Before reading this book I highly suggest you do some research about “Magdalene Laundries” in Ireland. Without that context this might not hit as hard. I loved this novella. I think it is beautifully written, I mean Keegan writes the process of baking a cake seem beautiful. Which I guess it is when you really sit with it. I also think the title is brilliant as it pertains to the novel. This is a reminder that how we live our life and how we treat others can make a huge impact in making sure justice and safety is provided for all. Power and greed corrupt and by now I hope we can all understand that the Catholic Church has those things in spades. This is short, but it packs a punch. I don’t want to say too much because I think this is best left for you to decide and unravel yourself. It’s a quiet one, but moving.

[ID: The novella Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan lies flat on a wooden table. There is an indoor plant next to it in a terracotta pot. The leaves are green with light green streaks going through it. The book cover is also green with the title and snow falling]

#bookerprize #bookerlonglist #bookerlonglist2022 #smallthingslikethese #smallthingslikethesebyclairekeegan #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookrecommendations #bookreview #bookreflection ...

It is day three of #TheSealeyChallenge and I am emotionally unprepared for what I feel like some of these collections are going to do to me. These two collections have pushed the air out of my lungs wondering if I’m making the right choice by diving head first into more like them. My initial thoughts after just reading these two is that I was surprised they followed some type of narrative. Please keep in mind I’m pretty much a complete n00b right now. However loose the narrative is, it's definitely there in these two collections. It’s clear you can read each poem individually, but the collections work as a whole. I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, bc it does seems obvious now that poetry collections follow themes, much like art exhibits and novels.

#Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora singes the skin. It is raw, emotional, and cutting. Zamora is a Salvadoran poet and activist, he came to the US when he was 9 years old. He has a memoir coming out soon, and I will one thousand percent be reading that. Favorite poems are: Saguaros, Second Attempt Crossing, Cassette Tape, Abuelita Says Goodbye, and June 10, 1999. Thanks @laurathestudent for this rec.

While Unaccompanied is all fire and dust, #DeafRepublic by Ilya Kaminsky is snow and ash. Making your skin prickle and your eyes sting with tears. This was breathtaking in its beauty and stretched my imagination on what this art form is truly capable of. It swallowed me whole. The poems tells the story of a town under occupation, finding ways to communicate and protest after the death of a young boy renders the whole town deaf. It will definitely go down as one of my favorite books this year. Thanks for the push @sethisreading

By the end of August I imagine I will be a puddle. This world can be a cruel place, but damn, look at the beauty we can create.

[ID: Viv’s hands holds up the two poetry chapbooks Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora and Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky. In the background are the branches of an old oak tree.]

#TheSealeyChallenge #Poetry #DeafRepublic #Unaccompanied #Poems #Bookstagram #Bookstagrammer #readmorepoetry ...

This was an action packed summer read I loved! Fans of Iron Widow will probably love this wild ride too. It features Ikenna, a bad ass, foul mouthed MC on a revenge mission. More please! A wonderful fantasy. I can’t wait for book 2! Edit: this can also be adult fantasy. But ya know what genre stuff can be so stupid. Read whatever the heck is good. [ID: The Blood Trials by Nia Davenport rests flat on a porch banister. There are green plants and a fountain blurry in the background.] #YA #youngadultbooks #youngadultfantasy #niadavenport #thebloodtrials #readmoreYA #fantasy #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #epicbooks #adventurebooks #duology #duologybooks #adultfantasy #adultfantasybooks ...

#JulyReadingWrapUp

July always tends to be a big reading month because it is summer vacation, but I was sort of underwhelmed by my reading month as a whole. I think there are a lot of reasons for this, some of it is because I was dealing with some personal things in July that made it difficult to really focus and find a solid groove with a book, and another is the books themselves. None really grabbed me, and there were several that I sort of skimmed through because they just did not hold my attention. Again, was it just me? Or the books? Probably both. Of the ones I read, I would recommend The Mountains Sing to generally everyone (I listened to the audiobook and I found myself waiting for moments to keep listening, I thought it was great), the rest I would only recommend to certain people. Trust Exercise was strange, and I can see why its polarizing, but Susan Choi can definitely write very well. Blonde was good, but very long, and JCO said some pretty dumb things on twitter about ¾ through my read so it definitely took the wind out of my sails a bit. But reading that in tandem with She Said was QUITE the experience. More thoughts on those two soon….Cheers to a better August.

