Sarah Kay

About this Author (Taken from Goodreads)

Sarah Kay is an American poet. Known for her spoken word poetry, Kay is the founder and co-director of Project V.O.I.C.E., a group dedicated to using spoken word as an inspirational tool.

Sarah Kay, a graduate of Brown University, was born in New York to a Japanese American mother and a Jewish American father. She began performing poetry at the Bowery Poetry Club in the East Village at the age of 14, joining their Slam Team in 2006. That year, she was the youngest person competing in the National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas. In 2007 Kay made her television debut, performing the poem “Hands” on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. She has performed at events and venues like the Lincoln Center, the Tribeca Film Festival, and at the United Nations where she was a featured performer for the launch of the 2004 World Youth Report.

In May 2010, she performed at *spark!, a benefit for the Acumen Fund in New York, New York.
On March 3, 2011, she performed at the TED conference in Long Beach, California as part of a series entitled “Beauty, Imagination, Enchantment.” Along with a talk about her upbringing, she performed the poems “B” and “Hiroshima”.
Kay recently performed at The Nantucket Project, a festival of ideas in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Although Kay works primarily in spoken word poetry, she has had written poems published in magazines such as Foundling Review, DamselFly Press, and decomP literary magazine.
In 2011, Kay published “B”, a short hardcover book containing the titular poem, which was originally written in 2007. The book features illustrations by Sophia Janowitz.

Website: http://kaysarahsera.com/

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Let me tell you how I came to know about Sarah Kay. A high school friend posted a picture of the sea with the caption “Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s swept away.” on Instagram.To say I have become obsessed by the said quotation would be an understatement, it just moved me, and I never thought such a phrase could move someone so strongly, and I said to myself, whoever wrote this is a genius and wondered how many of this phrase actually exists. And so I searched where the said quotation came from, then I found out  it came from her poem “B”, I immediately ordered a copy at Book Depository. And so I was at the peak of my obsession, I watched every video of her, I have memorized some of her poems especially “Postcards” which I could recite in a heartbeat. I got myself a copy of No Matter The Wreckage, and boy I fell in love harder. That book was perfection! Each of her poem is spot on, something you can relate to one way or another – it was something I have been longing to read. And don’t get me started with how good she is up on stage, she was divine. And I have put in my bookish bucket list to meet her!

I recommend her books to everyone, even the ones who is not into poetry. Because to be completely honest she made me love and respect poetry even more. I wanted to be just like her someday. A girl’s got to dream, right!

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Jessica Thompson

This is a new segment here in my blog, and I will try my best to feature different author every month. This is to show you guys who are the authors who made a big impact in my reading life or life in general and why I love their works to no end. The first author I will be featuring would be Jessica Thompson, my idol, my favorite author, the only author I would like to be stuck with in an island or the one author I would like to be next to when apocalypse comes, that’s how much I love her!

About This Author (Taken from Goodreads)

Jessica Thompson is an author living in London.

Born in Yorkshire in the late eighties, she then lived in France and Kent, before moving to the big city she loves so much.

Her very first ‘novel’, written in her early teens, is so old it was stored on a floppy disc. She spent most of her childhood reading her latest poems and stories to her long-suffering but inspirational parents, who encouraged her to continue sharpening her skills as a writer.

This passion for writing continued and flourished, and she eventually trained to become a reporter with the National Council for the Training of Journalists. She was a reporter for two major newspaper groups for six years, before working in charity communications and digital marketing while writing novels.

Jessica loves singing, running, eating out and spending time with friends. She is currently studying with the Open University.

Jessica’s debut novel This is a Love Story was published by Coronet, Hodder and Stoughton, in February 2012. Her second novel Three Little Words was published on August 15 2013. Jessica’s third book will be published during the summer of 2014, and her fourth in 2015.

Twitter: Jthompsonauthor

Instagram: jessicaannat

Website: http://jessicathompsonbooks.com/

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I cannot even begin to tell you how I love Jessica Thompson. Her books are so well-written and so meticulously made that you could not help but be inside the story itself. She has this way with words that is not pretentious, it was real and amazing. She is indeed a gem, a one heck of a story teller. Her stories, are not the typical ones, she has this power to combine reality and fiction that they are so beautifully crafted together you could not tell the difference. I first read her book back in February of 2013 – This is A Love Story, that book easily became a favorite of mine, and I couldn’t count the times I have reread it.

Realistic. Heart-wrenching. Tear-Inducing. Nothing short of perfect. I am not sugar coating. It was how I found this completely and utterly amazing masterpiece. I just might want to kiss Jessica Thompson right now.

This was an excerpt from my review of the book. After reading it, I made it my life mission to read everything written by her. So I slowly bought her other books. Three Little Words and Paper Swans. I have read Three Little Words, and again I am floored how beautifully written it was, how the stories inside it are so interrelated, how it encompasses love, friendship, loss and hope. It was all I could ask for in a book and more. Here’s an excerpt of my review.

