New review: A data-dense book full of outstanding skeletal reconstructions, The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles completes the informal trilogy.
In this memoir, Alice Hattrick describes her illness and that of her mother and how they were not believed, deemed hysterical by health professionals. She talks of the strain of living with an undiagnosed illness and how this puts huge pressure on them both . Alice goes into detail about how the understanding of ME/CFS has evolved and talks of the frustration felt by patients who were dismissed by doctors over a span of many years.
When diagnosis does come, it comes with mixed feelings as treatment is not straightforward and a range of medication/exercise programmes are tried, often with horrible side effects that can’t be tolerated.
I very much enjoyed the way writers such as Virginia Woolf, Susan Sontag and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are weaved in, alongside other famous figures like Florence Nightingale to illustrate her points.
Louise Bourgeois’s insomnia drawings and writings of the 1990s are discussed alongside her well known spider sculptures.
And I was really interested to read about the origins of the term “crip time” which is something that resonates with me as I live with chronic pain/fatigue. Alison Kafer coined the term and here, Alice states ‘Crip time is different from productive kinds of time, which is really just one … version of time… You do things slowly in waves rather than stages”
Kafer states that “the present takes on more ergency as the future shrinks.” This is something I’ve experienced and which will continue to be part of life I’m sure. It can be hard to explain this to family and friends and find ways to make sense of it yourself in order to ask for accommodations at work for example. Pacing has become a kind of art over the years that I’m still getting wrong all the time!
All in all a powerful read. #bookstodon#Disability@bookstodon@disability
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
THE SALT GROWS HEAVY by @casskhaw is an elegant, fractured fairy-tale of Monsters & the monstrousness they encounter. Their world is populated w/ horrors, cruelty, & viciousness, but the dark, beautiful, bloody heart of this novella pulses w/ companionship, respect, & love.
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
NARCISSUS is a unique spin on a classic myth with a special resonance in a world that seems to reward vapid, vacuous vanity. This compact and creepy nightmare will keep your gaze transfixed as the gory horrors mount and may even inspire a little self-reflection, after. (Shortwave Pub)
Today's indie author review: Casey Morales' I Hear You:
"What I loved about this book - besides the two great dogs and the two amazing humans - was what I learned about the things the deaf have to deal with... I highly recommend this book. Five stars."
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
The stories, poems, & characters in HOW LOVELY TO BE A WOMAN ring w/ a strength & authenticity that grounds them even as they travel into supernatural & metaphorical territories. This impressive debut by Tiffany Michelle Brown is great: sinister, disturbing, unique, angry, & empowering.
Just one person's opinion - if you share your review of a book, please include the title of the book. And even better, the author's name. If I don't even know which book you reviewed, I'm not inclined to click on it.
Besides, even if you didn't like it, the book is likely to appeal to some people and getting the title and author's name out there couldn't hurt.
Writing a review—a single line or two—helps an author’s book stay shiny in the Amazon constellation.
You don’t have to write lots. Just something like "This story was great/awesome/somewhat entertaining. The author writes well/uses many adjectives/should use commas" is awesome and will help your fellow readers out, too.
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
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THE MERRY DREDGERS by @jeremycshipp is a captivating book filled with two worlds: one of a fragile, randomly cruel reality, and one of a fantastical (somewhat nightmarish) whimsy. The tale that bridges & enfolds them is fabulously imaginative, original, & permeated with heart. (Meerkat Press)
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
A woman must outsmart a hellish hex to try & save a friendship that's rapidly turning toxic in CURSE CORVUS by Alex Ebenstein. This compelling, spooky tale will grab you in its claws (talons?) from the start & have you keeping a wary eye out for birds long after you've finished. (Dreadstone Press)
1/ Jack's book is now widely-known in some circles, so I'll limit myself to a few personal comments. It is a powerful book that is actually also two books in one. Each part has a significant message.
The first part splits poor students, especially of color, at elite institutions into two groups: Privileged Poor, who were exposed to how elite schools work through (scholarships at) prep schools; and the Doubly Disadvantaged, who were not. ↵ #BookReview
🆕 blog! “Book Review: It's Not About the Burqa - Mariam Khan”
★★★⯪☆
Much like "Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race" this is a book that's a little tricky for me - a white apathist man - to review. I'll cheerfully admit that I don't get religion - any religion. And I doubly don't get why people tie themselves to a religion which seems […]
🆕 blog! “Book Review: The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century by Jane Loudon”
★★★☆☆
In 1818, Mary Shelley published Frankenstein - setting the stage for modern science fiction. A mere 9 years later, Jane Loudon published "The Mummy!" which, to my mind, becomes one of the earliest works of speculative science fiction. Set in a 22nd Centur…