Sarah Kurz

"Silence isn't lonely. -things the moon taught me" Nocturnal is a collection of poems by Wilder.  It's written into three parts, Dusk, Howl, and Lucid Dreams, and is filled with beautifully descriptive and emotional poetry.  The entire book made me feel as if it was written from the point of view of someone who was growing in their own self acceptance.  Someone digging through emotions and memories and hoping to find that little bit of courage. "i brake for birds that aren't ready to fly upward and carry spiders to new homes. and i'm still learning how to be this gentle with my own skin. -chloë" The book itself is beautiful.  Black and white nature related images.  I often got the sense of a dream.  The title itself is what drew me to this book.  I am, and always have been, a lover of the moon and the night.  Very much a nocturnal person.  So that spoke to my soul.  I wasn't disappointed.   I've been reading ...

"Until now, anytime that emotions, feelings, had threatened to unsettle me, I'd drink them down fast, drown them.  That had allowed me to exist, but I was starting to understand that I needed, wanted, something more than that now." Gail Honeyman's debut novel,  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine , tells the story of a 30-year-old woman who feels like an outsider in this world.  Shuffled from foster home to foster home after a devastating childhood incident, Eleanor has never felt a sense of family or belonging.  And then she meets Raymond. Raymon is the IT guy at the office where Eleanor has worked her entire adult life.  He's laid back, aloof, and everything she has ever needed...only she doesn't know it just yet.  She has her eye on a handsome musician.  A man she hopes will whisk her away from her life of solitude and fix the hole in her heart that she's tried to hide so long.  Eleanor believes that the universe is pushing them together....

"Take away my days and nights but leave me forever mornings with those hazel eyes." The Dark Between Stars is the second collection of poems by Atticus. ( Atticus Poetry on Instagram )  It is beautifully written and explores both the highs and lows of relationships. "I love her because she steals my socks I love her because when I find her in them they never match I love her because they are always too big and the gray part for the heel sits far too high I love her because she wears them to sleep and one always falls off and then she wakes in the night and can't find it and her foot is cold - that is why I love her."  While I'm not always a huge fan of romance novels, I absolutely love romantic poems.  They are soul bearing and bring a smile to my face.  I love how one small set of words can trigger a memory. The book is also filled with beautiful black and white photos.  That was one of the appeals it had for me.  Many people may wonder,...

"Wear that dress too tight, give yourself permission to change, say what you're actually thinking, dance in public, be bold and intelligent and sexy as fuck, and refuse to apologize for your magic or hide your brilliance." Sometimes, not often, but sometimes the Universe hands you a gift.  Maybe even a gift you didn't know you needed.  That's exactly how I felt about this book. Bleeding Ink by Brooke Hampton is, in her own words, the ramblings of a dirty mouthed girl bleeding ink by the light of the moon.  And it's exactly what I need in my life right down. Nearly two months ago I quit my job on a whim.  I had no plan.  No ideas where to go in life.  Nothing.  I was sad and hurt and feeling extremely unappreciated.  So told the life I was living to fuck off and I quit.  On that very same day, while I was feeling a tad overwhelmed, I saw a post to pre-order this book.  I have loved following Brooke on Instagram for a while now so ...

"I don't know what makes a song a song and a poem a poem: they have started to bleed into each other at this stage." Useless Magic is a collection of lyrics and poems by Florence + The Machine front woman Florence Welch.  And it is wonderful.  A raw look at the mind of an artist.   What makes poetry and lyrics different from each other? Strip away the music and you'll find out.  With a song we not only hear the words, but the music.  The instrumental flows through us.  The rhythm affect us.  The Music influences us.  But you take those exact same words and put them on blank paper and you are left with nothing but your interpretations.  Nothing to influence you but your own thoughts and emotions.  They are just words, and words are powerful.  I was surprised to find that many of the songs I thought of as more upbeat took on and entirely new and darker meaning when the words were removed from the music. Lyrics and poet...

"Karina stood still, rubbing the stiff piece of parchment under her thumb as information about her new lifetime filtered into her mind." The Daughters of Maine  is the second book in the  Witches of BlackBrook  series by Tish Thawer and it was every bit as good as the first.  I read the entire thing in one sitting and now I'm sad that it's over. Finally reunited and with their powers in full swing, the three sisters are ready to get back to life as normal...or so they think.  They quickly learn that the troubles from their past aren't over yet and find themselves on the other side of a portal and in the year 1705.  Together, and with the help of a Native American tribe that harnesses powers of their own, they fight to get back to the present and put an end to their enemies once and for all. Once again Tish Thawer writes a delightful novel.  She builds wonderful chraracters and relationships while creating a delightfully witchy world.  ...

"Our reverence for independence takes no account of the reality of what happens in life: sooner or later, independence will become impossible.  Serious illness or infirmity will strike.  It is as inevitable as sunset." In his book, Being Mortal, surgeon Atul Gawande gives us a look at what it's like to age to the point of death in America.  Nursing homes, assisted living, and other ways that we care for our elderly are all examined.  And one question keeps popping up...do we really put the best interest of the individual first or are we more concerned with them living just to live?  Where do we draw the line from living life to enjoy it and living a careful life because they are old and frail? This book was both insightful and thought provoking.  Beautifully written and it'll lead you to wonder about the end of this crazy ride we call life.  It was at times emotionally difficult to read.  We often don't want to think about old age and dying, ...