🤍 The Tortured Poets Department 🤍

I have been heavily anticipating this album since February. First of all, it’s a new Taylor Swift album which will always be exciting, and the fact that it was being described as poetry just made it even more thrilling. And now it’s a double album. 

Taylor has always been poetic but this takes it up many notches. Also, this is the most referential she has ever been about herself and damn I’m living for it all. She has an incredible voice and her writing style is impeccable.

What I was most surprised about this album were the bits of humor throughout. I caught myself laughing many times even though these are some very depressing topics. She has put so much of herself into these songs, even the parts you would not expect to see or hear.  I’m looking forward to what I find as I continue to listen to them.

Also, the literary references are galore, especially in the 2am second album. We have references to The Great Gatsby, Shakespeare, Peter Pan again, Cassandra and Sisyphus from Greek Mythology, Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Wizard of Oz, The Secret Garden, and many more. This is an allusion and metaphor heavy album which I know will not be for everyone. Personally, I am obsessed with it. Makes me want analyze the lyrics and pick out every single one. I think I might do a post on here sometime with each of them. Definitely, an album for my literature loving heart. 

The title of this album fits so well with every song. She has let us into her world in a way we haven’t quite been before and each piece of these songs adds to that. They are personal, vulnerable, and so damn smart. It shows the imperfections and doesn’t pretty anything up for anyone. She turns phrases like some of the best poets out there. Below, I am going to talk about each of the songs. I’ll give my opinions, anything that stuck out to me on my listens, and my ratings (out of five) at the moment. 

1. “Fortnight”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 

~ What a beautiful sounding song. I was excited to hear her sing this with Post Malone and they did a good job. I think she could have used him a bit more. Their voices sound absolutely stunning together. Her melodic vocals are stunning and this continues throughout the entire album. I love the upbeat production along with the sad lyrics. 

~ Though, I will say that many of these lyrics make me wonder about why they are in the song. I figured this would be the first single because of Post being a feature in it but I think there are others that could have been better picks. 

~ Taylor’s music video for this song was pretty great. I love the cinematography and the chemistry between Post and Taylor was perfection. It felt like a movie. Also, it was great to have the little nod to Dead Poets Society with Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles. One of my favorite Robin Williams movies. My poetry loving heart is ecstatic. 

“And I love you, it’s ruining my life.”

2. “The Tortured Poets Department”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ The titular song is perfect. Love the details she is giving us in this song to tell her story. The typewriter, the references to poets (Dylan Thomas, Pattie Smith, and the Chelsea Hotel), and the domestic scenes. I was surprised by how upbeat this song was but it is so pretty. This should have been the first single if I’m going to be honest. 

“And who’s gonna hold you like me?

And who’s gonna know you, if not me?

I laughed in your face and said,

‘You’re not Dylan Thomas.

I’m not Patti Smith.

This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel.

We’re modern idiots.’ 

And who’s gonna hold you like me?”

3. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ The metaphor she uses in this song is quite clever to show toxic relationships. It’s not the first time she uses toys as a metaphor. She has used kens in “Hit Different” and toy in “Cruel Summer.” 

4. “Down Bad”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ I gotta say I relate to this song. Definitely, don’t want to though. Another that is surprisingly upbeat. 

5. “So Long, London”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ We all knew this was going to be a sad song. The connections to her previous songs from other albums stand out quite a bit in this. Also, the religious and boat imagery is heavy. Damn, this is a hard one. Probably, the one that feels the most like a poem at this point in the tracklist. 

6. “But Daddy I Love Him”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ This was the song I have been the most anticipating ever since I first saw the track list. Stood out right away because of the reference to The Little Mermaid (1989), my favorite Disney movie. And it did not disappoint. It makes me think of a more mature version of “Love Story” and damn it is great! The melodrama is incredible. 

