April has flown by in the breathless fury that always seems to associate itself with mid-spring. Although I remain devastated at my loss of the UK's four-day Easter weekend, April remains one of my favourite months of the year. It is also just about the only mild month that the US midwest seems to get … Continue reading The Monthly Reader: April 2019
"To be a Parisian in Nablus was to be out of step with the times, locked in an old colonial formula where subjects imitated masters as if in the seams of their old garments they hoped to find some dust of power left trapped. This was not precisely the case with Midhat, who seemed rather … Continue reading Review: The Parisian by Isabella Hammad
Returning to a theme on which I've been harping for a long time, The Guardian has reported that, over the course of a decade, less than 2% of authors and illustrators for children's fiction were people of colour. According to a report by BookTrust, 2017 was the least diverse year for children's fiction since 2009, … Continue reading Monday Musing: Addressing The Lack Of Diversity In Children’s Fiction
One of the most prevalent challenges facing society today is undoubtedly loneliness. The news abounds with headlines showing that loneliness among almost all generations is on the increase. Although counterintuitive at first sight - we might expect that both the internet at large and social media in particular offer us plentiful opportunities for connection - … Continue reading Bibliotherapy For Loneliness: Fiction Recommendations For Tough Times
"Angel's Laundromat is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fourth Street. Shabby shops and junkyards, secondhand stores with army cots, boxes of one-socks, 1940 edition of Good Hygiene. Grain stores and motels for lovers and old women with hennaed hair who do their laundry at Angel's. Teenage Chicana brides go to Angel's. Towels, pink shortie nighties, bikini underpants … Continue reading Review: A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Now that spring has finally arrived in the US Midwest, I'm spending a good amount of time outside - allergies be damned. It's an incredible time of year. Unlike the autumn, spring is a transitional season replete with possibilities, beginnings, and a sort of contented restlessness that I've grown to love. "Nostalgia in reverse, the … Continue reading Monday Musing: Nature And Literature Are Perfect Partners
When I'm not reading or writing about reading, I'm usually to be found scouring the internet for free resources so that I can learn more about reading. Breezing past the fact that I somehow still got a person to marry me, I refuse to accept that this isn't exactly how it was intended that I … Continue reading The 5 Best TED Talks About Books and Reading
At the start of the year, I wrote about the different ways to formulate 'better' reading goals, with particular attention to your own needs and wants. So much of how we read is reflective of whatever we're experiencing in life. I know that over the course of my 30 years on this planet, both the types … Continue reading Monday Musing: Demanding Diversity in Literature
I make no secret of how much I depend on radio. Since moving to the US, in particular, my favourite BBC radio programmes are on regular rotation as I try to stay as connected as possible to my home. While many of them are on my schedule for nostalgia's sake, I'm also continually impressed by … Continue reading Monday Musing: Reading Through Radio
"Eh, what do you really think you know about the Central Peace Council? I bet you didn't know that it was a joke. Peace. Only one kind of peace can ever come down the ghetto. It's really simple, so simple even a retarded man can catch the drift. Even a white man. The second you … Continue reading Review: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
The Book Habit 