by Lindy West
★★★½
Tag archives: pleasing covers
Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction
by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Zelda Knight (Editors)
- “Simbi” by Sandra Jackson-Opoku ★★½
- “Housewarming for a Lion Goddess” by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga ★★★
- “A Knight in Tunisia” by Alex Jennings ★★★
- “The Devil Is Us” by Mirette Bahgat ★★½
- “The Lady of the Yellow-painted Library” by Tobi Ogundiran ★★½
- “The
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
by Ibram X. Kendi (Editor), Keisha N. Blain (Editor)
★★★★
Queens of Noise
by Leigh Harlen
★★★
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water
by Zen Cho
Not half a sneeze of subversion in this recreated patriarchy. Body shaming and threats of genital mutilation serve as comedy.
Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power
by Lola Olufemi
An incisive work of Black feminism in Britain covering reproductive justice, trans inclusionary feminism, supporting sex workers, prison abolition, and—excitingly—art as witness. I would have been bowled over if the chapter on food concentrated on food justice with inspiration from Vandana Shiva. Olufemi envisages a living, breathing practice … Read more
The Subtweet
by Vivek Shraya
★★★★½
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
by Cathy Park Hong
★★★
Surge
by Jay Bernard
★★½
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
by Zora Neale Hurston
★★★★
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
This Place: 150 Years Retold
Alicia Elliott (Foreword)
★★★★½
The Witches Are Coming
by Lindy West
Her comedy stylings are not for me. There’s also a noticeable void of anti-pseudoscience condemnation in the Goop chapter. But even when she introduces her searing dissections of global political misdirection via the prism of sappingly irrelevant subcelebrities, Lindy West is still a cultural force.
Surviving the City
(Surviving the City #1)
by Tasha Spillett, Natasha Donovan (Illustrations)
★★★½
Noire n’est pas mon métier
by Aissa Maïga (Editor)
Directors as gatekeepers including Celine Sciamma think claiming colourblindness is progressive. France is a country where the national sense of humour is one of punching down, and the official line is that naming race is racist, which conveniently denies the reality of inequitable experience and keeps the … Read more
Spirits Abroad
by Zen Cho
Zen Cho is my new favourite short story writer. Generally I find magical realism exhausting and irrelevant (García Márquez). Spirits Abroad is the first work I’ve read whose magical elements complement the stories—which pulse with inventiveness and humour.