“Too high a horse for a simple girl to rise above it

They slammed the door on my whole world

The one thing I wanted

Now, I’m running with my dress unbuttoned

Screamin’ ‘But daddy, I love him’

I’m having his baby, no I’m not

But you should see your faces

I’m telling him to floor it through the fences

No, I’m not coming to my senses

I know it’s crazy

But he’s the one I want”

~ I was surprised by the sound of it and the story we received. The message is one I think many fans need to hear and I’m glad Taylor is letting them know how she feels.  It was not at all what I believed it would be like and oh my god it’s so damn incredible. Maybe it’s too early to say it is my favorite song from the album, but I would be surprised if any of them ever overpass it. This song is crazy and absolutely a masterpiece. I could gush about this song for a million years. Never thought we would get a song like this from Taylor again and I’m beyond glad we got it. Hope she has more numbers like this in the future. 

7. “Fresh Out The Slammer”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ I think the music at the beginning of the song is interesting. Makes it sound like a western. Lots of metaphors in this album to represent the situations in this previous chapter of her life. Very poetic. Marriage is a big topic throughout a lot of these songs. 

8. “Florida!!!”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 

~ I don’t know what to think about this song to be honest. There is so much going on. It’s a strange one but the vocals are beautiful. There are so many great lines in this song but I wish they were in another song. Like for instance: 

“Is that a bad thing to put in a song?” 

~ Florence Welch is so incredible! God, her voice is just so damn stunning. 

9. “Guilty As Sin?”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 

~ All of these songs have wonderful productions. 

10. “Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ Oh my…this song is haunting and everything I was hoping it would be when I saw the title. The imagery of her as a witch levitating through a town and the screaming of “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” is phenomenal. God, I hope we get a music video for this beauty and I love the breaking of the fourth wall throughout the entire time. She really is addressing so much of the drama and comments people have made about her.  

11. “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)”- 🤍 🤍 

~ An okay song, but it is one of my least favorite songs on the album. I do enjoy the ending though. 

12. “loml”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ This song is really hard to listen to. One of the saddest that Taylor has ever written and it hits me super hard. I can feel every emotion she is conveying. 

“You’re the lose of my life.” 

~ Knew it was going to be lose of my life instead of love of my life. 

13. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ Feels like a sequel to “Bejeweled.” The juxtaposition of the lyrics in this song to the beat is incredible. It shows the entire point of the song in such an obvious way and it makes you want to dance along with her. If you don’t pay attention to what she is saying you could mistake this for an upbeat track, but damn this is a sad one. I think the placement of this song after “loml” was brilliant. 

“Breaking down I hit the floor

All the pieces of me shattered 

As the crowd was chanting, ‘MORE!’” 

14. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ Well, this was surprising and it is a scathing take on “the smallest man” we have all been waiting for. This is not who I’d thought this would be about and she definitely let him have it with this one. The bridge is chilling. 

“And I don’t miss what we had, but could someone give

A message to the smallest man who ever lived?

Were you sent by someone 

Who wanted me dead?

Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?

We’re you writing a book?

We’re you a sleeper cell spy?

In fifty years will this be declassified?”

15. “The Alchemy”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ This is such a cute song. I know I keep saying I love the beats, but damn, it sounds great. I like this song a lot. 

16. “Clara Bow”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ I love when Taylor writes songs like this where she explores her career in the industry. It’s always interesting to see her take on people’s thoughts on her as a person and where she takes them. The use of Clara Bow, Stevie Nicks, and then finally herself at the end was hard hitting. Talking about pitting women against each other and how they are always compared. Great ending to the first part of “The Tortured Poets Department Anthology.”

17. “The Black Dog”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ This song sounds so damn beautiful. Her vocals are great in this entire album but this is one of the best. Heartbreaking. I love her story songs. 

“Old habits die screaming!”

18. “imgonnagetyouback”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ I love this song! The beat is infectious and just everything to me. 

19. “The Albatross” 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ Makes me think of the beat of many of the songs on evermore. Feels a bit like “Ivy.” 

20. “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus” 🤍 🤍 

~ Not really a fan of this song. It’s okay. 

