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.

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)