I am foregoing a normal post this week because the events of the past two weeks mean that now is not the time for me to fill the air with anecdotes from my reading life. Last night I was talking with my partner about the limits of truly understanding what it means to live as … Continue reading Read Books by Black Authors
Octavia Butler
Shape Change: For George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery
"I don't think things are getting worse, I think they are getting uncovered." —adrienne maree brown, Pleasure Activism "None of us knows enough, but we can't let that stop us." —Ruth King, Mindful of Race I pick up a book called The Crying Book because reviewers praised it and I tend to appreciate prose written … Continue reading Shape Change: For George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery
Weird Sisters: Atwood, Le Guin, Butler
How many other appreciators have lumped together the ineffable Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, and Octavia Butler? Combined they may be up there with poems to spring or love in terms of clichéd subjects. But I'm going to do it anyway because these three transcend easy comparison about "women writing speculative fiction." They are prophets … Continue reading Weird Sisters: Atwood, Le Guin, Butler
Magic and Change, Octavia Butler and J. K. Rowling
Friends, I am in a bisected emotional space, feeling contentment and frustration, happiness and sadness, fear and hope, grief and delight. I can conjure many reasons for this state but more important, I think, than understanding is sitting with it, soaking in it, letting it be what it is. Intriguingly, the universe has given me … Continue reading Magic and Change, Octavia Butler and J. K. Rowling
Summertime Slump
Into every reading life, a slump will come. Maybe you're just not in the mood for what's in the stack. Maybe the line-up of blockbuster movies and bingeable shows is too much to resist. Maybe there's simply a lot going on. Regardless of the reasons, dry spells are inevitable. My recent slump seemed like it … Continue reading Summertime Slump
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 