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Reading Week #63

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aberfoyle

Good morning, friends. How is your week going?

Mine ended, or began, depending on how you look at the calendar (are you a week starts on Sunday or Monday person?) at a beautiful place under sad circumstances. The family went up north to Aberfoyle to scatter my Grandma’s ashes.

The rest of the week has been a push to get back into work mode interspersed with friendly catch-ups: one of the highlights of returning from a long break.

Hope you’ve had a good one too. Here are some things to click on.

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

It’s Bookish Blether Episode 14 already? We finally broach the subject of Book to Film Adaptations.

A bit of a repeat, but I shared my Favourite Books of 2015 So Far – this time in video form.

I also published some Lessons from Small is Beautiful over on my business blog.

 
 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Pixar and the Incredibly Canny Valley. I am so much more excited for this than for Inside/Out.

Diversity in UK Publishing Still a Challenge. Come on, guys. Don’t make it so hard for yourself.

Jon Ronson interviews Katie Hopkins; tries not to publicly shame her. Honestly, I couldn’t have told you how she ever got famous before reading this.

I love this Obsessively Detailed Map of American Literature’s Most Epic Road Trips from Atlas Obscura. I’d probably take Steinbeck’s from Travels with Charley, personally.

 
 

–– LADYBITS ––

Jess Zimmerman asks “Where’s My Cut?”: On Unpaid Emotional Labor. ALL OF THE PRAYER HANDS EMOJIS.

Ladies’ Man – Melissa McEwan tries to explain her partner’s respect for women; kinda gets tied in knots.

Emma Thompson says that sexism in acting industry is worse than ever. The film industry is just the worst. See also:

On a brighter note! ‘She’s the coach and we listen’: Becky Hammon beats up the NBA Summer League. Eff yeah lady coaches.

Lindy West: My wedding was perfect – and I was fat as hell the whole time. One of my main takeaways from my own wedding research came from Lisa Eldridge, who advises you look like yourself for your wedding. She was talking about make-up, but this totally affirms it.

 
 

–– DIGITAL ––

I haven’t signed up to, or recommended, any new newsletters lately – so I’ll refer you to these recommendations instead. (I’ll also second them on READ.LOOK.THINK., Ann Friedman Weekly and Everything Changes.)

A great video from Tales of Mere Existence on what it’s like to live through the California Drought.

Another lovely video: First and Final Frames of films, edited by Jacob T. Swinney. How many do you recognise?

 
 

–– ON PAPER ––

I’m currently reading Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. It’s actually totally hilarious? Maybe it’s my ultra-dry, wry sense of humour, but no-one mentioned it.

On audio I’m taking in Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which is pretty remarkable. It’s only around 175 pages / 3.5 hours. Here’s a great interview with him, where he describes it thus: “it’s not a bowl of sugar. It’s dark chocolate. It’s a little bitter. And that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

What’s on your nightstand?
 
 

–– &c. ––

She’s baa-aack… An Interview With Rachel Dolezal:”It’s not a costume.” Reported with a healthy dose of skepticism.

And just for fun, Letter of Recommendation: Summer Fridays.

 

Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me with a link.

​Have a lovely weekend!

 

We Should All Be Feminists | The Essayist Project

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We Should All Be Feminists by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie

 

Recently, Fourth Estate released We Should All Be Feminists, an essay by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Americanah. The piece is based on on her 2012 TEDxEuston talk of the same name (see below).

It’s a slim volume – about 50 pages on paper – more like a Kindle Single than a standalone book. In it, as she did in her TEDx talk, Adichie advocates for feminism through a series of anecdotes. In essence it is a piece that outlines her journey into feminism; but above and beyond that, she provides instructive arguments for calling upon equality through feminism.

We Should All Be Feminists is something of a primer. She relates her own experience growing up in Nigeria, imparting a number of life moments where she has reproached for acting outside of societal gender norms, or has been advised against describing herself as a feminist. “We have evolved. But our ideas of gender have not evolved very much.” One thing is clear: this is an author who grew up in a place where feminism is a derided term. She speaks to meet that audience and bring them to her side.

