you can tell I'm not a Trekkie!

>45 JayneCM: me neither ;-)

Wow, a lot of poetry and graphic novels got read this month (and 1 play). Just a reminder to add your books to the wiki. Thanks!