Banango Lit

Banango is a literary blog that talks about exciting literature. We like to read stuff. We are also Banango Street, a literary journal. You can email us at banangolit (at) gmail (dot) com if you would like to send us stuff to look at, or you can send a link in our Ask box. We will try to look at it but we have learned to avoid making too many promises.

Also, email us if you feel like you would like to be a contributor for Banango. We would like that also.

Banango Writers

Justin Carter
Rachel Hyman
Diana Salier
Matt Margo
Katey Metcalf
Thom James
Jackson Nieuwland

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reviewing some books based on their amazon.ca cover thumbnails

‘sometimes my heart pushes my ribs’ by ellen kennedy

looks pretty chill. i am digging all the pastel colours. i don’t know how i feel abt the alternating green and grey letters, seems confusing. I was trying to discern some kind of pattern but could not. I thought maybe like, certain letters were always green and some were always grey but that turned out to be false. If anyone knows ellen kennedy can you ask her for me?

7.3

‘hurt others’ by sam pink

really like this one. sam pink has a very distinct visual style. every aspect of sam pink’s work seems to be distinctly and obviously the work of sam pink. sort of feel like it’d be cool if sam pink did like a short animated film. i would watch that probably.

8.5

‘eeeee eee eeee’ by tao lin

looks nice. looks like the kind of book i would pick up like in a bookstore just for the sake of picking it up and holding it in my hands a little bit. the colour pink seems a lot more intense than tao lin’s more ‘traditional’ pallet, which to me suggests that either tao lin had not quite ‘refined’ his ‘colour brand’ when this book was published, or he wanted to demonstrate the intensity of the bear. think i will probably buy this book soon.

7.6

‘grow up’ by ben brooks

the colours look nice, and i really like the font. seems like everything is balanced nicely. the cover makes me think this book is about something nice. i guess the skull behind the make-up is a little unchill but i mean w/e everyone has skulls i guess.

7.1

‘holy bible’

seems pretty boring. looks like your standard boring textbook-type-thing . feel like ‘holy bible’ will miss out on some sales due to very unmeme-able cover. i am already bored just looking at this thumbnail.

3.1

-Dave Shaw

Megan Boyle has a new article up on Thought Catalog. After not hearing from her in a while, this piece is just what we needed to provide a little insight into her current life. You know, what she’s up to these days after all of her new-found MuuMuu House Fame.

Click-through the photo to view the article on Thought Catalog or view it by clicking here.

- Walter Mackey

Guest Post: Jackson Nieuwland reviews The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trail by Gregory Sherl

By: Jackson Nieuwland

The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trail (Mud Luscious Press) by Gregory Sherl

I had been waiting for this book for a long time and I am excited that it is now in my hands,

which is surprising because I haven’t read any of Greg’s poetry

(well I have read a couple poems from his blog in the last couple days but mentioning that takes away a lot of the power of what I’m saying).

Why the anticipation then?

Is it because Mud Luscious Press is one of my favourite publishers and I’ve enjoyed all of their previous titles?

No.

Well, maybe a little

but it’s because of the cult of Gregory Sherl.

Everyone else seems excited by him.

Excitement is contagious.

He talks about sex.

He says that poetry needs more fucking in it.

He is approachable and nice on face book.

Basically he just seems like a really cool, talented guy.

He has an aura about him.

And that was enough to make me buy his book

(well I had a years subscription of Mud Luscious anyway but I was really looking forward to this book, I promise).

I believed that if he had put himself into this book then this book was something that I wanted to read.

Now I have the book.

I haven’t read a single poem in it yet, but I have the book.

I haven’t read a single poem yet but my mind is already buzzing with thoughts for a review.

Having bought this book without any knowledge of Greg’s writing it seems appropriate to write my review without having read the book

(actually I‘m not sure how appropriate it is but I‘m doing it anyway

probably because I’m taking this course at the moment called Print, Communication, Culture and I‘ve been learning how much information you can get from a book without actually reading it (in fact instead of writing this review right now I should be writing a similar analysis of a different book which is worth 40% of my final grade in the class)).

We can call it a preview!

The first thing that strikes me is:

I don’t like the cover.

It doesn’t seem very cohesive to me.

It’s off balance.

Maybe there’s something I’m not getting,

maybe it’ll make sense once I’ve read the book,

but this would not be the first thing I would pick up in a bookstore.

Sorry.

Maybe it’s a homage to the game the book is based on.

The game I didn’t know existed before I heard about it in reference to this book

(I don‘t think it The Oregon Trail was a thing in New Zealand).

The book really yells out it’s connection to the game

(even more so if the cover is indeed an homage to its graphics).

The back cover announces,

“…based on the iconic video game The Oregon Trail…”

and then goes on to include a blurb from the co-creator of the game.

I know what you’re thinking: This book must be pretty legit to have the kind of co-sign!

I’m thinking it too,

But

I’m also slightly confused.

I know Greg as a poet.

Although he has two previous books, one of prose, one of poetry,

I think of him as a poet.

The blurb I mentioned just before called this a book of poetry and I was not surprised,

but along the bottom of the back cover

red and black text blurts,

“Novel(la) Series”.

What is going on?

Finding no other clues on the cover I am forced to open the book.

Inside I find a few things.

In the front: the name of the guy who designed the cover I don’t like,

and in the back: a list of all the other books in this ‘Novel(la) Series’,

and a bio of Greg that doesn’t include his previous prose collection

(probably because it’s considered a chapbook).

I’m still getting mixed signals!

