I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. “The truth is, the truth is, the truth is, I am fertile with pain,” (Robinson 53, “The Rabbits”). The Ill-Fitting Skin is a fantastic short story collection! Most of the stories follow women in various stages of their lives: mothers, partners, young …
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. “It began many years ago, in the first love of shadows. The first knowing of the body’s dark, the curve around its shape holding darkness,” (Jopp 240). Sonya Hudson’s life has been dominated by a severe phobia of cats since she was …
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. A Geography of First Kisses is a short story collection that follows Southern women in various stages of their lives. We have a young girl collecting boyfriends as she aimlessly tries to find her path, a newlywed couple searching for a missing …
April is National Poetry Month and because of that I usually like to prioritize the poetry collections I’ve gotten ahold of during the year and read them. I know I should read poetry all year, especially since I’ve enjoyed the ones that have come my way. But it seems like this is a pattern that …
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. “Her blood ran red like any other warm-blooded American woman, but Bunny knew her insides were inky black, a mixture of oil and water she’d never be free of. Oil tied her to Texas, to her oil baron family, to her …
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. Historian and author Leah Angstman’s newest book, Shoot the Horses First follows a variety of character from different historical times, showing their struggles and the time they live with care and realism. From a young boy being inspected on the Orphan Train, a …
I didn’t know what this book was about going in. The back of the book featured only a quote from another author praising Newborn, and another on Goodreads sharing a quote from the book. So I put together that there was a creek, that something was discovered there in a Stephen King coming of age way. So I went in blind, and I think you should do.
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. “Your past is chiseled into the earth; your future is written in the air. Your time alive was precious because it was limited,” (Stickle 13, “Modern Ghosts”). I’ve never read or reviewed a chapbook before, so this should be fun! At …
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. “That morning he had waited at the station for the train to start running again, his head low, body shaking, and he understood why people killed, why people stopped feeling, why people stopped believing in God. He heard the first train …
I received this book from The Next Best Book Club in exchange for an honest review. “I was waiting for its eyes to open, and when they did not, it felt like slowly sewing shut the sky,” (A Picnic [1], My Off-the-Market Magic Carpet, Niespodziany 57). One day I will know how to review poetry. I’ll know …
Sarah O'Connor 