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Or, Thanks for the memories
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Reader,
I don’t know what your core pandemic memories are but one of mine is finding out, on Discord, that there were some US libraries that offered membership for people who were not resident in their jurisdiction. As a library lover (if I was keen on tattoos, I’d get a library-themed one), this felt like manna — access to a library? With a richer collection than mine? At no cost? Sign me up!
This memory is dear to me because less than a year before, my platonic life partner Don had introduced me to audiobooks — via Toni Morrison reading The Bluest Eye — and the library had audiobooks. Once I moved from Overdrive to its mobile-first app Libby, I was on a roll. A lot of things were happening at the time — I was going stir-crazy, I was unemployed — but this one thing, which I’d come upon because of roaming on a platform I joined to find people with whom to play Among Us, was a ray of light. I could send books to my Kindle, listen to audiobooks during walks, and be immersed in literature. In subsequent years I’d read YA via Sora, watch films via Kanopy, and discover other media through Hoopla. The library was (still is!) the gift that keeps giving.
Over the weekend, I got an email from the library that started it all - Campbell County Library in Northern Kentucky - letting me know they would be cutting off the last of my access (I’ve not been able to borrow books, only magazines, for some time now) before the month is out. I felt so sad I went to social media (as one does!). Excuse the typos:
It feels like the end of an era and, even though I’ll no longer to read The New Yorker via this one library, they’ll always have a place in my heart.
Maybe to mark a new era, my commitment to the Queer Liberation Library continues. If you’re interested in supporting their work, please vote for them on your phone, your tablet, your laptop, and/or your desktop in this year's Project for Awesome fundraiser! 💰🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️📚
It doesn’t feel great to be writing a paean to a library halfway across the world when one of the places that raised me was the Nairobi Area Library and, as I often say, libraries might be the thing that gets me into politics or makes me revisit the idea of getting a Master’s of Public Policy (2016 Mike knows about this). I’d love for other people in my part of the world (what are called now? The Global Majority? The Global South? The Developing World?) to experience the joy of people who live in places with well-resourced libraries. I’ve tasted some of it and it feels so good.
If you’re in a place that has a library, please use it and enjoy it!!! Libraries are amazing and, even though one doesn’t see enthusiasm for them among Kenya’s political class, I hope there’s a future in which Kenyans have access to well-resourced libraries in their neighbourhoods. Before then, as always: please email or message if you’d like to share your library card. Thank you!
Quick news/ things that may be of interest:
Subscribe to my WhatsApp channel for texts I find while I spend time online
Add me to your New York Times Crossword leaderboard!
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!
Software resources for audiobook management. Especially Audible-centric, including organization and removing DRM from Audible files
A thread for folks looking to support Usikimye’s work
The Queer Liberation Library 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️, which is free to join here
Digital Library of Korean Literature, which is free to join here
How to Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the visually impaired
Links to Reading Lists, Free Books, Book Recs, Book-related Items in this document (most recent links at the top)
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!
You can send me books, postcards, letters, and assorted items via PO Box 102439, Jamia Posta 00101, Nairobi, Kenya
I have finished five books since I last wrote to you (reviews up on Fable, still on Goodreads and Storygraph): the e-book edition of What Did You Eat Yesterday? Volume 1 by Fumi Yoshinaga (translated by Maya Rosewood), a hybrid read of Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg (e-book & audiobook; narrated by Rob Shapiro), the e-book edition of Courting Samira by Amal Awad, the e-book edition of Rental House by Weike Wang, and Denison Avenue by Christina Wong; illustrated by Daniel Innes (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!