[ID: Pictured from top to bottom: The poetry book Field Guide to a Haunted Forest, by Jarod K. Anderson, Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates, The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buelhman, She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, Columbine by Dave Cullen, Just By Looking At Him by Ryan O. Connel, Trust Exercise by Susan Choi, and Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley]

#Poetry #Fiction #NonFiction #Bookstagram #ReadingWrapUp #MonthlyWrapUp #TheMountainsSing #Blonde #Nightcrawling #TheBlackTongueThief #SheSaid #JustByLookingAtHim #ReadMoreBooks #AlwaysReading #Books #Bookstagrammer #AAPIBookstagrammer ...

Lazy Saturday. Am I reading. Or am I on my phone? I’m sure you can guess. [ID: a stack of books rests on a small, black round table. There are sailor moon bookmarks next to the stack. The wall in the background is light blue] #saturday #lazysaturday #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #stopscrolling ...

I was tagged by @theoreads and @pilartyping to share my five star predictions, and finally got around to curating a small stack that is pictured on this table:

1: Stay with Me, by Ayobami Adebayo: I honestly don’t know what this book is about, I just know after reading @readwithemilyg review I had to read it. It’s also a favorite of @thatgoodgoodbook so you know it’s going to be excellent.

2. This is How You Lost the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: I am book edging this one. Badly. I know its a favorite of so many here, don’t yell at me.

3. Allow Me to Retort: Ellie Mystal: I read the first page and was hooked. Mystal has a clear narrative voice and dispels information in a way that is not only accessible, but also funny. Sign me up.

4. Invisible Child by by Andrea Elliott: It won the Pulitzer Prize and the synopsis alone was enough to convince me. Synopsis: Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani Coates, a child with an imagination as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn homeless shelter. Born at the turn of a new century, Dasani is named for the bottled water that comes to symbolize Brooklyn’s gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As Dasani grows up, moving with her tight-knit family from shelter to shelter, this story goes back to trace the passage of Dasani’s ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north. By the time Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis is exploding as the chasm deepens between rich and poor.


Now to get to the business of reading them………….

#FiveStarPredictions #Bookstagram #NonFiction #Fiction #GreatBooks #LosAngelesReads #Bookstagrammer #AlwaysReading #ReadMoreBooks #BestBooks2022 #EducateYourself ...

Someone very close to my family is currently suffering from dementia. It’s heartbreaking on a lot of levels. When I closed this book I had to hold in my sobs. Sometimes when you’re caring for someone suffering from a terminal illness you focus on your own suffering, sometimes it’s hard to see beyond the ways in which you’re hurting. But in the end it’s not really about you. It is in some ways, after all you are grieving for a loss. A loss of a life well lived. Of a grandparent you thought would be around longer to see your kid grow up. An aunt that you thought would tell you all the stories you missed about your father passed too soon. A mom you thought would always be as sharp as a knife, sitting and laughing with you on the porch outside. And yes. It is awful. But what The Swimmers accomplished for me, is it allowed me to crawl inside the mind of this person I love so much. My capacity for empathy grew and my anger subsided. I was able to make room in my heart and stop being so angry at the unfairness of it all. Bc I need to enjoy the little moments I have left. Bc one day. They’ll be gone.

[ID:The book The Swimmers rest on a porch beam outside.]

#TheSwimmers #LiteraryFiction #GreatBooks #Fiction #bookstsgram #Bookstagrammer #ReadMoreBooks #AlwaysReading #juliaotsuka ...

Wow. I asked for poetry recommendations and y’all delivered. Here is a complete list of the recommendations I received. Please feel free to DM more or add more in the comments. I am so excited to get started and so many of you gave great advice and also commiserated with me about being intimidated by poetry. It meant a lot! The poets or collection with an asterisk by them means it was recommended more than once. Because I’m a tech dummy I can’t figure out how to reformat the google doc pics and make a multiple list so I’m gonna put in my stories and make a highlight.

