some books I read in March
Checkout 19, Claire-Louise Bennett
A truly original piece of literary fiction, Bennett writes with such creative mastery, her incredibly colourful and textured vocabulary is honestly a joy to read. It’s full of personality, verve and confidence, playing with the constructs of language itself to weave together a story from the act of memory and reshaping the past.
Part storytelling, part criticism, part memoir, it plays with the idea of a novel and what this should be- exploring the idea of being ‘well-read’, of womanhood, of creating something of yourself in the world. It’s cyclical, but never repetitive, as it continues to frame and reframe important lived experiences with an unafraid curiosity and playfulness.
By beginning with a startlingly accurate commentary on the way in which we read and consume books, she explores the power of literature and storytelling to fuel and shape a life constantly being created.
In this book I find real creative writing inspiration to act as kindling to my own ambitions to write and create in my very own way.
The Book Of Manchester, ed. By David Sue
I keenly had my eye on this short story collection when Comma Press very kindly gifted it to me to read - and I’ve really enjoyed exploring my city through the eyes of 12 writers that bring such a breadth of perspectives to the idea of manchester as a city, as a home, as an ever-changing entity (startlingly so in the last few decades, with the growth of the city’s skyline, nicknamed ‘Manctopia’).
I really valued the diversity of experiences and settings in this collection - spanning the council estates of Wythenshawe and Moss Side, to the suburbs of Withington and Altrincham, to the dystopian/utopian gentrification taking place in its very centre. It offers real emotional depth from a wide range of people, pasts and relationships to this city- after living here for over 6 years, and growing up often visiting the city streets I now call home, I feel like I’ve come to know it in a much more nuanced way.
From editor David Sue’s fascinating history of Manchester’s rapid development in the introduction, to Mish Green’s incredibly vital critique of its property boom through the eyes of the homeless and displaced in its final story, this collection reframes this city with much needed refreshing critique and respect.
A respect for the history and the people that make up and who have made up this city for decades.
I strongly recommend this journey through Manchester’s recent past, present and future to Mancs and honorary Mancs alike - to discover and remember the true essence and history of a city in rapid flux.
All About Love, bell hooks
bell hooks’s semi-autobiographical exploration of what ‘love’ really means has been on my wishlist for a while, and reading it was truly an enlightening experience to say the least.
Defining the understanding of love as a verb, not a noun, and the notion of the utopian society running by a ‘love ethic’ as the creed to a better existence for everyone, it’s one of those books that I think would be valuable for so many - to reframe our attitude towards the communities and society around us, and help us live to our true human potential.
Going beyond stereotypical notions of ‘love’ to exploring the family, friendships and the true identity of ‘self-love’, amongst many other vital topics from a refreshing feminist lens, I covered this copy with underlinings and annotations - there are so many takeaways that I’m copying into a little notebook with a love heart on it (cliché but it can’t be helped).
Read this and hold hooks’s wisdom close to you, far beyond the final page.
The Years, Annie Ernaux
As part of my growing devotion to exploring celebrated women writers, I picked up this memoir-come-sociocultural critique through time, by french writer ernaux. It explores the journey of her generation from the 1940s to the 2000s, observing the world from a strikingly perspective lens. Reading this celebrated text in French-speaking Geneva felt very apt.
I found this book absolutely fascinating. as someone with very limited French cultural and political knowledge, I was unfamiliar with many of the references, but this didn’t prevent me from finding this book such a treasure of astute perception.
It follows a woman (Ernaux) looking around and back at herself through time, at the unsettling political change, international conflicts, constant technological developments, the rise of consumerism, and how society across the generations has dealt with reality over time.
Or in Ernaux’s words: “by retrieving the memory of collective memory in an individual memory, she will capture the lived dimension of History.”
It’s like someone was plucked away from the tide of history and looked at it from a critical distance. Ernaux’s retrospective reflections ring so true, especially as technological advancements are only accelerating today.
Each ‘era’ begins with a detailed description of a photograph of herself at that time, truly blending the personal and collective as we follow her through her years, from childhood to grandparenthood.
I’ll be treasuring this wonderful book, practically covered in my keen pencil underlinings, as a refreshing reminder of the hyperaware souls out there that look at things as they really are, away from the normalisation of ‘the way things are’, and pick things apart and question why.
A vital text. Go read it and you’ll see why.
