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sarah_thebooknerd's reviews
744 reviews
Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir by Walela Nehanda
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is one of the best books I have ever read. It will be a top read of 2024 for me. It's a memoir written in verse and if you are a fan of Elizabeth Acevedo, I think you would love Walela Nehanda.
Walela is a fat Black queer non-binary person and they have dealt with family trauma, racism, distorted eating, navigating gender, queerness, fatphobia, mental health, and medical trauma. Walela is raw and takes the readers with them as they navigated various points in their life that culminated in a diagnosis of leukemia at 23. We learn about how each part of Walela's identities intersected with the diagnosis and how it impacted them as they had to learn to navigate a medical system that is not build for fat Black queer non-binary people.
Walela also discusses how isolating it can be to deal with a chronic illness and be disabled in society.
I had to just sit at times with the way that this book moved me. I will leave you with this quote from the book:
"my cancer saved me, because did you know it is actually really so fucking terrifying being invested in living?"
Walela is a fat Black queer non-binary person and they have dealt with family trauma, racism, distorted eating, navigating gender, queerness, fatphobia, mental health, and medical trauma. Walela is raw and takes the readers with them as they navigated various points in their life that culminated in a diagnosis of leukemia at 23. We learn about how each part of Walela's identities intersected with the diagnosis and how it impacted them as they had to learn to navigate a medical system that is not build for fat Black queer non-binary people.
Walela also discusses how isolating it can be to deal with a chronic illness and be disabled in society.
I had to just sit at times with the way that this book moved me. I will leave you with this quote from the book:
"my cancer saved me, because did you know it is actually really so fucking terrifying being invested in living?"
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
The audio narration is incredible.
Imogen, is the #1 queer ally and she is from a small community in upstate New York and is Jewish and comes from a progressive family. When she goes to visit her best friend, Lily on campus she is tasked with being her best friend’s ex and while pretending to be bi she begins to realize that she might actually be bi. She has been having a lot of feelings about it but she always has shut them down because its not like the “queer knowing/awakening” that her friends have had so she has always shut that part of herself off. I loved the discussions that happen in this book related to coming out and to terms with being queer and how each persons story will look different.
Imogen, is the #1 queer ally and she is from a small community in upstate New York and is Jewish and comes from a progressive family. When she goes to visit her best friend, Lily on campus she is tasked with being her best friend’s ex and while pretending to be bi she begins to realize that she might actually be bi. She has been having a lot of feelings about it but she always has shut them down because its not like the “queer knowing/awakening” that her friends have had so she has always shut that part of herself off. I loved the discussions that happen in this book related to coming out and to terms with being queer and how each persons story will look different.
What a Match by Mimi Grace
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I love Mimi Grace. Her books make me so happy and I just kick my feet and smile so much while reading them.
Gwen is a teacher and has witnessed her parents have a rocky relationship, so she is turning to a matchmaker to help ensure they are compatible.
Right as Gwen starts her matchmaking journey her brother approaches her with a favor, have his best friend and business partner, Anthony stay with her while Anthony's apt is having an emergency fix.
Anthony, is quiet and he has always had a crush on Gwen but has been able to keep it at bay because he is not around her. Now they are sharing a living space. The humor, friendship, conversations, love and swoon had me. If you are not a fan of brother's best friend because of the overprotective brother. Do NOT worry that is not in here! This is a great book to read all year round but would be amazing during the fall!
Gwen is a teacher and has witnessed her parents have a rocky relationship, so she is turning to a matchmaker to help ensure they are compatible.
Right as Gwen starts her matchmaking journey her brother approaches her with a favor, have his best friend and business partner, Anthony stay with her while Anthony's apt is having an emergency fix.
Anthony, is quiet and he has always had a crush on Gwen but has been able to keep it at bay because he is not around her. Now they are sharing a living space. The humor, friendship, conversations, love and swoon had me. If you are not a fan of brother's best friend because of the overprotective brother. Do NOT worry that is not in here! This is a great book to read all year round but would be amazing during the fall!
