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Kendra

@chasing.english

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🤓 Lifelong bibliophile with a never-ending TBR
📖CR: The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
📍New York

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🧜‍♀️ Book Recommendation🧜‍♀️

THE SIRENS by Emilia Hart

Having held Emilia Hart’s first novel, WEYWARD, close to my heart, I was so excited to pick up her newest novel, THE SIRENS, and it certainly did NOT disappoint!

While similar in style with its theme of quiet, yet strong female characters, a touch of magic, and twists I did not see coming, THE SIRENS certainly stands on its own as a unique story that takes readers aboard a ship of Irish female convicts in the 1800s, to the shores of Australia and two female relatives with deep secrets in the late 2010s.

But what binds these women centuries apart is more than the magical lure of female vindication wrapped up in gills, tails, and beautiful songs (yes, you read that right!). It’s in the sisterhood, resilience, and quiet yet emboldened strength against the patriarchy and its harshness that had the feminist in me singing right alongside Eliza & Mary and Lucy & Jess.

There is just something about Emilia Hart’s storytelling; her ability to craft female personalities that speak to reality—always with a dash of magic and mysticism that makes reading her pages feel so special.

If you enjoyed WEYWARD or just enjoy strong female characters coming into their own—with a dash of magic, of course—this is one you need to pick up!

#thesirens #emiliahart #bookstagram #readersofig #mayreads #strongfemalecharacters taken in New York by @chasing.english

3

13

a year ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

A SEA OF UNSPOKEN THINGS by Adrienne Young

Last year, I fell absolutely in love with Adrienne Young after reading her book, THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW (I liked SPELLS FOR FORGETTING, too, but there was just something special about the June Farrow story 🥰). When I saw this new title and read a bit about its premise, I knew it was one I’d need to read. And, friends, this one didn’t disappoint.

The novel follows James. A young woman whose twin brother Johnny has been found slain in the forest back in her hometown of Six Rivers—a place James fled at 18 and hasn’t been back to in nearly two decades.

But was Johnny’s death a tragedy stemmed from a stray bullet during hunting season as the town has decided? Or are the visions James is experiencing through her palpable twin connection highlighting something much more sinister?

While this book doesn’t hold that same kind of magic as The Unmaking of June Farrow (if you’ve read it, you’ll know what I mean), it does hit all the points of emotion I have come to expect from Young. With a few red herrings, unexpected twists, and a conclusion that left me both stunned and emotional, I closed this book feeling both satisfied and eager to see what Adrienne Young produces next.

This is a must-read for any mystery fans who can appreciate a slow burn while easily being swept up in a main character’s story you can’t help but feel invested in. I loved this one.

#adrienneyoung #aseaofunspokenthings #bookstagram #readersofig taken in New York by @chasing.english

3

6

a year ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

WHEN CRACK WAS KING by Donovan X. Ramsey

My nonfiction kick has continued, and this one about the misunderstood crack epidemic felt like a book I needed to share with all of you.

I went into this one thinking I had a bit of an understanding as to how the epidemic in the US with cocaine came to be, and while there were certainly some touch points that felt familiar to what I knew ( the CIA’s role in the infiltration of it in Black communities in the early 80s, for example), I was struck by everything else Ramsey shared in this five-year investigative journalism endeavor.

I appreciated the flow of this one. Jumping between the childhoods and complicated life stories of four real people who found themselves impacted by the drug, to entire chapters dedicated to research focused on the links between the epidemic and a racist criminal justice system, gentrification, and increased police brutality. The transitions worked perfectly.

I appreciated the honesty and tenderness with which he shared the stories of Elgin, Lennie, Kurt, and Shawn. This could have been a book focused solely on how the epidemic came to be, and its general impact on communities, but by placing real stories and faces that had been impacted, Ramsey provides a humanized look at a crisis that impacted many.

This is a must read for anyone looking to better understand a time in US history that tends to be glossed over. If you’re old enough to recall Reagan’s War on Drugs and Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No to Drugs campaigns during your elementary school years, I think you should pick this one up. Your younger self will be grateful for the schooling, I promise. 😉

#whencrackwasking #nonfiction #19nonfiction #bookstagram #readersofig taken in New York by @chasing.english

3

6

a year ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

SOLDIERS AND KINGS by Jason De León

This 2024 National Book Award winner for nonfiction deserves not only this accolade but so much more.

De León, an anthropologist with a gift for deep observations of the human spirit, spent seven intimate years with South American smugglers so he could understand their paths and histories, and then share their stories with readers.

