#absurdereviews

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Highly Irregular by Arika Okrent, Illustrated by Sean O'Neil | Published 1st July 2021 by Oxford University Press

🎉 OUT EVERYWHERE - 1ST JULY 🎉

#absurdereviews

•"But language is not a product of engineering. It is the product of evolution, and the faults of English are similar to those that can be found in our body."

Highly Irregular is a super fun take on the important and eccentric chunks of the metamorphosis of English from being a rather insignificant 'spoken' language to being the world's most important medium of communication. 

It's a book that can be read without any prior linguistic knowledge. If read from cover to cover (which is what I did) , it reads like a fun ride through time.

•"The weirdness of English can be blamed on its history."

In the mesh of colonization, immigration, cross cultural ancestors,  and living in a cosmopolitan city, I began unpacking all of these layers in hopes of understanding who I am (or rather the product of what). This lead me to making an unofficial linguistic quest, which gives some context to why you must try this gorgeous book.

For better or worse, the history of the English language and its evolution are of import even two those who acquired it as a second or even a third language. 

The illustrations by Sean O'Neil are so stupendous,  they deserve a whole separate post 

Thank you @oxunipress for the advanced reader's copy, it has truly been an honour 💙

🎉 OUT EVERYWHERE - 1ST JULY 🎉

#arikaokrent #seanoneil #oxforduniversitypress #absurdereviews

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Violeta Among The Stars, a book review 💙

The novel begins with the protagonist at the confluence between this world and the next. This seemingly ordinary beginning takes a riveting turn, more so owing to the fierce and eccentric nature of our main character.

This is one of the most difficult books I have ever had to read, because it deals with the horrendously neglected fatal effects of fatphobic bullying and abuse. Violeta abhors her body but this emotion emerges with a trigger, she hides away for she knows she will be mocked and in order to cope she hates (or pretends to) herself. She calls her body hair, her enemies and is at war everyday selling body-wax solutions.

What drew me most to the book is the writer's excellence that can be experienced at the sentence level. Metaphors are atmospheric and the transition from one line of thought to another is seamless and yet positively differentiable. 

The prose is deliciously lyrical, the form is fleetingly modern. For example,

tell me a secret

keep me awake

until this night is over

The book also deals with the protagonist's sexuality, something that is often assumed to be either dormant or perverse in fat women. This book is a testament that women are imperfect beings who also happen to be fierce, who also need love to thrive. The book also broaches on important social issues that are at the heart of modern existence like single parenthood, mixed race children, radical difference of political opinion within the family and mental illness.

This book will arouse in you a myriad of emotions, something you did not expect, something that will stay with you a long time.

Read this book for the millions of fat women who convince themselves everyday that they are not enough or that they deserve the hate they're given. Promiscuity as a label is a patriarchal concept which has no place in the 21st century.

Note: This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

#violeta among the stars #dulce maria cardoso #maclehose press #bookreview #booknerd #absurdereviews

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• "[On being first black woman to earn a PhD in economics and first black woman admitted to Pennsylvania bar:]

I never looked for anybody to hold the door open for me. I knew well that the only way I could get that door open was to knock it down: because I knocked all of them down.."

If you are apalled by the tenacity with which black lives are exploited, ignored and wiped out, let me introduce you to the early 20th century mayhem that was unjust and even life threatening for the black American community. The writings of Sadie T. M. Alexander are haunting and inspiring in equal measure. Haunting because they call an ace - an ace, they show us the world through the perspective of the oppressed and at other times they show us the mirror. Sadie's own life story is beyond inspiring, she did her doctorate in economics only to be denied the position of an economist. She was dejected yet she moved on, completed a degree in law, cleared the bar and became a relentless advocate of African American citizens across the span of the USA.

The speeches, even the fragments have this tension weighing down every word - the woman didn't beat around the bush, she was playing to kill. The book begins with a short biographical account which has proven to be essential in understanding where Alexander is coming from. Surprising as it is, her husband was extremely supportive of his wife's activism and career, something refreshing.

The entire span of the book boiled my blood and I went to bed with a headache, I don't know if there is any other way of understanding or to be honest, trying to understand the plight of people who were stripped of their dignity and humanity on something as baseless as the colour of ones skin. Alexander holds people accountable unflinchingly and speaks quite plainly of the hypocrisy of progressive white women.

I think what this book most certainly does is create a conversation, Alexander demands honesty, by being brutally just that.

Rest in power queen.

Thanking Yale University Press ( @yalebooks ) for a copy of this bombshell of a book. Democracy, Race, And Justice is out everywhere! 

#books #studyblr #booknerd #bookstagram #booklr #absurdereviews #sadie t m Alexander #yale university press

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📚PROJECT UPDATE ■ P. D. James📚 {My Penguin Shorts project went to shit (temporarily) because I'm moving house and I'm leaving my set with Angelina.} I decided to do the complete works of a female writer and picked up P. D. James 🥳 🔍I'm so delighted to discover P. D. James. I know I'm ridiculously late to the party but boy does she spin the plot. Albeit a less remarkable detective but I'm anticipating a strong revival in the series to come (which I'm diligently gonna read). 🔍I love how flawed all the characters are and how obsessed they are with their bourgeois ideals (for their own good) I particularly loved how James addresses a lot of sexist issues in the most subtle manner and yet concludes on a strongly feminist foot. 🔍Looking forward to more (yayyy) #crimefiction #murdermystery #pdjames #absurdereviews #bookstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CO8gb1HLKZU/?igshid=1gn2n57590mtd

#crimefiction #murdermystery #pdjames #absurdereviews #bookstagram

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#absurdereviews Will by Jeroen Olyslaegers

I started reading this book with neutral expectations, I had neither heard of the author nor his reputation. The only thing that drew me to it was its setting and the fact that it was during the postwar period.

What I did not expect is this condensed prose that demanded my complete attention, I think the last time a book challenged me in this manner was William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury. I'm not going to write a synopsis, all I can tell you is - this book is going to make you question and reconsider every relationship you have had in your life.

This is a heart wrenching tale. The world war two scenario is shown in its most raw and uncensored manner. The plot is intricate, the writing gorgeously heart shattering and you must must must read this darling book.

Looking forward to more translated works of Jeroen Olyslaegers.

Thank you so much Pushkin Press for this gifted copy, you have opened a new portal for me.

#Will (Hardcover) #by Jeroen Olyslaegers #absurdereviews #booklr #bookstagram #pushkinpress

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#absurdereviews How World War II Changed America

This has been a supremely important book for me, the historical repercussions of war are often shown in mainstream media in a very contotred way. I didn't think I could view the second world war in this new light!

The book is very well researched and nuanced in the way it talks of all instances and objects. It is racially aware, doesn't shy away from difficult conversations that surround a vulnerable postwar country that is united in its various divisions. It's the historical contexts and details of the small/everyday things that got to me the most.

From the very first page the book grips you in its emotionally charged narrative and there is definite no turning back.

Will definitely recommend this book to anyone who gives two fucks about history because this book is important not just the people in the United States but the entire world.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#How World War II Changed America #Earl Ofari Hutchinson #booklr #bookstagram #world war ii #post war #absurdereviews