Not Here | 
pickI don't read a lot of poetry, and I know a lot of this probably went over my head. But I still found this collection to be so moving. The sadness and longing leaks off the page. He writes about his experience as a gay Vietnamese man and the rejection and otherness he has felt from each facet of his life. A beautiful examination of trauma.
But definitely check the TW: sexual assault, child abuse, suicidal thoughts, homophobia, racism
I‘d like to get some opinions, as part of my #ReadHarder challenge I am to read an #ownvoices book set in Oceania. I am reading a book called The Glass Jar written by a man who grew up in a Methodist orphanage in Auckland about boys growing up in a Methodist orphanage in Auckland. It is not in the database here or on GoodReads. But did show up in other places. Does this count as #ownvoices? Or do you think they mean indigenous people of Oceania?
pickAn excellent poetry collection. Nguyen's use of form and language worked really well. I especially connected with his poems addressing depression and the ones addressing language, but all of them were quality work. Recommended.
pickIt‘s strange to feel in reading a book of poems that it is both life-affirming and cynical, but that‘s how this feels to me. A lot in this is about the ways we hurt each other, the ways that life may not be worth the effort, about the struggle to convince yourself to continue. Yet in the depth of their honesty, there‘s something kind of comforting about these poems as well. A recognition, I suppose, that someone else also has had these feelings.
#Nonfiction2023 I still haven't found what I'm looking for @Riveted_Reader_Melissa 7mo