mckaley

my favorite essays were in the personals section, and the final essay “goodbye to all that.” i think often times i had no idea what she was talking about but i completely have the understanding that she is so intelligent and detailed in her observations. I think my issue was she would often put us into a scenario and as I didn’t live through the 60s and honestly don’t know a lot about the 60s. I had no idea who she was talking about, so I’d start very lost in her work.

I wanted to sob my eyes out about this. so so sad. i feel broke up for david, giovanni, and hella. Shame, Love, Heartbreak. Fearing who you see in the mirror. the writing was almost too good for me, often flying above my head making wish i could reach it

I picked this book up because I love “Instructions on not giving up” Limón is interesting because her poems are so rooted romanticizing nature. She paints these pictures that you can see in your mind. But a lot of these poems were about her struggle to conceive her relationship with time, herself, and her husband. I found a lot of these beautiful and approachable. Thank you for being the first hispanic woman to become the poet laureate of the usa.

this is written spectacularly. another book i finished quickly. once i got into it, i didnt want to put it down. i love the image of mercury being the messenger between these celestial bodies. every sentence and plot point was crafted with such care leading us to how events unfolded in the end. it was a wonderful ride, although about a bitter end.

There is a lot of good and interesting things said in these essays. I tabbed many the gender sexuality section to come back and read again. similarly to gay I had this perspective that I couldn’t call myself a feminist because of the decisions I made in the way I conducted myself and my day-to-day life. But I think I need to be a feminist now more than ever.

I also enjoyed the section race and entertainment sort of challenged me to think about things I normally wouldn’t. I feel it expanded my perspective and challenged some of my own biases that I didn’t even realize I had within me. (for example, i did enjoy the help when i was a child.)

I think overall this has essays I want to return to and I found this to be much better than her memoir. I think her strong suit is definitely short form. I’m glad I read it

This poetry book has become one of my favorites. Conceptually, the book is thoughtful in its research and how it exposes to us, the unfortunate and horrible circumstances for many lgbt black and brown women and musicians. The writing itself is spectacular. The use of alliteration is amazing. My favorite poems were “alternate ending, ending in song,” “ I know enough about moderation,” and “goodbye summer.”

For a while I was unsure about this, but the ending as everything I was looking for. So sad and muffled, not what I expected at all. I found myself waiting for a crescendo, for the expected signs of a dystopian novel, but I was met with something new to me. Ogawas prose is sweet, child-like, and I felt the distance the only time. We never dive deep, which feels intentional. I won’t forget that ending.

I would say I devoured this book. Pun not intended. It was an incredibly easy read. Bourdains candor, nuance, and authenticity was captivating! He would be honest about his faults and the faults of his crew while praising them. He showed us all the possible colors of the kitchen while delivering it through spectacular prose. Glad i took the chance to read it.

I can’t believe I finally finished this of a series!!! i’ve never read something where we follow someone’s life in such detail from beginning to end. I felt heartbroken by some of the people who died in this final book. And I felt sympathy for both Elena and Lila. They really and truly were always opposites to some capacity. I think something that was interesting about this in particular from the others is it talked a lot about identity “I” through the lens of womanhood. I will say I think the impact of this one wasn’t as heavy hitting as maybe I wanted it to be. it’s interesting how elusive remained, and how childish Elena could be.

the third installment of my brillant friend was a bit slower for me. less focus on the friendship they shared and more about the rift between them. it was interesting to see how everyones stories weaved together and what became of each of those children Elena knew growing up. this one is the most political and focuses on feminism and female sexuality- also the act of becoming. i'm moved to get. more informed about topics of communism and early feminism. its interesting this balance between the hard realities and commentary of the era versus the soap opera quality to the events Elena and Lila experience

this one is definitely more intense than the first! very glad i picked it up directly after the first because there’s so many details and expanding of characters from the first book. i can’t believe how much everyone has changed! but also its a good example of how life is. the story furthered the discussion of class and education and standing in life. elena is now between two odds, where she’s come from and where she’s gone. although i think i liked the innocence of the first slightly more

Reading this, I realized some words contain magic that moves and creates a feeling that alchemizes the soul. My favorite poems were Past Tense, particularly 9, Fieldnotes on pg 45 of my copy, and Subarctica. Subarctica was a beautiful way to end the book. I loved the connections to native culture and gay identity, and just the act of being. I was entranced, perhaps!!!

i fully devoured this book, amazingly written detailed that put me directly into moments with her. i was interested by every development, wondering where the story would go. there’s theme of violence, class, education. i loved going with the characters through their development. it was interesting how weaved together the whole town seemed. elena was so intelligent and innocent in her perspective sometimes and I love Lila. The portrayal of her through Elena’s eyes is complex but idolized at the same time. i couldn’t put it down and i will be starting the next one immediately. especially because of the cliffhanger? type ending

This is exactly the type of thing I’m looking for in poetry. I am tired of reading the same dramatic thing over and over again. She says things I understand in ways that I understand.