To humanize smugglers who are demonized for contributing to unsafe migrant passages is something De León does with ease. Part oral history, but also part an ability to capture the impact early life experiences have had on the young people he follows, this book provides a heartbreaking peek into how these young people have ended up taking on the role of smuggler, guída, coyote.

I’m not sure I had ever thought of the smuggler’s story when thinking of migrants long journeys to better lives. De León does a remarkable job of allowing readers to get to know these individuals; humans with flaws but also heart, hopes, and aspirations beyond the scarred childhoods that led them to becoming ‘foot soldiers.’

Well-researched and deeply insightful, Jason De León has done something rare with SOLDIERS AND KINGS. While difficult to read at times, this is one of those heavy-hitting titles I’m so grateful to have decided to pick up.

#soldiersandkings #jasondeleon #nonfiction #19nonfiction #bookstagram by @chasing.english

3

6

a year ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

AMERICAN WAR by Omar El Akkad

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While I’m not entirely certain that picking up this book, given America’s current state, was the smartest idea for my mental health, I will start this review with something still very true: Omar El Akkad continues to be one of the best writers I’ve ever read, and AMERICAN WAR is a powerful and important book I am sure I will never forget.

While fiction and set far in the future, much of what occurs in the America of this dystopian novel doesn’t come across as far fetched. From rebels to loyalists, North vs. South mentality, and at the center of it all innocent people used as pawns in a civil war that has nobody’s best interest at heart.

The novel follows the Chestnut family. In particular, Sarat Chesnut. Even writing her name here brings tears to my eyes. I can’t begin to get across how real she felt to me. From the introduction to her as a vivacious six year-old in Louisiana, to a brave and tenacious 17-year-old who had been changed by war, and finally to a woman in her late twenties both physically and mentally scarred by what her country did to her and her loved ones, my heart was always with her, hoping for better, hoping for real change to occur during her lifetime.

Well written, executed with precision, and with storylines I couldn’t help but feel deep compassion for, AMERICAN WAR left me in tears but also very much aware of what can happen to individuals stuck in war torn spaces.

Did El Akkad write this as a cautionary tale? I can’t help but think that’s the case. But what I really felt when I closed this book and sat with my thoughts, crying for characters as if they were real people, is that war is ugly. It changes people. It shifts their very beings.

Omar El Akkad is a voice I not only respect but have found great enlightenment from. This book is an important one. It’s devastating, will pull at you in ways you can’t imagine, and when you close it, you’ll feel deep sorrow but also a new sense of understanding that only writers like El Akkad can provide.

An absolute 5⭐️ read but certainly one to prepare yourself for before opening.

#americanwar #omarelakkad taken in New York by @chasing.english

3

4

2 years ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

HARLEM RHAPSODY by Victoria Christopher Murray

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Where to even start when describing Victoria Christopher Murray’s latest historical fiction masterpiece?

To learn about Jessie Redmon Fauset, the “literary midwife” to so many writers we’ve come to adore who came out of the Harlem Renaissance, is to feel both enamored and befuddled. On one side, I felt deep respect and admiration for Miss Fauset and her unwavering commitment to the literary world, yet on the other, I find myself perplexed that here is yet another important Black woman I’ve never heard of before reading a book.

I’ve read a number of reviews on this novel that either praise Christopher Murray’s writing or mention a disappointment in the focus of Fauset’s very long affair with W.E.B. Du Bois.

Even before I read the author’s note at the end, I had felt that the relationship between these two had been the reason for many of the achievements they experienced together. I felt that the author did a tremendous job of showing both of these real people in respectable light—affair aside; highlighting that they were merely flawed like all of us are.

I loved everything about this book. I loved learning and hearing from Jessie Fauset (see a real image of her in the second pic!), I loved getting to see young, up-and-coming versions of everyone from Langston Hughes to Zora Neale Hurston, and I loved getting to witness Fauset truly come into her own by the end of my time with her.

This book is beautifully written historical fiction. What another treasure Victoria Christopher Murray has given us readers. 💜

#harlemrhapsody #victoriachristophermurray #historicalfiction #harlemrenaissance #bookstagram #readersofig #jessiefauset taken in New York by @chasing.english

3

15

2 years ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

THEY CAME FOR THE SCHOOLS by Mike Hixenbaugh

I have been on quite a run with nonfiction reads lately, and I imagine part of it for me runs deep alongside the current state of democracy here in America.

