Carly Nations, Author at Sartorial Geek

Women of the World: Soft Science (Book Review)

By Carly Nations June 30, 2019

So, let me start by saying that I realize that poetry is not for everyone. This is true for old poetry, with its repetitive rhymes and rigid structure, but it is also exceptionally true for much of modern poetry, which can sometimes read like some sort of self-indulgent exercise in emotional riddle-making.

But, after hearing an interview with poet Franny Choi, I couldn’t wait to get a hold of her new book of poetry, Soft Science. I usually love poetry and was intrigued by the ways Choi said she wove together the threads of politics, gender, sexuality and technology in her new collection. She also said that she did so using the language of technology and science, which I thought had to be super cool.

Women of the World: Fifty Million Rising (Book Review)

By Carly Nations May 31, 2019

As a teacher, the end of the school year can be both completely hectic and ridiculously boring all at the same time. Filled with standardized tests that require me to sit in a room for hours on end, it seems like all of my time is both used and wasted all at once. Perhaps even worse than the eternal boredom of testing season, sitting in a silent room for hours on end tends to lead my brain to some weird places. Because I’m an enneagram 1 and am endlessly concerned with the issues of the world, without happy distractions my brain heads toward incredibly depressing places pretty quickly.

Women of the World: Children of Blood and Bone (Book Review)

By Carly Nations April 30, 2019

The “Women of the World” book for April is one that I’ve been saving. When I started this project, I knew that Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone would have to be one of my novels. And so, as a sort of “save dessert for last” exercise, I attempted to wait to read Children of Blood and Bone until further into the year. Obviously, I didn’t make it very far.

Women of the World: Lucy (Book Review)

By Carly Nations March 30, 2019

As an English teacher, I often have to remind my students that you don’t have to like a book for its message to be important. March’s book had me listening to my own advice. I really struggled writing this review. Yet, I think the tension that I felt while writing this blog is the entire point of reading this book.

Women of the World: One Amazing Thing (Book Review)

By Carly Nations February 27, 2019

My year of reading women around the world started off with a bang with my January book, Wayétu Moore’s She Would be King. Thus, I jumped into February with equal tenacity, excited to delve into yet another work that would help me explore more traditions, more cultures, just . . . more.

February’s book is Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s One Amazing Thing. This book seemed to come to me almost by some divine inspiration, as it was given to me by a close friend before I had told anyone about this project.

Women of the World: She Would Be King (Book Review)

By Carly Nations January 31, 2019

At the end of 2018, I was dreading the thought of the new year. For whatever reason, New Year’s Eve has always been my least favorite holiday, probably because new year’s resolutions are the bane of my existence. My perfectionist self can’t handle the thought of purposefully guaranteeing that I will begin every new year with an inevitable failure.

But, at the end of 2018, beaten down by the exhausting cycle of bad news and plagued by the realization that, according to the Screentime app on my iPhone, I’d spent on average over three hours PER DAY mindlessly scrolling through the internet, I decided to commit myself at least to read something other than Twitter in 2019.