"Cut" and "Brother" were my favorites in the book! Lots of interesting imagery, I still think of the line, "a laughter / a slaughter. / like how I was somebody's daughter" I think it had a perspective I wanted to keep reading!

I think there was many good things about this book. I think all the commentary is important, Gay is so vulnerable and speaks on many topics around trauma and acccepting ones self. I think my only issue with it was many passages saying the same things once again, but the stories were the best part. Sharing about doctors and accessibility. Her sharing her response to trauma made me feel less alone. "A woman doing the best she can to love well and be loved well, to live well and be human and good."

How to read this for my beat literature class and at first I was really intrigued by it, but having to read it so quickly was kind of excruciating. Each part of this book is these very long-winded erratic sentences and scenes. Honestly, not much happens. It’s sort of repetitive in what it says. I did find the depiction of sexism and homophobia to be abhorrent in this book. Actually terrifying.

I think i’m not the target audience for this. I didn’t understand a lot of the references and honestly, I don’t love to read poetry about the act of writing. my favorite poem was translation elegies!

THIS IS DARK! I think I enjoyed the first half of this book more than later half. The first half was dark, but it was still really funny and as time went on, I think the book affected me more and more. Especially because I was a weird teenage girl myself. I do think Eliza Clark is so scathing and it is on true crime and honestly like pop culture in a way. I think this one was hard for me to read, but I’m still intrigued to see what else Miss Clark does in the future.

I was entirely tempted to give this book 5 stars after finishing reading it. But if I’m to think about book as a I definitely was less interested in the first half. it felt very YA fantasy, which is just not something that I’m particularly interested in, but I watched an interview with this author and I found her to be like very eloquently spoken and I wanted to try some of her work. I am so glad that I gave it a shot because the second half of the book had me completely enthralled. I couldn’t put it down! once we got past the sort of intense sections of etymology lessons, the book was about historical events, and politics and strategy. I ended up really feeling attached to the characters!

I really find Margaret Atwood to be an phenomenal writer when it comes to the way she builds scenes and the details she includes, but I think for this story in particular, it didn’t stick the landing for me. We had some building of the world, but for the most part, it remained an unsolved mystery. I didn’t even realize I was nearing the end of the book because I was listening to it and then all of a sudden it’s just over just as I was feeling like we were finally getting to the climax of a story where we would discover something and we just didn’t. This was probably intentional, but I don’t know if it worked for me.

my second read of this, I tried to keep what I remembered from last time in mind while reading this through. it's a book about meaninglessness and freedom and it a way made me feel more free. it's pretty matter of fact and sometimes a bit funny how ood the main character is

needed something fun and sweet between some of the darker lit i’ve been reading, couldn’t help but compare the book and the movie since i watched the movie recently. this is a children’s classic and i love the idea of matilda being a form of miss honey inner child and helping her overcome. solid lil book about overcoming abusive situations 💘

i understand certain aspects of this book aren’t for everyone, Esther, as a main character is incredibly whiny and judgmental, but I think there’s some historical context is important to think about in retrospect to what she wanted out of life and how it felt inaccessible to her (not talking about her racism in the story). Esther experienced a lot of similar things I did when I started to come to the end of college that made me feel purposeless, and the story in that aspect made me feel seen. she doesn’t wanna get married. She doesn’t wanna have children and in that era that’s basically all women were for. I think she continuously battles with that. I genuinely believe that things only got as bad as they did because of the fact she experienced that electro shock therapy. it changed her fundamentally as a person it muted her, subdued her and that was her greatest battle. she went to only two appointments with psychotherapist, and he immediately recommended shock treatment. because it’s so odd and uncomfortable that a woman might feel an emotion other than nothing.

I think the best part of this book is probably the final chapter. It felt so impactful for me. I also feel so sad for Sylvia Plath just knowing that this book feels like a diary. It feels like a genuine reflection of herself, her life events, and the things she experienced.

I finished this book really quickly because it had me so engaged, but I’ll be honest the actual ending of the book was just so unsatisfying. Hated Ryujis character and it’s obvious why. Why include apart about him lying about his actions? I don’t understand the purpose of his background. It was a fun read, i loved the unfolding of the actual origins of the tape