60

Or, Blackout

Reader,

I hope you’re having a restful Sunday, or a relaxing one. In another life, I had a newsletter that featured what I was listening to (and sometimes hearing) as I wrote and I’ll share today’s sound because it features a Kenyan (you can listen to it here for the next 4 weeks); an uncommon event.

To the tune of my favourite part of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself - has it been long since I wrote to you? Very well then, here we are with less than 12 hours left in the week and me just punching away (I wish for a mechanical keyboard sometimes for that feeling); hoping to share something, anything. 

It’s been a week of blackouts and tree cutting in my neighbourhood and I can’t tell you which one has thrown me off more. One so often takes things for granted - that their desk will face some trees (the perks of village life), that their work day will run fairly smoothly on the electricity front - that it can be confronting to have the certainty wrestled wherever it was lodged. I found myself heading out to sit in the sun and read Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make–and Keep–Friends by Marisa G. Franco, PhD. during these interludes. While I had to send it back to the library, it helped me start thinking about friendship in 2023 and I can’t wait to finish it.

I locked myself out of my Amazon account most of last year thanks to my refusal to clean my inbox or pay for extra storage so one of the first things I did once I gained access to it was install the Kindle app on my phone. This wasn’t insignificant - despite having a smartphone for years, I haven’t had the app in almost a decade - so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it allows you to read comic books panel by panel (Kindle app 1 - 0 Libby). This feature made reading Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas on Saturday as I headed home post-swim meet an absolute pleasure because my small screen could still render beautifully. That being said; I’ll still use my tab as my primary comic book reading device for the remove it gives me from my phone.

While I’ve accepted that I may never become a Bookstagrammer par excellence, I love the gifts those who are bring my way. Last year, I came upon Translated Gems and this year saw me discover the joys of Daily e-book deals. The former is a joy for those of us looking to read more books in translation - alongside Invisible Cities Reading Project and Borderless Book Club, which I’ve talked about in the past. While my goal is to buy few, if any, e-books; it’s nice to know they won’t cost a day’s wage when one is inclined to buy them so here’s to deals (insert fanfare).

I have finished a few books since I last wrote, reviews forthcoming. The aforementioned Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas, Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason (read by Emilia Fox), When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten (in the UK and US editions, with all that means), Patriarchy Blues: Reflections on Manhood by Frederick Joseph (read by Preston Butler III & Novell Jordan) and Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness; written and read by Da'Shaun L. Harrison. It’s been a minute since I released a video on YouTube but I’ll be back on the wagon soon!

As ever, 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!