Thick as Water – A Review

I would like you both to come in. For Agnes and Liam, life is never the same after these words. In one afternoon, every vow in their marriage is a challenge: For worse. For poorer. In sickness.

Agnes and Liam must confront unexpected challenges and decide: Will they choose each other? Is their marriage worth everything they’ve worked for in this life? How private is information on the internet? Is technology stripping away life’s mysteries a blessing or a curse?

The story grapples with the ever-blurring line between privacy and the media. It tackles the big questions of the rising popularity of medical and DNA testing coupled with ongoing cybersecurity threats.

If light is cast on their dark past, will it take away its power, or destroy their lives?

The Works of Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) is a literary figure that I’d never even heard of until my Directed Reading module at University this year. This is surprising, considering Behn’s position as one of the first English female writers to be esteemed worthy of attention and popularity for her work in a way that she got to make a living from it, and considering my own personal interest in historical feminist figures. I feel that through my one-to-one tutorials I was given the opportunity to have a really good space to learn about Behn in detail because of our careful discussion of the context and close analysis of her works.

Notes to Self – A Review

`The person who loves the addict exhausts and renews their love on a daily basis’ In this vivid and powerful collection of essays, the first non- fiction book published by Tramp Press, Emilie Pine boldly confronts the past to better understand herself, her relationships and her role in society. Tackling subjects like addiction, fertility, feminism and sexual violence, and where these subjects intersect with legislation, these beautifully written essays are at once fascinating and funny, intimate and searingly honest. Honest, raw, brave and new, Notes to Self breaks new ground in the field of personal essays.

(book synopsis taken from Goodreads)

Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self is a book that has really stuck with me since reading it a few weeks ago. It’s brave, exposing, raw- basically all the synonyms for vulnerability, wrapped up in a series of personal reflective essays. The moment I finished the book, I could not stop singing its praises and immediately gave it a 5/5 review. Since then, my views have changed slightly. Let’s talk about it.

Mid Semester Uni Round Up

So it’s safe to say that my experience with my Master’s degree is very… different to what I thought (and hoped) it would be like. Pre-pandemic, I’d never have dreamed that I’d be bound to participating in classes over zoom, where conversations are fractured and connections are weak, in terms of both human contact and the WIFI. It has for sure been a struggle, and opens up interesting conversations about the relationship between the accessibility of education and standard of teaching/learning. Honestly, the main thing that has gotten me through it and actually attending my seminars isn’t so much my passion for the subject, but the fact that these zoom calls are really the only thing that gives my life structure at the moment and make me feel like I’m not just stagnant and only existing in this weird, weird world of COVID. Today, I wanted to talk a little about my modules and how I’m finding them so far, to gather up all my thoughts into one big blog post.

Graphic Novels as Underrated Literature- Through the Lens of ‘Maus’

Despite being a long-established lover of literature, I think that one of my reading failures is the fact that I tend to only read prose novels. Working on expanding my horizons through the narrative form is something that I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and luckily my University course has given me the opportunity to do so! For my Memory and Narrative module, we were assigned to read Art Spiegelman’s Maus, a graphic novel that depicts Art Spiegelman interviewing his father, Vladek, about his time in Auschwitz and his life pre and post the camp.

Important Things We Need To Take Away From ‘Americanah’

‘Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria. In America Ifemelu has to grapple with what it means to be black, despite her academic success. Obinze plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, when they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria and reignite their passion- for each other and for their homeland- they face the hardest decision of their lives’

(plot summary taken from blurb of my book version)

Red Dust Road- A Review

From the moment when, as a little girl, she realizes that her skin is a different colour from that of her beloved mum and dad, to the tracing and finding of her birth parents, her Highland mother and Nigerian father, the journey that Jackie Kay undertakes in Red Dust Road is full of unexpected twists, turns and deep emotions. In a book shining with warmth, humour and compassion, she discovers that inheritance is about much more than genes: that we are shaped by songs as much as by cells, and that our internal landscapes are as important as those through which we move. Taking the reader from Glasgow to Lagos and beyond, Red Dust Road is revelatory, redemptive and courageous, unique in its voice and universal in its reach. It is a heart-stopping story of parents and siblings, friends and strangers, belonging and beliefs, biology and destiny, and love.

(plot synopsis taken from Goodreads)

Elizabeth is Missing- A Review

Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn’t remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognisable- or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger.

But there’s one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it.

Because somewhere in Maud’s damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about.

Everyone, except Maud…