Read a little, write a little
Scroll to the bottom for the audio version
*tries hard not to sound as though being a bookworm is a quirky personality trait*
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting, get understanding.
Proverbs 4:7
Like many of us who have found homes (or not) in book clubs, I have a habit of (1) buying books before having read the ones I already have on my shelf (really they’re just stacked on top of each other on my dresser) and (2) reading multiple books at the same time. My reading lists also include several blogs and articles from some of my favourite media outlets.
Despite my disclaimer at the top though, reading has always been a big part of my life. I’m lucky enough to have parents who were willing and able to buy me all the books I wanted as a child and teenager. Now that I’m older I buy my own books (except for when I ask my partner to get them for me and he does, come hell or high water😬) and I subscribe to media outlets and, thankfully for my bank account, also consume a lot of content that many writers have the grace to offer us for free.
I hadn’t been a book worm or blog worm (?) for a while though. I don’t quite remember when I stopped speeding through my bookshelf, but it must have been somewhere around the end of high school. But like the rest of the world, I have slowed down this year because of the pandemic and became reacquainted with the escapes (or realities) that writers create with their words.
In this post I want to share with you some of the readings that have been the most impactful for me this year and have in different ways, made me (and continue to make me) a better writer.
Books
‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett
I have ventured into the world of e-books this year and I’m glad that The Vanishing Half is the novel I was initiated with. I hadn’t previously heard of Britt Bennet, but after reading this novel I’ll make sure to read the rest of her canon as well. I hadn’t felt that kind of wistful nostalgia after finishing a book in a long time, cursing the book for ending but also acknowledging that the ending was actually kind of perfect. I had been looking for an escape from all of 2020’s difficulties when I started The Vanishing Half and it was a welcome ‘inception’ feeling to escape by reading about escape.
I have to say, I’m not a fan of e-books. It’s bad enough I spend all day in front of the computer screen for work (alternatively read: Netflix binge). I dearly miss the vellichor (this is a fun word) of Birmingham’s bookshops, but The Vanishing Half was worth it.
‘Love in Colour’ by Bolu Babalola
This was my read of the year. I have written a whole exploration of my relationship to this anthology (coming soon) and I legit cried as I was reading it (ugly cry for some stories and tearful eyes for others). My childhood/teenage book worm days progressed from romance novels to fantasy novels to dystopian novels, but Meg Cabot will forever hold a special place in my heart.
So, learning that I had a fellow Meg Cabot stan in Bolu Babalola meant that I also had to stan Bolu Babalola. Love in Colour is the book of the month (as in, October 2020 if you’re a latecomer to this post lol) for the book club that I’m part of @thebookclubbrum, and I’m likely going to re-read it so that I can smile to myself in between the pages and the Black love stories that I never got to read as a child.
‘Ordinary Genius’ by Kim Addonizio
This one’s a nonfiction book. I’ve had it for a while, it was a parting gift from a dear friend. I started reading it early in September, shortly after deciding to be more intentional with my blogging because it meant that I had to be more intentional with my writing too. It’s helped me to get into the habit of writing (even if it’s just a little bit) every day.
To write you have to read and, sometimes, to write you have to read about writing. So that’s what I’m doing with this book. My favourite part so far in reading this is the introduction when something – that actually seems quite obvious to me now – clicked in my head for the first time:
in·spire | \ in-ˈspī(-ə)r
to fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.
But it also means: To breathe in.
“Everything we write reveals us to others; that’s just how it is, part of the contract. It has always helped me to hear how other writers have found their way. So, I hope that reading about my creative life will help you enter yours more fully […] Breathe in, and begin.” (p.15)
Essays
Black Lives Matter, grandma and me: how our world changed during lockdown
I read this article as soon as it came out. I had been following Jade Bentil for a while on social media. I deeply appreciated how much of her intellectual labour she would share on social media despite risks of plagiarism, despite the violence she was often met with because of her critiques. She was one of my main introductions to radical Black feminism.
It is a beautifully written essay, personal and moving. The kind of moving that I aspire to in my own writing. The scene she set felt so familiar in so many ways. Reading it felt like an exhale, after the difficult year we’ve all had.
