Weekly Wrap-Up 9 – 15 June 2020: The world is on fire

Hello readers!

I’m still on my blogging break (except for these Weekly Wrap Ups), which I think will last another week or two. I have been using the time to get myself informed and involved in some initiatives, signing petitions etc.

Some petitions to sign:

ok since apparently the tl thinks blm is over here is a thread of petitions that haven’t yet reached their goals:

— ً (@defnceles) June 5, 2020

Here are some places where you can donate to Brazilian Corona-relief funds. There are several initiatives – if you don’t know where to start, I’ve recently donated to Mães da Favela, to provide financial relief to mothers who live in favelas. It’s in Portuguese but it’s easy to navigate and I’m sure you can use the Translate button 🙂

There is a lot we can/should do, and the very least is to educate ourselves! If you feel there is nothing you can really do because you don’t have money to spare and can’t join protests, you can watch The 13th on Youtube, follow some Black content creators (Booktubers, artists, writers…) and actually consume/hype their content, request some eARCs from Black authors on Netgalley (like this one, this one, this one, this one and this one)  or Edeweiss (like here) and hype them up on social media, listen to podcasts (like this one). Prioritizing and giving platform to marginalized voices is helpful, and we should strive to make it a long-term, lifelong commitment. Humanizing oppressed groups is an important step into slowly improving society.

Okay, on a more positive note…

My husband and I got a new bookshelf and thus had space to make a cat corner on the old one:

Penelope loves hanging out with us when we are reading so now she has her own cubicle 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/dzvvYhWVTM

— Naty is educating herself (@natysbookshelf) June 12, 2020

She loves it and it’s hella cute!

Weekly Wrap Up

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller / Goodreads 4 stars

I enjoyed reading this, although by now I am getting a little tired of retellings of Greek myths and hearing so much about Achilles and Odysseus and Patroclus. I’ve read no less than four retellings the past year or two and I’m quite over them by now. If I hadn’t read the other three, I’m sure I would have loved this more, but as it is, it didn’t quite stand out much to me. It’s surely a great YA, and it’s always cool to have stories with gods, but I don’t quite care to read more about men fighting wars, blaming Helen, slaving Briseis, sacrificing Iphigenia.

Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify by Carolyn Holbrook / Goodreads 4 stars

This tells essays of the story of the author, a Black woman who, as a single mother of five children, becomes a writer and pillar of the literary community in the Twin Cities. This was an interesting and engaging read, compassionate and, surprisingly, with quite some ghosts.

Quem tem medo do feminismo negro? by Djamila Ribeiro / Goodreads Ongoing

I couldn’t really wait to pick this up – it’s a Brazilian book with essays by the author on several topics about racism in Brazil, like Blackface in Carnival and so on. She writes so well and eloquently, and I look forward to reading more from her!

An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole / Goodreads 4 stars

I finally picked up this book! I’ve had it for several months on my TBR and as an eARC from Netgalley. This series from Alyssa Cole is BRILLIANT and criminally underrated. PLEASE pick them up, the romances are great, the character growth is so good and it’s set in the Civil War, which… is pretty timely in my opinion.

Kindred by Octavia Butler / Goodreads Ongoing

I started this BRILLIANT book and regret not having picked it up before!

What did you read this week?