Hello all, this week I did something I hadn’t done in months: I went to the library. I haven’t had a lot of time to go to the library between school and work. Now that I’ve finally found my rhythm, I’m trying to get back into reading. I love the library, if there’s something I desperately want to read, I know I can find it at the library.
I should say that I had put all these books on hold and was really only anticipating having three books ready when I got there but Black Leopard, Red Wolf was sitting there waiting for me. I’m crying.
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
Husband, father, drag queen, sex worker, wife. Sarah Krasnostein's The Trauma Cleaner is a love letter to an extraordinary ordinary life. In Sandra Pankhurst she discovered a woman capable of taking a lifetime of hostility and transphobic abuse and using it to care for some of society's most in-need people.
Sandra Pankhurst founded her trauma cleaning business to help people whose emotional scars are written on their houses. From the forgotten flat of a drug addict to the infested home of a hoarder, Sandra enters properties and lives at the same time. But few of the people she looks after know anything of the complexity of Sandra's own life. Raised in an uncaring home, Sandra's miraculous gift for warmth and humour in the face of unspeakable personal tragedy mark her out as a one-off.
I heard about this book over on Jen’s channel. She didn’t completely love this book, but I was all in for the trans representation. I am worried. Although, to be fair I’m not setting the bar too high on this one.
I may not get to this one before the end of February, but I am thinking of reading it in March.
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
A lyrical, philosophical, and often explicit exploration of personal suffering and the limitations of vision and love, as refracted through the color blue. With Bluets, Maggie Nelson has entered the pantheon of brilliant lyric essayists.
I just finished Chroma by Derek Jarman this month and I had to pick up Bluets. This isn’t the first time I’ve picked up Bluets. The first time, I didn’t finish reading it, I got far enough to find a book titled Chroma before I inevitably put it down. It was too soon after reading The Argonauts that I couldn’t possibly get into it. Ever since I’ve been dying to give it a second chance, because who am I kidding, I’d love this book.
I’ve already started reading it and I’m more than halfway through. I’m enjoying it but not as much as The Argonauts.
Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
The Santiago family lives in a gated community in Bogotá, safe from the political upheaval terrorizing the country. Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister Cassandra enjoy carefree lives thanks to this protective bubble, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation.
When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways. But Petrona's unusual behavior belies more than shyness. She is a young woman crumbling under the burden of providing for her family as the rip tide of first love pulls her in the opposite direction. As both girls' families scramble to maintain stability amidst the rapidly escalating conflict, Petrona and Chula find themselves entangled in a web of secrecy that will force them both to choose between sacrifice and betrayal.
This book has been on my mind since its release in 2018. I’ve mentioned it in my Christmas wishlist post and then completely forgot about it. Then I was listening to the Reading Women Podcast (which you'll know if you've read my last post, I love) and remembered how much I really wanted to read this book. At the time, this was still a hot new release, so the waitlist at the library was long but now the hype has died down a little bit, enough for me to grab myself a copy.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: "He has a nose," people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.
As Tracker follows the boy's scent—from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers—he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?
I’ve talked about this one too in my 2019 most is anticipated releases post which you can read here. I’m really excited I was able to get my hands on a copy so quickly. And I was surprised too that this came in as soon as it did. When I first put this on hold the library had just ordered the copies. I’ll definitely be reading this one in March.
That's it for today's Library book haul, I'll see you all next week an end of the month wrap-up! Until then, happy reading!
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