A black feminist’s search for sisterhood
I have been perusing through Bilphena’s library this year and came across this article by Michele Wallace at a time when I was trying to find ways of articulating my gratitude to Black sisterhood. I had been looking for language, and this article (this entire library, to be honest) gave me black language.
I have been reading many essays because lately it is the form that my writing has been wanting to take. I loved most of the essays I wrote in university; I love putting research and thought into the things I produce, so this year I figured, why did it have to stop at university?
Michele Wallace’s essay, taken from All the women are white, all the blacks are men, but some of us are brave came at an opportune time. We were witnessing yet again the very public mistreatment of Black women and the only safe place existed among Black women, in communion with them and their words.
Buying Myself Back: When does a model own her own image?
One of my more recent reads. It is a brave essay by Emily Ratajkowski. I’m no too familiar with her or her work (or many other models for that matter) but I imagine that (by imagine, I think I mean that I know) the experiences she relays in this essay are not unique to her.
It’s strange that as women we are spoken of and treated as if we do not belong to ourselves. Reading about the lengths that she had to go to, to reclaim some ownership makes me wonder about those of us who do not have her visibility and financial ability to do the same. She spoke of a time before she had been so big, a time before she could do anything about how men could own her image and do with it as they pleased.
I hope that writing this essay was a form of reclamation for her.
Blogs
Passing through pod
Okay so this one is cheating a little bit because it’s a podcast, but the point is, Nneka is storytelling. I like podcasts, I don’t love them. I say this because many podcasts are super long, and I generally can’t focus on someone’s voice for longer than 45 minutes. Which is why Passing Through is great, because episodes range from seven to twenty minutes.
Nneka’s work and the space she holds for other people’s work is what inspired me to develop audio versions of my own writing. One of the greatest things I’ve learned from her is that our lives are a lot more interesting that we give ourselves credit for and the way we see the world may give someone else the language to navigate theirs.
Stephanie Yeboah
Stephanie has a book coming out and it’s the Christmas present I have requested. Stephanie has quickly become one of my favourite writers and influencers. I’m always engaging with her content on her social media and her blog and honestly, I hope I get to meet her (and Bolu) one day.
I’ve learned a lot from her about self-love, and how self-love does not mean that we do not desire to be desired and loved by others. And I think that that’s fair and valid, and it also fair and valid to write about desiring to be loved as much as we write about the systems and isms of the world. Her energy is everything.
Amara Amaryah
A forever fave with so much to be gifted to us in the coming months! She is soon to be your fave travel/book/poetry/photography blogger too, you can count on it. Amara is easily one of my favourite writers. I appreciate so much her dedication to documentation and how deliberate she is with her language and form.
Also, she blesses us with visuals and resources and takes us, through her storytelling, with her on her different journeys, solo or otherwise. Her Instagram and Pinterest are >>>>.
I haven’t been so great at reading, listening and writing poetry this year; other than two minor projects (here and here) I have been focusing a lot more on prose. Next year though, as I continue building, I want to produce anything that makes me a writer, poetry, essays, short stories too. The best way for me to continue producing the content that I want (and maybe sometimes don’t want, who knows) to produce is to continue breathing in.
Thank you for spending this time with me and see you soon. x
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2020 reading list (books):
Becoming by Michelle Obama
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangaremba
All About Love by bell hooks
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Chants d’ombre by Leopold Sedar Senghor
The Fisherman by Chigozie Obioma
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Blood in my eye by George Jackson
Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola
Girl, woman, other by Bernardine Evaristo
Ordinary Genius by Kim Addonizio
Feminism, Interrupted by Lola Olufemi
Daughters of Nri by Reni K Amayo
2021 reading list:
Fattily Ever After by Stephanie Yeboah
Loud Black Girls by Yomi Adegoké and Elizabeth Uviebinené
Title Unknown by Amara Amaryah
GROWN: The Black Girls' Guide to Growing Up and Showing Out by Natalie Carter and Melissa Cummings-Quarry
If I don’t have you by Sareeta Domingo
The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
The death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
This mournable body by Tsitsi Dangaremba
Sing, unburied, sing by Jesmyn Ward
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
& More…
What are some of your favourite readings this year? Let me know in the comments, I’m taking recommendations!
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