CR Newsletter for Feb is out!

The February Compulsive Reader newsletter has now gone out. This month's issue has a range of new reviews including Morning Will Come by Billy Lombardo, The Other Life by Patrick Connors, Rain Violent by Ann Spiers, A Girl Should Be by Ruth Latta and many others, as well as an interview with Joel Agee, author of The Stone World. We also have another terrific giveaway and a full literary news roundup that includes the Gotham Prize, the Portico Prize for Literature, the Indie Book Awards and many others.  If you are a subscriber it's on its way.  If you want to check it out or can't wait, you can view it in your browser now. To subscribe for free or read any of the reviews, visit: http://www.compulsivereader.com.  Happy reading! 

"'Book' shop" by Elsie esq (Les Chatfield) is licensed under Creative Commons via OpenVerse

CR Newsletter Jan 2022 is out!

Happy New Year dear readers!  The first issue of the Compulsive Reader for 2022 is now heading to your in-box, full of great reviews including new books by Rohan Chhetri, Anna Dowdall, Peter Mladinic, Carol Major, Sanjeev Sethi,  Cindy Savett, Elizabeth Metzger, Aimee Parkison, Emily Franklin, and Diane Lee Moomey, a new anthology edited by Mark Wish and Elizabeth Coffey, and interview with Gary Slaughter, Clifford Garstang, and on the podcast, Charles Freyberg: https://anchor.fm/compulsivereader/episodes/Charles-Freyberg-on-The-Crumbling-Mansion-e1bnsog 

We also have two terrific new giveaways for January and of course a big round-up of December's literary news.  To grab a copy or check out the newsletter now, visit: http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/eyJpZCI6MCwicmVwb3J0IjoxNjg2MiwidmlldyI6InRyYWNrZXIiLCJ1cmwiOiIlN0JzcC1icm93c2VyLXVybCU3RCJ9/

To sign up or browse our extensive database, visit http://www.compulsivereader.com and use the sign up box on the upper left hand side or search by genre, title, or date.  Happy reading! 

Image:  "DAY 6/365 - Books" by Fliposopher is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Two wonderful new reviews

As a writer, you can go months of working into what feels like a void.  Of course you have supportive writers' groups, wonderful friends to talk about your work with, public readings, etc, and you will say that external validation doesn't matter - it's all about the practice, which is good advice and mostly you mean it, but the truth is that external validation, at least here and there, is incredibly important. I'm a reviewer myself, so I know the joy of engaging deeply with a book from the point of view of a reader. I feel like every review I write is a gift to myself: the gift of time, of attention, of allowing myself to open to something new.  But it's easy to forget how much of an impact a deeply considered, beautifully written review can have on the author. It's not just that reviews are great for promoting your work. For me that is absolutely secondary.  Knowing that someone you respect not only understands the work, but makes new connections in ways you could never have anticipated when you were working on it, is enough to keep me working for many more months into the void.  

So it is with a great deal of joy that I received two beautiful reviews for my new poetry book The Density of Compact Bone today.  The first was from Charles Rammelkamp for international "cultural omnibus" London Grip: "Time is both an abstract concept and a monolithic force. It’s behind extinction, annihilation, memory, age. It’s also an illusion."  The full review can be read here: https://londongrip.co.uk/2021/12/london-grip-poetry-review-magdalena-ball/

The second was from the Beatriz Copello at the Australian powerhouse Rochford Street Review: "The Density of Compact Boneis divided into four sections, each opens a door to different worlds, different spaces, moving from the microcosm to the macrocosm, from the individual to the multitudes, all written with richness of language and impeccable penmanship, or should I say penwomanship?" The full review can be found here: https://rochfordstreetreview.com/2021/12/04/22530/

Both reviews are beautifully written and deeply considered and I feel so grateful for the attention this little book has received from these generous and intelligent souls.  

Compulsive Reader Newsletter for December is now out

The Compulsive Reader Newsletter has now gone out to subscribers (subscribe here: http://www.compulsivereader.com).  We have 3 new giveaways, 15 fresh reviews, the big literary news roundup and lots more.  Grab a copy online from the archive if you can't wait for it to arrive.  Happy reading! 

"book stack" by ginnerobot is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Density of Compact Bone is now Available!

My new poetry book Density of Compact Bone is now available from Ginninderra Press (and good bookstores everywhere - just ask for it, or ask your local library to get it in).  Of the book, the wonderful Ivy Ireland says:

“The poems of Magdalena Ball’s The Density of Compact Bone are utterly visceral, sometimes temporal, but never quite ephemeral – lines will ring out in waves inside the mind long after the final page has been turned. These poems are not only haunting, but haunted: by the sense of something undetermined gone missing and also by what is known to be lost. These are poems explored through the body; internal, intimate and yet filled with paradigmatic shifts: from personal grief to global keening, from the blurred landscape of raw human feeling to the clear data of exacting scientific analysis. Apocalypse is rife here, but this collection moves beyond a dissection of our end times. These poems are intelligent – at times almost mordantly so – meticulously crafted and ontologically restless, yet somehow Ball’s humour, unassuming warmth, and varied musings on the movement of birds, the colour of planets or the buzzing of bees, leaves the reader feeling as though they have been gifted a potent balm for the relentless wounding ubiquitous here in the Anthropocene.”

To purchase, visit Ginninderra Press: https://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/store.php?product/page/2354/Magdalena+Ball+%2F+The+Density+of+Compact+Bone

Or from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Density-Compact-Bone-Magdalena-Ball/dp/1761091867/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Both hard copies and ebooks available.  If you are a reviewer, journalist, educator or run a book club and want me to talk or read (free), please contact me. 

Compulsive Reader newsletter for November is out

The November Compulsive Reader Newsletter has now gone out. This month features interviews with The Encanto's Alan Swan and Columbus and Caonabó's Andrew Rosen, along with another bumper crop of reviews including Beyond the Hill I Gather by Jeffrey Kingman, We’re Doomed! by Scott Erickson, and Watched and other stories by Carol Chandler to name just a few.  Of course we have the big global literary news roundup including such things as the TS Eliot prize, the German Book Prize, the Governor General's Literary Awards, and the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards.  There are also more books to giveaway, including a fabulous full set of the three books in Joan Schweighardt's Rivers trilogy, and Dana Mack's All Things that Deserve to Perish.  You can also listen to my interview with poet KA Rees at: Compulsive Reader Talks

You should have received your copy of the newsletter by now but if you're missing it, you can go get it directly from the Compulsive Reader Archive.

Happy reading! 

Photo credit: Evan Lawrence Bench

October Compulsive Reader Newsletter has gone out

The October Compulsive Reader newsletter is now on its way to your inbox.  This month features 3 new giveaways including Deadheading. by Beth Gilstrap. We also have extra reviews this month and a loooot of news.  If it's not in your inbox yet, you can grab a copy in the archive here: http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/email/?sid=MA&eid=MTY2ODc

To subscribe visit http://www.compulsivereader.com and sign up (free of course) on the upper left hand side of the site. Don't forget to get your name into the comps - good luck!

"Book" by Kamil Porembiński is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0