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Rereading The Handmaid's Tale

I could, in the face of Atwood-hysteria, remain quiet, but my initial discomfort reading THT for the first time, and now rereading and considering some problematic aspects (thanks  @blackgirlreading) has led me to the opposite. Briefly, the fictional dystopia Atwood creates is a violently patriarchal Christian right who have taken power in the US. The tale follows the unnamed Offred (belonging to Fred) as a handmaid, effectually a slave, forcibly removed from her own family and providing the womb for the powerful elite in a world where fertility has become rare. This is dystopian fiction, an imagined future. Perhaps a moot point here but what has irked me (for many years) about Atwood is her inability to accept that she writes science-fiction. Early in her writing career she irked a legion of fans by stating the difference between science fiction, which “has monsters and spaceships” and speculative fiction which “could really happen”. For any fan of the genre her snooty disrega...
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Book Review: Notes of a Native Son

NOTES OF A NATIVE SON by James Baldwin "About my interests: I don’t think I have any, unless the morbid desire to own a sixteen-millimeter camera and make experimental movies can be so classified. Otherwise, I love to eat and drink … and I love to argue with people who do not disagree with me too profoundly, and I love to laugh. I do not like bohemia, or bohemians, I do not like people whose principal aim is pleasure, and I do not like people who are earnest about anything … I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. I think all theories are suspect, that the finest principles may have to be modified, or even be pulverized by the demands of life, and that one must find, therefore, one’s own moral center and move through the world hoping that this center will guide one alright. I consider that I have many responsibilities, but none greater than this: to last, as Hemingway says, and ...
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Book Review: Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story

VAN GOGH'S EAR by Bernadette Murphy What if nearly everything you know about the great artist Vincent Van Gogh is based not on truth but gossip, rumour, and hearsay? After a personal tragedy, Murphy, living in the South of France, took up the task of discovering the truth behind Van Gogh's infamous self-mutilation. The book, detailed and meticulous, follows her journey, and yet it is never boresome. I was gripped throughout, a testament to Murphy's skill as a writer, but also her passion for art and history. The book itself reveals not only the answers to these mysteries - what may have happened that eventful day, the identity of the woman Van Gogh handed over his ear to, and why. (No spoilers!) The discoveries are groundbreaking, and the level of research simply remarkable. But this book goes much further, vividly painting a whole picture: the life Van Gogh created in the town of Arles, the Gaugin partnership, his local friends, the tender relationship with his broth...
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Children's Diverse Book List

A list I prepared for my children's primary school who wanted some suggestions on book titles that cover diversity or are by diverse authors. Feel free to copy and share with your local school or library, and/or I hope that it gives you ideas to grow your own collection at home. I'll definitely be looking to buy some of these... Diverse Fiction & Non-Fiction Book list  Early Years (0+) Amazing Grace Mary Hoffman Illustrated by Caroline Binch. Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. The classic picture book about the little girl who loves stories and shows us that we can be anything we want to be. Fruits: A Caribbean Counting Poem, Valerie Bloom Illustrated by David Axtell. Macmillan Children’s Books A rhythmic counting poem that describes all manner of delicious Caribbean fruits as a little girl tries to eat as many of these as she can in a single day. The Goggle-Eyed Goats, Stephen Davies Illustrated by Christopher Corr. Andersen Press A vibrant and colourfully illus...
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Talking (finally) about race (pt.2)

First steps are the most difficult, like pushing down a tall fence and scanning a landscape you were unaware of previously. In beginning to understand the various complexities of race, bias, prejudice, intersectionality and white supremacy I've realised that there is so much more to explore. So much learning and unlearning yet to do, and for various reasons I've sat on this for a while but never questioned the fact that it needs doing. Today I sent an email to my daughters' headteacher, in a 100% white staffed primary school. All previous interactions have always been positive, and I hope this doesn't skew this! Within the email was a list of suggested points of action in tackling racism and prejudice (see below). I'm going to schedule a follow up meeting with the head to discuss this and also plan to present this to the school governors. Coincidentally, OFSTED have issued a new framework for schools to be implemented in September. This means they will be pa...
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Talking (finally) about Race (pt. 1)

Warning: this is not a light read. It would be much, much better, yes, if I did not have to consider racism, bigotry and Islamophobia. Yet it certainly exists and holds sway, and I would be a lesser mother if I didn't put in the work: to eradicate as well as build the defence system our family needs. This has taken longer for me to realise than I should have, and I am partly ashamed and yet also fuelled by the instinct to now do more. This is how it began: last year, my 6 year old was told by another child in her class that she wasn't from here (England) and didn't belong - implying skin colour and race in the context of majority white school. The school dealt with the matter and logged the incident, I ran into the mother later that day and she apologised, seemingly embarrassed and surprised with the words uttered by her son. My daughter wasn't too bothered, was quick to forgive and happily played with the child the following day. However, I think it was more a matt...
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Book Review: Exit West

“All their doors remained simple doors, on/off switches in the flow between two adjacent places, binarily either open or closed, but each of their doors, regarded thus with a twinge of irrational possibility, became partially animate as well, an object with a subtle power to mock, to mock the desires of those who desired to go far away, whispering silently from its door frame that such dreams were the dreams of fools.” This has flummoxed me. I am trying to be positive, and not be such a harsh critic of writing (as someone beginning to write herself) but I had such high hopes, and they were completely crushed. Mohsin Hamid is not yet in the ranks of a prolific writer, he has four novels to his name (googling this led to the completely unrelated fact that he once took a class with Toni Morrison!). I've only read his debut, Moth Smoke, and watched a bit of The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Trying to pinpoint what didn't work is a little tricky, as I felt that personally there we...
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