#very anti black of you nella

[dudeshusband]

the idea that we'd ban books that include the n word (as a criticism of racism, mind you) is absurd because have you ever read 19th and 20th century black american literature?

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

20 Most Anticipated of 2020 Part 2: 11-20

20 films directed by women that will debut in 2020. 

Part I HERE

On the Rocks dir. Sofia Coppola

Coppola has sort of fallen out of vogue recently and I’ll admit it’s been quite a while since I fully connected with one of her films. But she remains one of the most imitable and influential living directors. On the Rocks seems to play to what I believe are Coppola’s strengths. The film follows a new mother (played by Rashida Jones) reconnecting with her elderly playboy father (played by Coppola muse Bill Murray).  

Passing dir. Rebecca Hall

British actress Hall is getting behind the camera for the first time with Passing, an adaptation of a Nella Larsen novel about two African-American light skinned childhood friends who reconnect as adults when one is passing as white and the other has chosen to embrace life as a black woman. Hall herself has black American heritage (her maternal grandfather was an American black man who passed for white) so the material is personal for her. She’s also chosen two incredible actresses to play the friends: Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga.

The Rhythm Section dir. Reed Morano

After the beautiful work Morano did with her low budget scifi film I Think We’re Alone Now I've been eagerly anticipating Morano’s next work. TRS was supposed to come out last year but was delayed after star Blake Lively severely injured her hand. I thought the movie might be cancelled for good but Morano and her team persevered. The movie, about a woman seeking revenge after her family is murdered is finally complete! Though it’s being dumped in early January I’m sure that Morano has delivered something that will be at the very least, a visual feast. 

The Story of My Wife dir. Ildikó Enyedi

I was so thoroughly in love with Enyedi’s last film On Body and Soul that I would have watched whatever she chose to do next. The Hungarian director has chosen to adapt a novel about a sea captain who makes a bet with his friend that he will marry the next woman to walk into a cafe and then spends the rest of his life jealously miserable and certain that his beautiful wife is cheating on him. French actress Léa Seydoux plays the wife!

The Souvenir Part II dir. Joanna Hogg

I always find myself reluctant to recommend Hogg films because they are the very definition of rich white people problems (you know, incredibly wealthy people repressing their issues with each other and looking distressed as they wander around beautiful landscapes and rooms filled with a sense of malaise)  yet I really adore her films. The Souvenir was a semi-autobiographical look at a wealthy young woman’s birth as an artist and how a toxic relationship with an older junkie warped her world (in a restrained way of course). The first part ended on a particularly devastating note and I imagine part II will pick up from there. I had a discussion with someone who called the first film navel gazing and while I can’t quite disagree I will easily sign up for two and a half more hours to gaze at that particular navel again.

The Titane dir. Julia Ducournau

I’m terrified of horror so I had to wince my way through Ducournau’s directorial debut, but she’s such a stunning director that I am very much looking forward to her next film. The Titane has Ducournau sticking to her horror roots with the story of a child who was kidnapped returning to his family as an adult and the slew of murders that accompany his mysterious reappearance. Sounds gruesome.

The Turning dir. Floria Sigismondi

A theme of 2020 seems to be long delayed projects and directors finally putting out more work. Sigismondi cut her teeth as a music video director, made the musical biopic The Runaways which was released in 2010 and then didn’t make another feature film until now. The Turning is a modern adaptation of Henry James’ horror novella The Turning of the Screw about a nanny assigned to care for two children under mysterious circumstances.  Mackenzie Davis will be playing the nanny in this version with Finn Wolfhard and Brooklynn Prince playing her creepy charges.

Violet dir. Justine Bateman

I’ve been tracking this ever since it was announced and was losing hope that it would ever be made. Should have kept the faith! Actress turned director Justine Bateman makes her feature film debut with the story of a successful film executive who learns that the voice in her head guiding her decisions has been lying to her- about everything.

Wonder Woman 1984 dir. Patty Jenkins

She’s back baby! I was so utterly charmed by the 2017 film adaptation of Wonder Woman and it’s exciting to see that in the ashes of the DC cinematic universe with its ever rotating cast of Jokers and Batmans, Wonder Woman has prevailed. Not only is Jenkins back as director, but lengthy negotiations resulted in her getting the biggest payday for a woman director in Hollywood (a rumoured $10 million!) and also coming onboard as a producer and writer meaning she’ll have even more power to fully execute her vision. Bring on the shoulder pads, the track suits, the colour! Bring on the anti-gun propaganda! Bring on the matriarchy!

