21

Or, Words & Pictures

Reader,

When I thought about writing this over the weekend, I thought I’d have nothing to say because I felt like I’d barely read and I had the sort of week where I was being told about news items by friends. Then Amyn sent us a gift (subscribe to her newsletter!) and it felt so timely - the long long lists of things to do might have been overwhelming one.

And yet.

For a while now, I’ve been talking about finally learning how to edit videos so I can go back to BookTube. Last week, 2 back to back conversations with Gatwiri & Linda had me feeling confident enough to try again. I did it - I made a video in which I spoke about my BookTube Prize titles. You can watch it here. I hope to put out new videos (Wrap Ups for now, more as I get more confident) every Friday at 1830 EAT (this is my favourite time, as evidenced by this newsletter’s dispatch time) so please subscribe :)

In a week when I struggled to read, I finished a few titles, chiefly via audio - ​​Sheets by Brenna Thummler, The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin and Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (a buddy read with P. Djèlí Clark superfan MJ which I listened to on Scribd - use Linda’s link to get 60 days free). The book I intend to finish today (Front Desk by Kelly Yang) is in conversation with Sheets in a way that’s very…American when it’s uplifting. I plan to talk about them both in this week’s wrap up so keep your eye out for that. When I say I struggled to read, I mean text that didn’t come with pictures (as Sheets, a graphic novel, did) was a hard slog so Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid lives to be read another day.

I had a buddy-read chat with MJ yesterday. Lots of fun, as always, and now I’m inclined to pick up more of P. Djèlí Clark’s writing. I love how our friends can lead us to new books and with them new worlds and it’s got me hype for the buddy read I start today - The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.

Other than Front Desk, I started a bunch of other books over the weekend when I seemed to get a burst of energy (I also acquired a new activity tracker that was on sale - still is - which the homies know leads to a lot of walking) - The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan, Good Intentions by Kasim Ali and Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice & Art Activism of Sins Invalid by Shayda Kafai. Today marks the “official” start of the digital reading week so I’m excited about all the titles I’ll pick up.

Some Mike in the Bookish World news: I talked to Shawn about The House of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber (you can watch our conversation here). Seeing it in the world was a particular pleasure, including a chat with a cousin about the way our name is said by non-Kenyans, and another about majini. Watching episodes of these bite–sized book chats has been a fantastic way to discover new titles and I hope someone(s) pick(s) up The House of Rust.

I hope you have a great week and a lovely time reading. Talk to you soon!