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If I only say one thing this week it's this: huge thanks to all the folks who joined the ‘Jambula Tree’ reading on Saturday. It was such good fun not just reading together but the discussions we had after. It’s always such a pleasure to hear people’s voices, to experience literature in a group and to have laughs with fun people. Gatwiri had suggested doing it monthly and we just might!
Roe v Wade, an almost 50 year ruling that legalised abortion across the US, was overturned last week and my timeline has been full of people (not all from the US) discussing the effect of the ruling. Rainer on BookTube put together a set of books that feature abortion and I’ve been listening to Frog by Mo Yan during my walks and tasks. I can’t wait to talk about it because it’s been doing a lot of work.
Some exciting news: Akinyi is back!!! One of the books she discusses - The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris - had quite the effect on me so I can’t wait to hear her thoughts during my evening walk today. Find the latest episode here and subscribe.
Meanwhile, I put out another video yesterday. I think we can all agree that this is now a once-a-month book round up account so you’ll excuse the length (as always, 2x for the win). On Saturday, I was in town with time to spare and found myself buying books on Tom Mboya Street (including reconnecting with my favourite bookseller who sells books opposite the post office, close to the Mondlane/ Tom Mboya junction) which means there’ll be another book haul video soon. Something to look forward to!
Some reading updates: I’ve only finished 2 books since we last spoke - Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl by Joya Goffney and The Trees by Percival Everett (narrated by Bill Andrew Quinn) though I made progress with some titles over the weekend. The books I started - The Art of Rest: How to Find Respite in the Modern Age by Claudia Hammond (which came recommended by a voracious reader who reads quite a few psych & personal development books after I discussed rest in a previous entry) and The Hilarious World of Depression by John Moe (narrated by the author) - were quite the choices with topics that concern us all at their heart.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I’ll be judging in the BookTube Prize translated books category - with a deadline at the end of July (which starts this week!), the goal is to read them over the next 2 weeks and have enough time to rank them, write something and record a video. As with earlier this year, I’ve only read one of the titles in my group so I’m excited to encounter new authors and stories.
As promised, the plan this week is to talk about the Caine Prize shortlist over on YouTube. I thought I’d do a reading vlog like the cool kids but I think I’ll just take notes after each story and collate my thoughts at week’s end. Maybe one story a day just to keep it fresh? We’ll see. Before then, I’m avoiding all Prize content so it’ll be almost freeing to speak about them (not you gagging yourself dramatically, Mike!).
Enjoy the rest of the week and have a lovely time reading. Talk to you soon!