“From a fantastically strong shortlist, they have chosen their winner, a small, strange, beautiful, and mighty book…Orbital wins the prize in a year of geopolitical crisis, likely to be the warmest year in recorded history,” (Wood, 20241).

The novel is a tiny one that chronicles four astronauts from America, Japan, Britain, Italy, and two cosmonauts from Russia over the span of 24 hours as their space craft orbits around the Earth. So far away from home, the characters have never felt so connected to its liveliness as the news of the death of a mother reaches them, tsunamis and disasters strike their homes, and they yearn to be with their lovers. The characters each merge, interchange internal monologues, and contemplate that it is a miracle they were even created.

“In the cosmic calendar of the universe and life, with the Big Bang happening on January 1st almost fourteen billion years ago, when a supercharged universe-dense speck of energy blew open … an explosion that had to create the space it exploded into since there was no space, no something, no nothing, it was near the end of January that the first galaxies were born, almost a whole month and a billion years of atoms moving in cosmic commotion until they began to flock bombshell-bright in furnaces of hydrogen and helium we now call stars, the stars themselves flocking into galaxies until, almost two billion years later on March 16th, one of these galaxies, the Milky Way, was formed … September 14th, four billion years ago (or some think) came life of sorts” (pp, 169-170).

Then, approximately 300,000 years after humans emerge, a soft-spoken woman with a knack for writing novels takes the stage of a dazzling building in the heart of London to accept the trophy for her award-winning novel that celebrated the beauty of this series of creational, haphazard collisions.

Harvey speaks into the microphone at the Booker ceremony:

“We are, as Carl Sagan says in his book Cosmos, ‘The local embodiment of a consciousness grown to self-awareness. We are star stuff pondering the stars.’ And I would add that we are also Earth stuff pondering the Earth. And I think my novel is an exercise in that pondering. To look at Earth from space is a bit like a child looking into a mirror and realizing, for the first time, that the person in the mirror is herself. What we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves, and what we do to life on Earth, human and otherwise, we do to ourselves. ‘Our loyalty,’ Sagan says, ‘are to the species and to the planet. We need to speak for Earth,’ he says. I would like to dedicate this prize, therefore, to everyone who does speak for, and not against, the Earth.” (Harvey, 20242).

She writes her characters and the narrative in this manner. At the times, descriptions of activities on the space ship overlap with human activity on Earth.

Here are four remarkable instances: (a) lover back home overlaps with the description of the Earth itself and human activity on it: “to bring to mind Lincoln and the Ice Age and the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt and whatever grand things had shaped the earth… every thought cascaded into the dark brows and proud nose of her lover, the wonderful articulation of his hands and the way he listened like a bird and how they had touched so often without touching… she thought of the great city of Alexandria and of nuclear disarmament and the symphony of earth’s tides and the squareness of his jaw” (p. 133). (b) the death of a mother reveals a bygone foreshadowing of the decision to become an astronaut: “… it wasn’t until her mother gave her the photo before this mission that she remembered those thoughts, and felt their charge and the force of the past and how the past is so stealthy in making the future - because she’s sure looking back that this photo had generated her first thought of space” (p.87); (c) the fear of death brings comfort from a wife extolling the possibility of becoming stardust: “take heart, his wife once said, if you perish up there the millions of bits of you will be orbiting the earth; that’s a good thought isn't it?” (p. 73); and (d) the borderless world they’re observing becomes them and, for a second, they’re nationless and free of division. One unified front. “They have talked about a feeling they often have, a feeling of merging. They are not quite distinct from one another, nor the spaceship. Whatever they were before they came here, whatever their differences in training or background, in motive or character, whatever country they hail from and however their nations clash, they are equalized here by the delicate might of their spaceship.” (p. 28).

Though they feel the absence of their division, they see the effects of humanity’s brutal politics which are so obviously a grave threat to their home’s gentleness. The gentleness: “Before long, for all of them, a desire takes hold. It’s the desire — no the need (fueled by fervour) — to protect this huge yet tiny earth. This thing of such miraculous and bizarre loveliness. This thing that is, given the poor choice of alternatives, so unmistakably home. An unbounded place, a suspended jewel so shockingly bright” (p. 108). The threat to the gentleness: “… they come to see that it’s not a pantomime, or it’s not just that. It’s a force so great that it has shaped every single thing on the surface of the earth that they had thought, from here, so human-proof… The hand of politics is so visible from their vantage point that they don’t know how they could have missed it at first.” (pp. 110-111).

