the nameless reader

I have no name, but I do enjoy reading. I hope my anonymous blog will be a source of comfort and interest, and I welcome any sort of engagement with my posts. My favorite book genres are the classics, horror and thrillers, and 19th century novels. Have a lovely day ~ ♥ ~

[chanelslibrary]

🌙𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰🌙

The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Jasmine Allen doesn’t believe in love. Her life is uncomplicated without romance to muck it up—she has a great job, good friends, and a care free attitude. Until a plumbing disaster at her apartment leaves her homeless! Luckily, her best friend Rahul offers her his extra room. Only there’s one problem…Rahul has been in love with Jas since they become friends in college without her knowledge. Will living with her under the same roof shake the iron clad control he’s had over his feelings these last few years?

So…I had a few thoughts about this book! lol First—I am fairly new to pure romance novels, and although they aren’t my favorite genre (since I prefer a mix of fantasy/sci-fi + romance) I do like them! BUT there has to be plot as well!!!! This book was mostly romance/SMUT! 😂 I like me some smut but I’m all about the build up and sexual tension. Plus I listened to the audiobook and the English actor’s voice saying ‘knickers’ at 6am while I was driving to work had me cackling like a child!! Those are my reasons for 3 stars…I felt like the characters weren’t fleshed out enough, and we barely knew the side characters!

Read if you love:

🌶️Spicy

🫶🏽Friends to lovers

🏠Forced proximity

✊🏽Black/Brown rep

[thenamelessreader]

"For he hears the lambs' innocent call, And he hears the ewes tender reply; He is watchful while they are in peace, For they know when their sheperd is nigh." - William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience

I adore this edition of Songs of Innocence and of Experience by the Macmillan Collector's Library. It contains images of each poem from the original edition, and it goes wonderfully with my bookmark.

♡ If you'd also like a beautiful, fully-customized bookmark like my own, you can visit the artist - my lovely boyfriend - on Etsy and Instagram!

[thenamelessreader]

My current pastime read… Ghost Stories and Other Horrid Tales by Folio Society ☕️

A full review will be written soon <3

Also, for those interested in luxurious, customized bookmarks made out of rare woods, such as the ones in my posts, my beloved partner makes them with love and appreciation for craftsmanship. Feel free to ask about them ~

[thenamelessreader]

Just finished reading Kai Cheng Thom’s Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars. Did not expect to be so emotionally invested in a coming-of-age book, but here we are! I sincerely enjoyed this novel, it was magical with the bitter taste of reality lingering throughout it, yet they did not hurt one another in making a point. Lovely read, I recommend it for anyone who is into LGBTQ+ literature. ʙ ᴏ ᴏ ᴋ _ ʀ ᴀ ᴛ ɪ ɴ ɢ : ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[thenamelessreader]

The Folio Book of Horror Stories, by the Folio Society

A beautiful collection of short horror stories by The Folio Society, published in 2018. Considering most (don't quote me on this!) of these stories are in the public domain or legally accessible online, they can be read online with a quick google search. However, this edition is outright marvelous, and evidently, tons of love has been poured into the creation of it - Corey Brickley's illustrations are divine and it also contains writer and editor Ramsey Campbell's introduction, both of which tie the collection beautifully.

Writing a review of each story wouldn't be too affective, as each is unique on its own. I have read The Yellow Wallpaper and House of Usher and both are beautifully written and depict aspects of supernatural horror (Poe) and psychological horror (Gilman), and the collection provides a great opportunity to expose oneself to short horror stories from the 18th century up until modern times. An awesome book to introduce readers to the different subgenres of horror before deepdiving into full-lenght books! The list of the stories are as follows:

▪︎ The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allan Poe (1839)

▪︎ The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

▪︎ Count Magnus, by M. R. James (1904)

▪︎ The White People, by Arthur Machen (1904)

▪︎ Ancient Lights, by Algernon Blackwood (1912)

▪︎ The Music of Erich Zann, by H. P. Lovecraft (1922)

