acquisiton: on a woman's madness:: Astrid Roemer

 

Summary:

On a Woman’s Madness tells the story of Noenka, a courageous Black woman trying to live a life of her own choosing. When her abusive husband of just nine days refuses her request for divorce, Noenka flees her hometown in Suriname, on South America’s tropical northeastern coast, for the capital city of Paramaribo. Unsettled and unsupported, her life in this new place is illuminated by romance and new freedoms, but also forever haunted by her past and society’s expectations.

Strikingly translated by Lucy Scott, Astrid Roemer’s classic queer novel is a tentpole of European and post-colonial literature. And amid tales of plantation-dwelling snakes, rare orchids, and star-crossed lovers, it is also a blistering meditation on the cruelties we inflict on those who disobey. Roemer, the first Surinamese winner of the prestigious Dutch Literature Prize, carves out postcolonial Suriname in barbed, resonant fragments. Who is Noenka? Roemer asks us. “I’m Noenka,” she responds resolutely, “which means Never Again.”

Excerpt

The echo that’s been resounding in my stomach for days makes my mood unstable. I can neither sleep nor wake up completely. I can’t concentrate. As if my hormones were at war with each other, my body burns in its most vulnerable strongholds: breast, navel, neck. Everything else is out of whack. I get dressed to go for a walk. When I get outside, I realize I’d rather wash my hair. For fun, I snip an old lock of hair off, burst into tears when I see it there on the bed and decide never again to straighten my hair, never again to wax my armpits, to let my mustache grow.

The author: Astrid Roemer

I can't help but be intrigued by this novel and this author. I am really looking forward to this one.

Happy reading ☕️ 

6 am coffee:: writing and reading

the way I start each morning

It almost feels like the dead of night when I wake up before 6 am to make my coffee and clear my brain for the day ahead. 

Nothin quite feels like that liminal space. 

I've taken to reading one of Gustave Flaubert's Letters with my coffee each morning and it is honestly such a great ritual. At this rate, I will finish the letters for another year! That's okay, it's a wonder feeling to have the company first thing in the morning.

my beloved copy of his letters

Is there an author you don't mind spending a few minutes with as you wake each day?

I really want to challenge the notion that we have to start and immediately work through any written work. We can create a dance with literature that ebbs and flows based off of our reading tastes and emotions.

Anyone come to mind?

Happy reading ☕️ 

october reading plans: re-reads, cozy literature, copious coffee cups, and used books

 

October stockphoto

It's that time of year again where reareading calls to my soul. There is nothing like returning to the comfort of a story that touched your heart or made you think of the human condition in a new or different way.

 I can see the appeal of checking books off of your TBR, but haven't you ever been summoned by a previous read? This need to complete so many books has many deadened the draw to old works. I have no strong opinions about people who read 500 vs 5 books per year or anything like that, but I do feel like an evangelist trying to convert non-rereaders to my cause :)

Because I don't use Goodreads or Storygraph anymore (may return to Storygraph one day), I have no idea how many time I have reread certain books, but like weather patterns, they start to enter my consciousness at certain times of the year.

The Autumn with its whispering winds, and calls for piping hot cinnamon coffee are accompanied by the faint murmurs of Austen's most ignored work Northanger Abbey and Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece Jane Eyre.

These calls stand in union with Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights- a novel that so frustrates me I will spend a lifetime rereading it just to make sense of why it bothers me so much! 

This October... (The Reread Edition)

1. Jane Eyre
2. Wuthering Heights
3. Northanger Abbey
4. Lolita
5. Crime and Punishment* (if there is time and my mental health allows it)

This October...(The New Read Edition)

1. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
2. Altered States by Anita Brookner (returning to this project)
3. Apple in the Dark by Clarice Lispector
4. Ghost Mountain by Rónán Hession
5. Creep by Emma van Straaten 

a stack of my books

My advice for this Autumn 

Ignore that bookish social media urge to rush through novels to increase your total books read. Ignore the feelings of FOMO (if you have them) that everyone is reading this or that.

Slow down.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea, a journal, and a deep breath.

Plan what novels you believe will speak to your heart or ones that really really call out to you.

Reading doesn't have to be a religious experience for you like it is for me, but perhaps if you have had the inkling to reread something but fear you could be reading something new and it will be a waste to reread, quiet that voice down with the opening paragraph from your most beloved novel.

Let this crazy time in the world be soothed by the comfort of a story that you love. 

I know that's what my Fall reading is all about.

Join me. ☕️ 

poetry pause: monotony:: langston hughes

 

stockphoto: coffee, books, pears on a plate

Monotony

Today like yesterday

Tomorrow like today;

The drip, drip, drip,

  Of monotony

Is wearing my life away;

Today like yesterday,

Tomorrow like today.

poetry pause: the new moon:: langston hughes

 

stockphoto: autumn street with benches

The New Moon

There's a new, young moon riding the hill tonight;

There's a sprightly, young moon exploring the clouds;

There's a half-shy, young moon veiling her face like a virgin, 
   Waiting for her lover. 

-Langston Hughes

the magic of reading several books at once

I've been dipping in and out of my current reads for a few months now. I don't digitally track my reading, and instead use a small hardback notebook to track. When I am done with this notebook, I will start another. I enjoy being able to physically glance at my list of reads and it does make me quite emotional to see who and where I am in the process of these novels.

reading this as an audio + text combination

I didn't think I would enjoy Pillars of the Earth because I don't read much historical fiction. I am really loving this story. It's intricate, emotional, and very detailed. It is beneficial to have a novel or two in the rotation that just read easily and that has a story that flows by.

