Friday Book Debrief Vol 18

Every week we’re sharing what our some of our writers are currently reading.

For all of our US readers, we now have our own Bookshop! You can find the full list of the below books here and with every purchase you will be helping local independent bookstores! If you do not live in the US please support your local independent stores, lots are now doing local deliveries and they need your help more then ever in these uncertain times. - ❤️

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Mel

I happily got the audiobook from my library to accompany the paperback that has been on my shelf too long, happily because of how RBG herself is on some of the tracks! The book is a culmination of speeches, articles, and arguments she’s penned throughout her remarkable career— so a wonderful read for anyone with an aspiration of any kind.

Buy it here.

---

Normal People by Sally Rooney - Courtney

I am rereading Normal People in anticipation for the show, which comes out at the END OF THE MONTH (screams with excitement). This book is without a doubt, an all-time favourite ❤️

Buy it here.

---

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata - Nikki

Saw a few snaps and reviews of this on Bookstagram, so I picked it up when the cover caught my eye at my local secondhand shop. Slim little books are helping me keep up my reading pace during New Zealand's coronavirus lockdown, and so far this one is weirddddd. I like it.

Buy it here.

---

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand - Melissa

Like everyone else, I understand the importance of quarantine, but I am so tired of not being able to go anywhere. Reading a book by Elin Hilderbrand has been my quick fix for that! Every time I crack it open, I say, "I'm headed to Nantucket. Please, don't bother me."

Buy it here.

---

Weather by Jenny Offill - Michaela

Blitzed my way through Weather, a gloriously relevant novel in written in vignettes. Anxious and urgent but heartwarming, I loved all of it and underlined half of it.

Buy it here.

---

Perfect Tunes by Emily Gould - Jessica Maria

Recently got to about 100 pages of this forthcoming book from Avid Reader Press and my mouth opened in shock at a certain turn of events. Up until then I had been bristling along at a fast pace, gorging on my own early aughts memories of New York City with the characters. I don’t know where this will go now—but I’m eager to find out!

Pre-order for April 14th.

---

The Bear and the Paving Stone by Toshiyuki Horie - PL

I am finding it very difficult to devote any time to reading at the moment. Which is where collections of short stories come in. My perfect reprieve from staring at a screen for hours on end, breaking up long days spent inside with a cup of tea and travels to others lands. In this particular case; the French countryside, the beach and the home of an archbishop.

Buy it here

---

Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. - LEO

As one of the most famous orators of the 20th century. Dr King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” gives a passionate rebuttal to the statements given from white clergymen.

It talks about justice against injustice, action against no action. Dr King’s commitment to nonviolence directs action. It certainly motivates the bystander to act, if not in the 60s, but now.

Buy it here.

Part of our Little Blue Book Club.

---

Minna Needs Rehearsal Space by Dorthe Nors - The Book Slut

I opened this up after finishing Karate Chop: Stories which was a wild ride in itself. But MINNA NEEDS REHEARSAL SPACE is a whole new level of bizarre. I feel like nowadays "lyrical" and "unique" are thrown around with as much abundance and vigour as confetti at weddings (on a par with "Rooney-eque") but this book is without a doubt one of the most distinctive idiosyncratic pieces of literature I have ever stumbled across.

As an example:

Minna wants to devote herself to ecology.

Minna wants to involve a kid in it.

Minna wants to try and be like the rest.

Lars ought to help her but

Lars uses condoms.

Lars is on his bike and gone.

Lars is Lars.

The whole book is like this, imagine the opposite of Milkman, this book is it. It has to be seen to be believed. God I love it.

---

what have you been reading this week?

Sending lots of love to wherever you are in the world, from all of us at

the book slut. x