21. “How Did It End?”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 

~ I love her vocals at the beginning before she starts the first verse. They feel ethereal. Interesting idea of a relationship autopsy to see what caused the relationship to fall apart. She really shows her writing ability on this project. 

“My beloved ghost and me

Sitting in a tree

D-Y-I-N-G”

22. “So High School”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 

~ This song makes me think of another song and I don’t know what it is. The sound especially at the beginning. I love the tune of it. Her voice sounds so beautiful. Makes me think of a song that would have been in a 90s or early 2000s rom-com. 

23. “I Hate it Here”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ I really love the story here. The details she gives bring you right into the moments she is describing. Her creativity shines through in this beauty. I relate to this song so much with the escapism in your own writing or in literature. There are so many great songs on this album. 

“I hate it here so I will go to 

Secret gardens in my mind

People need a key to get to 

The only one is mine”

24. “thanK you aIMee”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 

~ The metaphor of a mean girl in town is so telling. I cannot believe this song and what she’s so blatantly stating at this point. Gosh. The amount of murder, death, and jail in these songs is much more than expected. I love the fourth-wall break at the end. Such a fun song. I don’t think she should have capitalized the letters in the title at all. She should have let the song speak for what she was talking about. Maybe some people would not have realized what she was talking about but many would. 

“I pushed each boulder up the hill

Your words are still just ringing in my head, ringing in my head…”

“All that time you were throwin’ punches, it was all for nothin’

And our town, it looks so small, from way up here

Screamed ‘Thank you, Aimee’ to the night sky, and the stars are stunnin’ 

Cause I can’t forget the way you make me heal.”

25. “I Look in People’s Windows”- 🤍🤍 🤍 🤍

~ I really like this song quite a lot. 

26. “The Prophecy”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ I think this album was perfectly laid out with the songs’ placements. The overall message of this song is about how Taylor feels like there has been a prophecy that has destined her not to succeed in love/relationships. To have that before a song based on the Greek Mythology character, Cassandra, is so damn clever. 

~ This is a song for the hopeless romantics.

27. “Cassandra”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ As soon as I saw the title for this track, I got excited. I hoped it was about Cassandra from Greek Mythology and I was very right. Gotta say, I’m a sucker for a literary allusion in songs. This one fits well with the story she is telling, especially nobody listening to her. So haunting. 

28. “Peter”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ Peter Pan is a character who is drawn upon in many pieces of writing. Many of us have met our own example of Peter in our lives. He is an allusion I will never get sick of. I love this song.

29. “The Bolter”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 

~ Pretty good song. 

30. “Robin”- 🤍 🤍 

~ My least favorite song on the album. 

31. “The Manuscript”- 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍 🤍

~ The metaphor of the manuscript being her old music that she has been revisiting is great. Perfect closer for The Tortured Poets Department. 

Closing Thoughts

The perfect release for National Poetry Month. 

This album feels like part poetry and story. Taylor is giving such specific lyrics that give us a look into the last couple of years. I enjoyed almost every single one of the songs and feel like they all fit well together to tell a cohesive story. She clearly thought about the placement of these songs, many going perfectly right after the previous track. This is an emotional rollercoaster that feels vulnerable and heartbreaking. 

I never really care the subject of Taylor’s breakup songs. There are many people who like or dislike songs based on who they believe they are about when I don’t believe that is what is important. Sure many of the songs on this album are obviously about certain people in Taylor’s life, but that doesn’t affect my enjoyment of them. I love the story she is telling. No matter the subject. There is so much in this album that far surpasses those types of ideas. This is a Taylor Swift album and the subject of the album is Taylor and this chapter of her life. The muses don’t matter as much as what she is trying to say.

This album brings a new perspective to folklore and evermore. I always knew the songs on those two albums were more than just stories and this proves that. So many lyrics are reminiscent of them. It also does the same for Midnights which is definitely a start of a breakup album. 

Overall, I loved most of this album. It's not my favorite of hers but many of the songs are. I know my opinions will change with time and I might enjoy some of these more. Taylor has created a beautiful collection here. I love the experience of listening to new music from her and am looking forward to what will come next. 