Reasons to read several books at once

1. I always have a fountain of choices depending on my mood
2. Re-reading is never a chore. It easily slots into new reads by giving the space to scaffold your favorite re-reading alongside them
3. You never have to "wait to start" a new book that you are excited about it

Reasons to caution against it

1. If you struggle with the ability to pick up the strands of multiple stories
2. You enjoy a singular focus
3. You confuse characters or storylines
4. You're interested in finishing books as quickly as possible

I am often reading between 6-10 books at one time, but mainly 4 is a solid amount that I can pick up every single day.

Types of books I read simultaneously

1. An audiobook (typically a classic that is a re-read)
2. A classic
3. A contemporary classic
4. Page turner (always changes)
5. Literary fiction
6. Non-fiction biography
7. Non-fiction psychology/neuroscience
8. Letters of some kind
9. Poetry book
10. Something in translation 

As the days become shorter, and daylight leaves us, I find myself wanting to finish my academic work earlier in the day so that I can focus on documentaries and reading where my personal care duties are limited.

Deep rest is becoming a true value of mine again, and reading plays an intricate part in resting for me. 

If you've never read multiple books at once, I really encourage you to at least try it. If it doesn't work for you, it's understandable. There are a few times a year where I focus on one book until it's done, but that is extremely rare. 

There's so much to read and I love spending my life and all that it contains between the pages of great literature. 

poetry pause: justice:: langston hughes

 

stockphoto: black coffee + apples + gourds

Justice

That Justice is a blind goddess

Is a thing to which we black are wise.

Her bandage hides two festering sores

That once, perhaps, were eyes.

-Langston Hughes

adding historical fiction to my currently reading + journaling while reading

adding this book to my currently reading

In the interest of easily digestible entertainment, I added this highly suggested 1989 historical fiction novel by British novelist Ken Follett. I had a used copy on my shelf and a fellow reading friend read and enjoyed it.

I haven't read a lot of historical fiction, but this mammoth of a novel has started out with that traditionally genre-esque descriptions that I am not that used to because I read so much literary fiction; however, I am enjoying it. So long as it doesn't branch into extreme violence against women and/or children, I will definitely. 

Here's the novel's description:

Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.

The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

 

I will do a review when I am done, and there are a few novels in this series, and if I enjoy it.

kingsbridge book series

Journaling While Reading

I've taken to paper journaling in one of my hardback journals while reading my classics. Only novels that I feel I will reread make it into my hardback journal, and I am adamant on keeping the feelings of my reads in one place to glance back on.

This practice is an accompaniment to my slow reading life. If I were trying to rush through novels, I couldn't ever do this. If you've ever considered journaling about what you are reading, I highly suggest it. Get a notebook that you will use only for this purpose. Don't worry about it being fancy or even showing it to anyone. Just write down how the novels you read move and change you. In a year's time you will be so glad that you did. 

poetry pause: autumn thought:: langston hughes

stockphoto: of autumn themed coffee and fall leaves

 Autumn Thought

Flowers are happy in summer;
In autumn they die and are blown
away.

   Dry and withered,
Their petals dance on the wind,
Like little brown butterflies.

-Langston Hughes

paperback jane austen haul + always reading austen

I have given away more copies of Jane Austen than anyone I know. I mean, I am borderline evangelist with the message that everyone should at least try reading Jane Austen.

At risk of this post turning into a Jane Austen outreach mission, I'll just say that nothing beats the feeling of annotating and tabbing a new paperback of your favorite novel. That spine cracking sound (yes I am a heathen who breaks spines and LOVES it), gathering tabs that match the book cover and just having a ball dropping down into those familiar lines...

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Pride and Prejudice)

love these covers. simple + stunning

This Fall I will be rereading Northanger Abbey. This one of Austen's novels does not get nearly enough love. Or maybe it does, I haven't noticed. Everyone's adoration (well deserved) for Pride and Prejudice and Emma, often overshadow the simplicity of Northanger Abbey or the silent moving resignation of Persuasion (my favorite of Austen's).

both of these deserve rereads next

Always Reading Austen

Yes. It is true. It isn't a typo and I can honestly say I love always reading something by Austen. 

I've written about how I use audiobooks, and I pretty much keep an Austen on audio at all times. When I can't sleep, I put on Pride and Prejudice and laugh at Mr. Collins' proposal and it helps every time. 

There is something comforting and warm about returning to the same stories over and over again. The same is true for some of my favorite works by Tolstoy and James Baldwin. 

Knowing what to expect- feeling safe within the story line- eliminating the emotional highs and lows that fiction brings- are all reasons I return over and over again to Austen's works.

People get mired in ideas about perfection when it comes to Regency Era fiction or reading the classics in general, and I say pick up the novels and have fun. Austen is supernaturally hilarious and just seeing her view on friendship, family, relationships, etc. is just so funny. It interesting how much has not changed about the way humans relate to one another. 

 I've stacked them nicely on top of my other paperbacks for safe keeping as I resist the urge to open each and read my favorite parts.

If you've never given your favorite novel to a friend after annotating and tabbing it, it is not only a great experience, but a chance to get another paperback and do it all over again.