135
Or, The Year of the Bingo
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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,
I’ve been in the village for almost 5 weeks (almost because I went to Nairobi for just under 48 hours) and I seem to have decided the way I’ll go through this year is by filling as many bingo cards as possible.
The most exciting bingo-adjacent thing (like a good parent, I don’t have favourites hehe) happening for me this year is Jananie K. Velu’s Anti-Brain Rot Reading Challenge whose Discord I absolutely adore. I think this is tickling something in my brain because it has a learning component and it’s something within my control during a time when so much feels out of it. I know you just got here and that might be a bit heavy but this acceptance of big feelings is how we’re going into the year, ok???
I’m still applying for roles wherever they are to be found but I’m also doing some experiments in this quarter so I might be sharing them in Quarter 2 and Quarter 3. Please feel free to send me roles - and advice on free or low cost learning resources - as I make my way through the year.
I’m also aiming for 10K steps a day for no reason other than I said I’d try for 3.65M steps in 2026. I was challenged by a dear friend to take in less American media when we went hiking last year and I’m happy to share that this year’s steps have mostly been accompanied by non-US podcasts (my plan is to have a 75/25 split in favour of non-US podcasts). I’m tempted to go back to keeping my media blog because it made me really think about what I was taking in plus Jananie’s challenge includes a critical media journal so I might just incorporate elements of that into my blog.
I’ve talked about my reading intentions in the first blog post of the year and I’m excited to be tracking my reading (this suffers almost every year lol) and sharing my thoughts on books and other media with you this year. Per usual, I’m taking advantage of having a birthday early in the year to give myself permission to start the year on the day after my birthday. Yes, I have a birthday wishlist, thank you so much for asking hehe.
If this is a bit all over the place, blame it on my brain defrosting after the holidays and my inter-county move. I want to honour the commitment I made years ago to write to you on Mondays so thank you for reading this far, despite despite despite.
If you’re wondering how to support me during these early days after my big move and in the days ahead:
Money goes a long way so feel free to send M-PESA or USD via PayPal (paypal.me/cmutanyi)
Send opportunities my way (I can run your communications efforts, do research, write reviews, write copy and much more besides; just shoot me an email - 100onbooks@proton.me)
If you’ve made a move like this, please tell me what you found helped the most with your transition
Send reading and watching recommendations (better yet, share a library card!)
Imagine what you’d like in this situation, and do it for me (this has yielded interesting results in my experience)
Take good care of yourself and each other and thanks for taking the time to read this far xx
Quick news/ things that may be of interest:
Treat someone you like (me, for instance, I have a Switch) to the Tiny Bookshop Game (which is also on Discord)
Subscribe to my WhatsApp channel for texts I find while I spend time online
Film folks: Solidarity Cinema, for your consideration
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!
The Queer Liberation Library 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️, which is free to join here
Film folks: Check out the Japan Foundation’s JFF Theater online streaming platform
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, and Calls for Submissions 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 write back!)
I have finished the following books since I last wrote to you: Girls Girls Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee (e-book and audiobook narrated by Rachel F. Hirsch and the author), Palaver by Bryan Washington (e-book and audiobook narrated by André Santana), Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam (e-book and audiobook narrated by Arthur Morey), Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis by Kelly Hayes (e-book and audiobook narrated by Amina Camille), Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor (e-book and audiobook narrated by Kevin R. Free, Nicole Lewis & TL Thompson), Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (audiobook narrated by Dominic Hoffman), Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (audiobook narrated by Matthew Blaney), Airplane Mode: Travels in the Ruins of Tourism by Shahnaz Habib (e-book and audiobook narrated by Deepa Samuel), Without Consent: A Landmark Trial and the Decades-Long Struggle to Make Spousal Rape a Crime by Sarah Weinman (e-book and audiobook narrated by the author), Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (audiobook narrated by Risa Mei), The Hidden Life of Trees: A Graphic Adaptation by Peter Wohlleben & Fred Bernard; Illustrated by Benjamin Flao (e-book), Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel (paperback and audiobook narrated by the author), Okchundang Candy by Jung-Soon Go (translated from Korean by Aerin Park, e-book and audiobook narrated by Sarah Chang), The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green (audiobook narrated by the author), Hangman by Maya Binyam (audiobook narrated by Ronnie Butler) and Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert (audiobook narrated by the author). I’m primarily using Storygraph now (passively updating Goodreads as I read most e-books on Kindle via the library) and I hope to get back to making videos soon.
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!