book rec – Slanted Spines

Loveless: A Book Review

June 17, 2022April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Young AdultTagged ace representation, ace ya book, asexual rep, book rec, book review, loveless by alice oseman2 Comments

Perhaps you know Alice Oseman for her recently adapted comic series Heartstopper or her hit novel Radio Silence, but have you heard of Loveless?

Officially the “tenth” installment in the Oseman-verse (the universe in which Oseman’s stories take place), but perfectly comprehensible as a standalone, Loveless is a coming-of-age contemporary young adult novel in which narrator Georgia reflects on her first year of university and how she comes to understand herself as being asexual and aromantic.

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Nothing Burns as Bright as You: A Book Review

April 15, 2022April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Young AdultTagged ashley woodfolk, book in verse, book rec, book review, nothing burns as bright as you, nothing burns as bright as you book review, queer young adult novel, ya book rec1 Comment

Told in verse, the newly-released young adult contemporary Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk tells of first love, complicated friend/relationships, and emotional gravity.

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Passing: A Book Review

March 4, 2022April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult FictionTagged book rec, book review, passing book review, passing by nella larsenLeave a comment

Nearly a hundred years ago, Nella Larsen published Passing. Today, it is still every bit as nuanced and readable.

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None But the Righteous: A Book Analysis

February 11, 2022April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult FictionTagged book rec, book review, chantal james, none but the righteous, none but the righteous book review, none but the righteous by chantal james1 Comment

After reading the first sentence of None But the Righteous by Chantal James, I felt a particular enthusiasm coursing through me that this book was going to take me to special places as a reader. Within the first chapter, I knew I would be writing a thorough analysis of it. (And somehow, I have managed to do this without spoilers.)

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Ghost Forest: A Book Review

August 6, 2021April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult FictionTagged book rec, book recommendation, ghost forest, ghost forest book review, ghost forest by pik-shuen fung3 Comments

Have you ever had feelings you don’t know where to place?

So you put them where you can, and give them their own space?

With restraint and intention, Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung says just enough to connect with the reader.

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Of Women and Salt: A Book Review

July 23, 2021April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult FictionTagged book rec, book recommendation, book review, literary fiction rec, of women and salt, of women and salt book review, of women and salt by gabriela garcia3 Comments

Released at the end of March 2021, Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia is a truly powerful work of literary fiction and family legacy.

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Disability Visibility: A Book Report

July 9, 2021April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult NonfictionTagged book rec, book review, disability pride month, non-fiction book rec3 Comments

As I’ve recently discovered, July is Disability Pride Month. At the end of June, I finished a collection of essays entitled Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories From the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong, and having been quite moved by these articles, I would like to highlight some of the voices and encourage you to pick it up as well.

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Barely Functional Adult: It’ll All Make Sense Eventually… A Book Review

April 9, 2021April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult NonfictionTagged barely functional adult, barely functional adult book review, book rec, book recommendation, comic rec, comic review, humor rec, it'll all make sense eventually, meichi ng, review2 Comments

Barely Functional Adult: It'll All Make Sense Eventually Book Review

Are you a barely functional adult? Do you hope it’ll all make sense eventually? Do you want to read, laugh, and relate to a fellow barely functional adult who is likewise holding out hope that it’ll all make sense eventually?

Then Meichi Ng has created a book perfect for you: Barely Functional Adult: It’ll All Make Sense Eventually.

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Homegoing: A Book Review

March 12, 2021April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult FictionTagged book blog, book rec, book review, homegoing, homegoing book review, homegoing review, reading blog, yaa gyasi3 Comments

After reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi earlier this year, I was extremely interested in reading her previous debut novel, Homegoing, which tells the fictional stories of two half-sisters born in separate villages in eighteenth-century Ghana and their respective descendants.

And as though I weren’t already excited enough to read it, when I opened up to the first few pages and saw a family tree chart, I became even more hyped– who doesn’t love a book with a chart?

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The Death of Vivek Oji: A Book Review

February 12, 2021April 26, 2023Posted in Books - Adult FictionTagged akwaeke emezi, black lit, book blog, book rec, book recommendation, book review, literary fiction, the death of vivek oji8 Comments

“They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died.”

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi begins with this evocative line. Vivek’s death is certain, yet the circumstances surrounding that death are hazy: the body is left upon Vivek’s parents’ house, stripped and battered, leaving mother Kavita with devastated questions and father Chika with a gap in his heart. What happened to Vivek? And moreover, who was Vivek?

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