nixiethepixie's reviews
267 reviews

Childhood, Youth, Dependency: The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

So struck by this honest, brutal and generous offering. Truly a chronicle of a young life - Ditlevsen bears her truths, learnings, and life with such honesty it’s both beautiful and brutal to sit with. Reflective yet present, a fascinating way to move through time and memory, and how a life can shape a person. Dependency was particularly devastating, in ways that Childhood and Youth shadow towards. Ditlevsen offers such insight, yet no answers, you can’t help but feel the malaise and heaviness of her life, and the truth and necessity of writing, expression and connection. 

Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto by Legacy Russell

adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Read the bulk of this at the beginning of 2022, and remember being really struck by it, particularly the ideas around expansiveness, the in-between and queerness. Strongest in its opening chapters, inciting and inspiring glitch and expanding beyond binaries and existing structures. Some of the language is communicated in a challenging academic way, and the latter chapters are perhaps less incisive in its action. But overall a generous offering to carry forth in our current day as existing within and alongside  the internet, as expansive bodies and creators of art.

Females by Andrea Long Chu

adventurous challenging funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

A cheeky and clever manifesto - in some ways, in conversation with Valerie Solanas’ work and sentiments. Long Chu’s thesis that everyone is female makes for an enjoyable and playful read - a meld of sociocultural critique, autobiography, playfully self-aware throughout. I enjoyed the reminders of both the expansiveness and limitation of gender/sexuality/language/politics and her reflections upon desire. More than anything, it felt like an invitation to engage further with her work, and mentioned texts, including Solanas’ play itself. 

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love Miranda July. This book is genuinely odd, weird and yet has moments that surprise in their unexpected beauty and poignancy. July throws us into a strange situation with strange characters but reveals truths and funny observations with cheeky delight. Overall I read this in a haphazard way, so perhaps was never fully immersed in this world and characters. But regardless would delight in the odd, whimsical and wonderful of the mundane. 

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Listened as an audiobook. Informative, inspiring and empowering - a powerful reminder of the intersections that exist across movements throughout time, place and history. Davis often refers to Palestine and Ferguson across her work and speeches. The reminders of both the similarities across movements, but also the very real connections is a reminder of the way systems and structures are set up for the powerful and disenfranchised. Davis’ belief in young people is palpable, and also acknowledging the histories of movements that have been and continue to inform where we go.

The Magic Border by Arlo Parks

emotional reflective slow-paced

3.5

Listened as an audiobook read by Arlo Parks. Gentle, tender, reflective. A lovely meditation of Arlo’s reflections and art at this point in time - at 23 years old - generous in its sharing, proudly queer and of this moment. 

None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary by Travis Alabanza

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Listened as an audiobook read by the author. A generous and incisive present time memoir/reflection. Rich in its storytelling, but equally I wasn’t always sure of who moments were written for, but perhaps that’s a binary way of thinking! I particularly enjoyed the reminders of choice and gifts throughout. 

Six Memos For The Next Millennium by Italo Calvino

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

an insightful collection of lectures - pity i'm not too well read in his body of work, or familiar with many of the references made throughout. but a great collection of ideas and concepts, and a clear curiosity and admiration for form and the possibilities literature holds

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

read this over two chunks of time over three months (felt longer), but mostly spent time with it over the past two days gunning through half the book. i finally get it - it took me time to warm into the world, characters and vignetted storytelling, but once you're in you're certainly in, and I'm keen to adventure onto book two which i hear is even more brilliant. the narrative voice, the relationship, observations, the insights. i have no opinions which i hadn't already heard, but i just love that this exists. the things i'm most struck by in this book is the push and pull of the friendship, and the way in which both don't seem to be able to thrive at once. how we can know our friends, but never truly know anyone. and the tender and brutal unfurling of learning more about the only world you know, and how expectation can shatter with life and reality. onto the next - i'm excited! 

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

generous, reflective and moving - listened as an audiobook read by the author. A reminder of the ongoing effects of war