No poetry collection from different authors is perfect, but this is one of my all-time favourites. It also contains one of the best feminist poems of the 1990s, Rappin' It Up, by Patience Agbabi. That feeling that a lot of us recognize, you're having a nice time, "listenin' to the beauty of your own imagination" when your peace is destroyed by some straight dude deciding to talk to you. The whole book is worth it, the nice thing about anthologies like this one is they're slowly evolving treasures as you dip in and out, each time finding new things to love, and if you're in the UK the best part is there are loads of cheap copies available from used bookdealers.
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A dedicated if somewhat slow reader. Book lover. I am also at @Megan@toot.lgbt
Libraries and used bookshops are my happy places. Mature student nurse #NHS - love my bicycle.
LGBTQ+ Trans rights are human rights. Abortion on demand is a human right.
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Megan rated The Orton diaries: 5 stars

The Orton diaries by Orton, Joe.
Fron December 1966 to his murder in August 1967, Joe Orton kept a series of diaries that prove to be …
Megan finished reading The Orton diaries by Orton, Joe.

The Orton diaries by Orton, Joe.
Fron December 1966 to his murder in August 1967, Joe Orton kept a series of diaries that prove to be …
Megan reviewed The Virago book of wicked verse
Megan rated And the Band Played On: 4 stars

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts
The blueprint of 20th century investigative journalism. Tracing the course of HIV/AIDS through society; from its earliest as then unknown …
Megan started reading Patient zero and the making of the AIDS epidemic by Richard Andrew McKay

Patient zero and the making of the AIDS epidemic by Richard Andrew McKay
The search for a “patient zero”—popularly understood to be the first person infected in an epidemic—has been key to media …
Megan rated Creative Writing: 5 stars
Megan rated Invisible Lives: 5 stars
A detailed and well researched book drawn from experience
5 stars
The author is a professional therapist, and she has formulated an approach to dealing with trauma based on her clinical experience and expertise, that draws on a wide evidence base.
Her approach is novel and probably as a result controversial, as it also involves critiques of other approaches to trauma therapy. It’s difficult to describe why this book is so good, the method described, called “parts therapy” makes a lot of sense. The goal is to help people understand how and why trauma influences their emotional state, and how to integrate trauma effects positively, without focusing on the trauma. There is a body of thought that suggests that approach, of focusing on trauma, only reactivates it and keeps people emotionally trapped. I love this book and have revisited key chapters frequently since first reading it. The book isn’t designed to be a self help course, it’s aimed at explaining the …
The author is a professional therapist, and she has formulated an approach to dealing with trauma based on her clinical experience and expertise, that draws on a wide evidence base.
Her approach is novel and probably as a result controversial, as it also involves critiques of other approaches to trauma therapy. It’s difficult to describe why this book is so good, the method described, called “parts therapy” makes a lot of sense. The goal is to help people understand how and why trauma influences their emotional state, and how to integrate trauma effects positively, without focusing on the trauma. There is a body of thought that suggests that approach, of focusing on trauma, only reactivates it and keeps people emotionally trapped. I love this book and have revisited key chapters frequently since first reading it. The book isn’t designed to be a self help course, it’s aimed at explaining the method to therapists and people looking for therapists, but I still found it really helpful as someone who can’t afford therapy, to understand my own struggles more fully.
Megan rated Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: 5 stars

Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors by Janina Fisher
Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors integrates a neurobiologically informed understanding of trauma, dissociation, and attachment with a practical …
Megan started reading Pox: an American history by Michael Willrich
Megan started reading Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas

Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas
Before Night Falls (Spanish: Antes que anochezca: autobiografía) is the 1992 autobiography of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, describing his early …

Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman
Presents an assessment of Israel's state-sponsored assassination programs that evaluates the protective beliefs that are instituted into every Israeli citizen, …