What’s a vacation without splurging on books? Exactly, that’s why I love city trips and especially the wonderful bookstores and charity shops in London. The only downside of my trip was that I could only take 10kg. I’m pretty sure security had a blast at my bookshelf in a bag, but what can you do. Here’s what I got in London (all links to goodreads):
Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
This one was dirt cheap in a charity shop, so with my library not carrying any of her books, buying it used was actually the cheapest option. Life is weird!
Have loved so many poems by Rupi Kaur, I wanted to take a look at the whole collection.
Rosemary & Rue by Seanan McGuire
Also dirt cheap and I enjoyed this one. Now that I’v read more by McGuire I want to go back and see if the reading experience is different.
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
I just had to get Jemisin’s new book while I had a book budget or I’d have gone green with envy!
Depicting the Veil by Robin Lee Riley
A bit unsure about this one. It’s written by a white academic feminist, so we’ll see, though I do think it’s an important topic especially for feminists who are white to tackle and work through.
Safe House edited by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey
This one I had to get cause Whitney made it sound amazing. It’s creative non-fiction by writers from Africa, can’t wait to explore!
The Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu, transl. by Ken Liu
Read this one already via Scribd, but it was really good and thought I’d get it for the shelves and a reread.
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
Wanted to get Who Fears Death but they didn’t have it. Shame on you UK bookstores for not carrying more books by Okorafor.
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Queer horror for creepy season and also maybe a good read for the R.I.P. challenge.
Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
This is a book I’ve been eyeing for quite a while and I just couldn’t resist any longer. It’s also a keeper for the library I’m trying to build.
*****
And then Verso Books had a flash sale of their e-books for 90% off, how to resist!? I got some works I’d wanted to try for a while and some I wasn’t sure enough about to buy a hardcopy of.
Dominating Others: Feminism and Terror After the War On Terror by Christine Delphy
More adventures in exploring how feminists who are white take on Islamophobia and the war on terror. We’ll see how that goes, can’t say I’m a fan of the cover.
Serve the People: Making Asian America in the Long Sixties by Karen Ishizuka
This one I’m very excited about, it discusses the radical Asian American movement of the 60s.
The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, And the Domestic War On Terror by Arun Kundnani
This one looks at the intersection of Islamophobia, policing and surveillance in the US while the war on terror supposedly only happened somewhere else.
Very timely publication and I wanted to review this but with graduation I didn’t manage to finish before it archived on NetGalley. Well looks like I’ll get to finish the book finally, but less enthusiastic about NetGalley now.
Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation by Vijay Prashad, ed.
This collection looks really great, it brings together voices Remi Kanazi, Robin D.G. Kelley, Teju Cole and Junot Díaz who discuss a growing awareness in the US of the sufferings of people in Gaza.
Traces of History: Elementary Structures of Race by Patrick Wolfe
This work examines regimes of race brought by colonizers and is written by an Australian academic who does settler colonial studies, so I’m hoping it doesn’t disappoint. Guess there’s a theme here of looking at what potential allies are writing.
Have you read any of these books? Let me know about new books on your shelves or your library stack!!