Zola dir. Janicza Bravo

This was on my list of most anticipated films last year when I was optimistic it would get made right away. Well now it’s finally here. Bravo presents Zola, the film based on the viral tweets from a stripper about how she went to Florida with an acquaintance and got dragged into the world of sex work and violence. This has potential to be amazing and I’m rooting for Bravo and the cast which includes the underrated Taylour Paige as Zola and Riley Keough as her friend.  

[maddie-grove]

Little Book Review: The Other Black Girl

Author: Zakiya Dalila Harris.

Publication Date: 2021.

Genre: Literary fiction with some genre-y elements.

Premise: Nella Rodgers, a twenty-something editorial assistant at the very white Wagner Books, is happy when Hazel-May McCall, another black woman, comes to work at the publishing house. Hazel seems to be everything Nella wishes she could be: cool, confident, and uncompromising. Soon, though, she has reason to believe that Hazel's intentions towards her are not so friendly, and that she is being manipulated by forces beyond her ken.

Thoughts: Much like Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, this novel tackles the confusion and heartache of being attacked by someone you feel should have your back. Instead of a romantic relationship, though, The Other Black Girl looks at the arguably more baffling world of friendly office relationships. Most of us want to get along with our co-workers, with whom we spend so much of our days, yet there's often an undercurrent of tension. Everyone's there to make a living and/or build a career, and even the nicest-seeming coworker might be tempted to get ahead by betraying a confidence or downplaying your contributions. Nella's experience of this reality is particularly harsh; not only is she working in a prestigious but cash-strapped field with little upward mobility, but she's also the only black employee in a department full of white people who give her wildly mixed signals about how welcome her presence is. (The higher-ups like having a "diverse" workforce and a "black perspective," but they get shirty and cold when she actually offers a perspective.) It's no wonder that she gravitates to Hazel, who gives every impression of understanding her experiences and wanting an alliance...until she doesn't.

It's both heartbreaking and nerve-wracking to watch Nella--a woman who's trying her best to be a good editorial assistant, advocate for anti-racism, unpack her internal biases, and take care of her own career all at once--deal with people who aren't acting in good faith. This obviously applies to Hazel. Most gallingly, she sets up Nella to look hypercritical and bigoted for criticizing a white author's racist portrayal of a black woman, and herself to look like the warm-hearted voice of reason...and then she dismisses it as "code-switching" when confronted about it. There are less obvious examples, too; in an early conversation, Hazel reproves Nella for suggesting that rich people are clueless about the experiences of people with less money, then slams her as a hypocrite because she's fairly upper-middle-class. Rich people (a group that includes Hazel!) are completely fine...but Nella is just as bad as rich people because poorer people than her exist. And the white editors and authors in the office are every bit as slippery. After Nella suggests that the black character "Shartricia" is not the height of sensitivity, the author and Nella's supervisor act like she wants every black character to come across like Sidney Poitier, because she's classist or whatever. Then, when Nella reluctantly writes an apology email to the author, her supervisor repurposes social justice talking points to fuss at her for saying something along the lines of "I'm sorry that you thought I was calling you a racist." Being white, I don't know what it's like to be in Nella's shoes, but this kind of jaw-droppingly inappropriate rhetoric is all too familiar.

The combination of the tense, paranoid atmosphere and the sympathetic, principled protagonist drove me to finish this book in about two days. Full disclosure, though: I did not like the ending. It made sense that the explanation for Hazel's snake-like behavior and other various phenomena was complicated; Harris sets you up to expect that early on. What frustrated me was that Harris gives just enough information about the underlying conspiracy to make me go "wait, what's happening?" It's unclear how many people are involved, or (more important) who's actually running it. This might feel suspenseful in some circumstances, but mostly I just wanted a flow chart. The conspiracy also involves some sci-fi elements of the pulpy variety, seemingly to capitalize on the success of Get Out. This would be fine...if the way it played out wasn't so bizarre. It's like if you watched The Manchurian Candidate, and instead of being brainwashed into being a Communist spy, the dude just became a Communist spy after using a special kind of pomade. It'sa lot to ask of a hair product.

