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god-chaser
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
(This review can be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>.)

This is my first time reviewing a poetry book, so hopefully my review will do this book justice as it's a wonderful and well written book of poetry.

god-chaser by Sari Krosinsky is a short book of mainly poetry and some prose. The main subject of this book are gods although there are a few prose and poetry from the author's memories.

I think the title of this book suits it. Most of the prose and poetry contained in this book deal with all sorts of gods, so the title "god-chaser" works perfectly. It's even mentioned in one of the poems.

I like the simplistic design of the cover. I assume the photo of the woman on the cover is the author. I love the tree in the background as well. The cover, to me, symbolises the whole "what you see is what you get with this book." Yes, the cover could've been more decorated with pictures of gods and goddesses but this cover works for this book.

The pacing of each poem and story is perfect. I found myself devouring each story and poem as I read them. Not once did I grow bored with this little book of prose and poetry.

When it comes to dialogue, most of it is easy to understand. There are a few words that I didn't know what they meant, but over all, the prose and poetry is easy to understand. I must mention here that the poems and stories spoke to my soul!! There are a few swear words in it, but not many.

My favourite piece in this book is a prose piece entitled "Election Day Memorial, 1984." I can't pinpoint why it's my favourite but I just love the way it's written. I also like the dry humour used in it.

This is definitely a great book for fans of prose and poetry as well as those that are into mythology. When I heard this book dealt with mythological gods and goddesses, I had to read it! The author does a fantastic job with the wording. It is beautifully written.

I'd recommend this book mostly to fans of prose and poetry aged 16+, but I think mostly everyone could benefit from reading it as it's a lovely read!
  
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ClareR (5906 KP) rated Vicious Rumer in Books

Apr 16, 2018  
Vicious Rumer
Vicious Rumer
Joshua Winning | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rumer Cross believes she is cursed by the mother and violent criminal, who abandoned her. She has been through the foster care system, and suffered at the hands of people who would judge her for that. She escapes the system and becomes a shadow. That way, no one will get close. To get close to Rumer means certain death. She is cursed, after all.
Her day becomes unimaginable bad when a top/ the top London crime boss decides that she knows where something is that he wants.
This is a very dark, violent, action-packed book, and definitely not one for the faint-hearted! And I loved it. Rumer is a lonely young woman, afraid to get close to anyone, and fighting for her life. There are so many twists and turns that it made ME paranoid, never mind Rumer. I'm glad I got the chance to read this through The Pigeonhole, and I'll be keeping an eye out for any other books that the writer writes in the future.
  
Nasty Women
Nasty Women
404 Ink | 2017 | Essays
10
8.3 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Honest, tragic, brilliant and brave (0 more)
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Nasty women is hard-hitting, eye-opening, and unashamedly honest.
‘Sometimes the role model you need is not an example to aspire to, but someone who reflects back the parts of yourself that society deems fit.’ -
Becca Inglis

Nasty Women, published by 404 ink, is a collection of essays about what it is, and how it feels to be a woman in the 21st century. When I first picked up the book, I assumed, like I think most readers would, that it would be an easy book to just pick up and put down whenever I had a spare ten minutes. Wrong, I was sucked into this book right from the beginning, and read it all in a day. That doesn’t mean it was an easy read, or perhaps easy is the wrong word – it isn’t a comfortable read - and it isn’t meant to be. Nasty women is hard-hitting, eye-opening, and unashamedly honest.
The book opens with ‘Independence Day’ by Katie Muriel. A story of mixed race and identity in Trump’s America, Muriel discusses her experience of inter-family racism, heightened by political differences, ‘This is not the first, nor is it the last family divide Trump will leave in his wake, but I refuse to think of him as some deity who stands around shifting pieces on a board in his golden war room.’ The anger in this piece is clear, but it is the rationalism and clarity of the writer that speaks volumes. Race, racism and xenophobia, is a prominent feature in these stories. Claire L. Heuchan, for example, talks about ‘Othering’ a term that readers will see repeatedly in this book, ‘Scotland,’ she writes, ‘is a fairly isolating place to be a black woman.’
Survival is a key trope in Nasty Women. Mel Reeve, in ‘The Nastiness of Survival,’ talks about being a survivor of rape and emotional abuse, ‘I do not fit the ‘right’ definition of someone who has been raped.’ This statement alone is filled with irony.
I was particularly drawn to Laura Waddell’s essay, ‘Against Stereotypes: Working Class Girls and Working Class Art.’ Laura talks about the difficulty of both gender and class inequality, and, in particular, the lack of working class writers and working class fiction being published, ‘I have read a lot of fiction’ she says, ‘I have read almost none from housing estates such as the one I grew up on. These stories are missing, from shelves, and from the record.’ As a Scottish fiction writer from a working-class background myself, these words resonate deeply.
Alice Tarbuck’s ‘Foraging and Feminism: Hedge-Witchcraft in the 21st Century’, is almost fun to read in a deeply devastating way. There is a desperate tone in this piece, and a desperate need to escape society. ‘There is beauty and bounty around us if we look for it, and perhaps that is all the magic we need. Or perhaps, what we need is real magic, whether that comes in the form of resistance and community or the form of blackthorn charms and skullcap tinctures, and howling to the moon.
I loved this book. This book gives women a voice. And it is loud! Well done 404 Ink, and all the contributors, for bravely breaking the silence.
  
Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen
Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen
Nicola Tallis | 2024 | History & Politics
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen by Nicola Tallis is such an interesting non-fiction account of Elizabeth’s life: from her mother, Anne Boleyn meeting Henry VIII, to the day she succeeds to the throne. In those intervening years, Elizabeth is pronounced a bastard after the execution of her mother, is predated on by her stepmothers husband, is accused of trying to topple her sister Mary from the throne, is imprisoned in the Tower and other great houses - as long as she is out of Mary’s way. She is spied on and may well have really been involved in plots against her sister.

Elizabeth was far too clever to be caught, and that comes across really clearly. She was her parent’s daughter: clever, resilient and she knew the best people to have around her. These personality traits and the things that happened to her, formed the young woman and queen she would later be.

Nicola Tallis read through, and included, a lot of Elizabeth’s personal correspondence. It must have been exhausting for Elizabeth. She was constantly under suspicion of treason. She may well have been though, and she certainly didn’t conform wholeheartedly to Catholicism as Mary wanted her to.

This was such a fascinating read - and I’m notoriously picky with non-fiction. I often find it dry and hard to concentrate on, but not with Young Elizabeth. It was riveting, and held my attention from start to finish!