All I See Is Violence by Angie Elita Newell
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I am really glad I was able to buddy read this book with Marisol. This book has 3 POVs and it takes a minute to figure out which character we are in (there are no headings). Once you get used to the very distinct voices it makes it so much easier.
1. Little Wolf, an Indigenous woman in the late 1870s joins a band of warriors who are fighting up against the colonization and oppression.
2. Nancy, an Indigenous woman in the 1970s who works in academia, is a mom and deals with the systemic oppression that has been handed down to her for decades.
3. General, he is one of the leaders working to conquer the Indigenous peoples and force them into reservations or death.
There is so much to this book and it shows just how brutal colonization is/was and how even in the future it leads to continued violence and oppression. I had so many emotions while reading this book. I was angry, sad, frustrated, and I cried. It is one of those books that will move you in many ways and remind you just how much we truly have never been taught about the ways in which we (yt people) harmed and continue to harm Indigenous peoples globally.
1. Little Wolf, an Indigenous woman in the late 1870s joins a band of warriors who are fighting up against the colonization and oppression.
2. Nancy, an Indigenous woman in the 1970s who works in academia, is a mom and deals with the systemic oppression that has been handed down to her for decades.
3. General, he is one of the leaders working to conquer the Indigenous peoples and force them into reservations or death.
There is so much to this book and it shows just how brutal colonization is/was and how even in the future it leads to continued violence and oppression. I had so many emotions while reading this book. I was angry, sad, frustrated, and I cried. It is one of those books that will move you in many ways and remind you just how much we truly have never been taught about the ways in which we (yt people) harmed and continue to harm Indigenous peoples globally.
Our Voice of Fire: A Story of Survival and Pursuit for Justice by Brandi Morin
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This memoir is so heartbreaking and gripping. It gets into Brandi’s past of growing up in the foster care system, abuse she endured and how the trauma impacted her. We see her claw her way out of the family cycle of children growing up in the system, abuse, drugs/alcohol, and the impact those traumas have on her psychologically and spiritually. Brandi deals with institutionalization for her mental health. As she is dealing with all of this we also see her successes, becoming a journalist, getting her first journalist jobs, raising her children, connecting with her Indigenous culture, and finding her voice. This memoir highlights the importance of land back, MMIW crisis, and the acknowledgment of how colonization has impacted Indigenous communities for generations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual assault
You Can Be the Last Leaf: Selected Poems by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
3.75
I read this poetry collection on Everand.
The poems have a theme of motherhood,
love, loss, grief, war and checkpoints.
Every time I pick up a Palestinian poetry
collection it is very clear that art is a form
of resistance and a form of coping.
Some of the poems are very moving and
others I struggled with but I am curious
how much is lost within the translation
itself. Emotion is so much of poetry but
words in some languages do not always
translate well and so I think part of it is that. The poem- “Mahmoud” is one that
I think everyone should read. As a mom
I felt that one to my core and cried.
Blood Orange by Yaffa
emotional
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This poetry collection was written after the start of the bombardment on Gaza and is emotional, raw and gripping. It goes over what it is like to watch a genocide of your people unfold while you are living in the diaspora. It also gets at the anger of having your gender and sexual identity be used as a way to justify it. I did not want to put it down and found myself reading some of the poems over and saving a few of them to revisit again and again.
Chef's Choice by TJ Alexander
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I love a good fake dating romance book. Luna is down on her luck after being fired from her job and she runs into Jean-Pierre looking for someone to hop on a video call with his grandfather and Luna agrees when he offers some cash. These two end up in a longer fake dating situation to appease Jean-Pierre’s chef dynasty family and the inevitable forced proximity moments begin. They both come from very different worlds; Luna comes from a single mom and understands struggle and hardship as she worked up to get the $ for surgery. Jean-Pierre, is French, wealthy and had a very easy transition financially but not really the support from his family. Because of the differences with them, they struggle to see each other’s point of view and the banter is funny but at times it bordered on passive aggressive and they had to work through it and I am glad that TJ Alexander shows them doing that. I definitely recommend this series!