[ID: Pictures of the covered of the poetry collections Peluda, Black Girl Call Home, Homie, Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude, Mary Oliver’s Devotions, Counting Descent, Obit, A Fortune for Your Disaster, Hermosa, and Bless the Daughter Raise By the Voice in Her Head laid over a forest background]

#Poetry #TheSealeyChallenge #Poets #PoetryCollections #ReadMorePoetry #Poems ...

Just By Looking At Him by Ryan O’Connell was a great summer read for me. I found it really entertaining, but can see why maybe this isn’t for everyone. It comes as no surprise how spot on he is about living in LA and especially working in the entertainment industry that calls this place home. I definitely laughed out loud at certain points as he described this confounding place that swallows you whole and spits you out if you’re not ready. Back in my going out days I remember talking to aspiring actors or writers and always looking at them with this “oh. You poor thing” look. Which sure is probably condescending, but honestly I was just worried about them because that industry takes no prisoners and it is like the abusive lover your best friend keeps going back to and all you can do is stand there and watch. Hollywood for all its glitz, has a seedy underbelly they love to ignore.

Beyond that I thought this was a really good relationship story, and his examination of his relationship was poignant and spot on. I felt called out because as a non-disabled person I definitely need to do better about considering disabled people in my advocacy and especially my job. This book was at its strongest when he was examining those power dynamics in a relationship as a disabled person and his reflections on learning to love himself, by himself. I think it spoke volumes to how we approach our relationships and why even if things are going “well,” it’s a sign of things unsaid or untouched.

Be warned though that this book is RAUNCHY, and it definitely made me blush, hehe. But it was funny and I really think a lot of my LA peeps, especially those that work or have worked in “the industry,” will probably enjoy this one. My favorite quote about my beloved city, “He lived ten minutes away, so we had to take seven freeways to get there.” IYKYK.

[ID: The novel Just By Looking At Him rests at an angle, laying flat by a pool]

#JustByLookingAtHim #PoolSideReading #Bookstagram #DisabledAuthors #QueerAuthors #GayBooks #ReadMoreBooks #LosAngelesBooks #HollywoodBooks #FunnyBooks #Novels #fiction ...

Hmmm. My thoughts on this one are sort of all over the place but shout out to @ricetwicethrice for helping me sparse this one out. Let’s start with things I appreciated. I remember when this tragedy took place. I remember the media blaming Marlyn Manson and goths. I also remember the guns and how the media said the two boys were horrifically bullied. All of those things were untrue. The fact that this was supposed to be a bombing and not a shoot out was something I never knew. I appreciated the way Cullen dismantled many of the false media narratives that were presented to us at first glance. But what is more enraging is that NOTHING HAS CHANGED. So when I was reading this I was honestly kind of sick to my stomach and just wanted to be done with it.

There are two things here I want to critique. First thing was the overall structure of the book. It does not take place in chronological order and the chapters alternate between the victims and the murders. This was at times confusing bc the timelines didn’t really match up. I thought it also made the flow of the book a bit choppy. And the other thing that sort of rubs me the wrong way is Cullen’s characterization of Eric Harris as a psychopath. Like. Okay. Yes. Maybe. But also there is just so much information about him missing. There was no examination of his white supremacists beliefs. While Dylan Klebolds parents were more forthcoming about their son, Harris’s parents have remained tight lipped. I just feel like there’s this hole in his narrative. But maybe not. Maybe I just need more of a reason for why he chose to do what he did, but then why do I need that? At the end of the day 15 kids were murdered with 24 injured. Why do I care about why? What I care about is why is it so easy to still buy a gun? Why are the shooters mostly young white boys? Why has it been over two decades with no change in policy? Why does the media still get things so horribly wrong? Why do we continue to allow this to happen? This was written in 2009. we’ve got nothing to show for it. I can’t say I’m glad I read this. Maybe younger people who weren’t alive then will glean something here. But maybe not bc they already know. ...