Reader,
I’ve learnt my lesson - I’ll now watch every packing video and keep my luggage small because I’m writing this in a hotel room away from home with nothing but the contents of my backpack and the shopping I did yesterday to my name. I had grand reading plans for the first 2 days of my trip but I spent yesterday battling dysphoria as I walked the fine line between acquiring new items of clothing (needed) and fighting the urge to give up in the face of highly gendered selections.
But baby, this is not what you came for so — to the books!
When I was young and innocent headed to my destination, I met a Bangladeshi backpacker. Because we both ended up at the lost luggage desk, we had a chance to talk even more and for me to ask, when I saw his lock screen, if it was Rabindranath Tagore. It was, and it led to an interesting conversation about the right way to pronounce his name (I even made a voice recording as he said it) and the spectre of Anglicised names. It’s always something to remember that the audio and visual experience of reading can lead one down different paths of pronunciation and spelling but also that literature can be such a great connector.
My seatmate spoke about therapy via books after our conversation led us to talking about our interests. As a person who has been on and off with talk therapy for years, it was intriguing to listen to someone speak about the power of books in helping them figure themselves out and it got me thinking once more about reading in community and how that experience differs so greatly from reading alone. I know reading is quite the solo pursuit and books on psychology may be a hard sell for reading in community but I’d like to find out what it would look like to read self-help or therapy books with other people.
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Triathlon Dreams
I neither swam nor ran this week (folks who know where to get a bike, please share the info with me!) and my creaking joints have let me know what they think. I’d planned to get some running in (even if it was on a treadmill) while I was away but there’s no need to rehash the events of the last 48 hours so this may just be a week that yields little by way of updates.
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Since I started writing this newsletter I’ve gotten my suitcase back, finished a book, watched a proposal scene being set up and listened to an episode of Eve Ewing’s latest podcast GUARANTEED (not in that order) and it has turned into quite the memorable Sunday.
Quick news/ things that may be of interest:
A comic book YB enjoyed as a child- Passages by Annette Roman, illustrated by Leonardo Ng - is in the public domain - I found it a good entry point for certain conversations when I bought it for him 12-odd years ago
Over on Twitter, a weekly library TBR thread; if you’d like to know what titles to expect in the read books section
Bids are closed on naming the kitten who’ll now go by Bolt (Of Doom) Mutanyi thanks to the highest bidder. As promised, we’re matching the total amount raised (800 KES) to donate 1,600 KES to Kenya Society for the Protection & Care of Animals (KSPCA)
Dracula Daily, which I mentioned in a past entry, continues apace. Jump on if you’re keen
You can send me books, postcards, letters, and assorted gifts via PO Box 102439, Jamia Posta 00101, Nairobi, Kenya
I have finished one book since I last wrote - a hybrid read of Butler to the World: How Britain Helps the World's Worst People Launder Money, Commit Crimes, and Get Away with Anything by Oliver Bullough (narrated by the author) and Deaf Utopia A Memoir—And a Love Letter to a Way of Life by Nyle DiMarco with Robert Siebert (narrated by Dan Bittner) and my latest video is a new one on borrowed books from April (you can watch it here). To catch the videos I’m working on subtitles for when they’re done, subscribe to the channel if you haven’t yet!
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.
Enjoy the rest of the week and have a lovely time reading. Talk to you soon!
On bibliotherapy, there’s this quote from Proust: “Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself.”