ashleyholstrom's Reviews (1.38k)

Really interesting, but she makes some claims I find hard to believe.

This is an extraordinary collection of essays about schizophrenia. Esmé Weijun Wang goes deep into her own experiences with the illness, as well as the history of mental health and psychiatry. Fascinating. Vulnerable. Beautiful.

⚡️From the April 2020 edition of Crooked Reads, my monthly(ish) newsletter.

I didn’t expect this book to speak directly into my soul, but it did. Women are socialized to be givers—sufferers of “Human Giver Syndrome,” according to the Nagoski sisters—from the moment they enter the world. And it leads to burnout. The book focuses on the struggles of women in particular and how they can heal.

✨ From Sparkles and Gratitude at Crooked Reads.

If you want to read a weird-ass book about late-stage capitalism and being literally sucked into Slack, this one’s for you.

✨ From Sparkles and Gratitude at Crooked Reads.

This is a lovely graphic novel, translated from French, about a woman who is feeling trapped after a bad breakup and sexual assault. We get into her mind, her monotonous days, her exhausting attempts at keeping friendships. I saw myself in so many panels.

✨ From Sparkles and Gratitude at Crooked Reads.

This one’s a contender for my favorite book of the year. Gilda, our narrator, is a gay woman who accidentally got a job at a Catholic church as a secretary. Her predecessor died under slightly suspicious circumstances, and Gilda’s life zig-zags around as she becomes obsessed with this woman whose personal emails she now reads and occasionally responds to. It’s a book that is so wonderfully written that a synopsis will never do it justice. Just read it.

✨ From Burnout is the New Pink at Crooked Reads.

Leigh Stein’s collection of poetry written during the pandemic is *chef’s kiss* perfection. There’s a little bit of satire, a little bit of heart. There’s humor and guilt and fear and boredom. It is a flawless time capsule of the COVID year and the universal experience of so many privileged Americans. I had to reread a handful of poems because they mirrored thoughts and feelings I didn’t even know I had. Like this one:

“I wake up and touch my phone to see
who was thinking of me as I slept.”

I mean, come ON. That is gold.

✨ From Burnout is the New Pink at Crooked Reads.