With Creation, comes the question of a Creator. No matter what you believe, what name you give to what you believe, or whether or not you believe, the belief and non belief come from the same place. It’s rooted in the same Creation. “(She) wants sometimes to ask (Him) how it is he can be an astronaut and believe in God, a Creationist God that is, but she knows what his answer would be. He’d ask how it is she can be an astronaut and not believe in God… She’d point out of the port and starboard windows where the darkness is endless and ferocious. Where the solar systems and galaxies are violently scattered… Look, she’d say. What made that but some heedless hurling beautiful force? And (he) would point our of the port and starboard windows, at… exactly the same violent scattered solar system…. and he would say: what made that but some heedful hurling beautiful force? Is that all the difference there is between their views then - a bit of heed? Is (his) universe just the same as hers but made with care, to a design? Hers an occurrence of nature and his an artwork?” (pp. 66-67).

Above all, this novel made me realize that if, in the end, there is no God (no matter the name we’ve given them), I would not regret my endless casting of gratitude into our sufficient universe, into the energy of Creation that - because of it - by a small percentage of chance, humanity is walking the planet. I am walking the planet.

I will not regret the love and somewhat blind optimism I’ve harbored for Creation: the rivers that run wildly while being guzzled by humanity’s greed, the sparkling grey gulfs that are eating away at coasts, the tiny curious creatures that are constantly crawling, squirming, running, flying, the beastly ancient trees.

And my people. Humanity.

Singing, barefoot, whimsical humanity who are vandals of the plants we grew, honeybees and chimpanzees we’ve befriended, and species we’ve given names to. Humanity who — if what we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves — are in the midst of committing a slow suicide. And who — if what we do to life on Earth, we do to ourselves — are in the process of formulating our own mass extinction.

Orbital is a timeless labor of love to both the Universe itself and our tiny home that is tucked snuggly within it. Authors that can manage to write chunky, mesmerizing prose have such a soft spot in my heart. Harvey is one of them. She has written this much-needed novel in such a profound, beguiling way. The 2024 Booker Prize was much deserved.

Earth is our current heaven. It is “the face of an exulted lover…a mother waiting for her children to return” (p.4).

Earth is the lively beat of our heart, the trees within it, our breath. Without it, we have nothing. Without it, we are nothing.

Yulani Sann

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Work was cancelled, my body was preparing for another month of menstruation, and I had a 800 page historical fiction to read. After settling into the same room I’ve had many childhood memories in, I took out my laptop and my blanket. Sat cuddled up at the table and started writing after making a mug of tea. Outside, the ran came in waves: a steady drizzle and then quickly, shortly a downpour with wind increasing. The leaves and branches dancing fiercely — not fighting the wind — but moving with it.

My biggest fear with hurricanes, is the possibility of trees being uprooted. The damage that these giants can unintentionally cause by falling on various buildings, or by simply being ripped from such an intricate community it’s a part of. Trees of great height and width. Trees that have stood for hundreds of years. One tree falling could absolutely demolish a house. Or could leave an entire community grieving.

I started writing this essay during mid-September and now I am within the depths of October, wearing worn sweaters nearly every day, and drinking mugs of warm tea out of a huge Winne-the-Pooh mug. For school, I read, researched, and wrote a report on The Overstory by Richard Powers which I was inspired to read becuase of ’s “Field Guide to Anthropocene”.

Archived Essay

Written: 28 October 2024

The Death of a Family Tree

Trees are huge structures deeply rooted into the ground that actively participate in language, communication, and community through “fungi exchanging nutrients by sending hormonal, chemical, and electrical signals and connecting their roots” (Schueman) is the research and discovery that Canadian forester Suzanne Simard has devoted her life to exploring and researching. In his book: The Overstory, eco-novelist Richard Powers creates a fictional forester heavily inspired by the life and works of Simard (named Dr Patricia Westerford) to develop a moral surrounding humanity’s relationship with nature.

Throughout the novel, we race through time through vignettes of decades and generations chronicling the Hoel family and their slowly growing, lonesome chestnut tree. Arguably, the most enthralling character is not a part of the family and places an impactful emphasis on the symbolism of the tree. Patricia Westerford’s work and passion sheds a light on the Hoel Chestnut Tree as a representation of perseverance, longevity, and - most importantly - humanity as nurturing and destructive to nature. This tree is proof that though other species (such as trees) appear stagnant to the human eye, everything within nature is moving within its own seasons, relying on each other for growth, and is in constant communication with each other. “The power of observation and the importance of interconnectedness with Mother Earth may guide us toward a more resilient future” (Schueman) is the belief that Simards and Powers share. A belief that is depicted within this novel.

