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Or, BTS
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Pinning this for the next few weeks
My birthday wishlist, now an annual tradition, is out! You can find it here and any and all gifts will be appreciated 🙂
(I’m also open to surprises; as long as it’s not a surprise party.)
Reader,
When I was recently at the Text Book Centre, I had a conversation with one of the staff members and when he said “BTS” he had to clarify and say he meant “Back To School”. Future Mike might look back and remember this childless era so I’m sharing BTS, not the K-Pop group, with you. I hope your back to school/ work/ life as usual time is going well!
One of the things I decided to do, as part of my back to school practice, is to have a public media diary and watch at least one short film a day. I’m also instituting a no-buy year so wish me luck — I love buying books more than any other consumer good and I know that will be a true test of my will.
Something that happened last week: Black people shared online how Fable (which I recently started using) had used AI to spit out racist end of year reading round up posts. As a person who left Instagram, never got started on Threads, and seems to exist in a certain corner of bookish Twitter/ Bluesky (folks who have migrated to Storygraph, if they were ever on Goodreads etc); I found out via a Fable book club I had joined whose convener posted this article. In the face of the backlash to their use of AI and the appeal to “please think about the white authors uwu”, I have seen folks moving to Discord (as in the case of the club convener) or Storygraph. I…don’t know what to do (I know! I know! This has been socialised out of us but I’m not afraid to say it!) because I like that it’s social (you can yap, to paraphrase the person who made me revisit my Fable account) and is somewhere between the almost walled-garden effect of Storygraph and the everything-goes nature of Goodreads.
Something else about the Fable round-up was how mean it could be (oh wait, I’m told this is roasting) and I thought it was trying to be quirky but sitting with the news of the racist outputs was quite something. These people’s “humour” isn’t jolly, doesn’t invite one to laugh with someone; rather at someone. And when the root of the humour is anti-Black, anti-kindness (making reading round ups that make caring about social justice in one’s reading something to laugh about, for instance) and rooted in a pretty extractive technology, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh I think I’ll just start doing a weekly round up on my blog (and maybe this should motivate me to take the channel out of hiatus) but then all platforms have something about them. Maybe the lesson is to write in a reading journal. Decisions, decisions.
How do you track your reading? As a person who has been on the internet for ages, I value community and the joy of connecting via books (yes, yes, throw the tomatoes over bonding over consumerism!!!) so let me know what does that for you.
And yes, more book clubs this year; including the Queer Times Book Club and Silent Book Club Nairobi (which holds its January meeting next week; tickets here).
Quick news/ things that may be of interest:
Sign up for the Reading Group discussing Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis here.
Subscribe to my WhatsApp channel for texts I find while I spend time online
If you’re in the Global North and would be open to engaging in the North-South solidarity that is sharing a library card, please email or message me so we can figure things out. Thank you!
2025 Public Domain Day Remix Contest: The Internet Archive is Looking For Creative Short Films Made By You! (Deadline: 17th January)
Links to Reading Lists, Free Books, Book Recs, Book-related Items in this document
Since Elon seems to want (some of) us gone, I’m trying to post more often on Bluesky. Follow me there if you’re on it!
The Queer Liberation Library 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
You can send me books, postcards, letters, and assorted items via PO Box 102439, Jamia Posta 00101, Nairobi, Kenya
I have finished six books since I last wrote to you (reviews up on Fable, still on Goodreads): a hybrid read of I'm Sorry for My Loss: An Urgent Examination of Reproductive Care in America by Rebecca Little and Colleen Long (e-book & audiobook; narrated by Christina Delaine), a hybrid read of Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad (e-book & audiobook; narrated by the author), a hybrid read of After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time by Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek (e-book & audiobook; narrated by Marisa Calin), a hybrid read of We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance by Mara Kardas-Nelson (e-book & audiobook; narrated by Nene Nwoko), a hybrid read of Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver [Introduction by Tayari Jones] (e-book & audiobook; narrated by Emana Rachelle) and a hybrid read of All Fours by Miranda July (e-book & audiobook; narrated by the author).
As ever, please write back to me and tell me what books you’re reading or looking forward to reading — it’s always a great time talking about books.
Thank you for reading 🙂
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Enjoy the week ahead and have a lovely time reading. Talk to you soon!