Three Little Words is a book that is so different and realistic. The lives of all the characters were intertwined by one incident, and I loved how the author was able to stretch out everything, how everything turned out to be connected in the end. It was carefully woven making everything coherent. I also loved the different point of views but set in third person narration, not all books could pull that off, but this book made it with so much ease. I also commend how this book is different from This Is A Love Story , you can see the variation of the books, that they didn’t run in the same storyline.

I had a good cry towards the end, I was too emotionally invested that it would be hard to find something quite like it. I loved how it tackled love, loss, friendship, grief and all other facets of human experience. It was a mix of everything amazing and then some.

I have yet to read Paper Swans and I am 100% sure I will love it too. Jessica Thompson has become my go to author and I am so happy I chanced upon her book. Now I cannot wait for her latest book that will be out by August 13, 2015 – The Wiating Game

And oh did I mention that each of her books has a beautiful cover!!

   

So what are you all waiting for, check her book out! I swear you will not regret it. If you are into romance, realistic stories and just pure awesome reading experience, her books are made just for you! Plus she is super friendly, I have talked to her on Instagram and she is so so nice!

And oh I wish her books will come in hard copies and I wish she’ll come to the Philippines, I will definitely be the first in line!

That’s all for now, watch out for the next feature! Have an amazing day you guys! 🙂

Ugly People Beautiful Hearts by Marlen Komar: Book Review

Synopsis: Ugly People Beautiful Hearts is a poetry book with over 70 poems that explores loneliness, quiet sadness, bursts of happiness, and contentment over the fact that everything you have, will eventually go okay. But that’s sort of beautiful in its own right.

It has verses moving between the feelings of loving someone, feeling loss, trusting the night sky, losing your light, resolving that hurt is beautiful, and finding compassion in a stranger’s smile.

Date Published: March 13, 2015

Publisher: Self-Published

No. of Pages: 96 pages

Date Read: May 16, 2015

Source: Provided by the Author. 🙂

REVIEW:

Achingly beautiful.

Wow. Just wow. Let me find the perfect words to describe this poetry book. It was just amazing, spot-on, raw and real. I have found a favorite. This poetry book is easily on my top list of poetry books. It was just, ugh! I cannot give justice to how good it was. And I can’t thank Marlen herself for giving me a copy of her incredible book. I definitely see myself rereading the whole thing over and over. The book was able to paint, heartbreaks, courage, the beauty of life, the silver lining in every sadness, so vividly and so accurate you can easily put yourself inside it. That every hurt and pain is universal, that there is beauty in pain and there is always hope. If you enjoyed Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan and the works of Lang Leav and Sarah Kay you will surely love this book. I cannot recommend it enough!

It is not so often that I review poetry books, I wouldn’t want to ruin the beauty of it and yes my words may not give it the justice it deserves, but this poetry book is just so beautiful that I could not pass the opportunity to be able to tell the world about it. I loved how it was written with overflowing emotions that you could not help but nod your head. What is more amazing about this poetry book is that, it is like telling your own story but through the words of another, but the emotions, the realizations, the subtle hints, the epiphany, the realness of it all are all there, poking your heart making you feel everything all over again.

I think I tabbed 80% of the book, and it is so hard to choose my favorite piece. But here it is.

Chance Meeting Over Coffee

And I have this one coffee shop I go to, a couple of blocks from my apartment. The lights inside are as warm as the din of chatter from people bent over chapter books, quietly trading papers as they murmur about future Sundays. Coats hug the backs of chairs and a few mittens lay discarded under tables, hopefully not forgotten. But I, I always keep my coat on.

I hold my cup with both hands, watching the dust dance in the rays of light breaking onto my table. I look up and you approach me, as I thought you would, eventually.

“I think we’ve met before.” “I think you’re right.”

“You always put my coffee mugs back on the wrong shelf, if I remember right.”

“And stain the rims with berry reds from my lips.”

“That part I didn’t mind all that much.”

I smiled.

“I think one time I fell asleep on your shoulder, with my feet over yours on the coffee table.”

‘You were wearing my wool socks.”

“You might be right.” I shifted in my chair, trying to fight the urge to look out the window. “I think I used to sit on windowsills, keeping the afternoon company; eating strawberries and thinking of you.” I crossed my feet at the ankles, looked up at you. “That probably sounds silly.”

“I’m not sure why,” you said slowly, weighing your words, “but for whatever reason I think I remember how your eyes looked at one o’clock, when the night was not yet ready for morning to come.”

“That’s a peculiar thing to say.”

“Yea you’re right.” You paused. Then continued.

“Were you the one that used to use hardcover books as coasters? And put rosemary in vases like flowers?” You smiled, trying to place the girl. “Wait, was it you that danced with me in the kitchen? To the sound of the dishwasher running and the color draining from the sky?”

“It might have been. Maybe?”

“Maybe.”

“Well…”

“Well. I should be going then. Maybe sometime later we’ll see each other again. Things might be different. I’m sure it’ll come to me how I know you.”

“You know how these things are.”
You waved goodbye with your paper, and I watched your back leave the shop. Funny, how some strangers were once apart of your life.

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