skudiklier's Reviews (647)

Alexander Hamilton

DID NOT FINISH: 27%

I've been reading this book really slowly over the course of the last 10 months, but at this point I need to just DNF it and try it again later. It really is interesting and enjoyable to read, but I just keep reading other things instead.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds

Ocean Vuong

5.0

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

This is one of the best poetry collections I've ever read. Vuong writes absolutely stunningly--I don't think I've ever read a poem of his I didn't love. His writings about his father hit me the hardest. I'd absolutely recommend this book to anyone who likes poetry at all, and maybe even anyone who doesn't.

Content Warnings

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

Lulu Miller

5.0

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

This book was really good! I had kind of weird expectations going in that made me wary of it, but by the time I got about halfway through I couldn't put it down. It goes a lot of places and has so many really important ideas. I'd definitely recommend it.

Content Warnings

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Audre Lorde

5.0

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

Absolutely essential reading! I don't know if I'd recommend the audiobook; I wish I'd read it not in that format. But I'm very glad I read this. As always I learn so much from Audre Lorde.

The Tradition

Jericho Brown

5.0

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Holy shit this was amazing. I read it all in one sitting because I just couldn't stop reading. So many lines made me just sort of sit there staring at nothing, like, they were just stunning. I definitely want to read more of Brown's work.

Content Warnings

a complete work in progress

Nia Mahmud

5.0

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

This is a gorgeous collection of poetry! Nia writes so beautifully; I especially related to her poems about things like exhaustion and panic. There's such a range of emotions and writing in here, though it all feels cohesive. She can compare herself to a paper straw in one poem and a luxury car the next without it ever feeling odd. I loved this book!

Content Warnings

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Becky Chambers

5.0

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I loved this book! It's super fun, thoughtful, and enjoyable. I found it to be a really great mix of adventure/plot, philosophical questions, and queer found family. It's a page-turner with a lot of heart, and I definitely want to keep reading the rest of the series.

Content Warnings

What I Learned from the Trees

L E Bowman

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective

This is a beautiful collection on self-love, healing, and wonder. There are lots of truths here, and poems I like to think of as "self-help" or motivational poems. There are also poems that remind me of Mary Oliver in the sense that they focus on hope and give you greater appreciation for the world and everyone in it, including yourself.

I will say that some of the writing on things like racism gave me weird vibes, and were a little on the nose/out of nowhere? I'm not sure though, maybe that's just me. That was just one section though, the majority of the collection was not like that.

Several lines took my breath away, and I especially loved the poems about her complicated relationship with her father. If poems about self-love are things you need to hear right now, this collection would be great for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and Button Poetry for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Content Warnings

I Kissed an Earl

Julie Anne Long

4.5

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Every book in this series has been an enjoyable page-turner, but when it comes time to review them I have no clue what to say. It was good! Idk if I liked the characters as much in this one! I'm gonna start the next one asap! Long definitely uses some of the same phrases over and over again but I'll pretend I don't notice! I don't know why this is all in exclamation points!

Content Warnings

The Surrender Theory: Poems

Caitlin Conlon

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Caitlin Conlon is one of my favorite poets; I've been looking forward to this book so much, and it did not disappoint at all. Having finished it, my heart is so full, and tender, and open.

The poems in this book are gorgeous, and I don't know where to begin describing them. I wrote down so many lines from them that I loved, and notes like "'Clairvoyance' destroyed me." Caitlin knows so well how to toe the lines between grief and love and brokenness and healing. Her poetry makes me appreciate all that is soft.

I absolutely loved this book, and I'm so happy more people will be able to read it soon. I would recommend The Surrender Theory to any fans of Caitlin or poetry in general.

Thank you to Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the chance to review this ARC.

Content Warnings

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