This is my first book of poetry, ever. Or rather, pamphlet, because it is so thin. I bought it because of the Beyonce hype behind Warsan’s words, because I’d heard her name over and over, because her name is now tangibly linked to words like “refugee” and “woman”, because a Pajiba friend posted an excerpt from her poem on Facebook, because they actually (actually!) had it in a Bangkok bookstore, a thin sleeve of paperback tucked amidst hundred-page hardcovers. I read it at home, and […]
The Power of Words
Jacqueline Woodson’s 2014 poetic memoir Brown Girl Dreaming won a slew of awards: a National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, an NAACP Image Award, just to name a few. It is the beautifully told story of Woodson’s childhood, of the people and environments that formed both her and her dream of becoming a writer. It also offers glimpses into the civil rights movement and the experience of racism through the eyes of a child who witnessed […]
Shitty ex’s and poorly written poetry
I’m not the target demographic for this book. I’m not a huge fan of memoirs/autobiographies in general, and while I am a big fan of Star Wars, I didn’t see the movies until I was older and Princess Leia was not a foundational fictional character in my youth. I didn’t idolize Carrie Fisher and I never had any desire to meet her or get her autograph (although, of course, if I had run into her in a store somewhere I would have likely been star-struck). […]
The Hidden Chamber
I got on the library queue for this book because I knew that it contains “The Monarch of the Glen,” which is the novella follow-up to American Gods. I am committed to my American Gods love, and wanted to complete my library of knowledge of all things Shadow. But this book, oh, this wonderful book. It’s a collection of some of the most beautiful poetry and short stories, in perfect Gaiman-ian language, set in dark landscapes that are undeniably his. I could pick these works […]
Honey a Day
I so loved Amal El-Mohtar’s story in The Starlit Woods that I went searching for other books by her. Sadly, it seems that most of her writing is in the form of short stories for various anthologies, however there was this collection of poems and short stories. I picked it up, and it’s quite good. I enjoyed the short stories a bit more then the poetry, but I’m a bit out of practice with poetry. El-Mohtar was given a sampling of honey and she spread […]
Poems for young women
Since I had read The Gutsy Girl by Caroline Paul, Amazon recommended Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls (2014) ed. by Karen Finneyfrock, Rachel McKibbens, and Mindy Nettifee. I don’t know how advanced Amazon’s software is for these kinds of recommendations, but it worked. I was intrigued and ordered the book from my library. This book is very different from The Gutsy Girl, which is a story of Paul’s adventures and encouragement for younger girls to get out there and do things. Courage, on the other hand, is […]
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