Hi All!
I just thought I’d switch things up by starting up my own site and share a bit more with you guys than I do on my bookstagram and Tumblr!
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Seher and I’m a reader based in Pakistan! I read just about everything I can get my hands on! That being said I adore fantasy and poetry! I used to post exclusively on Instagram, but now I’ve decided to try and maintain my own blog!
If you prefer Instagram, that’s all good! I’ve linked that below! And if you prefer getting your reviews and giveaways on Tumblr and Twitter, those will be here too!
I’m also using this as a more creative space, so you’ll also get plenty of tarot card posts, restaurant reviews (from Islamabad), and pictures of the sky after it rains! I’ll also be posting my writing update, which is something I’m trying to get back into!
This is The Girl Who Reads in chaos mode!
I maintain two tumblr accounts! Which does sound like a bit much, but both serve for different moods!
My book tumblr lets me post more content than I can on my bookstagram, so you’ll find more posts here (in the future) and more excerpts, etc!
https://bookstagramofmine.tumblr.com/
My poetry tumblr is a mood. Things that I love are posted there!
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/alliwanttodoiscollectpoetry
You can also find me on twitter (where I generally just cry and complain about life)
https://twitter.com/allofthewhatifs
I have a lot of badges from all the sites I usually review on and now you have to see them because this is the first time I’ve had a place to put them! 🙂
And last but not least, my google reviews!
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Where the Worm Never Dies by Quinn Hernandez
Thank you NetGalley and Swann + Bedlam for the chance to read and review “Where the Worm Never Dies” by Quinn Hernandez!
On The Title
A quick search for the phrase “where the worm never dies” shows you that it’s a biblical phrase; something that I did not pick up with the title (I’m muslim, so this isn’t an area I know too much about). This is an interesting phrase because even a small look into it shows you a myriad of interpretations and why this makes an excellent title for the book.
The phrase can mean a worm that continuously feeds on the flesh without dying, as in the horror and pain never ends (as can be seen in the poems on hell and other violence in the book). It can also mean that the work that needs to be done, will continue to be done (the work of writing horror, or the work of torment and darkness or cycles of violence and trauma that continue to perpetuate just that). Either way, the title suits the book!
Review and Rating
That being said, I’m not a horror girly, but I am a die-hard poetry girly which is why I picked up the book and was excited to read it. But to sum, horror > poetry when it comes to this. As poetry, it’s fairly standard modern poetry, but the horror made me flinch and quite uncomfortable, which is not to say that it wasn’t interesting. Poems like “Breaking the Cycle”, “Pawn” and “Not Just Anybody” are really interesting explorations on religion and inherited anger.
While my review for this book is 3.5 stars where I can, many people reading this will weigh the poetry to horror aspect very differently; if poetry is what’s important this is 3 stars. If horror, then you’re looking at something along the lines of 4 stars.
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Tender by Beth Hetland
Thank you, NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books, for the chance to read and review Tender by Beth Hetland.
Tender is Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel. It follows the story of a woman so consumed with the desire for a perfect life that she slowly has a nervous breakdown and starts eating her own flesh. At least, that’s what the blurb says.
Tender is more the story of a woman let down by the support systems around her, who has a nervous breakdown because she’s literally had a miscarriage, and her husband goes to therapy himself but doesn’t care enough to make her go.
After this, we have some spoilers, so read at your own risk.
Carolanne (our main character) has a monotonous life, but a life nonetheless. She has a cat, friends, and a job, and while she doesn’t have a partner and child, she’s doing okay. Lonely and fearful of the world moving on and her without these things, but that’s a sort of fear that’s been programmed into women. We’re supposed to be off the shelf by 25 and there is something wrong with us if we aren’t.
Then you see Carolanne with a partner, a man who seems sweet but also seemed slightly off to me. For instance, the breakdown at Taylor’s wedding about how Carolanne appears to be obsessed with marriage was a red flag, unless there was something that the author hadn’t shown us? The weird way in which he goes to therapy but doesn’t take her. There don’t seem to be any follow-up visits for her either. The way he leaves without really trying to help her recover. She is in a terrible place with how she talks about trying again after 90 days as if the first thing hadn’t happened.
The chapters where her nervous breakdown is complete, where she’s literally eating herself were drawn very differently. I loved that Beth used art to show us how Carolanne was doing internally!
Overall, 4 out of 5 stars!
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Throwback Thursday; Winx Club But Make It A Graphic Novel
Winx Club Vol. 1: Welcome to Magix comes out on the 16th of January!
