Travel. Read. Repeat. Done. When we were running through the handful of books we hadn't quite gotten to at the end of 2010, we were clearly in novel mode and completely neglected the chapbooks staring us right in the face. We are happy to rectify that now however, as we have had the chance to consume both What I'm On by Luis Humberto Valadez and Redneck Poems by Rusty Barnes, two collections of poems that on the one hand are so completely about place, Chicago and Appalachia respectively, and the language and people who comprise that place, and yet are still intertwined around the themes of violence and women and religion and identity, though with identity, they also find themselves going their separate ways, as Valadez is endlessly searching for how it is one finds their identity, by peeling, always peeling away the layers and muck that gets in the way as it becomes encrusted on a life and Barnes exploration of identity is one of celebration, and recognition, for an identity under appreciated and under represented across the indie and literary world, that of rural, even redneck lives.
It is Top Ten time here are TBWCYL, Inc. and our plan is to roll out lists on books, movies and music as we did last year and maybe add one on television this year as well. As we have also done in the past, we are not limiting our books list to books released in 2008, though we will do so with our other lists. On the other hand, we are quite pleased to say that we have done some kind of review on everyone of these books during the last year here at This Blog Will Change Your Life, and while we may be terribly biased in our reviews and choices, something that bothers us not in the least, we are happy to say that we have also had the opportunity to connect with everyone of these authors in some capacity, which frankly is quite cool, for us anyway, the experience for them may have been something else entirely. That said, here we go (including the hyperlink to our previous reviews):
Please note, that all of these books are self-published or released by independent presses, something that pleases us to no end. Also, we honestly believe that all of these books will change your life, though to be honest, even if they don't, your patronage and support will certainly help change the lives of the authors and their publishers.
Travel. Read. Repeat. Done. When we were running through the handful of books we hadn't quite gotten to at the end of 2010, we were clearly in novel mode and completely neglected the chapbooks staring us right in the face. We are happy to rectify that now however, as we have had the chance to consume both What I'm On by Luis Humberto Valadez and Redneck Poems by Rusty Barnes, two collections of poems that on the one hand are so completely about place, Chicago and Appalachia respectively, and the language and people who comprise that place, and yet are still intertwined around the themes of violence and women and religion and identity, though with identity, they also find themselves going their separate ways, as Valadez is endlessly searching for how it is one finds their identity, by peeling, always peeling away the layers and muck that gets in the way as it becomes encrusted on a life and Barnes exploration of identity is one of celebration, and recognition, for an identity under appreciated and under represented across the indie and literary world, that of rural, even redneck lives. 
