![]() ![]() One of the best ways to determine the mood of a piece is to ask yourself how it makes you feel as you read it. Identifying MoodĮvery piece of writing has a mood, whether it’s a 500-page novel or a short poem. In scenes like these, the author uses tone and diction to establish the creepy setting makes me, the reader, sense the eerie mood. (If you haven’t read the book, just watch Apocalypse Now to see what I mean). ![]() As the narrator slowly approaches a compound bordered by human heads on stakes, it’s safe to say that the atmosphere created is similar to that of a horror film. Take Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, for example. Have you ever read a story that sent chills down your spine, or just felt eerie? It’s also referred to as the “atmosphere” of a piece. In literature, mood is a device that evokes certain feelings for readers through a work’s setting, tone, theme, and diction. ![]() What was the last story to make you cry? Laugh? Feel nostalgic, optimistic, or frightened? You can thank the story’s mood in large part for evoking those feelings for you. ![]() (Extra good for prose writers who’ve hit a wall.)Īren’t we all? Consider this novel a twisted kind of wish fulfillment.It’s pretty easy to tell when you’re in a good mood, bad mood, need-more-food mood… but even your favorite stories have moods, too, and they impact how you feel while reading. These poems will transport you to a magical, surrealist language-land. Stuck: Lucie Brock-Broido, The Master Letters If you read this (hysterical, filthy) satirical workplace novel while you’re on the clock, it will be all the sweeter.Ī novel to remind you of the power you do have-and the power you could have.Ī good work of speculative fiction can glue you to your seat, and this novel-the first in a series, so don’t be afraid to binge it-is a great one. It won’t help you deal with your screaming child, but it will make you feel less alone while you clean up their poop and wonder what happened to your career/life/friends/art. Nothing like an irreverent, voice-driven, sexy debut novel to liven things up a bit. You can’t be truly lonely when you have a book, especially when the book introduces you to a woman like Aaliya Saleh-lonely herself, though she wouldn’t admit it, as she too has her books to keep her company. Lonely: Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman Heartbroken: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The SeaĬonsider it a manual for what not to do, no matter what, no matter how bad you feel.Ī gentle (?) reminder that you have no idea what’s going on in other people’s inner lives-even the people who are closest to you. No matter what’s going on, you should be able to bring yourself to read-and be charmed by-a single short section, right? And in this case, one is likely to lead to the next. You know, by dragons.ĭisengaged: Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever? Instead, read a big, technicolor, absurd novel that is so goddamn fun and bonkers you won’t be able to keep yourself from being air-lifted right out of the doldrums. Love it or hate it (and you won’t hate it), it’s impossible to be bored reading this novel, which among other things, actually manages to be funny (and brilliant and relentlessly weird) about race.ĭepressed: Chandler Klang Smith, The Sky Is Yoursĭon’t wallow. Just take a nice long walk with this strange fellow and let what he says wash over you. Can a book make you feel better? Maybe, maybe not-but it can at least help you pass the time until you get to go to sleep again. After all, the planet is burning, democracy is crumbling, everyone is pivoting to video (again). It seems like we’re all in a bad mood these days. ![]()
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