who gifted us with the rec for SWARM by Donald Glover and I’m obsessed. I’m avoiding seeing what the discourse on the show is until I finish it (anyone else do this?) so I can form my own view of it. It’s really masterful and the protagonist is the (anti-)hero we deserve. Can’t wait to watch more of last week’s recs!
This week we’re talking life-changing, paradigm-shifting books.
I promised my recs!!! I looooove the book Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown, I might re-read it soon. The Uses of the Erotic essay by Audre Lorde is so important and is a beautiful paradigm shift. I LOVE How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, much of the book has stuck with me. A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo. Love All About Love by bell hooks! Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey is so wonderful!!! And Belly of the Beast by Da'Shaun Harrison!!! "The Mountain is You" -- one of those you have to take what's useful to you and leave the rest bc it's VERY rooted in the individual as the site of their own pain which is a very privileged take. For me: I face a lot of resistance and fear in my creative projects that are not really rooted in an objective reality so this book helped me reframe but yes just wanted to give a heads up!
I distinctly remember a pre and post way of looking at the world and myself from when I read parable of the sower by Octavia Butler. It’s devastating and violent but hopeful and full of love.
That’s so hard 😭 I’ll give one fiction and non fiction. Fiction: Babel by R.F. Kuang — the way she portrays the horrors and cognitive dissonance of being oppressed but being within the empire and using “silver” to show how pervasive colonialism is and also questioning is violence how we win? Absolutely brilliant. I ended it crying!!! And then nonfiction: Myth of normal by Gabor maté I just love the way he infused his personal stories with science to show how we live and how it effects us is all a given since we live in a white supremacist, capitalist, imperialistic world (to quote bell hooks lol) and how we navigate in these systems to keep our mental health in check the best way we can with the resources we have! ♥️
Absolutely ‘Viral Justice’ by Ruha Benjamin!!! thank you so much for the wonderful podcast episode, I listen to it for hope! Also, My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem and for fiction, Love and other thought experiments, by Sophie Ward, I truly think about this book at least once a day.
I recommend “Outwitting The Devil” by Napoleon Hill to everyone on the path to wholeness, enlightenment, and freedom. An oldie but goodie intro to escaping the matrix, if you will, that demystifies the most nefarious Op known to mankind & gives us a practical framework for surmounting individual & collective suffering through free will.
I promised my recs!!! I looooove the book Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown, I might re-read it soon. The Uses of the Erotic essay by Audre Lorde is so important and is a beautiful paradigm shift. I LOVE How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, much of the book has stuck with me. A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo. Love All About Love by bell hooks! Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey is so wonderful!!! And Belly of the Beast by Da'Shaun Harrison!!! "The Mountain is You" -- one of those you have to take what's useful to you and leave the rest bc it's VERY rooted in the individual as the site of their own pain which is a very privileged take. For me: I face a lot of resistance and fear in my creative projects that are not really rooted in an objective reality so this book helped me reframe but yes just wanted to give a heads up!
I distinctly remember a pre and post way of looking at the world and myself from when I read parable of the sower by Octavia Butler. It’s devastating and violent but hopeful and full of love.
I think about it most weeks.
That’s so hard 😭 I’ll give one fiction and non fiction. Fiction: Babel by R.F. Kuang — the way she portrays the horrors and cognitive dissonance of being oppressed but being within the empire and using “silver” to show how pervasive colonialism is and also questioning is violence how we win? Absolutely brilliant. I ended it crying!!! And then nonfiction: Myth of normal by Gabor maté I just love the way he infused his personal stories with science to show how we live and how it effects us is all a given since we live in a white supremacist, capitalist, imperialistic world (to quote bell hooks lol) and how we navigate in these systems to keep our mental health in check the best way we can with the resources we have! ♥️
Dear Senthuran - Akwaeke Emezi, it’s full of so many pearls of wisdom thAt I think any individual no matter gender, creed or orientation can relate to
Absolutely ‘Viral Justice’ by Ruha Benjamin!!! thank you so much for the wonderful podcast episode, I listen to it for hope! Also, My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem and for fiction, Love and other thought experiments, by Sophie Ward, I truly think about this book at least once a day.
I recommend “Outwitting The Devil” by Napoleon Hill to everyone on the path to wholeness, enlightenment, and freedom. An oldie but goodie intro to escaping the matrix, if you will, that demystifies the most nefarious Op known to mankind & gives us a practical framework for surmounting individual & collective suffering through free will.
The wisdom of insecurity by Alan watts!!!
The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram~ my world changes with every page 🌱
“Kim JiYoung Born 1982” by Cho Nam Joo is a quick read one 🫶🥰