Hot Goodreads Take: "Do you enjoy reading a book where someone is constantly blaming everyone for their troubles and never taking accountability for themselves? Do you like reading a book where someone is a jerk and catty?" Um...yes?!?! What else am I supposed to read, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens?

[narniadreams]

very many tags that i’m sure nobody cares about (with songs and a quiz and facts about me if ur curious) 

tagged by the ever so lovely @trumpkinhotboy​

drop three completely different bands/artists u listen to

Super Junior (kpop)

Regina Spektor (anti-folk)

Flairck (dutch acoustic)

Stumbled upon this and decided to make it a tag game ! (this is so very accurate like how do quizzes know this !?) The socially awkward brains of the team // Socialization doesn't come easy to you. You might struggle to be heard or seen by the ones around you so you prefer to avoid it all together, as frustrating as it can be sometimes. For that reason you might be selective with the people you blend with, and at times it might seem that nobody will truly understand you. But when you find those who resonate with you, you're an extremely kind and loyal friend. Most importantly, you're smart, and people always value that about you. They will constantly rely on you, ask for your guidance and advice, and you're happy to provide it. You like being the reliable friend. You don't get crushes easily, but when you do you don't really know how to handle them. They feel overwhelming and like a waste of time. There's no way they like me back, is it? What if I ruin it? What if I'm reading way too much into it? Remember to relax enjoy the feeling once in a while, chances are that your crush sees that intelligent and kindhearted person everyone else seen in you as well

list 5 things about yourself you want your followers to know. they can be as simple as your age or as complex as your deepest fear, as long as it’s something you’re comfortable with sharing.

i haven’t been in love since the last 10 years and sometimes i am afraid that i will never fall in love with anyone ever again.

there was a period in my life where i really hated reading books. before, i loved reading, but when i was around 8 i started to dislike it, and i only ever read comic books or magazines or very short/easy books. when i got into my last two years of highschool (15/16 age-wise) we had to read 5 books each year, so i was forced to read. i kind of started to love it again and i read a lot of books easily. since then, i never hated reading books again hahaha.

i’m going to study in south-korea next month, so i won’t be able to go to my violin classes. it’s the first break i have ever taken since i started playing violin in 2007. 

when i really love a piece of media, i often remember quotes from it, and in a period of obsession, i will keep saying that quote over and over again for no reason. a while back i replayed heavy rain and i kept walking around saying: ‘’oh shit jack, ain’t nothing to it, just a little bit of self defense. page one of the police manual, kill or be killed.’’ at random moments. 

that being said, i love video games !! i’ve sometimes got surprised responses to that because people say i ‘don’t look like a gamer-girl’ whatever that’s supposed to mean????? just two days ago i started playing days gone and it’s been very stressful so far hahaha.

I saw one on the mcr side of my dash where you put a song title for every little of your url and I thought it would be fun

N - nella fantasia - il divo

A - angels - owl city

R - rockin’ the suburbs - ben folds

N - no other - super junior

I - idea - akmu

A - a case of you - joni mitchell

D - dream girl - shinee

R - resta qui - andrea bocelli

E - einstein’s idea - johnny flynn

A - après moi - regina spektor

M - mayday - victon

S - she - jannabi

RULES: post your top five favourite comfort characters

Samual Drake (Uncharted)

Edmund Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Nagisa Hazuki (Free! Iwatobi Swimclub)

Hideyoshi Nagachika (Tokyo Ghoul)

Warren Graham (Life Is Strange)

hot shower or cold shower // texting or calling // earphones or headphones // paperback or hardcover // matte or gel // 12 hour clock or 24 hour clock // blue or green // sunsets or sunrises // tulips or orchids // candle light or moon light // sci-fi or horror // pen or pencil // pandas or koalas // gold or silver // sneakers or boots // denim jacket or leather jacket // pink or purple // wind chimes or dreamcatchers // chocolate or sour candy // deodrant or perfume // drive-in movie theatre or the cinema // pastel colours or neutral/earth tones // butterflies or honeybees // lemonade or iced tea // past or future // constellations or aurora borealis

cloud watching or stargazing // cherries or strawberries // messy room or tidy room // cooking or baking // blue pen or black pen // poetry or prose // loose clothes or fitted clothes // bookmark or dog-ear // orange or yellow // chocolate or red velvet // rings or necklaces // netflix or cinema // monsoon or autumn // late nights or early mornings // road trips or train/flight // candles or fairy lights // music streaming or record player // blinds or curtains // picnic date or carnival date // piano or violin // ice cream or frozen yogurt // museums or libraries // pancakes or waffles // cookies or brownies // moon or stars

there are more tags that i still have to do but this is it for now lol !! i tag anyone who reads this, no taking back >:)

