candelibri's reviews
2086 reviews

Broken Halves of a Milky Sun: Poems by Aaiún Nin

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain by Peter S. Goodman

informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

I swear, the more I read nonfiction the more I wish I didn’t. 

This succinctly and straightforwardly covers what happened to commerce during COVID and after and it is beyond enlightening; enraging, exhausting and disappointing to be sure, but enlightening nonetheless. 

Meat packing workers being sacrificed for the sake of shareholders, CDL drivers being overworked to exhaustion and beyond (next time you hear of a shortage, please, come reread the chapter and refresh your memory on what they are constantly being pushed to do), freight cargo companies exploiting literally everyone that utilizes them due to lack of regulations…the list truly does go on. 

Goodman does an incredible deep dive into the intricate layers that intersect one another and how we are at the mercy of commerce and capitalism - and what needs to change if we are ever to escape from it. He is the type of journalist we could use more of. 

Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain by Patricia S. Churchland

challenging reflective medium-paced

3.0

Very interesting but could have used a little more exploration into some of the ideas that were presented. Some of them were presented and then just discarded. I also realize the author is a philosopher but the constant positing of questions with no scientific theory behind it was a little exhausting. There is a better way to do it than just consistently throwing out questions and leaving the reader hanging. I could do that. 

How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I need a physical copy of my own - way too many gems that I need to annotate bc as Americans, we are entering the fight of our lives and this is the literal blueprint. 

Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

4.0

Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up from Brooklyn to Palestine by Remi Kanazi

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

Read this read this read this read this read this READ. THIS. 

My heart is in TATTERS. I am in complete disbelief that this was published in 2015. How. HOW?! I would have BET. MONEY. that this was a new release. 

This is the pinnacle of intersectional writing. If I could have shared every poem, I would have. 

“Say their names
Like Newtown children
say their names
al Bayda, Shejaiya
Chicago, Staten Island
say their names
like haunting whispers
say their names”

I am just in awe. Every poem had me (metaphorically) throwing this book - I got it from the library so it was on my iPad - because this is exactly what I want from a collection that prides itself on sociopolitical commentary. Remi Kanazi leaves no stone unturned and spares no group, no topic from his pen. 

Easily one of my favorite collections to date and I am so disappointed that it’s taken me this long to hear about it. 

James by Percival Everett

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Wow…this book has had such high reviews from everyone, I was really worried it wouldn’t live up to expectations. So happy to have been proved wrong! Absolutely excellent.

Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir by Walela Nehanda

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

What a freaking BANGER. Read this. Argue with a brick wall. 

The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back by Madiba K. Dennie

challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

There are far too few reviews for this book so while I’d rate this a 4.5, I’m rounding this up so that this has a snowball’s chance of getting through to people. This is such an important and well-written book that really goes after the theory of “originalism” as the method of interpretation for the constitution - how it has undermined “we the people” for decades with the excuse of being used for our betterment, yet that never actually coalesces. 

Also, wow. Just…the amount of cherry picking these men are allowed to get away with in the name of “democracy” is sickening. And God help me, Alito is an absolute piece of garbage, yes but if I could ever learn something about Reagan and be surprised by how absolutely HORRIFIC that human was…?? Nothing I learn about him is shocking anymore, almost everything leads back to that slimeball’s administration. 

Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration by Alejandra Oliva

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Excellent. 

Match this with: 

Tell Me How it Ends - Valeria Luiselli 
The Undocumented Americans - Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen - Jose Antonio Vargas 
Solito - Javier Zamora