36

Or, Just Keep Swimming

Reader,

I’m not a betting person but I almost wished I was when Idza was announced winner of this year’s Caine Prize because she was at the top of the list for me. I scoff at patriotism most days (borders, I don’t rate them) but it’s often such a joy seeing a Kenyan win on an international stage. So yes, all this to say it pleased me and my homegirls to wake up to the news that her wonderful story took the prize. Read it if you haven’t yet!

I started listening to The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka during today’s morning walk and her description of the particular joy of swimming took me back to a time last year when I was swimming so often I cut off my pandemic hair so I wouldn’t have to worry about its maintenance in the face of almost compulsive swimming. No points for guessing that the genesis of Laps & Livres was that period and it was almost wild recognising the internal world of the titular swimmers. These people have lives that are full, even rich, but the pool consumes them in a very particular way. It left me strongly considering going back to that level of intensity, largely because of the variety of swimmers it features.

It’s particularly interesting listening to The Swimmers during a time when I’ve been contemplating the sociological concept of a third place and what spaces meet the criteria for a third place in my life. For those of us who love reading (above all else?) sometimes creating this third place takes time or becomes incorporated into it (as with book clubs that meet at the same cafe each month) and so this book is going to stick with me for a while for what possibilities exist. I think this is especially true for those of us whose faith practices and/ or sports interests (if any) take a solitary form - in the middle of a pandemic that, 3 years in, refuses to end, the third place might also be the place where one picks up a life-altering condition. And so it goes.

Tomorrow, we hold Gatwiri’s birthday reading of Idza Luhumyo’s Caine Prize-winning short story. As always, it’ll happen on Jitsi and the reading and collaborative playlist link have been dispatched. If you’re keen, message me on Telegram or Twitter DMs and I’ll send you the meeting link. Today’s the homie’s birthday, so I’ll ask you to send her digital flowers :)

I spoke last time about being a library power user and it really came to the fore in the latest video (last week was the first sans video in a while, hoping to put out 2 this week to make up for it) which goes on for almost 20 minutes as I speak about the titles I have checked out. I can’t stress enough how much I love being able to look up a title, borrow it, highlight it on my e-reader and know the author is being compensated for my engagement. As I said in the video that launched the series, some folks pirate books because they’d otherwise spend a fortune on books and I’m really grateful for the community (resident in North America, hopefully resident in many more countries; message me!) which helps me access these spaces.

As always, please write back to me and tell me what books you’re reading or looking forward to reading this week — it’s always a great time talking about books.

Enjoy the rest of the week and have a lovely time reading. Talk to you soon!