12. Sometimes the Book Just Needs to be Abandoned.
Plus reading updates, newsletters I love and, as always, a book recommendation or two
It’s official: I have abandoned my first book of the year. I know a lot of people struggle with moving on from books they aren’t enjoying but I am not one of them: I firmly believe that if you’re not loving it, you can leave it and you should feel no way about doing so. With that said, after years of trial and error, I have honed my intuition so it’s not often that I find myself reading books that are just not working for me.
I’ve been wanting to read something by Helen Oyeyemi for a while now so when I stumbled upon a rather beautiful copy of Gingerbread in a charity shop, I obviously had to have it. Unfortunately, even after I’d read almost half of the novel’s close to three-hundred pages, the book still wasn’t making a whole lot of sense (to me), and I was beginning to feel like I was forcing it, so I had to let it go. Whilst I’m in no rush to read anything else by Oyeyemi, she does write a good sentence so if there’s a book of hers you’ve loved, or think I might love, I’m very much open to your suggestions!
Anyway, a rather fortunate consequence of that mis-step is that I made the decision to re-read a book I loved when I first read it back in 2020. I wasn’t in the mood for any further experimentation and when the spine of Leone Ross’ 2017 short story collection, Come Let Us Sing Anyway caught my eye, I found myself wanting to revisit the stories I remember loving so vividly.
The collection is comprised of twenty-three stories written over a fifteen-year period and the range Ross demonstrates is very impressive. If twenty+ stories sounds a lot, it really doesn’t read like it. Most of the stories are very short, including some of the most enjoyable flash fiction I’ve read. From the horrific, to the erotic, the real and the surreal, the magical and the mundane (but not boring), this collection has it all. Roll It, which concerns the exploitative nature of the modelling industry, is a rather disturbing story, as is Covenant, which takes a rather scary look at idealised standards of femininity and one woman’s delinquency and desperate urge to go against this and be seen for who she is.
“When I was a little girl, I pulled the wings off butterflies and took them to show my father. I told him that I pulled the wings off the butterflies, me, Daddy, me, me. But he kept saying that maybe some kinds of butterflies shed their wings before they die, and he went and looked in the encyclopaedia, and when he couldn’t find the reference he wanted to fit into his pastel pink world, he patted me on the head and told me not to cry. I stood there and I yelled into his face, I’m not crying.”
Velvet Man, which speaks to the pain of loneliness and the need we all have to be taken care of, is oh so tender, and And You Know This- a science-fiction offering about two old friends approaching the end of their days together- is just so sweet:
“You are my beloved and my happiness in every way…”
There are moments in this collection that are so emotionally charged it might feel as though Leone Ross has just taken hold of your heart and wrung it tight. She just writes and her writing is so enticing.
Although the collection is made up of stories written over several years, there is clear thematic consistency: love, sexuality, desire, beauty, the exploitation of the body and the pain associated with them all, but in terms of content, each story is distinct. The range is such that I’m not sure I can go as far as to say that every story will be for everyone but even if you found only one story to love (very unlikely it’d just be the one), it’d make reading the whole collection very much worth it.
P.S. If you’ve been after a copy, or you are now, WOB.com currently has a few at a very good price. Not affiliate, just letting you know. What you do with that information is entirely up to you…
As I predicted in my last letter, I managed to finish Leila Aboulela’s River Spirit. I didn’t quite fly through it, as I initially thought I might- there were too many characters, perspectives and dates that required my attention- but it was engrossing.
The novel is set in Sudan during the Mahdist War of the late 19th century, a war between a man called Muhammad Ahmed, the self- proclaimed Mahdi and his followers, and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt and (unsurprisingly) Great Britain.
The story is told through the alternating perspectives of a number of characters: Akuany/ZamZam- a young woman sold into slavery, former trader turned Al-Azhar scholar named Yaseen, his mother Fatima, Musa- an incredibly devout follower of Muhammad Ahmed, Robert a Scottish artist, as well as a number of other characters whose stories are intertwined with theirs.
Initially, I wasn’t sure I fully appreciated the inclusion of so many perspectives but, as the story developed, and the longer I sat with it upon finishing, the more their inclusion made absolute sense.
In a way that reminded me a little of Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King, I particularly appreciated the perspectives of the novel’s women - Akuany, Fatima, Yaseen’s wife- who provide a too often overlooked insight into the roles of women during war and the unique ways they are impacted by the decisions of men. This is worth keeping in mind as the people of Sudan, once again, find themselves terrorised by men seeking power, with little care or consideration for those who suffer the consequences.