Of course I saw the Winx Club Vol. 1: Welcome to Magix graphic novel on NetGalley and decided I ABSOLUTELY HAD to read it! I loved the show as a kid; it’s got magic, fairies, lots of heels and crop tops; what more could a little me have needed in a series?
So the pros are right in your face!
This book literally looks like the show! You really think for a minute that they just took little screen grabs and used that to put the graphic novel together! This could honestly be half the case, but honestly, it’s not a thing to mind; the OG Winx club girls liked the first version that we used to watch on TV!
You also get the whole original cast, with the Specialists, the Trix, the teachers, all introduced to us. The drama with the sceptre is still the main thing; like it was in the first few episodes of the show!
But the graphic novel also relies heavily on the reader having watched the cartoon!
Things have to deviate; but they deviate knowing that the reader will be familiar with the source material. The novel starts off with Bloom walking to the border with Stella and her parents; we’re not told what led Bloom here, just that her parents are sending her off to a magic school for fairies. We miss the whole thing with the troll and we don’t know anything about Blooms powers.
As a companion to the show, great! It’s a throwback, albeit one that reminds us that the original gang could be slightly obnoxious. As a standalone, it does not entirely work!
The book is also marketed at 7-12 year olds and I do feel like a few bigger shots of the girls, with their wings could have been a fun thing to include simply because half the appeal of Winx was that it was so pretty!
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Book Review: If I Promise you Wings by A. K. Small
Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Young Readers for the chance to read and review If I Promise you Wings by A. K. Small.
If I Promise You Wings is a young adult coming of age novel that comes out on the 16th of January! It is the authors’ second novel, with her first being Bright Burning Stars which was turned into the movie Birds of Paradise. A. K. Small is French American and we defiantly get that in this book with loads of French words thrown in!
I was made fun of by my 12 year old cousin who can speak French fluently (product of French school). Apparently I can’t do the Rs right!
If I Promise You Wings is 336 pages long and, like Bright Burning Stars is published by Algonquin Young Readers which is a Hachette imprint!
I do really appreciate that A. K. Small set this in the world of feather artistry which was completely new to me! It felt like being in a fantasy! Like feather artistry does feel completely unreal even now! The inclusion of Emily Dickinson’s poem was also a lovely touch!
The book is sweet. There is no other way to put it. It’s great to see Alix grow and deal with her grief and meet new people and branch out, but aside from that a lot of the stuff with her father was really anti-climatic (even though I understand that life can be that way) and even stuff at Mille etc Une Plume was very everyone wins and is happy at the end of it all.
But again, I am 28, I am absolutely not the target audience for this book, which may love it a lot more than I do!
“Hope” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
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Book Review: The Music Was Just Getting Good by Alicia Cook
The Music Was Just Getting Good by Alicia Cook
Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the chance to read and review ‘The Music Was Just Getting Good’ by Alicia Cook.
The Music Was Just Getting Good is Alicia Cook’s fourth and final installation in her mixtape series. She does seem to have her devotees; her books average around 3.9 stars on Goodreads, based on 600 to 5300+ reviews. Those who like her style, will like her style. This last book comes out on the 9th of January, is 242 pages long, and like the others in the series is published by Andrews McMeel. The book is not available on Kindle Unlimited, and the kindle version is priced around $8.49.
The style of the series is interesting; the book is divided into two sides. Side A has 91 poems, none of which have a title but are called Track 1, Track 2 and so on. Each of these “tracks” is accompanied with a song, which is an interesting way to read these poems. The second half of the book, called ‘Side B’, is a series of blackout poems based on the original 91 tracks. However, in this second half, each of the poems has different songs than the first.
To be clear, I absolutely love Track 27 and I think Alicia Cook has some real gems in this collection. I understand why her fans love her.
That being said, I believe that this collection needed to be edited significantly.
91 poems and then 91 blackout poems don’t seem to be a lot and then you open the book and they become a lot, especially when the same couple of themes are repeated again and again. Had the author halved the number of poems, the remaining ones would have been given the ability to shine individually instead of being lost in this sea of tracks instead of letting things become repetitive.
Overall verdict: 3 stars
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Book Review; Pretty Boys Are Poisonous by Megan Fox
I don’t know what prompted me to pick up Megan Fox’s autobiographical poetry collection that came out earlier this week. The Rupi Kaur comparison I read did not help in the slightest (or did it?), but Megan Fox was a pop culture phenomenon; after all, who amongst us does not remember Jennifer’s Body?
The introductory letter penned by Megan was touching, although I was skeptical about the throat chakras. The resulting collection had moments of wit and originality but a whole lot of Megan Fox sounding like every other white girl who has been given the chance to have a poetry book published.
