Radical Reads & Social Justice
This idea has been a long time in the making, so I'm very excited to finally be able to share it with you all! I wanted to find more Own Voices book bloggers to follow, and I thought a tag would be an ideal way to do this - and to uplift the Own Voices book blogging community at the same time.
Rating: 4 stars Category: Biography Summary: Sarah Krasnostein first meets Sandra Pankhurst at a forensic services conference, where Sandra is promoting her trauma cleaning company. The lives (and deaths) touched by Sandra through her work, from murder victims to obsessive hoarders, immediately make an impression and inspire Krasnostein to learn more. There is one story, however, that will become the greatest fascination - one that holds all of these other disconnected and diverse lives together. It is the story of the trauma cleaner herself.
For our December meeting, my book club had the theme 'Best of 2020' and voted on an award-winning book to read. We ended up choosing Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams which won the British Book Award - I loved it and you can read my review here! However, the time I spent trawling through different book award shortlists to put our poll together got me thinking - do book awards really matter?
Diversity and representation has always been a key issue for my book blog, and I took this interest into the film world for my latest magazine article. Follow the link for a varied list of Christmas films that don't all consist of white nuclear families!
To experiment with the idea of making poetry more fun, I created an anthology entitled 'Poetry, Comedy & The Modern World' for a recent project on my English Literature degree.
I thought I would share the twelve poems that made their way into the final anthology here on my blog! I hope you enjoy exploring and, hopefully, having a bit of a laugh along the way...
I wanted to support the #blacklivesmatter movement, particularly in light of the recent tragic murder of George Floyd. So below is a list of all the books by black authors that I have read and reviewed since starting this blog, to give you a starting point when seeking to diversify your reading. Read, educate, support.
Rating: 5 stars Category: Literary fiction Synopsis: In Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo intertwines twelve lives - mostly black, British women. Their voices range from Hattie, an ancient mixed-race grandma struggling to keep her family farm and her pride along with it, to Amma, a black lesbian playwright whose radical work is showing at the National Theatre for the first time. Through this lively spectrum of characters, Evaristo explores the nuances of identity, connection, and what it means to be proud of who you are.
I am once again appealing to the amazing book blogging community for help with one of my English Literature degree projects! For my course on Modern & Contemporary poetry, I am collating an anthology that explores the link between poems and popular culture.
Rating: 3 stars
Category: Literary fiction
Synopsis:
Keiko Furukura has worked in the same convenience store for eighteen years. She feels at home in the store with its comforting daily rhythms, but those around her are pushing her to move on in her career, get married, have children. Tired of their interference, Keiko decides, at last, to give "normality" a shot...with disastrous consequences.
Rating: 4 stars
Category: Non-fiction
Synopsis:
Working as a high-level barrister at the very heart of the justice system, Helena Kennedy is well placed to examine whether this system is working for women. In her book, she draws on extensive experience working with women, both as victims and perpetrators of crime, and the challenges she has faced as one of the only QC female barristers.
Eve Was Shamed is a shocking revelation of how women remain discriminated against by the law. It is also a powerful call for change.
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