Reading Diary – Audiobooks, Anxious People, and Animal Narrators

Welcome to another weekly wrap up! My audiobook mood from last week has definitely continued into this week. I’ve also come down with an end-of-summer cold so my reading has tapered off. Hopefully I’ll feel better by Saturday!

Disclosure: titles with an asterisk* were gifted by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I’m an affiliate for Blackwell’s, so this post contains affiliate links to their site. If you buy a book via my links, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you – thank you!

FRIDAY 21 AUGUST

As predicted, I didn’t read much at all today. I did read the last three stories in Chinelo Okparanta’s Happiness, Like Water. I’ve got my fingers crossed that she has another short story collection in the works because it was such a beautiful book! There were only maybe two stories in the whole thing that I didn’t feel were as strong as the others. My favourite stories were Wahala!, Story, Story!, and Grace.

I’ve been more into audiobooks recently than physical books for some reason. Well, that reason is I’m really into cross-stitching and I have like three projects I’m excited to complete. I finished the last hour of I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown from 9pm-10pm. It was a really interesting read! The ending was particularly powerful. Brown admits that she’s felt hopeless many times during her career and the fight for change. But she keeps fighting anyway. She keeps fighting even though she doesn’t know whether her children or even her grandchildren will live in a world where true change has been achieved. The fight must continue whether the end goal is within your grasp or not.

SATURDAY 22 AUGUST

I suspected given that I read exactly zero pages of Here’s to You, Jesusa on Friday that I wasn’t really in a historical mood. I decided to put that fictional autobiography aside for now and pick up something more contemporary instead. The kind folks at Michael Joseph sent me a free copy of Fredrik Backman’s new book Anxious People, translated by Neil Stephenson. I absolutely LOVE A Man Called Ove, so I was excited for this one!

But in the end I only read 40 pages before the audiobook calling became too strong. Wandering in Strange Lands by Morgan Jerkins was a Libro.fm ALC last month (gifted). Since the latest The Stacks podcast was in conversation with Jerkins, I decided to listen to it sooner rather than later. I ended up listening to almost a third of it in one go because it is so bloody fascinating.

As a Brit, my knowledge of US history is lacking somewhat. In this book, Jerkins says that she had no idea about some of the historic events and facts she uncovers, and I think it’s fair to say the same can be said for her readers. It’s a blend of the historic and personal, as Jerkins tracks her family’s journey as well as unearthing the more general history of The Great Migration. Already she’s discussed the essential role of food in Black communities, Black people’s traumatic history with water and its consequences to this day, and root magic. I cannot wait to listen to more tomorrow!

SUNDAY 23 AUGUST

Usually my social-media-free Sundays are very productive in terms of reading, but not so today. I don’t know whether I’ve simply read myself out this month or if it’s the books I’m picking up. It took me almost 150 pages to get into Anxious People*, and if it wasn’t a tried and tested author I probably would have thrown in the towel. Thankfully, Backman began to work his magic and I settled into the story.

The premise of Anxious People* is a bank-robbery-gone-wrong-turned-hostage-situation. The eight people involved, who at first seem worlds apart, soon learn they have more in common than they initially expected. For the first 100 pages I just found all the characters EXTREMELY annoying – which is the point. But not annoying in an endearing way until around 150 pages.

But I didn’t actually read those 150 pages until past 8pm. What did I do for the rest of the day? Listened to another third of Wandering in Strange Lands*, which I’m still enjoying, and worked on a cross-stitch for a friend’s birthday.

Then I spent almost five hours watching Captain America: Winter Soldier and Civil War?! I’m not usually a fan of superhero movies but I AM a fan of Sebastian Stan, so I thought I’d give them a go. They are highly addictive. I’m now planning on watching all the Marvel movies on Disney+ in order so there goes some reading time for the next few weeks!

MONDAY 24 AUGUST

I finished listening to Wandering in Strange Lands* while doing some chores in the afternoon. Jerkins packs a lot into this book, both in terms of Black people’s history of migration within the US and her own personal family history. She visits many different parts of the US to discover her family’s roots. My favourite parts were definitely when she visited Georgia, learning about the Gullah Geechee people, and Louisiana, where she learned about Creole people. I didn’t think the last parts, when she visits LA and Oklahoma, felt as fleshed out as the first half of the book, but interesting nonetheless.

