Hello and welcome to another weekly reading diary! This week I’ve finished a new favourite rom-com in the form of Chloe Brown, devoured three and a half books during a readathon, and began scaring myself silly with some very dark Japanese crime fiction!
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 18 SEPTEMBER
Usually my Fridays are pretty chilled, but today is a busy one! The StoryGraph had another spike in users (yay!) so I’m kept busy and I’m glad for it. When I do sit down to read at about 7pm, I find myself feeling somewhat distracted. Eventually (after a YouTube break) I settle down and read around 70 pages of Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyemi. I know Oyeyemi gets a lot of mixed reviews, a lot of people find her work a bit too confusing. However, I really enjoyed White Is for Witching last year, so I borrowed Mr Fox from the library. It gets off to a great start! I’ve heard it’s a mash-up of retellings, which aren’t really my forte. I can enjoy it for its own originality though!
Another library loan (why am I like this, I have over 200 unread books at home) I got is Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires. So many people have recommended this one on Instagram. But it has the stamp of approval from Tasnim @reads.and.reveries and I trust her completely on short story collections – and everything else!
This collection impresses me from the very first story, the only one I read tonight. It rolls along with a deliciously sharp wit, before the ending hits you like a fist to the stomach. I’m already looking forward to the rest of the collection.
SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER
This weekend I’m taking part in the #Read22ForRefugees readathon hosted by @readingwithkt. The aim is to read 22 hours across Saturday and Sunday. Then on Monday I’ll make a donation to Refugee Action, £1 for however many hours I manage to log!
My main read for the day is Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyemi. Although the book is only 270 pages, it feels a lot longer but in a good way. I think that’s to do with the fact there is one main storyline running through, but dozens of little off-shoot stories along the way. Oyeyemi’s creativity throughout this story truly blows me away.
The premise is an author’s imaginary muse comes to life, intent on changing his ways, as he has an unfortunate obsession with murdering his fictional heroines. But eventually, her presence begins to have a different sort of effect on the author’s life. The side stories are all the author’s projects and they weave around and through the main story so playfully. Characters merge and intertwine. Oyeyemi has said she considers this book one of her ‘games’ which ‘doesn’t contribute anything’. While it is certainly playful, I think the second point is a bit harsh – it contributes to a delightful experience for the reader!
Throughout the day I take breaks from my physical books with Get a Life, Chloe Brown. I’ve not had much time to listen to my audiobook recently, but also I’ve been parcelling it out because I do not want it to end! I’m obsessed with Chloe and Red, and I think Talia Hibbert is a master at creating sexual tension.
Then I also dip in and out of the short stories in Heads of the Colored People. This short story collection is brilliant, just like I’d heard it was. I read the hilarious Belles Lettres, which everyone raves about and it’s as good as they all say. Most of the stories are darkly funny, touching on topics like ableism, white normativity, police brutality and more, in a style that is unique. Thompson-Spires has spoken of wanting to write more about ‘nerdy Black people’, who are navigating various identities and for that this collection is golden. I read all but two, and some of my highlights from this very strong collection include Suicide, Watch, Whisper to a Scream, and the trio featuring Fatima. I’ll read the last two on Sunday morning.
I read for a total of 8.5 hours today, which I’m very happy with!
SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER
Day two of the readathon and… I watch Thor in the morning. My eyes needed a break, okay? Once that’s finished, I sit down to listen to another hour of Chloe Brown. Throughout most of this book I’ve been alternating grinning like an idiot and fanning myself, so I’m not expecting TEARS. Yet here we are, Talia Hibbert making me cry in my own damn living room. Hibbert is too good at writing real emotions, real panic, real scars from bad relationships. One of my pet hates with romcoms are the characters not communicating, and thankfully that’s not a problem here but it still breaks my heart. I finish the book later in the afternoon and I honestly love it so much. New favourite romcom? Absolutely.
Today I also start The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah, which I bought on Sofia’s @sofia_reading recommendation. And what a recommendation it is! I watched a live Q&A that Sofia hosted with the author, and I’m very grateful for that. It led to so much more insight into the book. These are definitely the kinds of books we need more of, and I’m loving the complexity of the characters.
I read about 170 pages of The Beauty of Your Face today, and a total of 6.5 hours read. I wanted to read at least 15 hours for the readathon, so I’m happy with 14 hours and 54 minutes! Do check out the Just Giving page for the readathon if you’d like to make a contribution.
MONDAY 21 SEPTEMBER
Today is SO. BUSY. There were so many people joining up to The StoryGraph following on from last Friday’s lovely video (yay!) so there are tonnes of support tickets to catch up on. It makes me very grateful that I sat down to enjoy my book for an hour before I got started – since I then didn’t stop! I read another 40 or so pages of The Beauty of Your Face which is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.