Patricia Westerford is the example of the healthy, nurturing relationship humans can cultivate with nature. Westerford’s belief is that trees are in constant communication with each other which is how they protect and warn each other from and of danger as well as share nutrients. Her work reflects that belief, but when initially published it is immediately criticized, disregarded, and looked down upon. Which causes her to become more of a recluse and almost commit suicide. Years later, her work was ratified and defended. She goes on to write and publish a book The Secret Forest which is likely a parallel to Peter Wholleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees and start a seed bank to preserve trees from mass extinction. As passionate and hopeful as Westerford is, she believes an extinction is inevitable. The creation of her character is an emphasis on the theme of humans being nurturing. Unlike the creation and symbolism of the Hoel tree.

Though the character, Dr Westerford, is interesting enough, her inspiration (Suzanne Simard) is even more intriguing even though their lives almost exactly mirror each other. Similarly to Westerford in the novel, Simard’s educational path throughout her entire life has centered around the studies of nature and more specifically: trees. Her studies were also decided because of her childhood which was surrounded by roots, logging, and her grandfather’s teachings of peace found amongst the trees. Simard’s work as an ecologist made her more observant on how trees were being exploited for financial gain. Her alertness of different problems within the forests she worked in provoked her to return back  to graduate school. The research she did while writing her PhD thesis shifted the practices ideas surrounding forestry because it effectively proved her belief that trees are a part of a larger community, which have a vast network in which they communicate, warn each other, and share nutrients and resources. Her research connected the trees communication to fungi. Westerford’s mirror of Simard’s life perfectly ties together the theme of the novel because it emphasizes humanity’s destructive relationship. Fungi is the most vulnerable to temperature rise, and climate change could cut off the flow of information because trees and without the flow, forests would die and the effects would be catastrophic. 

Which, in return, comes back to the Hoel Chestnut Tree. Similarly to the fungi: the Hoel tree’s death is caused by unprecedented consequences of human activity: the blight that reaches the Hoel tree and kills it. Each year, there are more than 15 billion trees cut down (Kilgore). By making the tree develop feelings which become more of a beloved family members and when it dies from the blight, it further demonstrates the long-term damage unintentionally done by humanity’s greed and desire for immediate wealth, profit, consumption, and capitalism.

The Overstory’s larger message is that trees - and other plants and creatures - are intelligent, resilient, and purposeful individuals who also have communities. Richard Powers places emphasis on the Hoel Chestnut tree as a sentient being using the character Patricia Westerford as well as her real-life inspiration: Suzanne Simard. “When you know that trees experience pain and have memories that tree parents live together with their children, then you can no longer just chop them down and disrupt their lives with larger machines,” Peter Wohlleben writes (xiv). Arguably, Powers wrote these characters and this tree in such a manner to emphasize this exact point and to so that readers could give more empathy to nature because in order for humans to feel sympathy we have to see ourselves within what is being destroyed.  

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A pot of salted water was boiling mushroom Tortellini as I seared the vegetables in a separate skillet that I doused with olive oil. I was making a vegetable pasta sauce and garlic bread.

My strawberries and pots of flowers were sprouting in my garden and around my house. Yesterday we found out that a few birds had made a home on the top of our chimney. As the car pulled into the driveway, a tiny bird’s head poked out of the chimney and chirped.

I learned recently that it’s “theorized” that the songs of birds promote plant growth. The mystery of nature truly blows my mind every time I learn something new. I spent all night thinking about the fact that because birds talk to each other, flowers bloom.

My heart has been longing for spring and the possibilities of new adventures and new growth. Here’s my contribution to your reading list. These are books that I believe capture the giddy hopefulness that Spring brings along.

Contemporary Romance & Fiction

If you’re the type of person that hates on the Romance genre, stop. And get into the content! The genre has so much to offer.

Historical fiction, romance, and magical realism are woven into one story and it was beautifully done. A Love Song for Ricki Wilde takes place in Harlem, New York and is predominantly following a florist named Ricki and a musical prodigy named Ezra. When Ricki meets a woman named Ms. Della, she is invited to come set up a flower shop in the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone. There she starts to consistently run into the mysterious, handsome enigma that is Ezra.

“To me, love is like listening to an album. Some people skip to their favorite songs and ignore the rest. Other people listen to the entire album over and over, until it’s familiar and cherished and they know every note by heart. That’s how [he] and I loved each other. He was music I could listen to forever.” (Williams, 15)

With the gorgeous background of Harlem along with the history of the Harlem Renaissance, a swoon-worthy romance, and two characters whom are chasing their dreams, it is safe to say that I fell head-over-heels in love with this book. I was extremely entertained throughout the entirety of this book because Williams does a fantastic job bringing everything full-circle, revealing truths, and fully developing both main characters.

