This is a bit of a long one because I had a really unexpectedly successful reading month. Some months I manage two books AND an audiobook (more often I manage a book OR an audiobook) However this month, I got through three whole books and two audiobooks.
The Girl with the Louding Voice
by Abi Dare
After hearing the discussion around this book on the BBC’s Between the Covers hosted by Sara Cox, I knew I needed to read it but I was hesitant because I hate struggling through a text and I’d heard the writing style is quite hard to get into, because of this, I thought it’d just be better listen to the book on audio (this is actually what Sara Cox did too) and it was absolutely the best decision because the audiobook (narrated by Adjoah Andoh) was so immersive. I was transported to the mind of Adunni, a fourteen year old girl from Nigeria who wants nothing more than to go to school and become a teacher, however after her mother dies, her plans are scuppered when her father sells her to an older man for marriage. The story is a bleak one and at times it seems almost relentless in its misery, there are themes of rape, child marriage, abuse, corruption, modern day slavery etc However, the story is not without hope and throughout it all Adunni never loses sight of her goal, that she will go to school.
You don’t have to say you love me
by Sarra Manning
This book is by Sarra Manning, an author I actually only know about because of my well documented love of podcasts! Sarra having shown up on many of my favourites, including Backlisted discussing The Dud Avacado by Elaine Dundy with Andy and John, You’re Booked with Daisy Buchanan; Caroline O’Donoghue and Ella Risbridger spent over an hour gushing over her book “Unsticky” on Sentimental Garbage and Sarra then came on the show and recorded an interview with Caroline after the episode had been released.
Unfortunately most of Sarra’s books are out of physical print but you can download them as e-books and at only £1.99 each, I thought why not give her go? I downloaded both Unsticky and “You don’t have to say you love me”, these books are very much marketed as trash, I say this because the cover Art was very much giving “this book is only £1.99 for a reason.” However, after hearing so many good things about Sarra Mannings work, I decided to break the habit of a lifetime and not judge a book by its cover. Also, Sarra makes no secret of the fact that she writes “commercial women’s fiction” (chick lit) and these books were written 10 years ago, if republished now and given sleek colourful covers, similar to Sally Rooney’s books for example, I reckon they would still sell. Although Unsticky is the cult classic, I started with You don’t have to say you love me because the blurb sounded more like a bit of me.
the blurb
“Sweet, bookish Neve Slater always plays by the rules and the number one rule is that good-natured fat girls like her don’t get guys like gorgeous, handsome William, heir to Neve’s heart since university. But William’s been in LA for three years, and Neve’s been slimming down and re-inventing herself so that when he returns, he’ll fall head over heels in love with the new, improved her. So she’s not that interested in other men. Until her sister Celia points out that if Neve wants William to think she’s an experienced love-goddess and not the fumbling, awkward girl he left behind, then she’d better get some, well, experience. What Neve needs is someone to show her the ropes, someone like Celia’s colleague Max. Wicked, shallow, sexy Max. And since he’s such a man-slut, and so not Neve’s type, she certainly won’t fall for him. Because William is the man for her… right?”
This book was written in 2011 and I think to a contemporary reader it could be considered problematic because of how it depicts fatness as being probably the worst thing on EARTH (like I could see the story being ripped apart on book twitter if it fell into the wrong hands), but to be honest I actually really enjoyed the story and as someone who is currently exercising and dieting quite strictly, I could really relate to Neve. I thought Neve’s obsession with her diet and exercise regime were really well observed and although the story was quite predictable and at times quite ridiculous, I was actually fine with it because rom coms generally are. Overall, the book is the reading equivalent of comfort food and I inhaled it within two days which is a very fast read for me. The writing was really easy to get along with and the book did touch on serious topics too like eating disorders, sex addiction and family trauma.