But the wit that does seem to have come straight from Megan Fox is absolutely worth it. That comes in the forms of things like titles such as “it’s giving patrick batemam” and “you’d be so much more handsome if you’d get an exorcism” and some really cool lines from her poems.
What does genuinely horrify the reader are the details Megan Fox includes about these relationships. Those are painful details. 10 weeks and a day is too specific to be creative license; those things have happened to her. And keep in mind that this woman has been sexualized and routinely let down by a lot of people around her. I’m re-linking this old Variety article where it’s pretty easy to understand; she was beautiful and considered shallow, so why did anyone want to help her? No, people preferred to slut shame her and be grateful for the chance to audition in a bikini washing a car.
To sum it is worth powering through the trite bits for Megan’s own voice to come through. And it is time to support a woman who was let down by all of us.
I also want to take this time to link this really interesting article I read some time ago on medium regarding Kanye and Bianca Censori.
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Book Review: Welcome to Camp Killer by Cynthia Murphy
Title: Welcome to Camp Killer
Author: Cynthia Murphy
Publisher: Barrington Stoke
Length: 128
Genre: YA Horror
Thank you, NetGalley and Barrington Stoke, for the chance to read and review Welcome to Camp Killer by Cynthia Murphy!
Welcome to Camp Killer is set at a summer camp in the UK. The estate that the camp is set on is rumored to have a ghost named Dorothea (no relation to Taylor Swift’s Dorothea) who committed suicide after meeting her husband’s mistress and love child (after killing the three of them).
Holly, one of the eight camp counselors, expects an outdoorsy summer looking after a bunch of kids. What she doesn’t know is that something sinister is underfoot, although the bouquet of snakes thrown in Grayson’s bed really helped manage her expectations for the summer!
Review:
Welcome to Camp Killer is a fun short story (128 pages) that takes its cues from slasher movies. However, keep in mind that it is written for people 13 and above, so any adult reading and reviewing it may not be the right judge. We did read a lot in the Goosebumps and Fear Street series by RL Stine that we came across as kids, so I’m pretty sure a 13-year-old can handle what happens in the book.
The book’s length also limits what it can achieve, but that’s also part and parcel of the genre. None of us expected significant character growth in Goosebumps, and you can’t expect that here either. That being said, a major shortcoming was that the novel made it far too clear that the incidents were the result of human interference and not a ghost’s doing; had that been unclear, this book would have been given a full five stars. The movie ‘A Haunting in Venice‘ based on the Agatha Christie novel ‘Hallowe’en Party‘ is an excellent example; we know that because it is an Agatha Christie detective story, the end will not involve a ghost, but the movie doesn’t allow that to become clear.
Rating:
4 stars
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NetGalley Book Review: The Wonder of Small Things by James Crews
So, to be clear, I’m in the middle of a reading slump and thinking of quitting blogging, but I never turn down the chance to read, review, and promote any anthology by James Crews.
I’ve read and adored The Path to Kindness and How to Love the World, and The Wonder of Small Things has become my favorite of the three. This collection focusing more on poems about nature is the first collection that has forced me to read and love nature poetry; I had just assumed in the past that it wasn’t for me.
All three of James Crew’s anthologies contain reflection exercises, and while those are interesting, my main aim has never been those when the man puts together a phenomenal anthology. Between William Sieghart and James Crews, I never run out of poems when I need them.
The Wonder of Small Things comes out on the 26th of September and will be published by Storey Publishing, LLC. My only gripe with this 216-page book, which is the same complaint I have about his other books, is that it is about 100 pages short.
Blurb
James Crews, editor of two best-selling poetry anthologies, How to Love the World and The Path to Kindness, presents an all-new collection of highly accessible poems on the theme of celebrating moments of wonder and peace in everyday life. As Crews writes in the introduction: “[A] deep love for the world is present in every one of the poems gathered in this book. Wonder calls us back to the curiosity we are each born with, and it makes us want to move closer to what sparks our attention. Wonder opens our senses and helps us stay in touch with a humbling sense of our own human smallness in the face of unexpected beauty and the delicious mysteries of life on this planet.”
The anthology features a foreword by Nikita Gill and a carefully curated selection of poems from a diverse range of authors, including Native American poets Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, Kimberly Blaeser, and Joseph Bruchac, and BIPOC writers Ross Gay, Julia Alvarez, and Toi Derricotte. Crews features new poems from popular writers such as Natalie Goldberg, Mark Nepo, Ted Kooser, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jane Hirshfield, and Jacqueline Suskin, along with selections from emerging poets. Readers are guided in exploring the meaning and essence of the poems through a series of reflective pauses scattered through the pages and reading group questions in the back. This anthology offers the perfect intersection for the growing number of readers interested in mindful living and bringing poetry into their everyday lives.