[northernstories]

African American Literature Suggestions from NMU English Department

The English Department at Northern Michigan University has prepared this list of several dozen suggested readings in African American literature, with some materials also addressing Native American history and culture. The first section contains books that will help provide a context for the Black Lives Matter movement. It includes books that will help readers examine their own privilege and act more effectively for the greater good. Following that list is another featuring many African American authors and books. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it does provide readers a place to start. Almost all of these books are readily available in bookstores and public and university libraries.

Northern Michigan University’s English Department offers at least one course on African American literature every semester, at least one course on Native American literature every semester, and at least one additional course on non-western world literatures every semester. Department faculty also incorporate diverse material in many other courses. For more information, contact the department at english@nmu.edu. Nonfiction, primarily addressing current events, along with some classic texts: Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans, and Rachel Stein, editors. The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy. This classic collection of scholarly articles, essays, and interviews explores the links between social inequalities and unequal distribution of environmental risk. Attention is focused on the US context, but authors also consider global impacts. Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. A clear-eyed explication of how mass incarceration has created a new racial caste system obscured by the ideology of color-blindness. Essential reading for understanding our criminal justice system in relation to the histories of slavery and segregation. Carol Anderson, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. A very well-written but disturbing and direct analysis of the history of structural and institutionalized racism in the United States. Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Anzaldua writes about the complexity of life on multiple borders, both literal (the border between the US/Mexico) and conceptual (the borders among languages, sexual identity, and gender). Anzaldua also crosses generic borders, moving among essay, story, history, and poetry. James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time. A classic indictment of white supremacy expressed in a searing, prophetic voice that is, simply, unmatched. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me. A combination of personal narrative in the form of the author’s letter to his son, historical analysis, and contemporary reportage. Angela Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? In this succinct and carefully researched book, Davis exposes the racist and sexist underpinnings of the American prison system. This is a must-read for folks new to conversations about prison (and police) abolition. Robin DiAngelo, What Does It Mean To Be White? The author facilitates white people unpacking their biases around race, privilege, and oppression through a variety of methods and extensive research. Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarshnha, editors. Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories From the Transformative Justice Movement. The book attempts to solve problems of violence at a grassroots level in minority communities, without relying on punishment, incarceration, or policing. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The most well-known narrative written by one of the most well-known and accomplished enslaved persons in the United States. First published in 1845 when Douglass was approximately 28 years old. W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk. Collection of essays in which Dubois famously prophesied that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” Henry Louis Gates, Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow. Must reading, a beautifully written, scholarly, and accessible discussion of American history from Reconstruction to the beginnings of the Jim Crow era. Saidiya Hartman, Lose your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route. In an attempt to locate relatives in Ghana, the author journeyed along the route her ancestors would have taken as they became enslaved in the United States. bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation. A collection of essays that analyze how white supremacy is systemically maintained through, among other activities, popular culture. Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Narrative of a woman who escaped slavery by hiding in an attic for seven years. This book offers unique insights into the sexually predatory behavior of slave masters. Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. A detailed history not only of racist events in American history, but of the racist thinking that permitted and continues to permit these events. This excellent and readable book traces this thinking from the colonial period through the presidency of Barack Obama. Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life Any of LaDuke's works belong on this list. This particular text explores the stories of several Indigenous communities as they struggle with environmental and cultural degradation. An incredible resource. Kiese Laymon, Heavy: An American Memoir. An intense book that questions American myths of individual success written by a man who is able to situate his own life within a much larger whole. Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color This foundational text brings together work by writers, scholars, and activists such as Audre Lorde, Chrystos, Barbara Smith, Norma Alarcon, Nellie Wong, and many others. The book has been called a manifesto and a call to action and remains just as important and relevant as when it was published nearly 40 years ago. Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard. An invaluable collection of essays and speeches from the only black woman to win a Nobel Prize in literature. Throughout her oeuvre, Morrison calls us to take "personal responsibility for alleviating social harm," an ethic she identified with Martin Luther King. Ersula J. Ore, Lynching: Violence, Rhetoric, and American Identity. Ore scrutinizes the history of lynching in America and contemporary manifestations of lynching, drawing upon the murder of Trayvon Martin and other contemporary manifestations of police brutality. Drawing upon newspapers, official records, and memoirs, as well as critical race theory, Ore outlines the connections between what was said and written, the material practices of lynching in the past, and the forms these rhetorics and practices assume now. Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric. A description and discussion of racial aggression and micro-aggression in contemporary America. The book was selected for NMU’s Diversity Common Reader Program in 2016. Layla F. Saad, Me and White Supremacy. The author facilitates white people in unpacking their biases around race, privilege, and oppression, while also helping them understand key critical social justice terminology. Maya Schenwar, Joe Macaré, Alana Yu-lan Price, editors. Who do you Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States. The essays examine "police violence against black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures." What are alternative measures to keep marginalized communities safe? Ozlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo, Is Everyone Really Equal? The authors, in very easy to read and engaging language, facilitate readers in understanding the ---isms (racism, sexism, ableism etc.) and how they intersect, helping readers see their positionality and how privilege and oppression work to perpetuate the status quo. Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. An analysis of America’s criminal justice system by the lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative. While upsetting, the book is also hopeful. Wendy S. Walters, Multiply / Divide: On the American Real and Surreal. In this collection of essays, Walters analyzes the racial psyche of several major American cities, emphasizing the ways bias can endanger entire communities. Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery. Autobiography of the founder of Tuskegee Institute. Harriet Washington, Medical Apartheid. From the surgical experiments performed on enslaved black women to the contemporary recruitment of prison populations for medical research, Washington illuminates how American medicine has been--and continues to be shaped--by anti-black racism. Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Autobiography of civil rights leader that traces his evolution as a thinker, speaker, and writer.

