Short Reads I Read During Reading Slump

After finally (hopefully) killing my reading slump with Diana Wynne Jones's Witch Week, I decided that I was going to slowly ease myself back into read. I'm not going to throw self into the deep end. I wanted to take my time and, hell, maybe even read some short stories or novella. A gentle getting back to normal with my reading (not my life. Still trying to figure how to get back to normal on that one!). And, at the same time, I wanted to try something new. But ease of reading. 

So, while snooping on my Amazon's Prime Reading, I discovered some short stories as part of their Short Stories collections and, after having a quick snoop, I downloaded a few (as I have Prime, the stories were free under their Prime Reading). I downloaded a few under the Forward collection (sci-fi about the future), Trepass collection (unsettling stories about nature) and Black Stars (sci-fi stories written by black authors), I dipped my toe in. 

My first was The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the first short story in the Black Stars collection. In this, gender roles have been flipped and it shows how easy we are conditioned to see the world. Plus, this kinda hits close to current events as the law banning men from masturbating in US and in Lagos are in force with no plans to remove or change, dangerously similar to recent Roe vs Wade events in the US and certain states planning to ban abortions (which won't work. They're banning safe abortions). And while I did like this short as I found the ideas interesting, creepy and frighteningly real, I didn't warm to this. It felt like a cross over between Mrs Dalloway and The Handmaid's Tale. This could have so easily been longer. 

My second was The Tiger Came To The Mountain by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the first short in the Trepass collection. Set in Mexico 1917, at the height of the revolution, two children hide in a cave to stay safe. But a threat is close to them, prowling, waiting... Now, I have tried to read one of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's novel, Mexican Gothic, and I didn't like it. But this shirt fitted my mood wonderfully. I just clicked with this story and it felt delicious to read in almost one sitting. I might need to try this author again in future...

I audiobooked a short audiobook from may local library - Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Now, I'm not going to write a review about this as it feels wrong to that, but this is a short collection of essays about Chimamanda processing her grief over the death of her father in the high of the COVID pandemic. Now, grief is a complex creature and no two people's grief is the same. But oh, there were moments in this collection that hurt. The last essay/chapter is short and kicks you in the feels (I think every person who has lost someone will get what I mean when you read/hear it!) 

Audiobook Review - The Arrangements: A Work of Fiction

This, I feel, is going to be my last book/eBook/audiobook review of this year! My last of 2017! But is it going to be a good'un? Well, let's go for it, shall we?

The Arrangements: A Work of Fiction is a short story commissioned by the New York Times, who went to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and other authors to write any aspect of the 2016 Presidential Elections. Chimamanda's tale is the first to be published (the others will be coming in the near future, I believe) and it takes the story of Mrs Dalloway and spins it on its head with Melania Trump being Mrs Dalloway in this fictional imagining of Melania's day...

If you know me well enough (via Twitter and my other social media platforms), you know my opinions on President Trump, his family and his government. If not, it's highly negative. Let's leave it at that, shall we?

So, you might ask, why did I want to listen to this 30-odd minute reading of this short story? Several reasons. One is the narrator - I have only heard January Lavoy a few times in other audiobooks and I knew I would enjoy her reading of this satire.

The second was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. After reading We Should All Be Feminists (which I read last year), I wanted to read more Chimamanda's writing, but have been a bit overwhelmed on where to start. I do have Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions on my kindle, but have been uncertain on when I should read it. But, when I saw this, I felt ready to attack it. It felt right to listen to this story in the current political climate in both the USA and in UK/Europe.

This story/satire intrigued me. I know it's fiction and I would have loved to be a little longer (this could have been longer and it still would have worked, in my opinion), but it made me tilt my head and go "what goes on behind closed doors? Does Melania like Donald's thirst for power? Does she like his children from his previous marriage? What if she's lonely? Or struggling with her sexuality? What if?"

It is a short story so you are skimming, but there was something here I sunk my teeth into. I enjoyed the writing, the reading and the ideas of The Arrangements so I think, next year, I am going to try my hardest to read Americanah or one of her other titles.

ALN - We Should All Be Feminists

Let's start this themed month of reading (well, for me, anyway) as I try to go on and read something that will make me think. And this essay from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's speech about feminism is a perfect place for me and this month to start.

There is very little to say on this essay's description, expect this is an essay based on a talk Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave in 2012 for the TEDxEuston. She talks about feminism but touches on other things: how society shapes both genders from sure a young age, all with a hint of humour.

Now, I know some of you will have read and watched this (I will put the video down below as I think we should all watch it) and go "This isn't anything new. This has been discussed a hundred times over by different people" and I agree with you. But I think this makes the scary subject of feminism easier for some people to understand, because it tackles the idea of feminism and how the world sees feminism and inequality.

I think I have talked about my feelings of feminism on here and on Twitter but reading and watching this pointed things out that I missed. It made me more aware of the world around me. That this is so deeply engrained into us, it will take years/decades/centuries to unlearn.

There was a section in the essay (In the video below, the section starts around 17 minutes and 30 seconds in) where a paragraph stuck me. It made me stopped reading, made me put down and kindle and think. Because I realised that this does happen. This happens. Let me quote it (sorry if I get it wrong. Using video and my Twitter as, at time of writing, Kindle is on charge):

We teach girls shame. Close your legs. Cover yourselves. We make them feel as though by being born female, they are already guilty of something. And so girls grow up to be women who cannot say that they have desire. Who silence themselves. Who cannot say what they truly think. Who have turned pretence into an art form. 

This is an important subject and we must keep talking about it. And I think this is a really good way to start or continue the conversation. (Sorry if this isn't much of a review but highly important essay. Go out and read it)