Don’t get me started on the romance. This book and these characters had that old-soul, soulmates-type-of-love. Their banter was so cute and hilarious, both characters were so witty, and their ways of showing love were adorable.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde will definitely be one of my favorite books of the year and one of my favorite books of all time. Beautiful.

In every single book recommendation letter, I find a way to recommend Garden Spells. Simply because it’s one of my favorite books of all time. At some point very soon I will publish a full review on this book.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen follows the mundane, whimsical life of a woman named Claire Waverly. She lives in a Queen Anne cottage, has a generations-old enchanted apple tree, and a magical garden. Within this small town, she is known as the recluse, but she is also the neighborhood caterer. Claire has grown very fond of and comfortable with her simple life. However, her somewhat chaotic sister (Sydney) comes back in town with a daughter in hand, escaping an abusive relationship. As well, a new neighbor (Tyler) moves in and he is her age and extremely interested in her.

I cannot put words to how this book made me feel. I deeply resonate with Claire: her lifestyle, interests, habits, and fears. This book was a book that I read in a day because even though it feels like nothing is happening, I couldn’t stop reading! Garden Spells has the most beautiful spring/summer setting and descriptions. I highly recommend this book especially to my fellow softhearted gardeners.

This is one of the most underrated romance books that I’ve ever read. A Sweet Lowcountry Proposal is a second chance romance that follows Marcus, whom works at the local Black history museum and Jaslene, a wedding planner. They were about to get married but after the death of her sister, Jaslene calls off the wedding. It has been quite some time since they’ve seen each other and now Jaslene has been hired to plan and set up a wedding at the museum. Of course, that means working in close proximity with Marcus.

Even though they haven’t seen each other in some time, sparks still fly. The chemistry and the love is still there.

It is just such a sappy and cute romance novel. I stumbled upon this book while browsing the library’s app: Libby and I read it in a night.

Fantasy

The Hobbit is about a recluse named Bilbo Baggins who gets a visit from a wizard named Gandalf and is invited on an adventure to a dragon’s cave. That dragon being Smaug the Magnificent.

There’s singing, voyaging, and tons of hobbit-ing. Bilbo Baggins is such a unique main character because he is extremely shy and not at all the “ideal” main character for a fantasy novel. Though it’s a classic, it’s a very easy and humorous read. It’s also pretty short and extremely charming.

Nonfiction & Memoirs

Animal Allies is a Young Adult Nonfiction about 15 different women trailblazing in wildlife research. Each woman has a different animal interest or interest in nature. The book is written in essay/short story format which makes the information so much more accessible. Each essay/story is a woman’s job. Some of the women work with insects, some with penguins, others with birds and mammals.

It doesn’t matter what age you are, you will enjoy this book. Especially if you’re new to nonfiction. I read this book about a year ago and I rarely have the opportunity to recommend it.

Of Time and Turtles is one of my current reads. To be quite honest, books surrounding nature tend to be what I reach for the most often.

Sy Montgomery is a woman that works with people that help and heal injured or sick turtles and repair shells. Within the story she is also discussing her personal experiences with what was the years of 2019-2023 amid COVID, racial unjust, and so much more. Montgomery talks alot about what dealing with such slow-moving creatures feels like when you’re in a society that perpetrates hustle-culture everyday as well as when life gets interrupted and the concept of time is misconstrued.

This book is written in such an addictive way. There is so many facts about the life of turtles (one of my favorite animals), photos and illustrations of different types of turtles, and quotes about time and slowness. I am enjoying this book so much so far.

A few books I’m planning to pick up this spring are Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi, The Waves by Virginia Woolf, Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka, and Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

I’d love to know what you’re excited to read this season.

Happy reading and happy spring,

Yulani S.

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Beloved by Toni Morrison is a subtle horror. You as the reader are launched in the midst of an unrecognizable, grief-filled story. Within such eerie circumstances, is prose on prose of hope and lush descriptions. It’s a mind-play, making readers question whether or not things are as scary as they seem on the outside looking in. It’s exploring what a future looks like when the past has been full of violence and tragedy.

The entirety of the book is placing an emphasis on the horrifying psychological impacts on the people whom endured slavery. And the ways in which those impacts pass to the next generation.

Morrison merges the perspective of cattle, enslaved people, and newly freed people, whilst simultaneously switching out of third person and into first person. It carefully examines the dehumanization of enslaved people. Specifically, highlighting the fictional life of a woman named Sethe. She was once enslaved and is now living as a free working woman. She is living in a home that is referred to as 124. The home is haunted, containing the spirit of Sethe’s first daughter whom she murdered. The details of the murder are gruesome, yet extremely understandable. The story takes a hopeful, yet dark turn when the spirit of the baby is reincarnated into the flesh of a woman the same age that baby would’ve been. Her name being Beloved.