The Art of Mindful Reading :
Embracing the Wisdom of Words
by Ella Berthoud
I read this one after listening to an interview that Kate at The Book Club Review podcast did with the author, the bibliotherapist, Ella Berthoud. I felt the book would make a lovely stocking filler but for the price (£10.99) I just expected a little more… It didn’t help that I was already a little sceptical about the role of a “bibliotherapist.” In the podcast, I think I misunderstood bibliotherapy/what the book would be about, I thought it would be like a book you could use in order to prescribe “bookish medicine” e.g. if you’re feeling unmoored, read this book or if you’re feeling heartbroken, this is a good book to read and suggestions. The book is more about ones own relationship to reading and overall I feel like all of the information in the book could have been in a few articles or explored over a podcast (having listened to a podcast about the book I’m not sure I gained too much more from reading.) Some of Ella’s suggestions were quite ridiculous but I’ve decided I’m going to write another blog where I implement some of her reading tips and tricks into my own routine and see how I get on. So keep an eye out for that!
Praying with Jane Eyre
by Vanessa Zoltan
I really like this author, Vanessa Zoltan’s, podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text (it’s not one I listen to religiously no pun intended but whenever I do put an episode on I generally find it really affirming.) In the podcast Vanessa and her co host Casper Ter Kuile (they met whilst studying at Harvard Divinity School) read through the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling from start to finish, each week they focus on a different chapter and relate it to a theme e.g. reading a chapter through the theme of Helplessness or Forgiveness or Friendship etc They then further explore that theme in relation to the text using Sacred Reading techniques borrowed from Christian and Jewish tradition such as chavruta, pardes, floregium and lectio divina. I think the podcast works because so many people (myself included) have a real familiarity with the Harry Potter books, this familiarity to me is similar to the way all Anglican/Catholic church services are basically the same, regardless of language, therefore wherever I am in the world going to Church always feels familiar.
The book Praying with Jane Eyre: Reflections on Reading as a sacred practice explores what can be gained by Sacred Reading. Vanessa focuses on her first love, her favourite book, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, so each chapter is a ‘sermon’ exploring a different theme in relation to this e.g.
I have to admit I struggle with Jane Eyre, beloved as it is because as a woman of Jamaican heritage, I’m far much more likely to see myself in Bertha, the ‘mad woman in the attic’ than Jane the protagonist and heroine. (SIDENOTE: this is why I love the novel Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys that explores Bertha’s side of the story and is undeniably the better written novel) So although I liked the premise of Praying with Jane Eyre and was interested in the exploration of Sacred Reading as a practice. I wasn’t 100% sure if the book would be a bit of me. Ultimately overall I enjoyed listening to Praying with Jane Eyre although there were absolutely parts of the book that I found more convincing than others. In the introduction Vanessa touches on the fact that Jane Eyre is a problematic text particularly in its depiction of Bertha, however she then goes onto say she sees the tragic character of Bertha as symbol for suffering, this take felt a shade problematic in and of itself, which was odd because at times I felt the Vanessa was almost doing too much to not offend anybody which made me think that the book was probably extensively sensitivity read.
Out of all the books I read this month, this is the one that challenged me the most, it also moved me more than I was expecting. Particularly the passages about Vanessa’s family. Vanessa is Jewish, all four of her grandparents are Holocaust survivors and she describes how knowing this has informed her whole life. Vanessa who has suffered from depression since childhood, who lives with chronic pain caused by endometritis. It made me wonder how much pain do we inherit from those who came before us.
Life, Love and The Archers
by Wendy Cope
I found this book for a couple of pounds whilst having a rummage in Kirkdale Bookshop, Sydenham, and it was such an expectedly lovely find because Wendy Cope is one of my favourite poets but I haven’t read any of her prose, “Life, Love and the Archers brings together the best of her prose – recollections, reviews and essays taken from a lifetime of published and unpublished work.”
“For Estefani”
Lastly I want to include a poem that I really enjoyed listening to this month, “For Estefani” by Aracelis Girmay, I think this poem really benefits from being listened to so I’ve included a link to the poet reading the poem as part of the “There’s a poem for that” series by Ted Talks Education (TED Ed) which pairs classic and contemporary poetry with beautiful illustrations.
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