by Jesmyn Ward
“Black and Blue” by Garnette Cadogan is the highlight ★★★★★
Category archives: notes
The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness
by Rhonda Magee
My ambivalence about mindfulness took a dive exactly during her example of taking care of the feelings of a racist instigator (Dan) with equanimity.
Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism and Anti-Racism
by Himani Bannerji
I glazed over on the more academic chapters, which in general by my definition are too diffuse. When Bannerji writes of the personal, it’s harrowing and electric, to read about the everyday trailblazing of the author and of X.
Polar Vortex
by Shani Mootoo
Frustrating and enveloping at the same time. The conflict is bewildering and the author slides in a few questionable ideas, but her writing and the way she builds the story draws you in—she writes male entitlement and whiteness cracklingly.
Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Toward a Unitary Theory
by Lise Vogel
Beyond this being a work of talking about talking about the subject, Vogel advances no paradigm shifts, away from the white supremacist- and imperialist-friendly conception of progress nor away from including slavery in the equation in the reproduction of labour-power. In 1983 she reviews thoughts from the late … Read more
Exhalation: Stories
by Ted Chiang
Many of the stories are glaringly built around a fixed idea so that the notes at the end are redundant—or are more interesting than the stories themselves. The surrounding texts are more filler than breathing worlds. “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, “The Lifecycle of Software Objects”, and … Read more
Songs for the End of the World
by Saleema Nawaz
Broadcasting the photo of a possible patient zero is alarming and hopefully agreed upon as unethical. Owen has professor-equivalent status and conducts himself grossly with students throughout; the sympathy he gets, which is expressed literally, makes him come across as an author stand-in. The women characters revolve around … Read more
Rosewater
(The Wormwood Trilogy #1)
by Tade Thompson
It’s a shame that nearly all the authors who are paid homage are long dead white men. And having one character describe the protagonist as sexist isn’t enough. Why is alien telepathy more envisionable than gender equity in 2066?
Still Thompson has created an … Read more
How Long ’til Black Future Month?
by N.K. Jemisin
I managed to finish six of the stories. Generally too on the nose and yielding to stock themes of science fiction. “Walking Awake” was the most engaging even with all the hand-holding, with allusions to Get Out and TNG’s “Conspiracy”.
So far Jemisin’s not for me.
A Song for a New Day
by Sarah Pinsker
Luce is a Mary Sue of a musician and the book doesn’t let up on the cheese factor, but its earnestness and apposite themes (a wide net is cast with terrorist bombings plus a pox-like epidemic leading to anti-congregation laws) make it well-aligned for lockdown reading.
Conversations with Octavia Butler
by Octavia E. Butler, Conseula Francis (Editor)
The interviewers are on the whole unimaginative so there is a lot of repetition.
Octavia remains inspirational as a feminist hermit visionary!
Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes
by Jessica Pan
I’m largely resistant to labels, self-mythologising, and platitudes of self-help, but these aspects were balanced out with a respect for embracing uncertainty and Jessica’s comic tone.
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
by Amanda Montell
There is a lot of repetition of the linguist’s mantra describe don’t prescribe. Chapter eight includes a wincing mess about how we have rebellious sexist insults because our mothers were our first examples of authority figures who restricted our freedoms.
Traplines
by Eden Robinson
Only finished the title story, which was excellent.
Whose Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters
by Rebecca Solnit
Her metaphors seem to take on the teetering logic of numerology. “Voter Suppression Begins at Home” brought up something I never thought about before though.
Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being
by Romesh Ranganathan
The mystique is obliterated. I was disappointed by his shallow, regurgitating defence at the end of chapter nine; punching down subverts nothing. I am however heavily into self-deprecation and anecdotes of social inoperativeness (plus laid-back veganism) so this book had the highest laugh rate out of any comic … Read more
Storm of Locusts
(The Sixth World #2)
by Rebecca Roanhorse
I like dystopian fiction but less a showdown of good versus evil even if the lines are blurred. Rebecca’s style is breezy though.
Who Really Feeds the World?: The Failures of Agribusiness and the Promise of Agroecology
by Vandana Shiva
Important, including addressing the work of women made invisible and endangered alongside planet-wide casualties under capitalist patriarchy. Would be much more powerful if the repetition were edited out. I was especially inspired learning about the different mixed-cropping systems.
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
by Layla F. Saad
Layla covers the basics incisively, spelling out the beliefs, behaviours, and dynamics of white supremacy. The prompts get a bit repetitive and may not necessarily reinforce the challenge of each day’s focus but they do call on self-excavation.
I appreciated that Layla’s definitions were not detached and … Read more
As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance
by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
This is one of the most resonating works I’ve ever read, forging resistance against the entwined forces of colonialism, capitalism, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy—with a radical resurgence centred on living relationships with the land; engaging with stories; constellating with communities that do not replicate anti-Blackness, transphobia, anti-queerness; embracing … Read more