“To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay. The ‘better life’ she believed she and Denver were living was simply not that other one.” (Beloved, pg. 51)

Toni Morrison has a habit of making her most layered characters (and the known antagonist) the title of the book. We saw it also in Sula. Though the story somewhat focused on a different character throughout the novel, the antagonist was awarded the title. This book was no different.

The figure in which the story revolves around is the murdered, not the murderer.

It shows the layers of motherhood during and post chattel slavery. And the ways in which Black women were often treated as cattle. We see this through Sethe when she explains how one of her old owners whipped her while she was pregnant and stole her breast milk.

We watch Sethe come to terms with her own existence. An existence within a body that feels alienated, a past full of trauma, and in a world in which she believes the only thing valuable — that is of herself — is her children.

“For a used-to-be-slave-woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love.” (Beloved, pg. 54)

Whilst understanding Sethe of that manner, we are watching Denver succumb to loneliness in a haunted house. The only thing that has kept her company throughout the entirety of her life has been the spirit of her late sister. This loneliness that fills Denver grew and morphed into something dark and dangerous. It causes her to grasp onto Beloved. Even when she shouldn’t.

“Denver’s imagination produced its own hunger and its own food, which she badly needed because loneliness wore her out. Wore her out.” (Beloved, pg. 35)

“Whatever power and however she used it, Beloved was hers. Denver … felt helpless to thwart it, so unrestricted was her need to love another.” (Beloved, pg. 123)

Beloved is a book that needs to be savored. This read was an uncomfortable necessity. As you read, you feel as though you’re drowning. You, as the reader, feel as helpless, haunted, and hunted as the characters feel.

Your privilege lies in the fact that you can close the book and retreat back to safety.

“It aint my job to know what’s worse. It’s my job to know what is and to keep them away from what I know is terrible. I did that.” (Beloved, pg. 194)

The novel is a fierce plea to remember the history of slavery and the pain in which enslaved people endured during and after the years of it. It’s a call to not banish the history that is bloody and gruesome. But rather analyze and examine it closely, learning from it, so it’s not bound to repeat.

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Mrs. Dalloway follows a woman named Clarissa Dalloway who is planning a party while being haunted by the ghost of the living. Throughout most of the story Clarissa contemplates her regrets, questions the meaning of life and death, and weighs love, passion, and stability. Clarissa is grappling with being a second-class citizen in the public eye: “this being Mrs. Dalloway; not even Clarissa anymore; this being Mrs. Richard Dalloway” (Woolf, page 9). She is reflecting on the life she has lived, and the one she could’ve lived.

The cast is small enough to full grasp the depth and purpose of the main characters. We have Clarissa, her husband Richard Dalloway, her ex-lover of sorts Peter Walsh, and her childhood bestfriend Sally Seton. The novel is full of lush scenery, metaphors, and internal monologue. There are long paragraphs and never-ending sentences connected by semicolons. However, I wish this book was even longer. I’ve sat with this book for months and I am only recently been able to put words completely to my thoughts on it.

As a hopeful romantic, the first aspect of this book that I adored was the complexity of Clarissa’s past relationship with Peter and current marriage with Richard. The reflection on the passion she and Peter shared, the reassurance to herself that she made the right decision marrying Richard, and the juxtaposition between both relationships.

“For they might be parted for hundreds of years, she and Peter… she had to break with him or they would have been destroyed, both of them ruined, she was convinced; though she had borne about with her for years like an arrowing sticking in her heart the grief, the anguish…” (Woolf, pages 5-6)

And, of Peter:

“He had never felt so happy in the whole of his life! … Nothing mattered. They sat on the ground and talked— he and Clarissa. They went in and out of each other’s minds without any effort.” (Woolf, page 69)

Even after decades since Mrs. Dalloway was first published, readers—especially me— still heavily relate to Clarissa’s sentiments about wanting stability more than passion which was her thought process for marrying Richard and breaking it off with Peter. In the end, I could understand — and even root for — her relationship with Richard. Richard was dependable and gentle.

“But he would tell Clarissa that he loved her, in so many words… Indeed, his own life was a miracle; let him make no mistake about it; here he was, in the prime of life, walking to his house in Westminster to tell Clarissa that he loved her. Happiness is this, he thought… He was holding out flowers — roses, red and white roses. (But he could not bring himself to say he loved her; not in so many words.)

But how lovely, she said, taking his flowers. She understood: she understood without his speaking; his Clarissa.” (Woolf, pages 130 - 132)

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I remember going to bed late at night after finishing a few pages of this book. I was thinking about how this novel covered grieving the loss of the living. And I cried. Because it put words to a feeling I have yet to be able to describe. The wallowing hole within Peter’s heart that once belong to Clarissa is now a space of emptiness. This emptiness is not a feeling of loneliness. It’s just the absence of a person whom you once held dear.

