Historic Female Friends in Bosom Buddies by Violet Zhang, Sally Nixon (Illustrator)

Featuring 25 remarkable and inspiring female friendships throughout history, Bosom Buddies is an illustrated celebration of these empowering relationships between women. From the formidable Trung Sisters and friendly rivals Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf to powerhouse partners Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, writer Violet Zhang captures the love, challenges, encouragement, and adulation of female friendships across time. With winsome illustrations from illustrator Sally Nixon, Bosom Buddies is a tribute to gal pals everywhere. Great as a Galentine’s Day gift or to share with your best girlfriend, just because.

Bosom Buddies arrived in the mail as a saving grace for the coming Shabbat, since I didn’t have anything left to read (save for dipping in and out of my worn copy of Fangirl) with my local library going through renovations.

Also perfect timing for this book, on female friendships through the ages, to land in my hands, considering the movie I recently watched that expresses the tiny nuances of a friendship between Marlo and Tully, which I rave all about in my film review for Tully here.

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The first thing I noticed upon picking up Bosom Buddies is the effort put into producing the book: the feel of the paper in your hands as you flip from page to page and the clear jacket bounding it make for timeless pieces. And I’m just grateful such a neat concept exists in the book world.

I do want to note that at the very start of my reading experience, the entries of the female friends come across a bit Wikipedia-esque, but since they were so quick to go through, I overlooked this tiny hindrance. The essays did provide many unknowns with a prompt speed.

However, since this is about the grandiosity of friendship, which is so personal, I would’ve enjoyed that aspect to be expanded by offering more intimate tales, like an inside joke or an experience the women shared together; something I couldn’t find on my own through googling their names. I wanted someone to write about them through extensive research so that I wouldn’t have to do it on my own.

I did then appreciate the end of each essay giving voice to the women by sharing their quotes. Though it sometimes felt like the entry beforehand and the quote shared after had no shared correlation.

So I was also glad to see that the more I read on, the more my requests were being answered. Featuring remarkable girlships such as:

  • Virginia Woolf & Katherine Mansfield (1910s)
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  • Oprah Winfrey & Gayle King (1970s)Bosom Buddies bookspoils 3
  • Amy Poehler & Tina Fey (1990s)Bosom Buddies bookspoils 1
  • Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson (2000s)Bosom Buddies bookspoils 4Screen Shot 2018-02-28 at 09.46.55

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Expected publication: August 14, 2018

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Poetry Review: Soft Thorns by Bridgett Devoue

Soft Thorns is a poetry collection that takes the reader on a journey through a young woman’s life—from reckoning with her looks and sexuality to dealing with the trauma of sexual assault, and finally through the highs and lows of young love found and lost. Bridgett Devoue shares her raw, human story and the lessons learned from living a life fully.

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I’ve so missed breezing through a typical poetry collection, in particular, the feelings evoked after, packing short impactful punches to carry you through, similar to Flux by Orion Carloto and The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace.

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If anything, Soft Thorns was a wakeup call for me to make sure to frequent into the poetry section more often. It felt so good to tear through this in one sitting.

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Expected publication: October 2nd, 2018

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Heartbreak and Love Poems in The Longest Night by Ranata Suzuki

I knew this was a keeper the minute I read the following:

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And I’m thankful for the author (kind people rock my world) for sending me a review copy, featuring this utterly gorgeous cover giving me subtle Shatter Me cover vibes. I can’t stop staring at the details, like the mesmerizing moon and stars in the eye:

I also felt beyond grateful when I realized, as soon as I started reading, that The Longest Night puts on paper exactly what’s been circling my mind for the past year, and only recently begun receding bit by bit. If I ever throw away my journals from that period in my life, I know I’m safe with just turning to this book since it rawly and meticulously captures all the (tiring) stages you go through, from curiosity to obsession to realistically realizing to growing away and moving on. The ‘About the Author’ section voiced it best: “her voice will move you quite simply because it sounds so much like the voice inside your own heart.”The Longest Night 6- bookspoils

Now, comes my favorite part of sharing some of the brilliant pieces that really settled in my heart:

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This perfectly captures the whirlwind your mind goes through when infatuated with someone. The constant vivid imagery is exhausting…The Longest Night 2- bookspoils

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This!! Gets!! It!!

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The Longest Night 5- bookspoilsThe philosophy of a person holding meaning only in relation to something. Also: names are never just names…

The Longest Night 8- bookspoilsRealizing that you’ve matured for the better and “you’re not the same person anymore” is pivotal.The Longest Night 4- bookspoils
Screen Shot 2018-02-28 at 09.46.55Though some poems came to resemble each other a bit too closely the more I read one because of the set theme of heartbreak (there’s only so many ways to describe missing someone…), I left The Longest Night in solidarity and stronger in spirit. I’d recommend it for fans of This Is Me Letting You Go by Heidi Priebe.

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Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you’re interested in buying The Longest Nightjust click on the image below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!

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