Mike Hixenbaugh reports and unveils a conservative push for religious indoctrination in our public schools in a way that left me both unsurprised and infuriated.

As a former teacher, I cannot fathom trying to push an agenda on students that has nothing to do with education at all. Isn’t the purpose of education to broaden our students’ minds and teach them to think critically? To support them as they learn who they are and also ensure they learn empathy for those who live different lives than them? To teach them the history of their country and others so they can rise up and do better? I’ll stop my rant on that here.

I found this book to be a frightening read, as it was written prior to the current administration taking over. To know how much further some of this has already gone, makes my heart break for educators and students who are stuck in the crossfires.

This has nothing to do with Christianity, in my opinion, and everything to do with a fear that a younger generation is more accepting, understanding, and empathetic; a real fear for those who want to uphold white supremacy and a particular set of “values” that many in our diverse country are not interested in.

This book shouldn’t be divisive; it’s factual, lays out how exactly conservative super PACs pushed into local school boards and flipped everything, but it will be.

I respect those who practice a religion, in fact, I would fight for them to be able to do so; however, I will never be able to get behind pushing a religious agenda in our public schools when we are free to believe what we want.

Separation of church and state—you’d think that’s a new concept. 🤔

#theycamefortheschools #19nonfictionreadingchallenge2025 #bookstagram #readersofig taken in New York by @chasing.english

3

8

2 years ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

SOUTH TO AMERICA by Imani Perry

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It is safe to say that this is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. I realize the exaggeration in that statement, but it’s true.

What Imani Perry has given me as a reader within the pages of SOUTH TO AMERICA is a deeper understanding of not just the South and its history, but a true reckoning with America, with our global society, on a level that is difficult to really get across in an IG post.

Perry’s writing is also beautiful; poignant, sharp, and somehow rooted in both factual history while dripping with a poetic voice I found myself reading aloud on several occasions.

If you are not drawn to nonfiction, let this be the one you give a try this year. I promise you will be glad to have done so. And if you’re someone yearning to learn, to have your horizon expanded, this incredible book is one you need in your hands right this very moment.

It’s going to be hard for any other book to top this one for me. All the stars, respect, and love to Imani Perry and her eye-opening book, SOUTH TO AMERICA.

#southtoamerica #imaniperrytaughtme #readnonfiction #bookstagram #readersofig by @chasing.english

3

10

2 years ago

✨Book Review✨

THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG by Leila Mottley

First and foremost, a huge thank you to @aaknopf for my gifted ARC of Leila Mottley’s new novel, which will be at a bookstore near you on 6/24/2025!

To say I was excited when this book showed up on my doorstep would be an understatement. Having heard a few months ago about this one, I had added it to my TBR, unknowing I would be the lucky recipient of an ARC of it!

The novel follows three first person narratives of teenage mothers in the Florida panhandle, all part of a group known as The Girls.

The Girls are easy for the outside world to judge. They are considered too young to be mothers yet clearly considered old enough to need to figure it all out on their own. Mottley does a tremendous job of showing this juxtaposition as readers meet The Girls through first person chapters, giving a glimpse into their thought processes as well as what they put forward for the world to see.

Stuck between childhood and womanhood, The Girls only have each other to turn to and the friendships that exist run deeper than most can fathom having at the tender age of 16. In fact, I would go as far as to say The Girls are family; they only have each other.

Having been a teen mother myself, I think Mottley does a decent job of showing the multi-faceted layers to a young woman’s experience treading between who she was and who motherhood makes her. I appreciated her acknowledgments at the end of the book that highlighted her gratitude for the young mothers she spoke with in order to write this book, too.

As I closed this book, I began thinking about the judgment by society that is placed on young women who find themselves in these situations. I hope this story provides some insight for those to consider the next time they begin judging a young woman and her circumstances. It can be a scary and lonely space, particularly for those who don’t have a group like The Girls to turn to.

#februaryreads #bookstagram #gifted #readersofinstagram by @chasing.english

3

10

2 years ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

MARTYR! By Kaveh Akbar

First and foremost, a huge thank you to @penguinrandomhouse for my gifted copy of this incredible book (and the fun swag that came with it—see second pic).

It’s hard to know where to start when trying to explain a book like MARTYR. Readers follow Cyrus Shams, a young Iranian American man struggling with his purpose.

