In her celebrity memoir-in-essays with a twist, actress and singer-songwriter Lola Kirke weaves together anecdotes from her eventful childhood in an eccentric rockstar family to her present-day life to form an engaging and entertaining, almost weightless read.

Perhaps just that is what a contemporary reader needs when the market is flooded with stories of the bared hearts and souls of our world.

Well done Lola Kirke!

Just Gone is easily among my favorite non-fiction reads for the year, though that’s a sad thing to say when the book talks about violent trauma and torture. In her masterpiece, DeLuzio speaks with nine brave individuals who survived persecution for their sexual orientation in their home country, seeking refuge in Canada.

Lenz’s memoir recounts her innocent introduction into a religious group that soon morphs into a cult, leading to isolation from family and financial abuse as she hands over the reins of her bank accounts, and with them her hard earned cash from acting in a hit TV show. Despite her watchful eye, it is hard to pinpoint the group's toxic dynamic until massive damage has occurred.

This book is wonderfully written, raw and honest, eye opening, and a page turner.

The honor of reviewing Alvina Chamberland’s autofiction was all mine this summer. Hers is a book that makes you question the world. It makes you think, really think, it makes you step out of your comfort zone and into some of the realities that shape her life and that of so many other trans women who aren't seen for who they are but for their bodies instead.

White World by Saad T Farooqi is a book of violence. It is also a book of love, of family, of perseverance. Of a country divided, a country aflame in religious conflict, its reach ever increasing from Pakistan’s historical independence in 1947 to the dystopian future in 2083 that the book is set in.

Stephanie Kiser’s memoir on her time as a nanny for the New York elite transports us into the extravagant lives of the privileged few, to their Upper East Side residence with their designer baby wardrobes, their estates in the Hamptons too large to take in, and then some.

Kiser leaves us in awe of not only her courage, but also her exemplary writing, both on her personal journey and the many social issues this topic touches on.

“There's hope, so much hope, in this recurring opportunity to shift our story—but will we ever grab it by its horns and seek out peace, real peace for once, once and for all?”

This review commentary is located in the Publications section.

Hollay Ghadery's poetry collection "Rebellion Box" spoke to me in so many ways. I've recently started to read more poetry, especially the kind that's sort of a memoir in verse. This beautiful work of art definitely touches on that theme and gives us glimpses into Ghadery's life from so many scintillating angles.

This intriguing memoir describes the author's time at an in-patient psychiatric treatment facility and intersperses this present day story with the past struggles that culminated in her hospital stay.

I applaud Tendler for her courage in writing this vulnerable memoir. It touches on so many points that are vital to mental health awareness, and I think that many people will be able to see themselves in these pages, as did I.

Fuse is a memoir written by Hollay Ghadery, a woman of biracial descent living in Canada, with a particular focus on the heritage from her Iranian father.

Not only do we get to experience her life and emotions in true memoir fashion, but, and this is rare in this genre, we also receive a well-crafted story arc that keeps us on our toes while reading. Add to that the wonderful lyrical writing - perhaps inspired by Ghadery's poetry - that's so suited to the inner monologue, and you've got a stunning book in your hands.

This work of nonfiction recounts the scary fate of ex-CIA member Jack Downey, who was captured by the Chinese during a covert operation of the early Cold War. Downey remained imprisoned for over twenty years, having fallen between the cracks of various political agendas.

I liked this book for the excellent research and writing. The author knows how to tell a good stor

y.

Rubble Children is a clever collection of seven and a half interwoven stories on the historical trauma inserting itself into the day-to-day life of Jewish youth in Canada.

This review was published in a literature magazine and is therefore located in the Publications section.

Levings's memoir reads as if it were fiction, like a thriller that's all too real.

Maybe because it's so unbelievable that these things happen in our time?

Maybe because we women never fully lose the fear of being suppressed, used, our souls, wants, and needs exterminated?

Literature on female sports has started to gain traction lately, and it's so satisfying to see this field discussed, finally! Female sports have been the afterthought to the glorified male athletics since the beginning of time, and even though we've made a lot of progress in other areas of inequality, it seems to me that sports are behind in that regard.

This memoir was such a raw and honest account. It was not at all the linear skating story I imagined and instead became a nonlinear read of many interesting essays on Pacific’s eventful life.

“I Cheerfully Refuse” is a beautifully crafted dystopian story taking us on protagonist Rainy’s journey as he sails the Great Lakes when life as he knows it doesn't fit an ever changing world any longer.

Joe Pete”, published post mortem and written by Ian McCulloch, flew into my life to manifest itself as a truly beautiful work of indigenous literary fiction.

Thank you Ian McCulloch for this story. Its depth and all it invokes. Its love and its grace. Its unflinching, refreshing authenticity. Thank you.

“The Road to the Salt Sea” by Samuel Kóláwole is an impressive new work of contemporary fiction, taking us on one man's migratory journey from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe. It is a story of classism, of racism, of the exploitative nature of humanity in a corruptive environment, and then some.

“My name is Patric Gagne and I am a sociopath.”

Gagne feels basic emotions like happiness and anger, while more complex emotions like guilt, empathy, remorse, and even love, are foreign to her. She describes the stress of not having natural access to these feelings as the cause of her compulsive acts of violence and destructive behavior such as stalking, stealing, hurting people and even animals.

Published in the Beakful Litblog.

If you had to talk about the lives of the indigenous peoples that inhabited California before and during the arrival of whites, would you have much to say? Do we really know much at all?