Favorite songs:

~ “But Daddy I Love Him”

~ “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me”

~ “I Hate It Here”

~ “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”

~ “The Tortured Poets Department”

Taylor Swift songs

 In honor of The Tortured Poet’s Department coming out tomorrow, I decided to make my post today about some of my favorite songs of Taylor’s. There are going to be multiple lists here because I could not possibly pick just 10 songs for my favorite artist. 

The first list is my favorite songs from her first 10 albums. There will be a song from each album (not including her vault songs). They are in order by album. My second list is my favorite of her vault songs. 

I cannot wait to see what songs I love from The Tortured Poet’s Department. 

Favorite songs from each album

1. “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” from Taylor Swift- This was a very hard choice for me because so many of these songs hold many memories. I first heard Taylor on the radio in art class when I was 13 years old. It was playing “Our Song” and I became obsessed. For Christmas that year (2007), I received the Deluxe version of her debut album and I could not stop listening to it. This was the start of my need to hear all of her music as it came out and I got each album ever since on the release day. 

So, needless to say a lot of these songs became special to me. The song that always stands out from the album for me is “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” which is just a beautiful song. I cannot wait for her Taylor’s version of this album. It’s the one I have been looking forward to the most since she started this re-recording project. 

2. “Fearless” from Fearless- I love many of the songs on Fearless but the title track is definitely the top for me. I vividly remember when the album came out and dancing around in my room to it at almost 15. Probably drove my family crazy with how much I would sing along to her songs and how loud I was. I mean you can’t listen to “That Way I Loved You” with out singing it as loud as you can. “Fearless” was my song though and to this day it still is one of my all-time favorites. It gives me chills when I hear the guitar start playing at the beginning and brings tears to my eyes when I hear her sing it now. Thank goodness, she made it part of the tour. 

3. “Enchanted” from Speak Now- One of the easiest choices on this list. I adore “Enchanted” with my entire heart. It makes me think of a fairytale every single time I hear it, which have always been some of my favorite stories. I cannot get enough of listening to her sing about this innocent interaction. Makes me smile every time I hear it. 

4. “Holy Ground” from Red- My favorite of Taylor’s songs is definitely “Holy Ground.” My favorite songs by Taylor are almost always the upbeat ones. I adore her songs that make me want to dance along with her. “Spinning like a girl in a brand new dress.” I could listen to this beauty a million times and never get sick of it. It’s perfect. 

5. “This Love” from 1989- It’s funny because this was not a favorite of mine until Taylor’s version came out a couple of years ago. My other favorite song from the album is definitely “Blank Space” but this one beats it out now for me. 

6. “Getaway Car” from Reputation- I have adored this song from the first time I listened to it back in 2017. To this day, I still vividly remember listening to the album and enjoying most of the songs. “Getaway Car” stood out to me quite a lot at that time. It is still one of my most played songs of Taylor’s.

7. “Cruel Summer” from Lover- My favorite song from Lover was a hard choice because I love “Cornelia Street” basically as much as “Cruel Summer.” Talk about two great songs. But I decided on “Cruel Summer” because it is the one I enjoy listening to the most. 

8. “August” from folklore- One part of the trilogy of songs. I love the stories Taylor created on this album and also the ones in evermore. Such a creative idea that stood out greatly from her other albums. “August” is beautiful and I love how she sings it so much. Just a stunning piece, I could listen to over and over again. 

9. “Right Where You Left Me” from evermore- Damn, this song is so beautiful. I cannot fathom how it was a bonus track. It should definitely have been one of the original tracks. I love the story she tells here.

10. “Hits Different” from Midnights- Another song I adore that is a bonus track. This time it is a Target bonus track. I love Taylor’s upbeat songs that have sad messages. Cannot help but sing every lyric every time this gem comes on. 

Vault Songs

These songs will be in order by how much I love them. 

