How to Get Your Reading Mojo Back
When the world first began to properly grapple with COVID-19 and we went into lockdown, some of us pledged to use that time to work on ourselves: to learn a new language or instrument, to learn to cook, or to finally make time for reading. But the truth, that many of us weren’t prepared for, is that living through a pandemic is hard. Being in lockdown is hard. And for people who were still working full-time, that free time we thought would materialise simply did not. I was one of the people who wanted to make the most of lockdown and upskill, especially as I was not in full-time employment.…
2021: My Bookish Goals
At the end of 2019 I wrote a post detailing my reading pledges for 2020. This was, of course, pre-pandemic and I was looking forward to the new year and feeling hopeful. Suffice it to say, I didn’t meet those pledges. I started my reading challenge, but then lockdown and the difficulties it brought to other areas of my life (which I wrote about here), meant that I hit a reading slump as my mind was constantly elsewhere. In February, I broke my pledge not to buy any new books for the first six months of the year when I attended an author event with Candice Carty-Williams and Sareeta Domingo.…
On ‘Diversifying’ Your Bookshelf
Over the summer, as the Black Lives Matter protests took hold across the globe and non-Black people began to realise that our lives actually do matter, there was a surge in buying books about race and racism. In June Reni Eddo-Lodge became the first Black British author to top the UK’s official book charts with her fantastic book Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. Newspapers and magazines started publishing anti-racist reading lists for those who wanted to “learn more.” And of course, people posted their black squares (that’s not book related, but I just had to throw it in there because I found it so hilarious…
The Bluest Eye and the Pervasiveness of White Supremacy
Note: This post is written as if you have already read the book, but does not contain major spoilers that will prevent you from reading it if you haven’t. In fact, I hope that after reading this you order yourself a copy – it will be worth the read, trust me. Toni Morrison’s debut novel, The Bluest Eye, was first published 50 years ago. Set in Ohio during the Great Depression, the novel tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a dark-skinned Black girl who is made to believe that she is so ugly that she wishes for her eyes to be blue. Of course, that is a very simplistic summary.…
Purple Book Club: 5 Books that Have Shaped Me & Why
We’ve all read books that have impacted us, that have stayed with us and helped shape our understanding of the world. Last year, I was invited to give a talk at an independent girls’ school about literature that has done so for me. I’ve read so many books that at first I thought it would be an almost impossible task, but when I thought about it, I realised that at each stage of my life and education I’ve come across a book that has introduced me to or educated me on significant socio-political issues that have shaped my beliefs and influenced who I am today. These books have, in some…