In passing, Virginia Woolf discusses the value of goodness for the sake of goodness. Goodness without the promise of heaven.

“As we are a doomed race, chained to a sinking ship… she thought there were no Gods; no one was to blame; and so she evolved the atheist’s religion of doing good for the sake of goodness.” (Woolf, page 86)

Religion involved, I have to quarrel with myself to make sure my morals aren’t aligned with a “reward” I think is promised to me. I have to reassess and make sure that I am good to simply be good. I am kind to simply be kind.

Another thing I absolutely love about Virginia Woolf is that she rarely veers into graphic bigotry, racism, or homophobia. In fact, she tends to involve queerness in her stories. The friendship and girlhood aspects of this book was also phenomenal.

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Mrs. Dalloway moved me for a couple of reasons. I have so much endearment for literature that consists of no plot and is purely pages on pages of a woman reflecting on the life she’s lived, the relationships and friendships she has partaken, and her beliefs and values. I love books on the complexity of human life from a woman’s perspective. I love books that cover regrets and difficult, everyday decisions. It was so delicately written. Just prose of prose of descriptions, scenery, interactions, and thoughts. And the fact that our main character was in her early fifties, just made it even sweeter.

My mind, the way it works, and the things I contemplate on a daily basis were perfectly mirrored within this book. Clarissa’s stream of consciousness was uncomfortably relatable: the yearning to slip back into past bonds, to pick up right where she left off was so relatable; the internal arguments about what I should look for in friendships and relationships; the need to do good; the reflective nature of her brain; and the way she spirals through regret, nostalgia, and longing until she reaches a place of positivity.

Miss Dalloway has also placed Virginia Woolf as one of my favorite authors. Honestly, this novel is now one of my favorite pieces of literature of all time.

Thanks for reading.

Yulani S. ☕️

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Reel follows Neevah, an extremely talented actress and Cannon, a famous film director. They meet each other when Canon’s best friend Monk drags him to a Broadway performance where Neevah is the lead. An after seeing it, Cannon starts to pursue Neevah to become the lead/main character for his next movie.

The novel includes segments from the scripts, singing, and depictions of the film industry. The story delves into the Harlem Renaissance era, Jazz music, life with Lupus (because Neevah has Lupus), and the value of storytelling.

Kennedy Ryan is a journalist, it is apparent within the work and writing that she does. Reel is a novel full of delicacies, ranging in topics and moods. Ryan weaves gorgeous prose full of reality, illness, romance, creativity, and passion. Reel is one of the most well-written and heart-touching romance novels.

“These are the moments a lifetime in the making. We toil with the shadows of our dreams. In the alleys of preparation and had work where it’s dark and nothing’s promised. For years, we cling by a thread of hope and imagination, dedicating our lives to a pursuit with no guarantee.” (Reel, pg. 26)

The first aspect of the book that I adored immediately was the storytelling. Reading Cannon’s explain the inspiration for his movie and watching his passion/work ethic when it came to executing the story he wanted to tell was not only relatable but extremely inspiring. Oddly enough, I related to him more than anyone because of his passion for his craft and the drive and the energy he has towards the stories he amplifies. I loved Cannon’s brain. 

I also appreciate how realistic the romance was and how hard-earned the happily ever after was. Frequently, while reading romances, I find characters with little to no flaws paired with tons of miscommunication. And it makes the fleet of a romance in real life seem unimaginable. We need more stories such as Reel with characters are living their lives, chasing their dreams, and falling in love. 

“She’s the first in a long line of girls, all shapes and colors and ages, saying what it meant to see me onstage tonight. Mothers whispering how impactful it was for their Black and brown daughters to be in the audience tonight. The impact is on me; what could have felt like a weight or burden or responsibility feels like a warm embrace. Feels like strong arms encircling me. Supporting me.” (Reel, pg. 27)

Now, let me address the elephant in the room: Neevah’s Lupus. It was the sole reason why I picked up this book. My mom has Lupus. When I discovered that Neevah has Lupus, I decided to give it a chance. In the midst of buying the book and the book getting shipped to my house, I mentioned to my mom that I was starting a new book and the the main character has Lupus. That prompted her to read the book. She adored it. She told me that the representation of Lupus was spot on. Lupus is an unpredictable, terrifying, and violent disease. I’m so thankful that Kennedy Ryan is empathetic enough to handle the representation of Lupus with the utmost care.