1. “Suburban Legends” from 1989 Taylor’s Version- I cannot tell you how many times I have listened to this song since October but I adore it so damn much. It became my favorite of the Vault songs almost instantly and has been ever since. 

“When you hold me, it holds me together

And you kiss me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever…”

“Tick-tick on the clock

I pace down your block

I broke my own heart ‘cause you were too polite to do it” 

These are just some of the lyrics that I love in the song, though I could honestly put the entire song down here. 

2. “Mr. Perfectly Fine” from Fearless Taylor’s Version- This would have been my favorite Vault song if “Suburban Legends” did not exist. I love that we are getting so many new songs for these albums but I wish some of these had made it on the original albums. Truthfully, I think this might be my favorite song from Taylor’s Fearless era. That’s saying something because “Fearless” is one of my all-time favorite songs. 

Fearless will forever be a special album for me because it is the first of Taylor’s I got to experience when it was first released. So, it was an amazing experience hearing these songs again with her more mature voice. I cannot wait until her version of her debut album comes out. It will have me in tears. I know that much. Fearless definitely did. 

3. “All Too Well” (10 Minute Version) from Red Taylor’s Version- I remember when Taylor was doing interviews when Red first released back in 2012. In one of the interviews, she mentioned a ten minute version of “All Too Well” and we all wanted to hear her full version of the song. Thankfully, she decided to release it on her Taylor’s Version of the album and it was phenomenal. Along with the short film for it. 

4. “That’s When” from Fearless Taylor’s Version- I think Fearless is one of the best of the Taylor’s versions that Taylor has done so far. The songs feel so much like they did originally and I love hearing her sing them now. Also, the Vault songs are great and fit so well with the album as a whole. Taylor and Keith Urban’s voices fit so well for this song and I love it. 

5. “Message In A Bottle” from Red Taylor’s Version- I had to put on this great upbeat song that always makes me want to dance every time I hear it. Love it! 

6. “Electric Touch” from Speak Now Taylor’s Version- When I heard that Taylor was going to have a song on the album where she sung with Fall Out Boy, I was beyond excited. Fall Out Boy has been one of my favorite bands since college. I love this song so darn much. 

7. “Is It Over Now” from 1989 Taylor’s Version- This has become one of the most popular of the Vault songs for good reasons. The lyrics stand out so much from many of her other ones and it also gives more details to a relationship we have known about for years. At least, who we are pretty sure it is about. “Let’s fast forward to three hundred takeout coffees later” is such a great line along with so many other great ones throughout. I love how she can take a line like that and how much it says. 

8. “Don’t You” from Fearless Taylor’s Version- I love how Taylor plays with the lyrics throughout this song and the way she uses don’t you changing as the song continues. It is a song that feels so much like this time period of her music and makes me nostalgic, even though it is a song I didn’t hear until 2021. This fits so well with the other Fearless songs that have been around for over 15 years. 

9. “The Very First Night” from Red Taylor’s Version- I have adored this song ever since I first listened through Red Taylor’s Version. It’s just a fun upbeat song that makes me happy. I cannot help but smile when I’m listening to it. 

10. “Foolish One” from Speak Now Taylor’s Version- This is such a Speak Now song and I kind of wish it would have been on the original album. I have to say, younger Carrie would have related really hard to this song when I was around 17. Like a lot. It is one of Taylor’s songs I connect to so much because I was that hopeless romantic, especially in high school. 

Ten Songs I Will Never Stop Listening To

Music is one of my many passions I will never get enough of. For today’s top ten list, I decided to talk about ten of the songs I will never mind listening to. There are many songs that could have made this list, but these are the ones I have listened to a lot over the last year. I made the playlist of the songs on Spotify if you would be interested in listening to them. 

1.) “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” by Queen- I have loved Queen’s music ever since I was a child and this will always be a favorite for me. Ever since this was in Good Omens Season 2, I have played this constantly. 

2.) “Make Your Own Kind of Music” by Mama Cass- I’m glad this song has become as popular as it has over the last couple of years. It is a wonderful song. 

