The Animals Inside, the Human in the Animal: Eight Books to Add to Your Winter Reading List

Darkness and Self Review by KATHRYN CHILDS As a self-defined experimental writer (my debut self-published [at the age of twelve] novel Henry’s Closet featured a board game between narrator and reader as well as numerous form-defying and fourth-wall breaking segments), I easily and willingly celebrate anything which taps into that nowhere space between prose and lived life. The absurdity that defines what it is to be alive cannot always be totally and rightly captured b

reviewed by Elizabeth Higgins Eric Braman’s debut collection Bury Me in Cherry Blossoms guides the reader through a botanical garden of memory. The speaker breathes through moss and allspice, hungers for honey and violets, and inhales lavender against a backdrop of soft-focus scenes that bloom with ever-present flora. Braman’s structure is botanical, with section headings (beginning with “Elm” and ending with “Cherry”) that represent tonal shifts and create narrative structur

Art that Creates More Art Review by Ari Blatt When the blocks of the days of 2023 began receding on my calendar, I indulged in annual reflections and used them as conversation starters on long drives with co-workers to our field sites: what was your favorite trip of 2023? most listened to musical genre of 2023? favorite recipe you made this past year? favorite book you read this past year? As the disher of these icebreakers, I came prepared with my own answers. Canadia

BOOK REVIEW | It Ends with Us Hello Tethered Literary Community, I pray you are all doing well! I read “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover over 6 months ago to add myself into the deep conversations my young adult daughters were having in regards to the dynamics of this book. I overheard them talking about the steamy scenes between the main characters, Lily and Ryle. I wanted to know: how steamy? And one of them mentioned a possible love triangle, which is just the right