Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful, emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing story-telling and information about various illegal practices in Brazil.

It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it, but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!

Really a brilliant collection of insights and strong thoughts around feminism and it's connections to all aspects of society and life. The book is short but somehow packed with some much knowledge and beautiful connections to other works and writers/thinkers. Lola is a genius, really, of explaining practical ways to engage with feminism, and what it means for how we can engage it to bring about change. If you're ever at a loss for words when someone asks you "What is feminism?" then this book is for you!

This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!

This was a real page-turner for me; I read it within two days of picking it up. I quite enjoyed it! A fun and thoughtful read and perspective.

I absolutely loved this book! It's an awesome collection of poetry and writings around capitalism, history, feminism, and other topics. In particular I really enjoyed the thoughts around how fictional histories can be a form of history; i.e. all we have is stories in any case, and lots of stories have been lost over the years; but what remains? Can things be learned, even if there is no "true" historical preservation?

Overall just a brilliant book, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it :)

This was a very enjoyable and engaging read. It's pretty interesting, has some nice characters and nice story development; I think it's also nice to see these kinds of fantasy stories from a different perspective. That said, I've also read the second book in this series, and that one I didn't enjoy quite as much. I will still follow the series to the end, but that has coloured my review. In any case, I still had a great time with this one!

Definitely the best book on "white feminism" that I've ever read. This book has a particular focus on Australia, but is astonishingly good at gathering together different reactions to racism, in particular in the feminist community, and showing the impact that this has had on people of colour. What remains particularly memorable for me is how white people (of which I'm one) get particularly upset at being *called* racist, and how this can oftentimes trump actual experienced racism on the part of people of colour. Many terrible examples are recounted. Read this book now if you are at all interested in feminism and racism more generally; but be prepared, it is not easy reading. It's an amazing book.

I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically, but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one I've heard before.

Not knowing anything about the Greek mythology around Circe is not a pre-requisite for this book. I really quite enjoyed it; it's a simple, interesting story and a nice excursion around this particular set of Greek characters. I'll definitely read more by Madelline Miller.

I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!

I enjoyed this book. The development of the main character was interesting to read, and it certainly challenged me a bit because I would've preferred a story that had less problematic things happen to the character; or made her story of self-actualisation a bit more self-determined than luck; but it probably is more realistic as it is. Overall I think it nicely shows the difficulty faced by people in this position, and that was interesting to me to learn through this novel. Definitely recommend it!

I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start. I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more books by her! Highly recommended.

An interesting discussion around how cities are not constructed for the enjoyment of everyone, and are gendered in various ways. Also raises some interesting arguments around how hard it is to balance privileging different groups when deciding on improvements to urban infrastructure. Overall, I was left a bit unsatisfied and was hoping for a bit more exploration of some possible answers; but certainly would still recommend it to get motivated and understand the space of problems to solve!