If you would like to enhance your knowledge of the rich tradition of African American literature, here are several of the most popular books and authors within that tradition, focused especially on the 20thand 21st centuries. Novels and Short Stories James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man Langston Hughes, The Ways of White Folks Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Nella Larsen, Passing Nella Larsen, Quicksand Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison, Beloved Richard Wright, Native Son Drama Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf August Wilson, Fences August Wilson, The Piano Lesson Poetry A good place to begin is an anthology, The Vintage Book of African American Poetry, edited by Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton. It includes work by poets from the 18th century to the present, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Countee Cullen, Rita Dove, Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Yusef Komunyakaa, Claude McKay, Phillis Wheatley, and many others. Here are some more recent collections: Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon Wanda Coleman, Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, The Age of Phillis Tyehimba Jess, Olio Jamaal May, The Big Book of Exit Strategies Danez Smith, Don’t Call Us Dead

[dillydedalus]

november reading

so with lockdown #2, my master’s thesis done & handed in etc, i just had absolutely nothing going on so this month so... lots of books. featuring Houses full of statues and birds, an AU of weimar berlin, and... the plague?

someone who will love you in all your damaged glory, raphael bob-waksberg (audio) actually listened to this last month! anyway even tho i forgot about it, i actually really liked it! it’s a collection of short stories, all about love in some way, most with a strange twist - a couple wants a small wedding but the MIL insists they have to at least sacrifice 5 goats to the stone god and have a shrieking chorus, or it’s hardly a real wedding, right? that kind of thing. i really liked these stories; they were fun, hopeful without being cheesy (mostly), and the audio production, with lots of actors reading the different stories was fun. 4/5

the driver’s seat, muriel spark man this novella is nasty, but in a good way - sharp, vicious, mean but so well executed. it’s also pretty hard to discuss without spoiling it & i do think one should go into this unspoiled. but it’s certainly a classic of the unhinged women genre, showing lise seemingly making herself as noticeable, irritating and off-putting as she can on a trip to an unnamed (probably italian) city. 3.5/5

the empress of salt and fortune, nghi vo (singing hills cycle #1) a lovely novella set in an asian-inspired fantasy empire, which shows young cleric chih and their speaking hoopoe almost brilliant learn the story of a previous empress, a northerner who rose from exile as an cast-aside wife to power and of her servant, a peasant girl called rabbit. enjoyed the setting and the way this story unfolded through objects and rabbit’s retelling, and will definitely read the sequel novella which comes out in december. 3.5/5

pine, francine toon (audio) this is a crime/thriller type book with some horror elements about a young girl whose mother has disappeared mysteriously when she was very small. she lives with her dad in the scottish highlands close to a giant forest. the beginning is pretty cool & creepy, but then like 80% of it is just the girl being sad & wanting to know what happened to her mother & the dad being an alcoholic mess. and then most of the plot happens in the last 10% & isn’t great. disappointing. 2/5

