Molly Muldoon and Will Hernandez's A Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality is a useful addition to the asexuality canon. This slim #ownvoices nonfiction Molly Muldoon and Will Hernandez's A Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality is a useful addition to the asexuality canon. This slim #ownvoices nonfiction graphic novel provides, as it says, a quick and easy primer on what asexuality is and isn't. The authors are very clear that they are only covering the basics, but they offer plenty of other resources for further reading/ viewing at the back of the book. The writing has a light, patient, positive tone, easy to understand, very affirming to fellow asexuals, and welcoming to any allosexuals (those who are not asexual) who want to learn more. Will Hernandez's black and white comic-style illustrations are easy to read, and help to strengthen the conversational tone of the writing. A quick and accessible read, highly recommended for both asexuals and allosexuals wanting to learn more about asexuality. As the authors remind asexual readers: "You're not broken. You're not a failure. You're perfectly valid and part of a larger group."
Thank you to #NetGalley and Oni Press for allowing me to access a free advance copy of #AQuickEasyGuidetoAsexuality ...more
Cultivating Calm: an anxiety journal by Brandi Matz is not a journal for everyone, and it's not a journal for me. As a lot of others have mentioned inCultivating Calm: an anxiety journal by Brandi Matz is not a journal for everyone, and it's not a journal for me. As a lot of others have mentioned in reviews already, the prompts comprising 2/3 of the book are oddly specific, and, perhaps less commonly mentioned, very very specific in demographic. If you're a cisgender white woman who moves in upper middle class circles, the kind who does yoga and champagne brunch with other financially stable white women on weekend mornings to complain about your families and your high paying jobs, this may be relatable. It was not for me. I don't have kids, so trying to imagine what I'd feel like in a specific scenario at their PTA meeting or soccer game, for example, and then trying to think how I would respond within that imaginary scenario, is a lot of mental gymnastics that slowed down/ distracted from the actual work the journal is trying to do. A lot of the scenarios would have been much more broadly effective, in my opinion, if they had been more broadly applicable. Feeling excluded at a social event or bullied by family is relatable for too many people, but these events are framed so specifically in this journal that they are going to exclude many potential readers.
Also, this may just be a "me" thing, but I felt like the way the scenarios were framed was very stressful/ anxiety triggering. So yes, I'm reading a journal to learn how to cultivate calm, and part of that is learning healthier responses to stressful scenarios. But I still got really stressed out reading these scenarios as I flipped through the book.
Because flipping through is all I did. There are some meditation examples in the last third of the book that seemed really helpful, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to fill out a journal that mostly does not apply to me, and stresses me out even more when it does. So while I appreciate Callisto Media and Rockridge Press sharing a free copy with me in exchange for an honest review, I'm going to pass my copy on to the library book sale, where hopefully it will be found by someone who will benefit from it, or at the very least the sale of the book will make a few dollars to support the library. Funding our local library helps reduce my stress, so at least this journal will have contributed to its mission indirectly eventually....more
