If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need
Synopsis: Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration… Continue reading Review: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Hello and welcome back to Monika tries to diversify her reading list! Something else that I want to be cognizant of, especially when it comes to reading Black authors, is that I don't only read books about slavery or anti-racism. I think those books have a lot of important and should all be read, but… Continue reading Diversifying my Bookshelf: Black Authors
With everything that has been going on in the United States and essentially the world (aka. the calling out of racism both in police brutality, systemic structures and our everyday lives) I thought that it would be a good idea to try to actively learn more about how I can combat racism in my life.… Continue reading Diversifying my Bookshelf: Indigenous Authors
Synopsis: "In the four years before the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, most women determined to get abortions had to subject themselves to the power of illegal, unregulated abortionists...But a Chicago woman who happened to stumble across a secret organization code-named 'Jane' had an alternative. Laura Kaplan, who joined Jane in 1971, has… Continue reading Review: The Story of Jane by Laura Kaplan
Synopsis: In the final days of December 2004, in a small rural village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa hides in the woods when her father is abducted by Russian forces. Fearing for her life, she flees with their neighbor Akhmed—a failed physician—to the bombed-out hospital, where Sonja, the one remaining doctor, treats a steady stream of… Continue reading Review: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
Synopsis: Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold… Continue reading Review: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
It's been a while since I've posted so I figured that I owed everyone a little explanation as to where I've been (hint: I haven't actually left my apartment that much, but my brain has been in outer space!). Since COVID-19 started my life has been thrown off a bit like a lot of people.… Continue reading Where have I been!
Synopsis: This is the story of a woman's struggle for independence. Helen "Graham" has returned to Wildfell Hall in flight from a disastrous marriage. Exiled to the desolate moorland mansion, she adopts an assumed name and earns her living as a painter. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was gifted to me by my best friend,… Continue reading Review: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Synopsis: Augustine, a brilliant, aging astronomer, is consumed by the stars. For years he has lived in remote outposts, studying the sky for evidence of how the universe began. At his latest posting, in a research center in the Arctic, news of a catastrophic event arrives. The scientists are forced to evacuate, but Augustine stubbornly… Continue reading Review: Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Synopsis: The Sin Eater walks among us, unseen, unheardSins of our flesh become sins of HersFollowing Her to the grave, unseen, unheardThe Sin Eater Walks Among Us. For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the… Continue reading Review: The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi
Synopsis: Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth—musicians, tattoo… Continue reading Review: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Hi all, I really hope you're all doing okay. I know that there is a lot of fear, confusion, and uncertainty going around right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It seems like such a small think but I wanted to send my love and support to all of you - I know it's a… Continue reading Let's talk about what's happening right now…
Words, Pages, Books 