Ditch Memory by Todd Davis

Rating:

3.5 Stars

Themes:

Poetry

Thoughts:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This was an interesting collection of poetry to read. The majority of the poems focus on the animal world and contextualising the human in the animal world like ‘The Taxidermist’s Daughter Retrieves a Head’ and ‘The Face of Jesus’. The few poems that are around human lives makes them even more touching like ‘Accident’ and ‘What I Know about the Last Lynching in Jeff Davis County’. I also really liked the nod to mining history and as someone who comes from a mining family I loved ‘Pit Ponies’.There’s also a great collection of new and published poems that introduces me to some of the older collections/books so I can get a taste for them and decide which collection to read next.

Favourite Quote:

The gills rake down the sides of his head, and the mouth opens like the tunnels we used before the coal companies

hauled in dozers and trucks to scrape away the mountain our grandparents had known. There was honor in riding

rail cars underground, something mythic as fathers said goodbye to their children and traveled away from the sun.

Comments

The War of Sober by Edward Rand

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, Self-Help, Addiction, Psychology Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a great book not just for addicts trying to establish and maintain their sobriety but also psychologists, counsellors and the people working with them. It approaches the experience of addiction from the perspective of going to war and may help those who can’t get along with the 12 steps, contingency management or other forms of therapy traditionally used. It’s also helpful to have Edward detail his own experiences and approaches throughout so it feels less clinical and shows he does know what he’s talking about when he mentions the difficulties so it comes across less patronising than some self-help addiction books. Favourite Quote: "It doesn't matter what happened yesterday. Win or lose, if we are still alive, we must decide to be different today and then make the correct choices today, because friends, ...

Broken Glass by Sarah Kay

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Poetry Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This collection is mixed for me, some of the poems were really good and all were definitely emotive but I think so many poems on the Hamas attack and subsequent war which is highly politically charged a little difficult to tackle. Favourite Quote: "What good is it to open my heart when in the end, you will stab it in the back?"

Shame-Sex Attraction by Lucas Wilson

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is definitely a difficult read and it took me quite a while to get through it for that very reason. It is split up into 17 different peoples experiences with a foreword and afterword. It’s definitely an important read for many as these practices are still legal in many countries, including my own, and without knowledge of the damage of the practices many may not join in the protests or sign the petitions to try to get laws in place. As a member of the community myself I found some of these stories such as the ‘Sniffing the Gay Away’ and ‘Convert’ especially difficult to read and reminded me just how lucky I was to have such a supportive and loving community around me. I appreciated that the afterword highlighted the limitations of the collection such as having little to no religious, geographical or racial diversity but that they did try to ga...

KJK Reads

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