This book is forcing me to look at its actual content!

So I flick through the pages

and at first I think I’m seeing prose poems,

the lines are long and the poems look like blocks.

Is this an explanation?

Is the inbetween form of the prose poem making it hard to pin this book down to one label?

No.

On closer inspection these are not prose poems.

I can see line breaks.

I can even see a few stanza breaks!

But I think I’m on the right track

and I think I have another idea to do with inbetween forms.

I’ve heard of these things called ‘novels-in-stories’.

I’ve even read a couple of them!

And while I wonder what the difference is between a novel-in-stories and a novel-in-chapters,

I think: what if this book is something similar?

What if this book is a novel(la)-in-poems?

That could be something really awesome.

There’s only one way to find out.

I guess I’ll have to read this darn thing.

Maybe I’ll write another review when I’m done.

Another cool thing I noticed is that there are no page numbers.

There is a maze on the cover (I like the idea of a maze on a cover, just not it’s execution in this instance) and there are no page numbers.

Is the lack of page numbers a trick to make it harder to navigate the maze that is this book?

Again, I guess I’ll have to read this darn thing

GUEST POST: Zack Schuster liveblogs the Beachies.

Zack Schuster liveblogged the Beachy awards. Zack is the author of Trackback, reviewed here by Beach Sloth. We like Zack. Check him out on Twitter!

editor’s note: I do not live in Ohio

+++

9:32 - Best Alt Lit Novel just got announced, so we should be moving into the Beachies soon I guess.

9:33 - Aww, he was about to announce it, too, then I guess someone got called a jerk. DAMN.

9:34 - Setting change for the Beachies, “The alternative to the alternative.” Steve goes to his “teenage bedroom.” Steve calls Beach Sloth “one of the most beautiful people on the internet.”

9:36 - “…Anyway, I really like Beach Sloth.” Ugh, a whole four minutes before we get to the Beachies. It’s like he’s trying to be a good MC or something.

9:38 - Steve takes a break to put a ribbon on his face.

9:39 - Best online squatter - Happy Dog Mom Lit Journal. …What’s an online squatter, and how does one be best at it?

9:40 - STEVE TOLD EVERYONE TO PUT ON THEIR CAPS LOCK KEY SO I DID

9:41 - BEST NAMED-AFTER-AN-ANIMAL AWARD: MEGHAN LAMB

9:42 - BEST USE OF SHOOTING STAR IMAGERY: JENNIFER FALLINGSTAR

9:43 - My keyboard is glaring at me.

9:44 - Best Person Being Confused For Beach Sloth Award - Christopher Higgs

9:45 - Jordan Castro gets everyone to post his name in all-caps in chat.

9:46 - It devolves into everyone putting awful adjectives in front of the word “peen”. SHRIVELED EMACIATED PEEN

9:47 - Best person to overcome an arrest (I think that’s the award name?) - Chandwick Reddin (I think that’s his name?)

9:48 - People (including, of course, Jordan Castro) are now offering to do terrible things to their butt-hair for PayPal monies.

9:49 - Best Fo’ Sho’ - ZACK SCHUSTER. Just kidding, it’s Megan Boyle. I know, it surprised me just as much.

9:50 - Steve moves into his brother’s bedroom and gets on an exercise bike.

9:51 - “I feel like I can go pretty fast but there’s no resistance so it’s like what the hell…the screen on here is pretty dark…i’m trying to succeed but it’s pretty difficult.”

9:52 - Beach Sloth is about to leave, just as Steve does “Best Syllabus”, which goes to Shaun Gannon.

9:53 - Lots and lots of hearts in chat after that award.

9:54 - Best portrayal of an online presence - Michael J Seidlinger (I consulted the chat for that one)

9:55 - Best use of a potato salad - lots of people pulling for Ohio, but it goes to Justin Carter instead.

9:56 - HOLD UP JUSTIN CARTER LIVES IN OHIO. The day is saved. Steve says the awards are starting to wind down because “it’s been almost two hours.”

9:57 - Best anonymous online presence - peterbd, who actually sent me a few poems before I left for Basic (and included me in one of his more recent poems).

9:59 - NO AD NOOOOOOO-okay I didn’t miss anything, good.

10:00 - Four awards left. Best use of neon and glitter - Neon Glittery, of course. “She was kind of in a league of her own, <i>arguably</i>.” Neon’s also from Ohio. I actually have her chapbook back home; MOST DEFS something I look forward to reading when I get back in March (OH SO LONG OF A WAIT).

10:01 - Best use of physical violence at a reading (“A lot of competition for this one”) - Mike Bushnell. “I actually have a paint stain on the back of one of my shirts from hugging him after his story.”

10:02 - This happened back during the IRL Poetry Tour, I guess. Some dude was being obnoxious on his phone. Violence ensues. A tin snack can lid got bent (from being smashed against a head).

10:05 - Best use of reality - MDMA Films

10:06 - Steve says one of their films is a two-hour-long one take, shot on a Macbook

10:07 - Beach Sloth ALMOST LEFT right before the LAST AWARD. Scandalous!

10:08 - Fantastic Award Great Job - Jackson Nieuwland (GET IT? ‘EVERYTHING IS FANTASTIC’?)

10:09 Dec 28 2011 until 8:00 Dec 28 2012 - THE WORLD RECOVERS FROM ZACK SCHUSTER NOT WINNING AN AWARD.

10:10 - Steve tours his home some more. Frank Hinton leaves. The Beachies, and thus the award show as a whole, are OVER. Peace out, beaches (GET IT?)