I know there are words out there to describe a work as searing, lovingly intimate, affecting, and charming as this, but I‘m pretty sure Eve already used them and so I fear any review of this must-read, paradigm-shifting-of-the-medium work is gonna fall a bit short in describing its brilliance. So, just read it. Then read it again. Gift it to your family. This work is what our hearts need in this time and space. Thanks, Eve.

As a Fil-Am, this anthology is the first time I‘ve seen myself in the medium of poetry. Cannot stress how meaningful this is. And that‘s all before speaking on the truly fantastic talent on display within the pages.

I began 2017 - after reading Heaney‘s The Spirit Level to close 2016 - w a goal to read at at least 1 poem a day. Doing so with this book fed me as a writer, but perhaps more meaningfully, as a human. Pick this up.

Jemisin's follow-up to The Fifth Season might have exceeded that incredible addition to the epic fantasy oeuvre. Jemisin's ability to patiently describe the details of an action-sequence out, along with further illuminating themes of liberation, allyship, parenthood, and what it means to defend one's life are all brilliant and necessary. This should be the next great TV/film series and an instant lit classic. Read it now!

This book came at a time when I needed a lift and it really, really delivered. Healing, warm, wise, and full heart, this is a book for people that want to be assured of goodness in the messiness of life.

A bit uneven, The City of Mirrors does provide a generally satisfying conclusion to The Passage Trilogy. Cronin is adept at sculpting and pacing horror/action sequences and when things move to the climax, that skill is in full view. I'm not a fan of some of the choices for the character arcs, but the hopeful worldview - even if taken to extremes - is one I want to believe in. Worth your time, especially if you've read the first two books.

Reading The Sellout felt revelatory if only because I hadn't read a novel that depicted a Los Angeles - South/Southwest Los Angeles specifically) - that I could identify beyond street names and landmarks. I did not grow up in a place *exactly* like the fictional Dickens, but I grew up and frequented communities like it. It's a special thing for working class POC to see their comms depicted w love!

Also: Beatty is a master wordsmith!

I came to Junot Diaz backwards - first reading This Is How You Lose Her and falling for his unique voice. When I picked up TBWLOOW, I was again confronted by that voice but was instantly mesmerized by the storytelling.

Lit is best, for me, when it marries emotionally resonant language with great narrative work. Diaz does both here and includes a testament to the immigrant experience. It is a masterpiece.

"What is now does not have to be. Therein lies the hope. And the challenge."

Fr. Bryan Massingale - moral theologian, Diocesan priest, and member of the Black Catholic Symposium - delivers a searing and prophetic work of theological brilliance. Academically dense, yet still accessible for laypeople like me, this book is a must for those interested in the intersection of social justice work and faith.

I fell back in love w poetry after reading this back in December and began writing again. Such is the inspiration that Heaney's words evoked deep inside of me. Irish poets and Irish whiskey and the Irish countryside: all unnervingly beautiful.

Visceral, gripping, and loaded w imagery that's resonant today, I couldn't recommend this book more. I devoured it and can't wait to dive into the second part of the trilogy. A masterclass!