where the wild ladies are, aoko matsuda (tr. from japanese by polly barton) a collection of short stories retelling japanese folklore stories about female ghosts/monsters with a feminist twist. on the whole, i liked these stories, but also found them a lot more light in tone than i expected; i guess i thought this would be more on the wild & raw side, so i ended up finding them a bit underwhelming. might also be a problem with lacking cultural context. will say tho that tilted axis press is great & i will seek out more of their books. 2.5/5

piranesi, susanna clarke (audio) god this was so good! so delightful! the House with its many rooms full of tides and clouds and birds and statues is a wonderful, magical yet melancholy setting, the narrator is kind & gentle & earnest, full of wonder and curiosity at the House and its mysteries (the contrast between the narrator’s and the Other’s attitude to the House... yes), the slow building up to the numerous reveals are just. very well done. the writing is lovely (did i almost cry about the albatross? yes) and chiwetel ejiofor is a great audio narrator. just all around lovely & the ending hits just right. 4.5/5

doomsday book, connie willis reading this book during lockdown #2.... a galaxy brain move i wouldn’t necessarily recommend. anyway this is set in a near future where time travel is used for historical research; oxford university is sending the young historian kivrin on the first mission to the middle ages (1320, which is perfectly safe, as far as medieval years go), but things go wrong and soon modern day oxford is under quarantine (ha. how wild. can you imagine.) and kivrin notices that some things are a bit off about where she is (spoiler it’s actually 1348 and y’all know what that means right... PLAGUE TIME). lots of people on goodreads found this slow and boring and while it is pretty damn slow (and for a world with time travel way too many plot points hinge on being unable to contact people by telephone), i found it riveting and uh dread-inducing throughout, but also really warm and immersive. adored this, was devastated at the end. even almost a month later i’m still in my feelings about it. 4.5/5

too loud a solitude, bohumil hrabal (tr. from czech by michael henry heim) a novella i intellectually appreciated but didn’t really love - the narrator works as a paper compactor in a nightmarish basement full of mice (that also get crushed by the hundreds) from where he imagines rat wars in the sewers but from where he also saves hundreds of books. it’s fascinating & well-written but as soon as it gets away from the nightmare paper-crushing basement, it just loses its appeal, especially when the narrator reminisces about his relationships to women (how to simultaneously put women on a pedestal and smear shit on them!!!). 3/5

i’m thinking of ending things, iain reid literary horror/thriller type book with a really intriguing first half, as a young woman is visiting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time while thinking of ending the relationship and things increasingly feel off (the parents are weird, there’s a picture on the wall that the boyfriend claims is him as a child, but is actually her, she gets weird voicemails from her own number). great sense of vague unease, very scary. then the second half kind of blows up the whole story in a way that i should theoretically find interesting but just found kind of underwhelming and not scary, especially since the ending then feels the need to spell it all out for you. 2/5

passing, nella larsen (reread) ugh this is brilliant and i almost don’t have anything to say about it so i’ll just summarise it i guess. it’s a novella about two black women in 1920s america, who knew each other as teenagers and who run into each other in a rooftop bar, where both of them are passing as white. irene finds out that clare is passing full-time, married to a white man who does not know that she is black, and although she strongly disapproves, she can’t help but be seduced (the queer subtext is strong here) into renewing their friendship, which begins to threaten her sense of stability and control. this book is pretty much pitch-perfect, has a lot of things to say about race, loyalty, what happens when categories we live by are threatened or destabilised, and is also just tight and elegantly written and. ugh. brilliant. 5/5

ring shout, p. djèlí clark an alternative history/fantasy book where the ku klux klan gets possessed by demons from another dimension and a group of black (and other marginalised) women (some men too) who are able to see these demons have to fight them from gaining more power through a showing of birth of a nation. note: the klan is still already evil without the demons, but their evil makes it easier for the demons to possess them. very cool concept, very cool setting, but i found the main character and some of the plot progression a little boring. 3/5

