personal essays – Cannonball Read 17

We not only have faces and names; some of us have extensive bibliographies.

Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba

September 11, 2023 by Emmalita Leave a Comment

I became aware of Myriam Gurba on Twitter when she tweeted about her review of a forthcoming bestseller, American Dirt, being killed because it was too mean. My first thought, being intimately familiar with the liberties white women take with other people’s stuff, was that she was, at a minimum, as mean as she needed to be. (I am a white woman, born and raised in Texas, so when I say I am intimately familiar, I mean it is my heritage.) There is an essay […]

Personal Essays on Horror, from a Queer Angle

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese (editor)

October 22, 2022 by faintingviolet 5 Comments

When I saw that It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror came out this month I headed immediately to my library catalog to request it and then proceeded to consume it over three evenings. By and large this is an excellent collection of essays featuring queer authors of many stripes taking a movie, sometimes two, and either pulling them apart to discuss representation, or explain why they became fixated on a certain film, or how a film can help them process part of […]

Incisive and Interesting Essays on Orthodox Jewish Childhood

Artifacts of Orthodox Jewish Childhood by Dainy Bernstein (editor)

June 17, 2022 by GentleRain Leave a Comment

Artifacts of Orthodox Childhoods is a book of personal and critical essays that cover a historically under-researched topic. The book is inclusive of a wide range of viewpoints and backgrounds, and it benefits from the thought that went into the editing of the essays and the impulse to widen instead of narrow the people who contributed. I appreciated that this book didn’t retread the same familiar ground we see in the media of the triumphant escape from the backwards evil of Ultra-Orthodoxy. Instead, the collection gave […]

Crazy New BEST Friend?!

I Want to be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom

December 18, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 8 Comments

I must start by thanking ASKReviews for letting us all know that there was a SECRET MUSICAL in the middle of this audiobook! I heeded their recommendation to “Get the Audio Version”, and boy howdy am I glad I did! Not only do we get a musical adventure about Rachel Bloom’s desire to be a musical theater STAAAR, the musical is performed by her harmonizing with herself, herself, herself, herself, and maybe another Rachel Bloom or two. Bloom’s voice is so important here; her style, […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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