Yolandi and Elfrieda are sisters raised in an isolated, stifling, patriarchal community of Russian Mennonite immigrants in rural Canada. Their parents buy Elf a forbidden piano to give her an outlet, and she pours everything into her music, leaving home at 17 to study in Oslo, eventually becoming a world-renowned concert pianist. But her life is weighed down by the crippling pain of depression, and she ends up in the hospital after yet another suicide attempt. In All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, everyone […]
English puts us beneath the stars
“My whole life I thought I was the star of an overly earnest romance movie, and it turns out I was in a goddamned buddy comedy all along” Aza is dealing with anxiety. Her thoughts spiral out of control, invade her mind, and make life hard. Still, she goes to school, she keeps up with her friends and tries her best to do what her therapist tells her. Her friend Daisy convinces her to take a trip down the river when an old childhood’s billionaire […]
Content warnings are a thing for a reason.
This is the kind of book that needs to land in your lap at just the right time. It is a quirky book filled with lots of different and varied life advice. It has everything from showing gratitude and chasing your dreams to managing anxiety and remembering to brush your teeth. And one chapter about getting a dog…? So yeah, his is the kind of book that needs to land in your lap at just the right time. Sadly this was not the time for […]
We Are All Our Own Refrigerator
This was not at all what I was expecting. Beard in Mind might be the best book Penny Reid has ever written. The lovely Mrs. Prolixity Julien and I have both put Penny Reid on triple-secret probation for sins against writing, reading and the Romance genre. We are harsh because we love and we want her to do better. Beard in Mind was doing better. A big huge thank you to Mrs. Julien for lending this to me. I will be adding it to my permanent collection. […]