KJK Reads

Rating: 5 Stars Themes: True Crime, Coercive Control, Non-Fiction, Memoir, Abuse, Biography Thoughts: This can be a difficult read at sometimes but is a critical book for anyone who wants or needs to understand coercive control and abusive relationships. It’s all too easy for us to see the stories of abuse and spousal murder in the news and ask why didn’t they just walk away but Victoria shows through her experiences just how hard it can be and how manipulative the abusers are. It’s telling that even after the attempted murder she didn’t realise the danger she was in and even after the police found evidence of what he did and charged her husband, she still shows just how difficult it can be to break the spell.  I also think it’s important to look at how the media obsession and public's comments on the case had such an impact on her life and made an already difficult experience that much harder.  Favourite Quote: "Emile had driven me to a point where I didn’t even recognise mys...

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Classics, Poetry, Drama, Plays Thoughts: Romeo falls madly in love with Juliet soo soon after meeting her but it's evident to see in the ways in which they speak about each other how much they truly feel for each other. Although Juliet is just 13 (two weeks before her 14th birthday, and Romeo 16, those ages for commitment and marriages were more acceptable at the time (1690s) than it is today. The deaths show just how easy it is to misunderstsnd a situation and act, for Romeo didn't know Juliet wasn't in fact dead due to a travel and communication issue which in turn led to both their death's. This tale can be difficult for many to read being written in old English but my copy had many translations into more modern words available to make it much easier.

Rating: 5 Stars Themes: Graphic Novels, Biography, Non-Fiction, Comics, Historical, Holocaust  Thoughts: The first Graphic Novel I've ever read but the story (and the fact its been banned for seemingly stupid reasons) felt important for me to read regardless of it's format. This is definitely an important story, following one man through his life from pre-war childhood through war and different concentration camps and even the sufferings after the war ended. Through Art himself showing how he got the story and stages of making this book, we also get so see a (somewhat rare) glimpse of how the Holocaust impacted the children of those who survived and their experiences. Favourite Quotes: "Yes Life always takes the side of life, and somehow the victims are blamed, But it wasn't the BEST people who survived, nor did the best ones die. It was RANDOM!"

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Romance, New Adutl, Contemporary Romance, Dual POV, Dual Timeline Thoughts: A somewhat strange sort of love story. I know most people call this a love story but most of the book involves Tate lusting after Miles and him treating her appallingly but that's supposed to be okay in our eyes as he finally changes in the last less than 100 pages. In my honest (psych and counseling degree educated) opinion this can be a dangerous message to send to impressionable young adults and increase their vulnerability to abuse.  Favourite Quote: "Sometimes a man’s spirit just ain’t strong enough to withstand the ghosts from his past."

Rating: 4 Stars  Themes: Classics, Mental Health, Gothic, 19th Century Thoughts: Though a short story, this book does an excellent job of showing one woman's descent into (or further into) mental illness through the obsession and consequent relationship with the new rooms wallpaper. Favourite Quote: "At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be."

Rating: 5 Stars Themes: Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Disability Thoughts:  Another great book by Douglas. The representation of dynamic chronic pain was very accurate, and seeing the control and manipulation it allowed her to accept can be hard to read. In terms of the mystery I can totally see how that would happen in the context of painful emotions, trauma and fear.  Favourite Quote: "She's got used to living with the chronic pain. The accident had damaged her muscles and nerves, but the emotional pain was harder to deal with."

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Memoir, Health, Disability, Non-Fiction, CFS/ME, Short Story Thoughts: This was definitely a difficult read for a fellow spoonie with periods of fatigue. But in a society still judging and making jokes about people with ME/CFS I think this is a critical read to help others not in the community to understand the brutal reality people with the condition face.  Favourite Quote: "Fatigue, I learned, is not the absence of energy, just as sadness is not the absence of happiness. Fatigue is a force unto itself; it sucks you dry like a dentist’s tool and punches you in the solar plexus. You lack reserves. You feel raw, unpeeled. Small barbs wound deeply; the self-pity adds up. The suffering of both loved ones and complete strangers strikes so much more deeply than before. But crying gives you a headache, so you try to avoid it. Sometimes you can’t try hard enough and your voice cracks and you go to a dark, speechless place. "