I listened to the audiobook via Libro.fm and I highly recommend it. If you’re in the US or Canada and fancy trying out a monthly membership with them, then you can use my code ABREADS or follow my link to get two audiobooks for the price of one with your first month’s membership!

Then in the evening I sat down to read the last 130 or so pages of Anxious People*. Although I did eventually get into it, I don’t rate it as much as I do Ove or even Britt-Marie Was Here. It is better than My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, I found that one a bit grating. But I liked the way everything came together in Anxious People* in the end. I appreciated the message that we’re all just trying our best to muddle through life. You never really know what other people have got going on in their lives, and a little kindness can have an immeasurable effect.

Before sleeping, I read the first 30 pages of Sula by Toni Morrison, which I picked up because it’s The Stacks’ Book Club choice this month. I haven’t read any Morrison this year yet, so it already feels wonderful to be back in her exquisite prose.

TUESDAY 25 AUGUST

With breakfast, I read another 20 pages of Sula, which was a huge mistake. I was then loath to put it down and get on with some work. I read the rest of it (110 pages) in one gulp in the evening.

Toni Morrison’s prose never fails to blow me away. Just look at some of these quotes.

‘He was smiling, a great smile, heavy with lust and time to come. He nodded his head as though answering a question, and said, in a pleasant conversational tone, a tone of cooled butter, “Always.”’

‘[…] until, touched by her own lullaby, she grew drowsy, and in the hollow of near-sleep she tasted the acridness of gold, left the chill of alabaster and smelled the dark, sweet stench of loam.’

That second quote becomes even more beautiful once you’ve read a lengthier passage that comes before it. Seriously, the English language is putty in Morrison’s hands. I feel like she’s wrapping me in a blanket of her words.

The ‘plot’ of Sula follows two young girls, Sula and Nel, as they come of age and grow into adults. Nel falls into regular married life while Sula runs away to pursue her dreams. On her return, the locals treat her with suspicion, believing her strength to be a sign of witchcraft. Stories of female friendship are my favourites, so this was bound to be a winner. And as usual, Toni Morrison did not disappoint.

For my next read, I picked up Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou, translated from the French by Helen Stevenson. Its pretty much as it sounds: a porcupine writing his memoirs. He is an animal double, something all humans have according to African legend. His master has just died and so the porcupine is ready to spill all by writing a book. Mabanckou was born in the Republic of Congo and is a French citizen. I’ve been intrigued by his work for a while and was happy to see this one listed in my library catalogue!

WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST

I wanted to finish off a cross-stitch (another bookish one!) so it was time to start a new audiobook! My library reservation had just come in for The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar so that was perfect timing. I’ve been trying to read a few more light-hearted books recently, as I tend to reach for books that are… emotionally devastating most of the time.

The Henna Wars follows Nishat, a teenage girl who has just come out to her parents. But her revelation does not go down well – according to her parents, Muslim girls are not lesbians. At school, Nishat reunites with Flávia, a girl she went to primary school with. The attraction between the two girls is instant, but a school competition soon gets in the way of their chemistry. Jaigirdar tackles both cultural appropriation and homophobia in this rom-com. So far, I think she’s doing a great job of balancing fluffy and serious.

I also dipped in and out of Memoirs of a Porcupine with lunch and then in the evening. It’s a strange, dark little tale about animal doubles. I saw an interesting comment on Goodreads, about how white readers would likely call this book ‘magical realism’ because it draws on African folklore and traditions. It really made me stop to consider the way I read it, and how white readers read books from other cultures through a skewed western lens.

Before bed, I read the first 20 pages of Sunlight Hours* by Caroline Caugant, translated by Jackie Smith. Caugant is a French author I’ve not heard much about, but I’m intrigued by this book and the way it’s tied together by water.

THURSDAY 27 AUGUST

My strange mood from last Thursday returned to haunt me and I couldn’t concentrate on Sunlight Hours* for longer than 10 minutes at a time. I’m not sure if it’s me or the book, but either way I only read 60 pages of it all day.

I had some other chores to do in the afternoon so I got to listen to some more of The Henna Wars which I’m absolutely loving!

Hopefully this mood dissipates before the weekend as I’ve got some serious reading plans for the Bank Holiday!

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