I was trawling the library’s New Books shelves (as you do when the school year is over, and you can easily read a stack of books in a few weeks), and R.F. Kuang’s debut novel The Poppy War caught my eye. I am trying to read more work by women of color, and science fiction/fantasy is not always the easiest to come by. I decided that this book held an intriguing premise, and I was curious to see how it would pan out. I read […]
45: The most important book I’ve read this year.
Mothers of Massive Resistance by Elizabeth Gillespie McRae
I really am not exaggerating when I make this proclamation: Mothers of Massive Resistance may be the most crucial book I have read this year. I am not joking, I swear. As a white woman, I have been working diligently to do my part in activism, namely, owning up to the ways in which white women have participated in the oppression and suppression of women of color. It’s unglamorous, introspective, and uncomfortable work, but it’s one of the most vital things I can do to […]
44: A mixed bag of essays
I’m fairly mixed on Marilynne Robinson’s novels. I hated Housekeeping, but loved Gilead. I liked Home and Lila okay, though neither got to the level of the first novel in the sequence. I had never read any of her nonfiction, but I couldn’t resist What Are We Doing Here? when I saw it in the library. I had read Robinson’s interview with President Obama and enjoyed it thoroughly, so I wanted to see how her newest nonfiction would go. Robinson writes on a huge variety […]
43: The arc of not listening to women is long.
I’ve been hearing a lot about Kate Moore’s The Radium Girls, and Our Shared Shelf just made it (or The Hate U Give) the May/June book. I’ve not read a lot of nonfiction over the last several years, and I’ve been trying to be more well-read in less-known issues. This book was compelling, but I should warn you, also infuriating. After the Curies discovered radium, it became enormously popular. Manufacturers used it in paint for watches and dials, and this meant hiring lots of young […]
42: In the seasonal sequence, we see the consequences of nationalism.
I am fresh off the Autumn reading high, and I am so curious to see how Ali Smith is going to use the seasons to make social commentary. I read both Autumn and Winter fairly quickly, so there is absolutely something compelling about Ali Smith’s literary style that has grabbed me. In Winter, Smith completely changes the characters and basic plot, although the post-Brexit Britain is ever in the foreground. This time, Sophia and Art, a mother and son, are the major characters. Sophia is […]
41: Seasons come and go, but apparently, bad choices are forever.
I’ve been curious to see how British literature would be changing post-Brexit. Zadie Smith’s Swing Time begins to address this shift in Britain post-2010, but it foreshadows Brexit. Therefore, I was interested to see how Ali Smith’s Autumn would be incorporating Brexit into its main plot. I had heard buzz about her seasonal cycle, but had not made the plunge until my end-of-school-year library binge saw this and the next book make its way into my basket. I am really, really glad I gave this […]
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