Finally sober and itching to get back into his poetry, Cyrus becomes interested in those who have perished that we recall throughout history and seeks to understand the role of martyrdom. More than likely influenced by the untimely and premature death of his own mother when he was just an infant (what was the point of her death after all?). Cyrus appears to be not just trying to understand the role of the martyr, but his own life and eventual death. How will he be remembered?

When he learns about an Iranian artist using her death as her final art piece at a museum in Brooklyn, Cyrus makes the decision to travel to the exhibit to speak with the woman as a way to support his own writing project and internal battles. Little does he know, though, that this last-minute planned trip will change the course of his life and everything he thought he understood.

And while the aforementioned would have been enough to hold my interest, Akbar’s chapters flow from Cyrus‘s perspective, to his mother’s, and some dreamy connections between everyone from Rumi to Lisa Simpson. (Yes, you read that right).

And it works. All of it.

But what is most special about this book is how the pieces that feel disjointed at first, begin to shape a story, a young man’s life. In some sort of meta way. Watching the pieces come together as a reader appear to be at the same pace as the puzzle beginning to near completion for Kaveh Akbar’s fallible protagonist, Cyrus Shams. I loved that.

If you are looking to be challenged, moved, placed in the pages of a book that will have you somehow laughing then crying, shocked and heartbroken, then cheering…all within 330 pages, this should be your next read.

#martyr #kavehakbar #bookstagram #penguinrandomhouse #gifted #readersofig by @chasing.english

3

6

2 years ago

✨Book Recommendation✨

SOLITO by Javier Zamora

There are few books I have gone back and reread, but there is something about Javier Zamora’s memoir, SOLITO, that had me revisit a nine-year-old, who traveled from El Salvador to ‘la USA’ in the late 90s.

This book is invaluable. While it only gives a glimpse into a migrant’s trek, I was overcome with love for this little boy and his bravery, his resilience, and perhaps most heartwarming, his ability to remain being a child with big hopes and dreams, a clever imagination, and a heart of gold.

Whether he was naming the trees and plants he came across during his desert trek, or making friends with a lizard he named Paula, his ability to keep moving forward, surrounded by the unknown with people he didn’t know prior to the trip, is nothing short of incredible.

As I think about the state of the country I live in, and I think about the rights of human beings continuing to be pushed aside, it’s stories like Zamora’s that begin to feel more important than ever.

Perhaps those who feel an ease in deportations, of breaking up families, of dehumanizing people who have overcome more obstacles than many of us could even fathom could benefit from becoming familiar with the stories of migrants.

To understand, to feel empathy, to realize that we all are human and desiring the chance to be both happy and free from turmoil would shift the thinking of people in power who appear hell bent on destroying peoples’ dreams— peoples’ lives.

To read SOLITO is to understand on a very basic level that the risks migrants take in order for a chance at a better life are nothing short of a bravery that so few of us could even begin to contemplate.

THIS is a must read. I’m so glad I made the decision to revisit Javiercito. If you haven’t heard his story yet, I urge you to pick up a copy. You will be changed.

#solito #javierzamora #memoir #readnonfiction #readingispolitical #nohumanisillegal by @chasing.english

3

13

2 years ago

✨Book Review✨

WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST by Alina Grabowski

I sat with this one for a few days before writing this review because I wanted to ensure that I had really taken into account everything I had learned through the 10 stories, by the 10 women, who are featured in this debut novel.

This book is quite unique. While each story features a female perspective from the same New England town, grappling with the assortment of issues most women face at one point or another in their lives, Grabowski cleverly weaves a single tragedy into each of their stories; one that not only impacts the entire town, but each of these women in different ways.

Whether it was the lonely high school student falling in love with her math tutor; a grief-stricken mother unable to come to terms with her daughter’s death; or an elderly woman hell bent on still wearing the right shade of red lipstick even as she lay in a hospital bed, each story provided not only a glimpse into these female lives and inner thoughts, but also highlighted some distinct variations that I found relatable from different seasons in my own life.

I believe this is one of those books where it will most certainly be read with your own experiences in mind. What I personally took from the intertwining of these women‘s stories, and their different relationships to the tragedy that ends up impacting this small New England town, is that as women we can tend to remain silent; to fight our personal fights alone because it can sometimes feel easier that way.

Grabowski has created rich, believable characters and a narrative thread that is equal parts relatable and haunting. After this kind of debut, I’m eager to see what she comes up with next.

#womenandchildrenfirst #alinagrabowski #sjplit #bookstagram #readersofinstagram by @chasing.english

3

7

2 years ago