River Spirit is a novel about a period of history I’ve not previously seen explored in fiction and, for that reason alone, I found this novel quite refreshing. It’s also written in a way that is compelling without being over-complicated and I’d say it’s definitely worth a read.
As for what I’m currently reading, I’m about half way through If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha. This was another book I’ve been curious about and picked up earlier in the year when I spotted it in a secondhand book shop. With each chapter told from the perspective of different women, structurally it is really reminding me of Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street and I’m enjoying that about it. I’m not sure yet how memorable it’ll be but I’m liking the reading experience well enough.
I’m going to be away for the next week so I need to decide which books I’ll be bringing with me. I don’t like to take half-finished books anywhere so I’ll be doing my best to finish If I Had Your Face and then I’ll see how I feel. I have more than a few strong contenders but I can’t take them all so wish me luck with the decision-making process!
Some Writing I’ve Been Loving That You Might Love Too
Rania Said has translated one of Victoria Chang’s poems into Arabic and I just had to share it. My Arabic isn’t good enough to allow me to appreciate it as much as I’d like but translation (and someone’s decision to share their translation) allows for greater access to writing that deserves to be read as widely as possible and this is something I can fully appreciate. Also, Rania said she was introduced to Chang’s ‘Obit’ via my last newsletter, which pleases me greatly. I’m introduced to such incredible writing through other people’s newsletters, blogs, social media posts etc., and it’s such a nice thing to know that people are discovering the good stuff through mine, too.
Poet, Alycia Pirmohamed has started a Substack newsletter, Elsewheres and it was an immediate subscribe for me. If her first letter is anything to go by, I know I’ll just love seeing her offerings in my inbox.
Speaking of letters I love seeing in my inbox, here are a couple of other Substack newsletters I really enjoy and think you might, too:
Courtney’s The Busy Black Bookworm is an absolute pleasure to read. I’ve been following her on Instagram for a while and not only is she a lovely person to just chat books with, her recommendations are so refreshing and her letters are an extension of this. Highly recommend.
Books we both love: Heavy by Kiese Laymon, The Street by Ann Petry, What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
A book she’s inspired me add to my wish list: Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas
Jess White Reads Books but she also writes about them in a way that makes me want to read whatever she’s reading immediately.
Jess is someone else I’ve been following on Instagram for a good few years now. I was first drawn in by her posts way back when she embarked on a year of reading a book by Daphne du Maurier every month, and I’ve been hanging around ever since. I really look forward to receiving her weekly reading updates and if you subscribe you’ll get to see why!
Books we both love: Saltwater and Milk Teeth by Jessica Andrews, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
A book she’s inspired me to add to my wish list: Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan
Books I’d like to read but really shouldn’t buy (but probably will buy) and/or books I own and really should read but haven’t yet…
In my last letter I mentioned that I really wanted to pick up Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s latest novel, The Sleep Watcher and I’ve since bought a copy so there aren’t actually any books I want to buy with any great urgency (if you see me sharing any new books, no you didn’t)
However, I do have some books on my shelf that I’m genuinely excited to get to:
I loved The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (brilliant but brutal- don’t say I didn’t warn you) so I’d really like to read Mama Day or Bailey’s Cafe in the near future. I’ve owned Bailey’s Cafe the longest but I think I’m leaning towards reading Mama Day first…
June is Read Caribbean Month, which was is spearheaded by its creator, Cindy AKA BookofCinz and I love taking the opportunity to actively engage with more Caribbean titles.
So far I’m leaning towards various books by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti), Kei Miller and Lorna Goodison (Jamaica), Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua), Barbara Jenkins (Trinidad) as these are authors whose work I’ve been particularly keen to read/revisit, however, there are so many others I’d love to read that we’ll just have to see where my mood takes me!
I’ll try to make a point of sharing some of my favourite Caribbean titles in my next letter because I’ve read some real gems and I’d love an excuse to talk about them.
Right, I’m going to go and make myself a coffee and attempt to finish If I Had Your Face by tomorrow morning!
If you’re enjoying these letters, and you’d like to support me to go for coffee and read books outside of my house (ideally in a cafe within a bookshop because they’re the best) you can buy me a coffee (or more likely a chai latte) here.
Keep well,
Tasnim
That was also my first Oyeyemi and I haven't returned but fans of her work told me that I started with the wrong one, I've been told The Icarus Girl is a better entry to her style
Another delight, huge thanks. I’m going to see Jamaica Kincaid in July at Charleston garden festival in July. Bliss. 🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