amberlough, lara elena donnelly (amberlough dossier #1) this is really just the nazi takeover of weimar berlin in an alternate world (literally... the denizens of the city of amberlough are amberlinians... the two epigraphs are from le carre and cabaret...), told thru an amberlinian spy (cyril) forced to work for the nazi-equivalent (the ospies), his secret cabaret mc/smuggling kingpin boyfriend (aristide), and rough-and-tumble sally bowles (cordelia). as such, it’s extremely my shit, although i will say that donnelly makes it a bit easy on herself by making the nazi parallel so very overt; the ospies’ ideology is not particularly detailed beyond ‘real fashy’ and wanting to unite four loosely federated states. it’s just.... a bit weaksauce, and while she does include an ethnic minority for the ospies to hate, this also doesn’t feel as fundamental to their ideology as it should. also cyril sucks. but these issues may be solved in the sequels & it was a lot of fun. also.... amazing cover. 3/5

the vanishing half, brit bennett very much in conversation with larsen’s passing, this is a 2020 historical novel about passing, colorism, and identity, in which desiree and stella, very light-skinned african american twins who grow up in a black town that values lightness very much, become separated when stella chooses to pass for white and marry a white man. the book is very immersive and engaging, and stella and desiree are interesting characters, but (i felt unfortunately) much of the book is focused on their daughters, whose chance meeting might expose stella/reunite the sisters/etc etc, but who weren’t as interesting. the plot also relies on coincidences a lot which is a bit annoying. still an interesting and entertaining read. 3/5

die stadt der anderen, anthology printed version of an art project where three pairs of authors were sent on trips through berlin, which each person writing about what the other person showed them and how they experienced the city through the other. there was nothing earth-shaking in this, but reading it during lockdown was lovely. in conclusion i love berlin... would love to experience it again some time. 3/5

the fire this time, edited by jesmyn ward collection of essays on anti-black racism in america, many in response to the beginning of the black lives matter movement. i don’t have much to say about it, but it is very good and i would recommend. as is often the case with essay anthologies about serious topics i don’t really think i can rate it.

intimations, zadie smith a very short collection of essays written during early lockdown. smith is always smart and fun but i wish these had been a little more focused on politics and less on personal experience, but like, you can’t really criticise a book for not being what you wanted it to be. ‘contempt as a virus’ was very good. 

superior: the return of race science, angela saini really solid, engaging and accessible discussion of race science and why... it’s bad & dangerous, both looking at race science in the past and the invention of race, and how it is returning and regaining influence (not to say that race science ever completely disappeared, but as saini explains, it moved into a more marginal space in the sciences after ww2). 3.5/5

the hive, camilo josé cela (tr. from spanish by j.m. cohen & arturo barea) spanish modern classic set in madrid during the last few years of ww2. told thru short fragmentary snippets with a huge rotating cast of characters, mostly lower and middle class, going about their days, with the theme tying them together being “the city, that tomb, that greased pole, that hive”, which is a very sexy line, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. the tone is v dispassionate and in combination with the huge cast it just made me profoundly unengaged. it also has the weird habit of changing scene in the middle of a paragraph, which i found rather confusing. 2.5/5 slave old man, patrick chamoiseau (tr. from french by linda coverdale) absolutely amazing short novel from the creolité movement aabout an old slave, seemingly resigned to his position, suddenly escaping and being pursued by the slavemaster’s terrifying monstrous mastiff through the forests of martinique, but really also about selfhood, relearning humanity, trauma and nature. the language is at turns sparse and lush and always gorgeous and the translation from french/creole uses endnotes (we love an endnote) and a strategy of doubling to retain some of the original language, which was really cool to read. so yeah this is brilliant. 4/5

mexican gothic, silvia moreno-garcia gothic horror novel about young mexican socialite noemí visiting her recently-married cousin in her new (english) family’s isolated, creepy and dilapidated mansion after said cousin sent a disturbing and strange letter calling for help. gothic horror shenanigans involving vivid dreams, family secrets and eugenics ensue. after a slow start, i absolutely devoured the second half in one afternoon bc once it gets going it REALLY gets going. not super-scary, but a nice creepy atmosphere & reveal. also loved how it combines the clear yellow wallpaper inspo (the cousin’s letter involves people in the wallpaper) and the focus on the english family’s eugenic ideology (not a fun fact but charlotte perkins gilman was a eugenicist), and the vain & flighty but also smart & stubborn protagonist. had a lot of fun with this. 3.5/5

i’m also still reading a tale of love and darkness by amos oz which is really good but which is taking me forfuckingever. 

[luckylq37-blog]

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