Then and Now #53 (18/9/23 - 24/9/23)
This Week
Happy Sunday! I can't believe we're about to enter the last week of September... like, legitimately, where has the time gone?! But I know I say this almost every week. I've had a good week, actually. I was kind of down in the dumps after last week because I felt stuck with my research, kind of lost in the woods for the trees with it. But this week I had the stunning realisation that I should go back to my "data sets", which is how I refer to my literature, so to the primary texts I'm working with. By thinking of them as data sets I really managed to dive into them and mine them for interesting quotes and scenes again, and engaging with the nitty gritty of my research. So I felt really satisfied with some of the work I got done this week and it has helped me think of the bigger arguments I'm hoping to make as well!
I've done some mild reading this week, aside from research-related reading. Mostly I've listened to audiobooks and dipping into different boks in the evening. Nothing has really been able to hold my attention, in part because I have just been very excited to dive into The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness, which I was saving for this weekend. This weekend I also decided to bake some cookies. Even if the weather doesn't seem to know it, it is autumn which means chocolate oat cookies are a must. I'm also going to make a chilli con carne tonight and just enjoy my books and the weekend. I've also been watching Ahsoka on Disney+ each week and then exchanging messages with my family about it as we all love Star Wars! You can't imagine how much I lost my mind after the 5th episode, so this week's episode was also really good and fun, but didn't quite reach those levels.
Posted this week:
- Review: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan
- BC - Let's Get Medial #3 - 'Risāla' by Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān
- Friday Friyay: The Museum of Things Left Behind by Seni Glaister
- Review: The Undying Tower by Melissa Welliver
Recommendation
I think I mentioned before that I'm taking a Bollywood dancing class and on Wednesday the instructor asked for song suggestions and the below song immediately popped up in my mind. Since then it has been playing on loop and I've been bopping along to it on the way to work.
Mailbox Monday
As I said last week, I got a book gift card from my boss for my birthday and this week I finally went into the bookstore and came out with the first two books here.
Bringing the magic and suspense of the All Souls Trilogy to a deeply satisfying conclusion, this highly anticipated finale went straight to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In The Book of Life, Diana and Matthew time-travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present—facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, they reunite with the beloved cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.
I absolutely adored the first two books of the All Souls trilogy and then realized I never got the third one. Thanks to the gift card, I got to order the third one in English and I've just started reading it. I am totally back in the world of All Souls and I really don't want to leave. I'm gonna be so sad when I finish this book.
Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild, and Untamed by Various
A FUN AND FEARLESS ANTHOLOGY OF FEMINIST TALES, to celebrate Virago's 50th birthday, featuring NEW AND ORIGINAL STORIES by Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeyemi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig.
DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO. For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story.
In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.
After ordering The Book of Life I realised I still had quite a bit of money left on the gift card and had a look around the bookstore. Furies almost immediately caught my eye and it's just perfect. My research is all about women and anger, about how women get labelled, etc. so now I have Furies on my workdesk and every time I get stuck with the research or frustrated, I'm going to read one of the stories in this collection! Good idea, no?
Kinning by Nisi Shawl (Tor Books; 1/23/24)
Kinning, the sequel to Nisi Shawl’s acclaimed debut novel Everfair, continues the stunning alternate history where barkcloth airships soar through the sky, varied peoples build a new society together, and colonies claim their freedom from imperialist tyrants.
The Great War is over. Everfair has found peace within its borders. But our heroes’ stories are far from done.
Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. Through these spores, they seek to build bonds between people and help spread revolutionary sentiments of socialism and equality—the very ideals that led to Everfair’s founding.
Meanwhile, Everfair’s Princess Mwadi and Prince Ilunga return home from a sojourn in Egypt to vie for their country’s rule following the abdication of their father King Mwenda. But their mother, Queen Josina, manipulates them both from behind the scenes, while also pitting Europe’s influenza-weakened political powers against one another as these countries fight to regain control of their rebellious colonies.
Will Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope, freedom, and equality to anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces inside and out?
I saw this on NetGalley and immediately requested it. I'm still reading Everfair (which I should have reviewed years ago... oops) and didn't want to pass up on the chance to read its sequel. So, now I also have an extra reason to get to Everfair ASAP after The Book of Life. I'm ignoring the blurb though, I've very much just skimmed over it to avoid spoilers xD
And that's it for me this week! What did you get up to this weeekend? And what are you reading?
Glad the research is still going well! Hope you get things in the order that you want them! Try as I might, I couldn't seem to get into Harkness' series. I wanted to love it but remembered I couldn't make it through book 1.
ReplyDeleteThe reads are otherwise new to me ones, but I hope you enjoy them all!
Here's my StS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower :)
I hope your research continues to go well. Have a wonderful week, Juli ☕📚🍁👻🧡
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a good week. The Deborah Harkness series looks good. I'll have to check it out. I hope this is another good week for you!
ReplyDeleteA Discovery of Witches is a great series. Enjoy. Here's my SP: https://bonniereadsandwrites.com/2023/09/24/sunday-post-back-together-again/
ReplyDeleteThat's excellent about your work! I hope it continues to go well. :)
ReplyDeleteChili con carne sounds excedllent for fall. and ooh that reminds me I still need to watch the latest Ahsoka!
Ooh, a Bollywood dancing class sounds like a blast! I would love to do something like that. As long as no one watched me make a fool of myself, lol. some good books there. Hope you have a good week!
ReplyDeleteLisa Loves Literature