#anna burns

[pneumaticpresence]

At the time, age eighteen, having been brought up in a hair-trigger society where the ground rules were — if no physically violent touch was being laid upon you, and no outright verbal insults were being levelled at you, and no taunting looks in the vicinity either, then nothing was happening, so how could you be under attack from something that wasn't there? At eighteen I had no proper understanding of the ways that constituted encroachment. I had a feeling for them, an intuition, a sense of repugnance for some situations and some people, but I did not know intuition and repugnance counted, did not know I had a right not to like, not to have to put up with, anybody and everybody coming near. Best I could manage in those days was to hope the person concerned would hurry up and say whatever it was he or she thought they were being friendly and obliging by saying, then for them to go away; or else to go away myself, politely and quickly, the very moment I could.

—Anna Burns, Milkman

[writerswritecompany]

'My creative process involves turning up at the desk and waiting. It’s a very active, receptive waiting for characters to turn up and to start telling me their stories." ~Anna Burns

Literary Birthday – 7 March – Anna Burns

Anna Burns is an author from Northern Ireland.

[feedingahriman]

The Deformers Project - Anna Burns

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

Have you read Milkman by Anna Burns (2018)?

yes

no

I didn't finish it

I've never heard of it

Voting ended onFeb 29, 2024

[quotespile]

Cats are not adoring like dogs. They don’t care. They can never be relied upon to shore up a human ego. They go their way, do their thing, are not subservient and will never apologise. No one has ever come across a cat apologising and if a cat did, it would patently be obvious it was not being sincere.

Anna Burns, Milkman

[firstfullmoon]

[That] there were sunsets every day, that we weren’t meant to be coffined and buried whilst all the time still living, that nothing of the dark was so enormous that never could we surmount it, that always there were new chapters, that we must let go the old, open ourselves to symbolism, to the most unexpected of interpretations, that we must too, uncover what we’ve kept hidden, what we think we might have lost.

Anna Burns, from Milkman

[gatheringbones]

[“And that was the trouble with the shiny people. Take a whole group of individuals who weren’t shiny, maybe a whole community, a whole nation, or maybe just a statelet immersed long-term on the physical and energetic planes in the dark mental energies; conditioned too, through years of personal and communal suffering, personal and communal history, to be overladen with heaviness and grief and fear and anger – well, these people could not, not at the drop of a hat, be open to any bright shining button of a person stepping into their environment and shining upon them just like that. As for the environment, that too, would object, backing up the pessimism of its people, which was what happened where I lived where the whole place always seemed to be in the dark. It was as if the electric lights were turned off, always turned off, even though dusk was over so they should have been turned on yet nobody was turning them on and nobody noticed either, they weren’t on. All this too, seemed normality which meant then, that part of normality here was this constant, unacknowledged struggle to see. I knew even as a child – maybe because I was a child – that this wasn’t really physical; knew the impression of a pall, of some distorted quality to the light had to do with the political problems, with the hurts that had come, the troubles that had built, with the loss of hope and absence of trust and with a mental incapacitation over which nobody seemed willing or able to prevail. The very physical environment then, in collusion with, or as a result of, the human darkness discharging within it, didn’t itself encourage light. Instead the place was sunk in one long, melancholic story to the extent that the truly shining person coming into this darkness ran the risk of not outliving it, of having their own shininess subsumed into it and, in some cases – if the person was viewed as intolerably extra-bright and extra-shiny – it might even reach the point of that individual having to lose his or her physical life.

As for those living in the dark, long attuned to the safeness of the dark, this wasn’t wee buns for them either. What if we accept these points of light, their translucence, their brightness; what if we let ourselves enjoy this, stop fearing it, get used to it; what if we come to believe in it, to expect it, to be impressed upon by it; what if we take hope and forgo our ancient heritage and instead, and infused, begin to entrain with it, with ourselves then to radiate it; what if we do that, get educated up to that, and then, just like that, the light goes off or is snatched away? This was why you didn’t get many shining people in environments overwhelmingly consisting of fear and of sorrow.”]

Anna Burns, Milkman

[bubblegumbi-tch]

I was tagged by longtime silent mutual and absolute book connoisseur with impeccable taste @kajafrompluto to share 6 books I want to read in 2022:

1. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.

This is the most recent on the list after I saw a few quotes. It's wlw, stupidly romantic, and super poetically written so I've heard. You know I'm in. I am a sucker for romances that span lifetimes or longer or have some other timey wimey dimension to them.

2. Authority by Jeff VanDermeer

After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X—a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization—has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray. John Rodríguez (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve. In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.

This is one where I'm kinda only planning on reading it bc I read the first one bc I watched the film of it and loved it, and can't leave a series unfinished. The first book was ok, it was very disconcerting to read which I think was the point but I was kinda left waiting for something that never happened, and found the writing style a bit slow, but I didn't hate it. I feel like this is the one instance where the film might be better than the book simply due to being able to use visuals to add to that creepy feeling the book had. I liked that the first book, Annhilation, was entirely female centered but didn't make a song and dance about it like look at me I'm a book with solely female characters, rather they just did all the things any male characters would do, but just happened to be women. It looks like each book is centered on a different group so we shall have to see how Authority turns out!

