What I’m Reading – 13 May 2018
Happy Mother’s Day!
We’ve been working so hard on home renovations that it is nice to have a bit of a break today. I’ve been super busy at work as well but am still carving out time to do some reading. Here are some of the highlights:
I just started and ARC of Hybrid Child by Mariko Ohara which, while it is a classic of Japanese speculative fiction, it is only in its first translation here in the US. It’s actually the first English translation of a major work of scifi by a Japanese woman author, period, so wow, that’s awesome. Always have to wonder what took so long but it’s here now, at least. And so far, I would recommend you get your mitts on this book! It is strange and mysterious and fascinating so far. I may take this Mother’s Day and read it all!
I just finished listening to Beauty Queens by Libba Bray and sorry but I didn’t love it. At all. I posted a little review on GoodReads. I just started listening to This Book is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson and it’s not too great either actually… I mean, it would be more interesting to someone who didn’t know anything about librarianship I think but it’s also just dated. I am striking out with aduibooks lately… any suggestions? I also recently finished Monsoon Mansion and am working on reviews for A Little in Love with Everyone by Genevieve Hudson and The Book of M by Peng Shepherd, so be watching for those.
There have been a lot of great articles I’ve been reading lately, it’s hard to share them all! I recently created a Resource Guide to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (#MMIW) and so read a lot of those articles as I included them. I just couldn’t find a great bibliography or guide out there, so I figured the least I could do was to create one. So please share it and also let me know what’s missing from it; I plan to continue adding to it.
Articles:
- “Louise Thompson Patterson and Black Radical Politics” by Charisse Burden-Stelly in Black Perspectives
- “How Our Use of Language Dehumanizes and Demonizes Mental Illness”by Roxanne Sukhan in Wear Your Voice
- “Black activist jailed for his Facebook posts speaks out about secret FBI surveillance” by Sam Levin in
- “The Egyptian boat buried for 5,000 years” on BBC’s The Travel Show
- “‘It’s worse than most people think’—Zinzi Clemmons on Junot Díaz and literature’s latest #MeToo moment” by Jennifer Malec in Johannesburg Review of Books
- “Review: Casey Plett’s Little Fish looks forward to trans futures” by Jade Colbert in The Globe and Mail
- “After #BlackandHooded goes viral, UW–Madison alums unexpectedly find themselves leading a movement” by Doug Erickson in UW-Madison News
- “Contraband Flesh: On Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon” by Autumn Womack in The Paris Review
- “When Words Become Witchcraft – A review of ‘The BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic’” by Kristen Simmons in South Side Weekly
- “How Do Race and Gender Show Up in Youth Sexual Health Promotion?” by Chris Barcelos in Gender and Society
- “KKK controversy at UW-Madison heats up, with family of prestigious alumnus upset by accusation of racism” by Karen Herzog in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- “The Fierce Feminist Academic Behind ‘Graffiti Grrlz'” by Anna Meyer in The Riveter
- “Post-Rape Resources Don’t Help Trans Women, But They Could” by Princess Harmony on Wear Your Voice
- “A Fundamentally Absurd Question: Talking with “Motherhood” Author Sheila Heti” by Kate Wolf in LA Review of Books
- “‘We can’t complain about people not buying our books when we aren’t writing for them’: Jennifer Malec chats to bestselling author Dudu Busani-Dube” by Jennifer Malec in Johannesburg Review of Books
- “Black and Brown Women are Not Here for You” by Lara Witt in Wear Your Voice
- “Identity politics has veered away from its roots. It’s time to bring it back” by Kimberly Foster in The Guardian