take a look, it's in a book

please don't sue me levar burton, i just love your theme song: the reading edition

I’m going to be frank and say that I’m writing this on the middle of my lunch break because I just love you all that much (kind of? Honestly at this point, who knows!) but also because I wanted to read and it reminded me I needed to draft this for the upcoming week, so here we are. I’ve really missed reading, and I did mention Libby, the app that connects to your local public libraries so that you can borrow E-Books or audiobooks from them for free, in my last newsletter. While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with e-books and consume them heartily, I do miss real books: the sensation of opening a new book, and the smell of fresh paper, and the feel of the print stock against your fingers. It’s a strange sensation, but I’ve just missed it. So this newsletter is going to discuss the books I want to read, or the ones I’ve read/are currently reading in the middle of this pandemic. I’m certain that there will be more of these to go, but here’s what I’ve been loving so far.

Please listen to the theme song of Reading Rainbow for the majority of this newsletter.

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the devoured content

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty: I’m in the middle of a death doula class, and I’ve been called to this work by my ancestors. That might sound a bit woo, but I’ve been afraid of death for a long time, and with everyone getting older, I’ve wanted to become less fearful of it, and the practices surrounding it. This has been an eye-opener for me in the ways different cultures celebrate life at the physical end of one. It also made me hate capitalism more since the American funerary industry basically takes advantage of families after death by having them avoid it as much as possible, and then jacking up all the prices for a timely and speedy celebration. This has made me appreciate other cultures and their practices around death much more.

This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell: This is probably one of the most accessible books I’ve read in a long, long time. I’ve “read” it all the way through once already, but I recommend having a hard copy for yourself so that you can follow through the activities and journalling exercises at your own pace. It includes a glossary and dictionary to define words that should be in our basic vocabulary, but we may not truly understand until confronted with it all. It’s a book I highly recommend written by a Black biracial writer that would be great to give to yourself or to a friend that always talks about “doing the work” and “unlearning things.” Also, pay Black folx their coin. Buy this book.