KJK Reads

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories  Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. It’s interesting to read short stories that reflect the 1960s experiences of African Americans, written by someone with the same lived experience. It’s unfortunately just as relevant today as when it was published. There are only 8 stories but it covers many complex topics such as housing discrimination, addiction, and family secrets as well as the overt racism and institutional racism. Favourite Quote: “Goddamit to hell, I'm sick of it. Can't I get a place to sleep without dragging it through the courts? I'm goddamn tired of battling every Tom, Dick, and Harry for what everybody else takes for granted. I'm tired, man, tired! Have you ever been sick to death of something? Well, I'm sick to death. And I'm scared I've been fighting so goddamn long I'm not a person any more I'm not Booker T. Washington...

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Poetry  Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a great introduction to Dickinson’s works. The introduction is nice and then the book itself groups Dickinson’s poems into love, death and spirituality, creativity and identity, and nature. The curator has picked some great poems and does have a few literary critiques but for the most part lets Dickinson’s poems speak for themselves. It is weird to have someone critique work, especially arguing with others without really knowing who they are though. The cover is also gorgeous and drew me to the book itself, I like the touch of it being a bird as that is her most well known poem. Favourite Quote: “Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me - The Carriage held but just Ourselves -  And Immortality”

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is actually a really interesting read. I’ve seen in scientific studies the benefits that supervised drug use can help with psychological traumas and this book shows its benefits specifically with radicalised trauma. I like that Powers advocates for supervised exposure as it is seen therapeutically as the safest option so it doesn’t advise trying alone which could actually make things worse. I like that this alternative to traditional talk therapy is being suggested/approached to for Black people as they are historically less likely to agree to talk therapy so at least they may have another option. Favourite Quote: “Psychedelics spark revolution.”

Rating: 2.5 Stars Themes: Psychological Fiction Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I’m not quite sure about this one, the changing cover threw me off from the start and the formatting with so many new lines for seemingly everything didn’t quite sit right with me. I understood the story and what Polgár was trying to say and actually it is a somewhat important one about the way in which as a child trying to fit in can drag us into the wrong places and trying to find your place as an adult too but that didn’t really outweigh the formatting for me. Favourite Quote: “I’m not asking what it is. It doesn't matter. Everyone's got something. Traumas, I mean. Those scruffy little devils sitting on our shoulders.”

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: History, Childrens, Play. Feminism  Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a great idea, the book is mainly a play that is offered free for schools (I checked them out online) and it’s done in a fun way that will keep children entertained. Boise and Jindan are the main factors in the play as narrators but it is written to only need 3 actors and the narrators interactions not only mention this but find a way to make it funny with them bickering about who has to be a man or who gets to be the richer one. The one that plays Sophia stays as only Sophie so as to keep a focus on her as a whole rather than remembering the character of that scene and it covers her life quite well in the hour it’s expected to go on. It is also cool that it intends to have audience participation as again it will keep children engaged. The biography type bit at the beginning is great and can be used after the play in clas...

Rating: 5 Stars Themes: Historical Fiction, World War 2, Middle Grade Thoughts: This book is split up into three parts, in the first part we are in Lancashire, England and with the way in which Da behaved towards Stanley I was starting to think it was a bit too down for me atm but it is actually important to the rest of the story. Stanley’s love for animals, especially Soldier, is soo sweet and the way in which he describes them makes such a clear picture in our minds. I was torn between thinking Stanley running away to war felt like a severe overreaction and underestimation of what he was signing up for and being glad the situation with Da would be ending. It was interesting to see the way that many different soldiers reacted to Stanley since we knew he was only 14 and records suggest that as many as 250,000 boys under 18 actually served in WW1. I liked the way in which many of the older soldiers as senior officers did what they could to keep Stanley away from the horrors of the front...