Adichie’s arguments are a series of brief examples of inequality in action peppered with calls to arms. She believes that “Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice”. She speaks of men’s fragile egos and women’s training to cater to them. To make a change, she says, we must raise both boys and girls differently.

One of the most compelling arguments for me was elucidated in an example of her being told to make her brother an omelette when he was hungry. What a crucial thing it is, to nourish oneself, and to nourish others – yet, in many cases, we don’t value teaching men to fend for themselves in this way. She loops this into the point that men are taken seriously by default, while women must earn that respect. Her perceptive reasoning gives these points gravity without preaching.

“Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.”

As a TEDx talk, you could read this in about 20 minutes or so. If you’re new to feminism, or are looking for new ways to reason your arguments, this is definitely a good place to start.

 

Watch the talk: 

 

Read more from The Essayist Project:

Click through to read more articles from The Essayist Project series.

 

Buy the book:

To support The Essayist Project, please consider purchasing We Should All Be Feminists using these links: Amazon | Kindle | Book Depository.

Reading Week #26 – Ladybits Ahoy

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lazy-sunday
A book, my feet, and a lazy house-guest.

 

Busy week! How was yours?

This week is a bit heavy in the Lena Dunham department. I can’t help it that she has a book out! Incidentally, I’ve read the first chapter so far and… well, we’ll see.

If you hate her, don’t worry. It’s all over after this – I promise.

Incidentally, last week I added a segment titled ‘Ladybits’. This week is almost entirely comprised of ‘ladybits’ – so, enjoy.

 

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

Not much to see here! But I did write a bit more about my intentions and reading history in The Essayist Project: An Introduction.

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Is This a Golden Age for Women Essayists? Says Cheryl Strayed: “As long as we still have reason to wedge “women” as a qualifier before “essayist,” the age is not exactly golden.” Amen, lady. I mean, writer person.

& in related: Non-Fiction Deserves a Nobel. If Bertrand Russell and Winston Churchill once got them, why hasn’t anyone since? Get it sorted, Nobelers.

This week in fictional characters’ reading lists…
Daria’s Reading List. I didn’t ever watch much Daria, but she’s still a kindred spirit.

From the guy who pulled together all 330-some books mentioned in Gilmore Girls, here’s a smattering of 7 Gilmore Girls-related books to read now. It’s nice to have them narrowed down. Plus, I’m currently reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay so I’m basically already participating.

How to Learn: Lewis Carroll’s Four Rules for Digesting Information and Mastering the Art of Reading. Simple, yet effective. The kind of thing that makes you go, “Oh… I knew that. I should actually, like, do it.”
 

 

–– DIGITAL ––

The brilliant Veronica aka Ron Lit is bringing academia to BookTube (YouTube for books). I like her latest video so much I’m embedding it.

 

& did you hear that Roxane Gay is starting a new The Toast sister-site called The Butter? I can’t wait.

 

 

–– LADYBITS (AKA ROXANE GAY/LENA DUNHAM CORNER) ––

Powerful stuff from Roxane Gay on The Price of Black Ambition.

Don’t Love or Hate Lena Dunham. Create More of Her. The pressure on young female celebrities is unsustainable. The name is tangential to the point: WE NEED MORE WOMEN IN MEDIA SO THAT ONE WOMAN DOESN’T REPRESENT THE LOT OF US. Okay? Okay. Let’s work on that. Props to the writer, Rebecca Traister, and New Republic – you’ll be seeing more of them here soon.

In related: Sally Ride & the Burden of Being “First”. Not like the first to comment on an article, but be the first lady to do stuff. In case you weren’t sure.

Roxane Gay Talks to Lena Dunham About Her New Book, Feminism, and the Benefits of Being Criticized Online. Cool.

Tech’s gender problem abounds. Fortunately, some companies like Etsy are leading the way to parity.

 

 

–– ON PAPER ––

Okay so, yes, I’m still reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

As mentioned at the top, I also started Lena Dunham’s book, Not That Kind of Girl.

What book(s) are you currently reading?

 

 

–– &c. ––

This Twitter exchange.

dad-alert

 

What were your favourite reads of the week?

 

 

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