Andrews McMeel Publishing was kind enough to provide with a digital ARC via NetGalley of Courtney Peppernell’s upcoming title, Watering the Soul, in exchange for an honest review. I had some high hopes for this book, considering the way I just gushed about another Andrews McMeel author, but found myself a bit let down. Still, Watering the Soul is almost great, and here’s why.
Alicia Cook is my favourite contemporary poet.
I stumbled across her poetry the way many do, through Instagram. I’m generally wary of “Instapoetry” because of many stereotypes associated with it: lack of substance, focus on aesthetics, and easy sharability. But the first poem of Cook’s that I discovered—“Sorry I haven’t texted you back”—was both unique and extremely intimate, and it hit incredibly close to home.
Clearly I was not the only one who thought so, because that poem later opened a collection of the same name, which I will be writing about shortly. But this is not a review of Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back. This is a review of its younger sibling and Cook’s second publication, Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately.
…Nikita Gill’s The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom is a novel in verse that tells the story of a young girl growing up in India. Picking up during Partition in 1947, Gill weaves together poetry, prose, and Hindu mythology into a compelling narrative about personal growth.