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NetGalley Book Review: Secrets of the Vampire by Julie Legere and Elsa Whyte
Step into the shadows and uncover the centuries-old myths and legends that lie beneath the figure of the vampire, with this magical compendium of facts and fiction.
Whether rising from a coffin in the dead of night or stalking its prey, hidden in plain sight, the vampire is one of the most alluring beings in world folklore. These undead bloodsuckers are as alive as ever in modern pop culture, from movies and books to video games and TV shows.
But despite their cultural immortality, mystery still surrounds their shadowy origins. Secrets of the Vampire compiles every scrap of vampire lore into one essential volume, covering everything from famous vampires such as Count Dracula and his historical counterpart, to the vampiric aversion to sunlight and garlic and their supernatural abilities.
With this lavishly illustrated field guide, decode the deathly world of the vampire. Discover the meanings behind occult symbols, the ancient origins of vampire tropes, the most powerful and frightening vampires from stories around the world, and the real people said to have inspired the grisly tales of these creatures of the night. Learn how to tell a vampire from a living person and get wise to their tricks and powers.
Secrets of the Vampire is a mesmerizing compendium that effortlessly blends history, folklore, and pop culture references to offer an enchanting exploration of the vampire phenomenon. Written by Julie Legere and Elsa Whyte, this book is not only a delightful read for children aged 9-14 (the target audience) but also a book that can be enjoyed by adults as well.
One of the standout features of this book is its narrative voice, which cleverly adopts the perspective of a vampire as the narrator. This adds an intriguing layer to the storytelling and enhances the overall immersive experience.
The illustrations in Secrets of the Vampire are amazing. They effortlessly bring the vampire world to life, enhancing the reading experience. Laura Perez, the illustrator, does a fantastic job. The book is truly a feast for the eyes, which means a lot of readers will buy it just because it’s pretty on the inside. It’s unfortunate, though, that the cover doesn’t stand out the same way the illustrations do.
I appreciate that the book covers vampire myths from different regions, not just Europe. It also delves into the fascinating world of vampire tropes and their representation in various cultures, including their intersection with religious beliefs. Including pop culture references, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and Dracula, adds a contemporary touch that will resonate with fans of modern vampire literature and media. However, here we come across the book’s second major flaw (the first being the cover); these pop culture references are all American or European. If the authors did take the time to write this book, they could have talked about pop culture in different parts of the world and introduced readers to that.
Long story short: this is the perfect gift for all the vampire lovers you know, regardless of how old they are!
Secrets of the Vampire comes out on the 8th of August and is published by Wide Eyed Editions. This 80-page book is the second project Julie Legere and Elsa Whyte have taken on together, with the first being Secrets of the Witch: An initiation into our history and our wisdom.
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Not Today, Satan (Maybe Tomorrow) by Andrew Staffer
Do you think Ted Bundy is the Backstreet Boys of serial killers (not just the Nsync)?
If yes, then this one is for you.
You probably didn’t think you’d hear the word splenectomy in a poetry book.
And you also probably didn’t imagine that someone would wax lyrical on the adventures of Smirnoff Vodka.
And you also didn’t think Andrew Shaffer would give the best writing advice.
Spoiler; don’t.
Experience all that and more in this funny as fuck poetry collection by Andrew Shaffer, which is possibly better than Look Mom I’m a Poet (and So Is My Cat), which was also pretty great.
#TeamEdward #iykyk
Not Today, Satan (Maybe Tomorrow) comes out on the 5th of September. For the measly price of $4.99 you can help reassure Andrew Shaffer’s wife that there may be some money in poetry. Maybe not a lot because the book is also on Kindle Unlimited.
Please buy it, the man has an Only Fans.
Blurb
A new collection of laugh-out-loud poems from the international bestselling author of Look Mom I’m a Poet (and So is My Cat)
Tired of Instagram poems about whiskey and self-love? Not Today, Satan (Maybe Tomorrow) is the hilarious antidote you didn’t know you needed, complete with crap drawings that make Rupi Kaur’s look like they belong in the Louvre.
From poignant odes to snack cakes (“The Last Temptation of Little Debbie”) to tough love for friends (“You are Not a Mermaid”), Shaffer’s biting satire will have you questioning why you ever wasted time reading lesser verse jockeys.
#sponsoredpost #leavethefishalone
The Girl Who Reads 