Once I finally get through my to-do list, have tea, walk Mia and sit down, I’m knackered! But I keep my eyes open long enough to finish The Beauty of Your Face. The ending had my heart in my mouth! In Sofia’s interview with the author, they talked about how her editor wanted to get rid of the gunman’s interludes. I understand that they’re hard to read, but they are so powerful. And even though they leave a bad taste in your mouth, they can’t overpower Afaf’s narrative, which is one of hope and tenacity. I really am looking forward to whatever Mustafah comes out with next.
While washing the dishes and cooking tea, I start listening to How to Be an Antiracist by Dr Ibram X. Kendi. Only 25 minutes in and it’s just so full of insight. One takeaway for today: we’ve made ‘racist’ into such a bad word that people take more offence at being called one that stopping to consider why they’re being called it. We need to take back ‘racist’ as a descriptor, to identify racist behaviours and change them. Being called ‘racist’ isn’t a permanent tag -it’s an opportunity to change and do better.
Then (for a busy day I have actually read a lot!) I begin The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. Again, I only listen to around 40 minutes but I can tell it’s going to be brilliant. I love the way she talks about translating her subjects’ words ‘like a literary translator would approach a poem’. She has no time for the way journalists transliterate Spanish and make the speakers seem less educated because of their poor translation. I highly recommend you go listen to Villavicencio’s episode at The Stacks – it’s the book club pick for September.
TUESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER
I start a new book with breakfast: Blueprint* by Theresia Enzensberger, translated by Lucy Jones. Sometimes I really enjoy picking up a book where I know nothing about the subject. This one is set in the 20s, at the Bauhaus School in Germany. Society in Germany is shifting, and Bauhaus is home to fascists and communists, mystics and formalists, and Luise Schilling is thrown in the deep end. I’m not exactly sure where it’s going, but for now Luise has joined a cult, so that’s fun.
While doing a few chores I listen to another half an hour of How to Be an Antiracist. Today’s takeaway: climate change disproportionately affects Black and brown bodies.
I also listen to another hour or so of The Undocumented Americans in the evening. I didn’t know (but also wasn’t that surprised to learn) that undocumented immigrants were a major part of the clean-up after 9/11. Their subsequent treatment by the federal government has been disgusting. You can really tell how Villavicencio threw herself into the research for this book. She’s not just talking to these people to get the facts and leave. She cares about them, they become friends, more than just ‘subjects’.
WEDNESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER
Instead of reading for an hour before work, I go back to bed after Mia’s walk. Two days of actual full working days after four months of sloth-life is clearly taking its toll. I’m weak.
In the evening I sit down to finish Blueprint but it’s a bit of a struggle. The new-to-me subject matter isn’t as gripping as I thought it would be. Luise is also annoying, which doesn’t help. Even the woman who wrote the introduction, Lois Innes, points out Luise’s need to be deemed worthy in the eyes of men. Her constant need for validation from the men in her life grew grating very quickly. It was unusual as she is trying to break into the male-dominated field of architecture yet can’t shake this need for definition via men. I think this book will have its audience, but it was just a little too dry for my tastes.
How to Be an Antiracist takeaway for today: a refresher on assimilationist, segregationist and antiracist policies and ideas.
I also listen to another 45 minutes of The Undocumented Americans. Villavicencio makes a great point about alternative medicine and the way well-off educated Americans will often tout its benefits. But the important thing to remember is choice and access. Undocumented immigrants often have no other recourse. Meanwhile, a wealthy white middle-aged person might drink herbal teas and shout the benefits, yet they’ll always have the option of going to the doctor’s when things get out of hand.
THURSDAY 24 SEPTEMBER
Even though today is Nadia’s birthday, SHE sent ME a gift for my one-year anniversary of working at The StoryGraph! I don’t deserve such a friend. One of the books she got me was Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder. Nadia knows my love of translated fiction, and also knows themes of motherhood fascinate me.
I started reading it in the evening and before I knew it, I’d read 110 pages! It’s VERY addictive and VERY twisted. In short, I love it already. If you didn’t know, the story begins when a teacher seeks revenge for the death of her four-year-old child in an accident on school premises. What follows is dark and twisted, and I’ve literally said ‘oh my god’ out loud at least three times in the first 100 pages. Crime fiction lovers and everyone else besides need to have this on their radar for October!
In today’s half hour of How to Be an Antiracist, I learn about Dr Kendi’s stance on microaggressions, and I completely understand. How can we call the ‘constant low hum of racial abuse’ faced by BIPOC every day ‘micro’? This book is constantly opening my eyes to new ways of thinking and I’m only a fifth of the way in. Today’s other crucial reminder: race might be a construct, but it’s a construct that human’s have organised their entire society around. Claiming to ‘not see colour’, while living in a racist society means being unable to recognise and challenge racial inequities. It isn’t progressive, it’s an incredibly harmful delusion.