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#BookReport

I finished The Redemption of Galen Pike and Restless Dolly Maunder

I read A Love Song for Ricki Wilde and Monstress vol 8

I continued listening to How to Say Babylon

I even managed to get a start on Forgotten on a Sunday

So I‘m vey happy about my reading this week

Author Safiya Sinclair reflects on growing up in Jamaica with a Rastafarian father who became abusive and how poetry saved her. This has everything I love about memoirs, teaching me about another's experience and drawing the reader in like a confidant.

5 🌟. Outstanding memoir of a poet that grew up in Jamaica. I learned a great deal from this well crafted work. The audio book is read by the author and was great. Read this book! #womensprizefornonfiction

#WeeklyForecast

I want to continue with the listening of How to Say Babylon.

I just read the first story in The Redemption of Galen Pike and it didn‘t go the way I thought, so I‘m looking forward to more stories in this collection

I‘m about halfway into Restless Dolly Maunder and expect to finish it today

Then I want to read A Long Song for Ricki Wilde

And hopefully I also get to start Monstress vol 8

#BookReport

I continued with both Thunderclap and the audio of How to Say Babylon

I finished Enter Ghost
I read The Strangeworlds Travel Agency The Edge of the Ocean and Sweet Desserts

I‘ve started Restless Dolly Maunder

#WeeklyForecast

Continue with both Thunerclap and the audio How to Say Babylon. Both from The Women‘s Prize for Nonfiction Shortlist

I want to finish Enter Ghost, read The Strangeworlds Travel Agency The Edge of the Ocean and hopefully get a start on Sweet Desserts

#BookReport

I had a great reading week probably due to no plans after work and I had yesterday day off work

So I finished Brotherless Night and The Emperor of Rome. Both amazing reads

I read The Wren, the Wren; Soldier Sailor and The Stories at the Red Gate Farm

I continued listening to How to Say Babylon

I‘m currently reading Enter Ghost and Thunderclap

#WeeklyForecast

I want to continue reading The Emperor of Rome

Then the rest of my reading is very Women‘s Prize heavy.
I want to finish Brotherless Night
I want to read The Wren, the Wren
I want to hopefully get a start on Soldier Sailor

I also want to listen to How to say Babylon

4.5⭐
Safiya is gorgeous - her name, her face, her writing. I learned so much from her biography. Rastafari is not a well known culture in my area. It makes sense that it was created in the 1930s, I just didn't realize how frowned upon it is in Jamaica. Reggae gives us such a different view outside of the area. An intense patriarchy religion with a lot of isolation. Safiya gives her story of breaking free. Fantastically written I enjoyed this.

I know this is not the point, and I am learning so much about Rastafari. But I keep looking at how gorgeous Safiya Sinclair is and how much I love her name! I might have a bit of a crush. Her writing is beautiful too.

#WeeklyForecast

Continue my audio How to Say Babylon and to continue my reading of Emperor of Rome

I want to finish The Silent Death

I‘m going to an event with Andrew McMillan on Wednesday and hope to get a start on Pity before that, otherwise I‘ll just read it afterwards

I also hope to get back to some Women‘s Prize for Fiction reading again and get a start on Brotherless Night

#BookReport

I‘ve finished Physical, Ordinary Human Failings and Wifedom

I read the latest Markund and Holt

I‘m currently reading The Silent Death and The Emperor of Rome. I also discovered the tagged as an audio at my audiobook service so I‘ve just started listening to it

A treasure highlighted by the Women‘s Nonfiction Prize longlist. This is a memoir of a difficult impoverished childhood in Jamaica with a domineering Rastafarian father who becomes abusive. It‘s, first, gorgeous, with a poetic prose throughout (brought out especially on audio), but also intense and fascinating. Recommended!

This is my favourite so far from the #womensprizeNF long list (even though I‘ve only read 4! 🙂)

The author grew up in a Rastafarian family in Jamaica, and I was surprised to learn about how strict the religion can be, as well as the views on women and girls.

Safiya is a poet and that really shows in her writing, and I loved her narrating the audio herself. She certainly has a huge capacity for forgiveness, after all that she went through.

Safiya Sinclair is a brave human to revisit the traumas of her youth. Her father was a strict Rastafarian who hated all things Babylon (aka the modern world) and believed women could never be as pure as men (bleh). Despite all of the restrictions that kept Safiya under her father‘s control, she obtained scholarships to the best schools and wrote herself to freedom with her poetry. Fantastic memoir.

January #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

I was so glad that I was reading the last half of this in the safety of my house because this book had me feeling so many emotions! If you‘re a sucker for strong female leads that overcame insane obstacles, this book is for you. #nonfiction #feminism #safiyasinclair #motivational #memoir

My week in reading. I finished Pearl, Edith Wharton‘s The Mother‘s Recompense (1925), Hemingway and Faulkner in Their Time (2005), and, yesterday, the terrific White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000). Chaucer continues (on The Pardoner‘s Tale), and I‘ve started Penelope Lively‘s memoir at 80, Ammonites and Leaping Fish (2013), an intriguing and poetic memoir, How to Say Babylon (2023) by Jamaican-born Safiya Sinclair 👇

"Behind the veil of trees, night's voices shimmered."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Starting this one from the #WomensPrizeNonFiction long list.

Currently listening 🎧
This was on my tbr anyway so when I saw it had been nominated for the women‘s prize for non fiction I thought I would bring it forward. Very much liking the tone and voice in this memoir
I have another 10 marked off from the nominees I would like to read but I think that may be a little ambitious 😂
Are there any that you want to read?

#motivationalmonday @Cupcake12

1. I hope to finally finish putting together my ikea dresser
2. How To Say Babylon
3. Cheerful and sarcastic

Consider yourself tagged!

Today's book haul!! Girl Math is when you use a gift card and B&N rewards points it means the books are free right?

f you liked Educated, you‘ll like this. Sinclair is a poet- and you know it as you read her memoir. Excellent memoir depicting her dysfunctional family, education and intelligence as an escape hatch, and page turning events. I have a few minor complaints, but overall, this is deserving to get the press it‘s getting.

5 out of 5

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Safiya Sinclair‘s written words and spoken voice are both lyrical and beautiful, which often made listening to the audiobook feel like experiencing spoken poetry. It did feel like it lagged a little at times, but this is an empowering and moving memoir that will likely inspire and resonate with a lot of people, especially women. 🎧

My stomach flip-flops when I read the devastation brought on a child because of their parent‘s radicalized faith. And once again it is the opportunity for education that frees a child to become. I knew nothing about what it means to be Rastafarian and found this interesting. …I did think the last part of the book took an odd turn from her personal story to her thoughts on current America.

This memoir was powerful but did remind me a lot of “Educated.“ Sinclair is a poet, and it shows in her lyrical work, but this definitely could have benefitted from stronger editing. #arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Full review at: https://erinkonrad.com/2023/09/21/how-to-say-babylon-book-review/

So excited to read this! And getting #bookmail is always fun! 😊

Thanks for the #arc, @simonbooks

When I saw that this memoir was suggested for those who like “Educated“ I happily accepted an advance copy from NetGalley. It is the story of a woman raised in Jamaica by a very strict Rastafarian father. The comparison is valid and I enjoyed the book, but the Jamaican and Rastafarian dialect made reading it a little difficult at times. Unsurprisingly the book is very poetic as the author is now a successful poet and professor in Arizona. 3.75/5

Look at all these beauties! #simonandschuster
#bookmail