3. As yet unreleased and untitled Dreamer Trilogy book no.3 by Maggie Stiefvater (book one cover used in place)

The majestic conclusion to Maggie Stiefvater’s Dreamer Trilogy. The war between dreams and reality intensifies... with Ronan at its center.

If you know me at all, you'll know I am utterly in love with both this book series and it's preceeding series The Raven Cycle. These characters, this world are all somehow both so vivdly real and magically otherworldy and every time I read one of these books its like coming home to your group of best friends (probably helps that the first series are based around legend from my home country, however minus points for anglicising the names maggie lmao). I adore the way Maggie writes, it's so easy to read, and I love the passion and dedication she has put into these books. I feel her real life interests jump out in them, and it helps that they're often the same as mine have been throughout my life. These books are just super close to my heart and I simultaneously can't wait for October to come so I can get my hands on this third book in this series, and also never want it to come so I never have to finish with this world and these charaters.

4. Milkman by Anna Burns

In this unnamed city, to be interesting is dangerous. Middle sister, our protagonist, is busy attempting to keep her mother from discovering her maybe-boyfriend and to keep everyone in the dark about her encounter with Milkman. But when first brother-in-law sniffs out her struggle, and rumours start to swell, middle sister becomes 'interesting'. The last thing she ever wanted to be. To be interesting is to be noticed and to be noticed is dangerous. Milkman is a tale of gossip and hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness. It is the story of inaction with enormous consequences.

I got a copy of this free from uni like 4 years ago and never got a chance to read past the first chapter, although that first chapter seemed incredibly promising. Not sure what to expect as I've never read anything by this author before, but it seems up my street so I'm optimistic!

5. Icelandic Folk Tales by Hjorleifur Helgi Stefansson (idk how to do the accents on this laptop soz)

Iceland is a country where stories are as important as history. When Vikings settled the island, they brought their tales with them. Every rock, hot spring and waterfall seems to have its own story. Cruel man-eating trolls rub shoulders with beautiful elves, whose homes are hidden from mortal view. Vengeful ghosts envy the living, seeking to drag lost loves into their graves – or they may simply demand a pinch of your snuff. Some of the stories in this collection are classic Icelandic tales, while others are completely new to English translation. Hjörleifur has always been deeply interested in the rich lore of his island. His grandparents provided a second home in his upbringing and taught him much about the past through their own way of life. Hjörleifur is dedicated to breathing fresh life into the stories he loves. He lives on his family farm in Borgarfjörður, and also spends a lot of time in Scotland, where he is becoming renowned on the Scottish storytelling circuit.

Does what it says on the tin really, a collection of easily digestible short icelandic folk tales. This was gifted to me and I'm part way through it already and its proving to be a great gift. Some are funny, some are dark, some appear to make little sense at all as folk tales are. Definitely up my street and I love how bitesize they are, as unfortunately my attention span and free time have decreased dramatically recently lol.

6. You Will Get Through This Night by Daniel Howell

"There’s a moment at the end of every day, where the world falls away and you are left alone with your thoughts. A reckoning, when the things you have been pushing to the background, come forward and demand your attention." Written by Daniel Howell, in conjunction with a qualified psychologist, in an entertaining and personal way from the perspective of someone who has been through it all—this no-nonsense book gives you the tools to understand your mind so you can be in control and really live. Split into three chapters for each stage of the journey: This Night - how to get through your toughest moments and be prepared to face anything. Tomorrow - small steps to change your thoughts and actions with a big impact on your life. The Days After - help to look after yourself in the long term and not just survive, but thrive. You will laugh and learn—but most of all, this book will assure you that even in your darkest times, there is always hope.  You will get through this night.

I put off buying this for so long bc not only am I super skeptical of self help books, but self help books by youtubers?? Hmm. But seeing how passionate Dan was and is about this book and how much of himself he's put into it I couldn't help it. Say what you like about him or the people that watch his content but he's one of, if not the only one of the OG youtube lot that has held my interest up until now (and hansn't had some sort of horrific scandal lmao), and you cannot deny, he is a good egg who has remained himself throughout his career and hasn't let fame change who he is. He has integrity. And what he is doing with his career now is something mature and thoughtful and I'm fully behind him. I have read bits and pieces of this already, but just dip into every now and again when I feel like it. For a self help book, it is actually pretty great. I feel like I can hear Dans voice as I read his mix of sarcastic, self depreciative humour, and serious talking points. It's very him, and quite comforting, as he's been in the background of a lot of my life in one way or the other, and continues to do so, albeit in a very different way with this book.

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Wow, this ended up being long! I wanted to put a little blurb to each book though to encourage others to read them too if they like the sound of them!

To do this next (if they want) I tag @two-cupsofcoffee @gaym3bo1@bitchyglittercreator and @clotpoleincamelot