▪︎ Smoke Ghost, by Fritz Leiber (1941)

▪︎ Brenda, by Margaret St. Clair (1954)

▪︎ The Bus, by Shirley Jackson (1965)

▪︎ Again, by Ramsey Campbell (1981)

▪︎ Vastarien, by Thomas Ligotti (1987)

▪︎ Call Home, by Dennis Etchison (1991)

▪︎ 1408, by Stephen King (2002)

▪︎ Flowers of the Sea, by Reggie Oliver (2011)

▪︎ Hippocampus, by Adam Nevill (2015)

ʙ ᴏ ᴏ ᴋ _ ʀ ᴀ ᴛ ɪ ɴ ɢ : ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[thenamelessreader]

Poetic Prosthetics: Drama and Language in Contemporary Veteran Writing, by Ron Ben-Tovim

It would be an understatement to say that I had not expected to read this book; for a while I have felt that academic writing may simply be not for me, and it quickly became a comforting area for me to dwell in - reciting in my head that I am either "too dumb" for such books or "not there yet" (that is, in comparison to my academic studies as of now) was, in fact, a way for my insecurities to hold me in my place.

However, Ron generously landed me his own copy of the book, which allowed me to both get a chance of reading my first critical studies book and spare my wallet.

The book beautifully discusses the functionality of poetry and language as a protheses for veterans - as language becomes a tool to harness the difference between those who return from war ("I") and those who never have ("they") (or, in the case of some female soldiers facing the fear of MST - "us") - art turns into a different kind of protheses, an extension of the self through the loses of war used as a new manner of communication, in order to replace ordinary speech that cannot commune these traumatic experiences any longer.

Later on, the disillusionment of war is explored through veteran poetry - war is not 'glorious', the dead are rotten meat. However, there are critics who prefer poetry written after the war instead of during it, because the raw emotions are, according to W. B. Yeats, a tad "too" real - unrefined, not artistic enough. As a former arts student (a non-academic one), I was immediately thrown back to the shift from the Classical period to the Hellenistic period in ancient Greece - the cultural need to move from glorified, almost perfect art to 'true' and realistic art, to depict the raw emotions of the people. It happened through history numerous times, as it does once more and wonderfully shown in Ben-Tovim's book.

Generally speaking, veteran writing is a fascinating genre, and I recommend anyone who shares an interest of diving into sensitive, yet meaningful topics, to pick up this book and get familiar with the vast world of veteran poetry, that is beautifully introduced in Ron's book. I will definitely read the rest of the critical military studies books.

ʙ ᴏ ᴏ ᴋ _ ʀ ᴀ ᴛ ɪ ɴ ɢ : ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[thenamelessreader]

Beautiful new studies stationary by notebook_therapy ♧ My second purchase so far (with the first one being towards my Japanese studies) and certainly not the last . ° ~` ♤

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend!

Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, is volume twenty-one of the thirty-seven volume The Comedies Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare, published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) from 1939-1940. Macbeth was first printed in the folio of 1623. 

Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) illustrated Macbeth. He was an renowned actor, son of the even more renowned Ellen Terry, who was once considered one of the worlds most famous men in theater. He also was also a noted wood-engraver, even though he only actually illustrated one book with wood engravings, an edition of Hamlet published by Count Harry Kessler at The Cranach Presse. 

His illustrations for Macbeth, perhaps unfortunately, are not done in wood-engraving. Those working at The Limited Editions Club seemed to have excitedly pushed for the use of color, to express the rich costumes in the play. These illustrations were drawn with lithographic crayon on brown paper then reproduced in lithography by Fernand Mourlot in Paris. 

The volumes in the set were printed in an edition of 1950 copies at the Press of A. Colish, and each was illustrated by a different artist, but the unifying factor is that all volumes were designed by famed book and type designer Bruce Rogers and edited by the British theatre professional and Shakespeare specialist Herbert Farjeon. Our copy is number 1113, the number for long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin.

View more Limited Edition Club posts.

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts.

-Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern