it’s been a while since i read it, but it’s a really beautiful collection of Aboriginal magical realism. van neerven’s prose is beautiful and all the stories are haunting, and approach colonial, environmental, and queer issues in a really powerful way. exploring contemporary issues through magical realism always gets to me - so full of yearning!!!!! so wistful and angry and heartbreaking!!
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this is a book adaptation of Vuong's poem of the same name and it is so damn good. its a beautiful reflection on the authors life as a gay, Vietnamese-American living in America, dealing with the difficulties of growing up, falling in love, dealing with the consequences of the war in Vietnam, and loss, all written as a letter to Vuong's mother, who will never be able to read it.
another rec, if you're even remotely invested in environmental writing, I really recommend you read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin W. Kimmerer. my favorite book of all time. it is a mix of indigenous and scientific perspectives and its done so beautifully
May 13, 2024
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I just finished reading “I will greet the sun again” by Khashayar J. Khabushani. Such a beautiful layered book about a young queer iranian boy growing up in LA with his family In the 90’s/00’s. Some of the reviews say it’s devastating and beautiful. It really is. I left it with knots in my stomach and a real want for freedom. What are some of your recommendations?
Mar 27, 2025
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i actually haven’t read any of his work from this decade yet, but based on his other stuff i’m assuming that his time is a mother collection is beautiful and has important things to say about queerness, war & diaspora. or daniel mason’s novel north woods - an epistolary eulogy for ecosystems we’ll never get back, with suCH beautiful imagery and interwoven symbolism. it verbalised a lot of my grief & longing & frustration, which i think are feelings i share with just about everyone
Jul 15, 2024
Top Recs from @nikau
Feb 1, 2024
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romanticise ur blunders & ur missteps, bc that is just part of being a creature. if u saw a duckling fall flat on its face and scramble 2 its feet u wouldn't judge the freakin duckling, u would think it was the cutest thing ever. because it is. we r just organisms in big ungainly bodies, and that is part of our charm. tripping over ur own feet is maybe the most adorable thing u can do. like awwhh u tripped on the pavement </333
this extends 2 social interactions 2. messaging exes that u miss them, making a joke that doesn't land, mishearing/not knowing/forgetting something, etc??!!?! SO SWEET. genuinely such wonderful & important & adorable things 2 do.
i think this is maybe the best thing i've ever managed 2 train my brain 2 do. it isn't foolproof but it makes life a lot gentler.
Feb 5, 2024
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just about everything that happens to you will be interesting to your future self/your descendants/archaeologists. immortalise your to do lists, shopping lists, packing lists, things that loved ones say, things that strangers say, the phrases you hear that would make a good band name. brainstorm what to do on the weekend, list your cravings, the songs stuck in your head, transcribe birdsong, etc. i track my periods & my finances in my journal. sometimes if i really want to take a photo of something i'll restrain myself and draw it in my journal instead. sometimes i take notes for uni in there, or draft sewing patterns, or sketch when im bored. journals are self-portraits!!!!!!!
Apr 21, 2024