It’s been 2 years now, almost. 2 years since I made the conscious decision to focus on books by women, in particular women writers who are women of colour, LGBTQ and/or from the global south. I wanted to push back against the books I was told to read as a kid and how I continued reading books by white men for years after. In an attempt to bring a sense of balance to the words and stories I consume, I am on this path of new learning and absorbing.
Here are few fictional stories I have enjoyed recently.
REVENGE by Yoko Ogawa. Short dark stories that spill into each other at odd angles. The stories follow the theme of revenge but it’s not always straight forward. I love her simmering way of unsettling a reader.
HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES by Carmen Maria Machado. 8 short strange stories that centre LGBTQ women. The stories fall in and out of folklore, fairytales and urban legend. Although it is unsettling, it isn’t hard to recognise ourselves in the scenarios she unfolds. I love how Manchado tackles feminist concerns through horror, and fairy-tale elements. I would recommend this book to all my friends. I am already looking forward to re-reading the “The Husband Stitch”.
“Why do you want to hide it from me?'
'I'm not hiding it. It just isn't yours.”
—Carmen Maria Machado
MAMMOTH by Eva Baltasar. A young lesbian frustrated and disenchanted by her unfulfilling life and relationships takes extreme measures to become pregnant. It’s a ferocious story. Intense yet delicate and heartbreaking. I read the kindle version but am not on the look out for a paper version to have and to hold.
DOMINION by Addie E. Citchens. A woman with her 5 sons and complete arsehole preacher husband. She is busy performing, living, giving life till she starts to wake up to what “boys being boys” actually means and how it crushes her life and the lives of other women. As a mother of sons this book hit different. There’s a whole lot of lessons and warnings here and many are uncomfortable ugly truths.
“It crossed my mind that just because you birthed somebody didn’t mean that you knew them.”
—Addie Citchens