It’s been two days since I finished the book and I still burst into tears when I think about specific scenes and quotes. I sobbed while reading Cannon struggling with the grief from his mom’s death. She died from illness and I watched as Cannon decided to love Neevah rather than bail.

Growing up, I watched my dad grieve the loss of his mother and sister (both taken by illnesses) and him do the opposite of Canon: shut my mom out instead of loving her unconditionally. It hurt to read realizing he had just as much of a choice to love her.

The romance books I read from now on have a lot to live up to.

Thanks for reading.

- Yulani S. 🪰🕯️

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i. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

This book follows a woman named Tish navigating being pregnant while the baby father of her child — Fonny — is wrongfully convicted for a vile crime. The book is an analysis of the justice system (specifically wrongful incarceration) while capturing the scariness, excitement, and sadness of having a child in this vast world. 

ii. Open Water by Caleb A Nelson

Let me mention that this book is overflowing with Kendrick Lamar references. Open Water is extremely internal and shows a man slowly lose himself because of outside influences such as society, jobs, circumstances, etc while in a relationship. He never communicates experiences that have traumatized him to his partner so the relationship suffers. 

Rather than it being a toxic relationship (like to the couple in the We Cry Together), it’s mainly about how personal trauma impacts healthy bonds, relationships, and friendships when the trauma is not communicated or healed properly. 

iii. Solo by Kwame Alexander 

This book heartbreakingly covers the impact of daddy issues, betrayal, and the complexity of life and coming of age. It is written in poetry format and such a vivid story. 

Kwame Alexander has a beautiful backlist of books about Black boys coming of age. Some of my favorites consist of Swing, Solo, Booked, The Crossover, and Rebound. All of which are written in poetry format as well.

All of these books remind me of different songs on the album because of certain scenes and references. As well, every book is quite dense and delicious. To understand why I would think of this album while reading these book…. well, you’re going to have to read them yourself! 

Thanks for reading.

Yulani.

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I’ve realized that my siblings and I are all coming of age. Rather than stressing myself about who I’m going to be in the world, I’ve been reminding myself that the world is huge and nothing is really about me— and accepting that as a freedom.

Today, I made hibiscus tea and spent a while this morning reading Bad Cree by Jessica Johns. As I reflect on my reading year so far, I am very pleased with the books I’ve decided to pick up, the speed I’ve been reading, and the genres I’ve explored. This month specifically I’ve just read some gorgeous books.

1. Honey & Spice

Elegantly written, absolutely delightful, deeply hilarious, and full of longing and tension. Set in a tight-nit and beautiful Black community within a PWI.

Wow, this was one of the best books I’ve read all year. I picked this book up on a whim after seeing one braggadocios review on it via bookstagram. It was the middle of the night and I couldn’t sleep so I checked this out on Libby and started reading it.

Honey & Spice is full of culture.

It felt like a perfect cup coffee — sweet enough with just enough strong bitterness involved to balance out the sugar. Utterly addictive and yet you want to sip slowly. So delightful and heartwarming.Honey & Spice is a book I would recommend going into blindly because so much of the reading experience lies within finding out more and more about these characters.

I absolutely savored this book.

2. Bad Cree

Predators shapeshift and take on many forms in Bad Cree, but their goal remains the same: to keep us isolated and feed on our grief. Are these dreams memories, warnings, or a siren song— an attempt to lure Mackenzie to her death?

For example, during another horrific dream Makenzie snaps the head off of a crow, and wakes up holding the crow’s head. Her sister, Sabrina, recently died and Mackenzie is having flashbacks and visions about her life and how she died. The dream world, the past, the present, and reality are messily clashing.

The entire reading experience is haunting, skin crawling, and eerie. Yet so bewitching and breathtaking. The quietness, the loneliness, the uncertainty, the regret, and the fear are all deeply reciprocated by the reader. But it’s also very cultural and full of aunties, sisters, moms, and cousins. With a dose of ancestry and strong generational ties, the story also contains an urgent and fierce plea to stop the way we treat indigenous people and the land that belongs to them.

Bad Cree is in a league of its own and I couldn’t recommend it more.This book made me laugh, cry, and sleep with my light on. It will definitely be on the list of my best books of the year.

3.

Full of complexities and diverse styles, Lorde writes essays and poems that are blunt, secretive, and often straightforward yet always extremely engaging. The Selected Works of Audre Lorde covers a range of topics: womanhood, menstrual cycles, feminism, politics, anger, and a bunch more.

This is my current read and every essay I’ve read so far has been unreal and absolutely stunning.

Yulani.

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This is definitely the type of book that slowly moves you to making better decisions and trying to be a better person over the course of weeks, months, years. I will be feeling the impact of this book for a long time.

