When I saw Gina Martin’s activism guide, I was intrigued. I spent most of my early life and teenage years volunteering, raising money for charities, and working with different NGOs to spread awareness and help raise funds. It was an extremely rewarding time in my life, and I was able to raise over 40,000 AUD … Continue reading
I am a lover of Japanese literature. I studied Japanese in primary school (but it sadly is not one of the languages that stuck in my head), and I have had an affinity for Japanese culture, art, and food. When I came across Sayaka Murata’s work, Convenience Store Woman, I knew I had to get … Continue reading
The Cactus is the debut novel from Sarah Haywood which is about letting go of who people want you to be and who you have made yourself become because of your past experiences. It is about family conflict, death, grief, secrets, and forgiveness. It is not your typical contemporary fiction novel for all the right … Continue reading
Since the re-boot of Queer Eye on Netflix, I have fallen in love with each of the stars. Not too long ago I wrote a review of Karamo Brown’s memoir and was really excited to see that Tan France had also come out with one. It also fills my heart with a lot of happiness … Continue reading
I’ve read some modern re-tellings of classics that have just fallen flat. Sometimes classics are named classics because they are indeed just that: stories that transcend time. They shape our culture and understanding of the past. They also help us shape our future and in particular the way authors and readers write and engage with … Continue reading
Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree was the perfect read for my summer holidays in Catania last week. The book is fast paced with some good suspense and plot development. At the core of the narrative is a scientific discovery: a tree that will give you truth and knowledge through its fruits if you feed it … Continue reading
Is There Still Sex In The City? by Candace Bushnell is an exploration of love, lust, and digital dating after 50. How should older women, and men for that matter, navigate single life in a world that has vastly changed since they last dated. As more and more couples split, especially later on in life, … Continue reading
The Handmaid’s Tale was published in 1985 before I was born, yet even today this novel holds an extremely terrifying place in contemporary politics surrounding women’s bodies and bodily autonomy. The red and white aesthetic of the handmaids in Atwood’s novel has become protest colours across the U.S. and the world at large. The novel … Continue reading
NOTE: discussions about mental health and miscarriage Candice Carty-Williams’ novel Queenie is set in a London that is very different from other novels I have read set there. It is set in a London with racial tensions and diversity alongside gentrification and poverty. For me, Carty-Williams’ London is truer to the ‘real’ London I have … Continue reading
The Final Days of Magic is the third book in J.D. Horn’s series “Witches of New Orleans”. It mixes Western Christian notions of witchcraft with a Voodoo/Creole that feels very specific to New Orleans culture. This is the final novel in the series and it is supposed to tie up the narrative arc. I have … Continue reading