3.) “Tell Me Why” by Wynonna- This is an old favorite of mine. I adore it. 

4.) “I Love a Rainy Night” by Eddie Rabbitt- I cannot get enough of this song. 

5.) “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by George Michael and Elton John- An oldie but one I listen to all the time. Love George and Elton. 

6.) “I’m Your Man” by Wham!- Another George Michael song had to make the list. This song is one of my most listened to for a reason. 

7.) “Marchin On” by OneRepublic- I have loved this song for a very long time and even named a book after it.  

8.) “Star Girl” by McFly- Two of my favorite bands are Queen and McFly. McFly has been a favorite of mine since high school and I adore this song with my whole heart. 

9.) “Waffle House” by Jonas Brothers- My most listened to song of the year last year is another favorite. I have loved the Jonas Brothers ever since I was a kid and this is my favorite song of their’s. It’s incredible. 

10.) “Cars Not Leaving” by Gabriel Bruce- This was my favorite song of last year. I love it so damn much. 

1st Quarterly 2024 Reading Goals Update & Stats

   📚 January-March 2024 Reading Goals Update 📖

• Read 100 books in 2024- 32/100

• Reread at least a book every month- 3/3

• Read a 2024 read every month- 3/3

• Read at least 5 tomes (500 or more pages)- 0/5

• Read 24 Middle- Grade Books, 24 Young Adult Books, and 24 Adult Books- 10/24 Middle-Grade Books, 7/24 Young Adult Books, 15/24 Adult Books

• Review every book I read- 32/32

• Read 5 classics- 2/5

• Read 12 retellings- 5/12

• Read 24 Fantasy books, 24 Graphic Novels, and 24 Contemporary Books- 14/24 Fantasy books, 11/24 Graphic Novels, and 6/24 Contemporary Books

📚 January-March 2024 Reading Stats 📖

• Amount of books read: 32

• Read in January: 16

• Read in February: 5

• Read in March: 11

• Favorite Books: Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa, The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer, and The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang

• Least Favorite Books: The Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland by Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Aaron Conley, Jorge Corona, Morgan Beem, and Mike Del Mundo, The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A., and So This is Ever After by F. T. Lukens 

Star Ratings 

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- 16
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- 8
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️- 6
• ⭐️⭐️- 2
• ⭐️- 0

Monthly Reviews- March 2024

 🌈 March Reviews ☘️

March 1st-31st

Book 22: Natalie Haynes Stands Up For the Classics: More Comical Tales from Ancient Greece and Rome, Series 5-8

By Natalie Haynes

Listened February 28th- March 2nd, 2024

Release Year: 2022

📚📚📚📚

Another great set that I enjoyed even better than the first. I love how she mostly focused on the mythological characters this time around.

Book 23: Reynard’s Tale: A Story of Love and Mischief 

By Ben Hatke

Read March 4th, 2024

Release Year: 2023

Pages: 80

📚📚📚

I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would. A couple of years ago, I read my first version of the Reynard the fox tale and fell in love with the character. So when I saw this version, I had to pick it up. I really did not enjoy the fragmented way this was written. The writing felt very juvenile at times and did not fit with the story. It feels like a children’s book with the writing style but it’s too risqué for them. I know it is supposed to by a story for adults but it just does not feel like one at all. Ben Hatke’s illustrations are stunning and I wish I would have liked this more.

Book 24: Women & Power: A Manifesto

By Mary Beard

Read March 6th- 7th

Release Year: 2017

Pages: 115

📚📚📚

I read an essay that was a part of this a couple of years ago for one of my jobs and highly enjoyed it, so I had been wanting to read this manifesto ever since. The essay, at least in my opinion, was a better form for this content.  

Book 25: Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths

By Marilyn Singer

Read March 8th

Release Year: 2016

Pages: 32

📚📚📚📚📚

I have been wanting to read Marilyn Singer’s Reverso poetry books for years and I could not have enjoyed this more. She did such an incredible job creating the sets of poems. I love how well they each fit together and cannot imagine the work that went into this collection. Also, the illustrations are absolutely stunning. I highly recommend this to poetry and Greek mythology lovers. I will be getting a copy of this for my collection and will be picking up her other Reverso books.

