alexandriaslibrary's reviews
248 reviews

A book that feels plucked from my own head. Part magical companion a la Mrs Caliban, part existentialism a la Pure Colour, and a true love letter to Marta Becket and Death Valley.

Our narrator is contemplating the life of the eccentric dancer Marta Becket as a lens for her larger questions about the roles of art and religion in life. 

A very Good Book™

I highly encourage everyone to revisit Letter From Birmingham Jail if they haven’t since school (or ever). We hear so much about MLK Jr in a fluffy, celebratory way, but he’s been so decontextualized. He writes/speaks so accessibly about systemic racism, the urgency for civil rights, and the calling of God to help one another.

“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was legal' and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was 'illegal'. It was illegal' to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.”

Getting into celebrity memoir audiobooks & this one was a treat! I loved that they supplemented the audiobook with their old recordings, demos, and performances. I think this book also works so well because of its very
specific scope. Tegan and Sara switch off telling the story of their high school years & their first steps as musicians & as lesbian icons. Lucy Dacus said this is a Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll memoir & it 1000000% is

Shirley Jackson never misses. Three, tight, paranoid short stories about girls!

Hard to get my words together for this one. I am sad at how long it took me to pick this up. Sad at how familiar this world of looming fascism feels. Sad that none of my friends have read this or even heard about this one. 

Set in 1939/1940 Amsterdam, Bea and an acquaintance Erica move into together. Erica is a boyish journalist who has unstable relationships with a number of shrill women (a lesbian after my own heart). Bea is repressed, closeted, ashamed, but the connection she has with Erica is so undeniable that she cannot be apart from her. 

"I could no longer live without her; with her I could have only the strange existence that her miserable childhood had predetermined for her, and in which I could only be the spectator."

Baby’s first Nin! Delightful, erotic, tangy

Tea…. like Ronan Farrow doing a profile on Timothee Chalomet. I had no idea Brando was such a weirdo but in a really familiar way. He would’ve loved Lana del Rey

Brilliant and moving. A novella from the 1860s following a teenage boy who becomes enamored with his neighbor (a poor yet very charming princess). Perfect if you love an old gossipy story with passion and stakes

Incredibly compelling short stories. Each distinct yet reflective of the full collection. Grief, the internet, and bad relationships are also my personal trifecta!

Loved “Keith Prime”, “The Age of Love” and “You Will Never Be Forgotten”