Professional Reader

Reviews Published

10 Book Reviews

I love books.

There is nothing I enjoy more than reading, discussing, writing, and analyzing books.
Bookstagram: @smittenbystories / Netgalley: sensitive.reads

Thank you again @algonquinbooks for the prettiest #gifted book mail. Wrapping up I’m Glad My Mom Died tonight and then cracking open this magical novel ASAP. ✨🥰

One of our (many) bookshelves. One day I’ll post the others! Parker’s are on the left, mine are on the right. 🥰

Ada Limón knocks the air out of my lungs.

“I could hear it calling me. Not the box—the thing inside it. I could smell so many different things from within: sweet and bitter, sour, salty, honey, savoury, pungent, thick, but also soft, lingering. The past and the future.

The smell

📞 Hi dad, can you pick me up? @costarastrology is bullying me again.

Dean Young’s work really affected and influenced me as a young writer. I think of these three poems, in particular, regularly. 🕊

When I open a book to put a hold slip in it, I occasionally land on the perfect page. 📣Sometimes! Being friendly! Means being! Quiet!!!!!!!!

READING GOALS for 32 — going to keep it simple and aim to read 32 books. I want one book a month to be nonfiction, ideally to “teach me something.” These two glorious cookbooks I treated myself to yesterday don’t count. I just

Things I wish I knew in my 20s that I know now, at 32 — it’s my bday, here’s a bathroom selfie and some very Alicia-specific revelations and “advice”(?) lol

- changing jobs and moving constantly is a distraction, slow

It’s my knee-jerk reaction to reference the body in my reflections and book reviews. A phrase I use often is “all heart” or I say that a piece of work I enjoy has a “backbone.” Both are true for Enjoy Me Among My Ruins,

Book mail from @filthyloot. 🤤

If you had to pick, like HAD to pick - would you rather be able to shapeshift or hang out with ghosts? I think I’m going ghosts.

My latest “not now, definitely later” pile to return to the library. 👀 The exhausting life of a #moodreader, lol.

The year is 2042. Climate change has ravaged Louisiana with storms and floods. All the graveyards are locked. Burying the dead has been outlawed. Everyone must be cremated and handed over to the government. Alma just lost her beloved mother and did n

Savoring my first physical arc from one of my favorite indie publishers (@feministpress I love you so much) and this mushroom melt with white cheddar, sage, and truffle mayo. Is a melt seasonally appropriate as I melt outside? No, but it IS delicious

Hey friends, happy FUCK Amazon prime day. 😇 Support your local indie bookstores and publishers (and/or library if you’re on a budget today)!!! Ok ilysm!

I bring home books that look interesting practically every shift and my goth kitty friend greets me after every shift. 🐈&zwj;⬛ 📚 The highlight of my day.

Cultish Review: Words are Weapons

Alicia Banaszewski 9/7/21 Alicia Banaszewski 9/7/21

Cultish Review: Words are Weapons

I would not have said I am someone fascinated with cults. I haven't seen Midsommar, I have paid very little attention to Scientology before picking this up.

Read More

There is Power to be Found and Claimed in Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology

Alicia Banaszewski 8/22/21 Alicia Banaszewski 8/22/21

There is Power to be Found and Claimed in Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology

Part non-fiction study of mythical monsters, part-memoir, and all delivered through Zimmerman’s sharp and unwavering feminist lens. I fucking love this book.

Read More

Commute and the Pointed Pain of Being a Woman in Public

Alicia Banaszewski 8/17/21 Alicia Banaszewski 8/17/21

Commute and the Pointed Pain of Being a Woman in Public

This book brought up a lot of feelings I have had about commuting to work when I lived in Chicago - for better or for worse.

Read More