Book 26: What You Need to Be Warm

By Neil Gaiman 

Read March 9th

Release Year: 2023

Pages: 32

📚📚📚📚

A wonderful poem with beautiful illustrations. I will definitely be finding a copy of this for my Neil Gaiman collection.

Book 27: The Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland

By Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Aaron Conley, Jorge Corona, Morgan Beem, and Mike Del Mundo 

Read March 8th- 9th

Release Year: 2024

Pages: 145

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I almost stopped reading this after a couple of the stories, but decided to keep going. There were a few that I liked quite a bit, though most of them were not for me at all. I was looking forward to more adventures with Gert and was thinking this would be much better than it was. I don’t recommend picking this up.

Book 28: Plaza Suite

By Neil Simon 

Listened March 10th

Release Year: 1968

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I remember watching this play back in college around ten years ago and loving it. So, when I saw this audio edition, I wanted to revisit it again. This time around I didn’t enjoy it as much as before, except for the final part. The third part is hilarious and had me laughing out loud. Maybe the humor works better when you can see what is going on. I’ll have to watch the film version again and see.

Book 29: Most Ardently

By Gabe Cole Novoa

Read March 10th-12th

Release Year: 2024

Pages: 304

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Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular romances of all time and I have adored it ever since I first read it many years ago. In Most Ardently, Gabe Cole Novoa remixes the classic story with our main character being Oliver Bennet, a young transman, who feels trapped in his society's expectations for women of the time. He was born Elizabeth Bennet and at this point in his life, he is ready to start openly living his true identity as a man. 

Many of the original story's main beats play out throughout the plot but with deviations. I love the relationship between Darcy and Oliver. It was great to watch them fall in love during the story and I just could not get enough of them together. The characters are similar to their classic counterparts but a bit younger. Also, I love Oliver's dad just as much as I always loved Elizabeth's father. It was a joy reading the scenes with him. Oliver is a powerful character who you cannot help but love from the very beginning of the story. 

I highly recommend picking up the audiobook for this wonderful book. The narrator does an incredible job narrating Oliver's story. I will be buying a copy for my collection and know I will be rereading this very soon. 

*I was given an ARC of this book and listened to the audiobook version after it was released. All opinions are my own. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.*

Book 30: Doctor Who: Rose

By Russell T. Davies

Read March 16th

Release Year: 2018

Pages: 224

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A great adaptation of the first episode from the 9th Doctor’s story arc, titled Rose. I enjoyed how this expanded upon many of the side characters throughout and on the story a bit. Along with the expansions on these characters, there are references to many other characters and Doctors (10th Doctor, Donna Noble, etc). Also, the ilustrations were great. I hope they decide to illustrate some of the other adaptations of Doctor Who episodes. Definitely, recommend this to fans of the show.

Book 31: Oedipus the King

By Sophocles 

Read March 27th

Release Year: 430

Pages: 104

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I listened to the audio version of this play with Michael Sheen as Oedipus and followed along with my physical version. This is a story I knew most of the plot but highly enjoyed listening to it. Michael is an incredible actor and does a marvelous job in the titular role. I highly recommend listening to that version of the play.

Book 32: The Carpet People

By Terry Pratchett 

Read March 31st

Release Year: 1971

Pages: 269

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I have been wanting to read this book for quite awhile but wanted to wait until I could listen to the version read by David Tennant. David does a great job narrating the story and creating voices for each of the characters. He will always be one of my favorite audiobook narrators. 

The book was not as enjoyable as I wanted it to be but I’m glad I finally finished Terry’s first book. It definitely feels like an early Terry Pratchett novel. You can feel his signature wit and style coming through. It reminds me of his many short stories from his collections, which makes sense because this was started around the time he first penned those stories (when he was 17 years old).

If you want to read this book, I recommend picking up David Tennant’s version. His narration is great.