Welcome to Ball’s Round-up! Here is:

• a book recc picked from a book I recently read & enjoyed OR a book I am eagerly antipicating
• a poem I enjoy, cherish, or just plain got a noggin tickle from

Book of the Week: Moonbound by Robin Sloan

This fantasical romp sets up the reader with an Arthurian legend and then sends the entire narrative careening into a surrealist adventure that had me endlessly delighted. With dreamy prose and weepy sentiments, the heart of Moonbound is rivalled only by its expansive worldbuilding. Set in a lush world brimming with magic and reclamation, this is a read perfect for the fantasy readers who like to bring their tomes with them on hikes to riversides.

Ball Rating System Element: DYKE

Did this book have Dragons?

In its own way, Yes!

Did I believe the Yearning?

The character motivations were believable and compelling. I felt deeply for the narrator and for Ariel, our main protagonists, as they navigated through their journeys.

Was a Klimate kreated?

The biggest strength of this book was definitely atmosphere and immersion. I was blown away by the captivating world of Moonbound, and almost wish to experience it anew simply to retread that sense of wonder – though I’m sure a re-read would also engender plentiful coziness as well.

Was it Eloquent?

I found the wordplay of Moonbound to be absolutely delighftul, and found myself copying down passages to remember and laugh about later. One enduring theme of the book, stated outright towards the end, has lingered with me long after my meeting with the back cover.

Poem of the Week: “Why We Oppose Pockets for Women” & “Why We Oppose Votes for Men” by Alice Duer Miller

Lovers of the listicle will find these poems by suffragette Alice Duer Miller particulary compelling. I had the opportunity to close study “Why We Oppose Pockets for Women” at a writing workshop this week, and the conversation flew, the group astounded at the similarities a turn of the 20th century poem had to the rhetoric espoused now.

Satirical poems are a lovely genre, and these poems satirize not only the zeitgeist of the era but also each other. Check them out below:*

Why We Oppose Pockets for Women

1. Because pockets are not a natural right.
2. Because the great majority of women do not want pockets. If they did they would have them.
3. Because whenever women have had pockets they have not used them.
4. Because women are required to carry enough things as it is, without the additional burden of pockets.
5. Because it would make dissension between husband and wife as to whose pockets were to be filled.
6. Because it would destroy man’s chivalry toward woman, if he did not have to carry all her things in his pockets.
7. Because men are men, and women are women. We must not fly in the face of nature.
8. Because pockets have been used by men to carry tobacco, pipes, whiskey flasks, chewing gum and compromising letters. We see no reason to suppose that women would use them more wisely.

Why We Oppose Votes for Men

1. Because man’s place is the armory.

2. Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by fighting about it.

3. Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them.

4. Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms and drums.

5. Because men are too emotional to vote. Their conduct at baseball games and political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders them particularly unfit for the task of government. 

*formatting of poems may not be preserved due to the hell that is using WordPress. Please consider following the links in the headers to the sites that the poems have been sourced from

That’s all for this week! Tune in sometime for another round-up! Love a book? Love a poem? Send in your faves & maybe I’ll read it! Maybe I won’t! Have a great day!