literature.cafe chat

I just finished both Tulipomania (about the Dutch tulip craze of the 1700s - not as exciting as I thought it would be, lol) and Inside Out and Back Again (about a young girl’s experience of fleeing Vietnam and landing in Alabama as a refugee). I really loved Inside Out and Back Again. I had been putting it off because I thought it would be long and/or heavy, but it’s all poetry and was a very fast read.

With poetry on the brain, I moved on to Milk & Honey, from “Instapoet” Rupi Kaur. It reminded me of the poems you used to find in zines in the 90s/early 2000s, but without any alt subtext. So…kind of basic “young woman finds out she has to love herself” poems. I guess I would have appreciated that earlier in life, but I found them kind of uninspiring.

Oh! I also just finished The Bear and the Nightingale - a really fun read I stayed up late to devour. It’s a Russian medieval fantasy/fairytale, set in a realistic-feeling household and wider Russian imperial and Christian context. There are spirits everywhere, but also tension with those converting to Christianity and neglecting the traditional spirits - which has a lot of unintended consequences. Spooky, funny, grim, and action-packed, all in one book.