In Sula, Morrison tells the story about two women from their childhood all the way up to their adulthood. One being Nel, who has grown up in a quiet household as an only child and Sula, an only child that grows up in a confusing and loud household.

There were a few topics that really stuck with me while reading it. The most obvious being Morrison’s dealing with good vs evil and the theme surrounding becoming like the environments you grew up in.

Another being the theme and discussion on a person living outside of the society-created box. Sula Peace has decided to live outside of the patriarchy’s suffocating boundaries. To an extent I relate to her: wanting to go anywhere I want, do anything I want, and refuse to serve anyone or anything. But I also want to be kind, have boundaries on what I do, and not be alone. Yet it’s hard to be both. Being a rebel comes with a cost, a cost to which Sula responds to by saying “My lonely is mine. Now your lonely is someone else’s. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain’t that something? A secondhand lonely,” (Sula, 143). However, Sula is honestly just as lonely — if not less lonely — than the women that have decided to live within the rules, get married, and have kids.

I feel as though this is such an accurate portrayal of so many friendships. The heartbreak, the arguing, and the sheer joy and intimacy that all go on in a friendship. Morrison did a phenomenal job showing what the falling out of a friendship both looks and feels like. The end of a friendship, where it feels like you no longer think the same things, feel the same way, or can talk to each other like you used to be able to.

But the topic that and quote that really stood out to me was both the complexity of girlhood/womanhood and how it is code-switched in the male gaze. This book truly covers the loneliness of women, the self-inflicted and society-inflicted rules, and so much more. There are also instances in the book that truly captures what womanhood and girlhood feels like in the unwanted male-gaze. It’s a constant struggle of feeling as though you have to harm yourself, code-switch, and put a mean/angry persona on for men to leave you alone, not harass you, and not degrade you. For, “if I can do that to myself, what you suppose I’ll do to you?” (Sula, 55)

I think this book is a book to be read alone. It’s too raw, too confessional, and too relatable to the human experience that you need to be by yourself to devour it. As you read you will feel the need to express your thoughts about what you’re reading to somebody. Yet, the idea of having someone else witness your thoughts while reading it feels skin-crawling.

-Yulani S.🕯

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“Happy Juneteenth to my people. Today we’re celebrating Black men, Black women, Black love, Black history, Our enslaved ancestors who persevered, the kings and queens who were our ancestors before them, and the people We are and will become. Your Black is beautiful, your Black is loved, your Black is wealthy, your Black is culture.”

-Yulani Semien

Juneteenth is all for support, love, respect, and rest. Here are some resources to support Black readers, writers, bookstores, hubs, and authors today and every other day.

By the way, here is my Juneteenth jams for today: Alright by Kendrick Lamar, DNA. by Kendrick Lamar, and United in Grief by Kendrick Lamar (it’s a Kendrick Lamar kind of day).

Bookstores / Hubs

For a good deal of every Black owned bookstore by state visit: https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/a33497812/black-owned-bookstores/

My personal favorites:

Cafe con Libros (Brooklyn, NY)

The Free Black Women’s Library (Brooklyn, NY): book hub dedicated to Black women, Black women writers, and is a space for gathering, reading, and gardening. You can go to there site to mail books, email to volunteer,

Kindred Stories (Houston, TX)

Baldwin & Co Books (New Orleans, LA): café and bookstore

Reparations Club (Los Angelous, California)

Semicolon (Chicago, Illinois): non profit book hub and bookstore!

Da Book Joint (Chicago, Illinois)

Bookstagrammers and Bloggers to follow

These bloggers and bookstagrammers have the best vibes, reviews, annotations, and book recommendations. They are my go-to’s for a good book rec!

@bookwormnai

@theehotgirlbooks

@interestedinblackbooks

@_oliviasays

@pleasuresofthetext ; also on booktube!

@leesuhs.library

@introtoeclecticism

@hotgirlsreadlots

Authors

@interestedinblackbooks on Bookstagram shares her favorite Black women writers.

@verynicebook shares books to read written by Black authors.

Bryan Washington; author of Memorial and Lot.

Tembe Denton-Hurst; debut author of Homebodies.

Toni Morrison; beloved author of classics: The Bluest Eye, Sula, Beloved, and much more.

Chantel V Johnson; author of Post-Traumatic and Peach Pit.

Mimi Grace; Black romance author. Writes mainly Black love (Black women x Black man). Author of What A Match and her latest release Along for the Ride.

Roxane Gay; author of Bad Feminism, Hunger, etc

Bell Hooks; mainly a nonfiction author, author of All About Love.

There is so many more. If you want more Black book recs, authors, etc browse through my goodreads!

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