#whilereadingnf

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”—from Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

There is a little overlap between essays, but that’s the only fault to this collection that brings Solnit’s lyricism and deep, groundbreaking thought into questions that all somehow connect over how women are silenced—systematically, personally, legally. “People get hurt in part because we don’t want to talk about who does the hurting,” says Solnit in one of the final essays. She writes about shame, about male rage, and the ways that our society works in order to disbelieve women, in order to edge the truth out of women’s words. One of her strongest essays is a follow-up to a critique she did of Esquire’s list of books every man should read—she talks in the follow-up about how many men rose out of the woodwork to try and convince her she wasn’t supposed to identify with Dolores Haze (which, as a fervent reader of Lolita, I would argue is a terrible reading). I was brought to tears a couple of times through this book, because it talks about the ways women have found voices and the ways that people have tried to take them away. “A Short History of Silence” in particular is a vital essay for today’s age, about who in history we have silenced, and how. Solnit is fierce, her voice is biting and witty, and her writing is excellent. This is one to buy for yourself and reread regularly and also buy for a friend.

Get yourself a coffeeshop that takes you seriously when you ask for a large coffee. ✨✨✨

I'm continuing my non-fiction readathon through #WhileReadingNF. I've read two books worth of Rebecca Solnit's essays and a book on Chicago school closures in Bronzeville, and I'm reading about soccer history and how the feminist history of the right to divorce. ✨✨✨

A lovely day for a walk...to get more coffee. I'm currently reading a book about reading, and from there it will be a book on the Combahee River Collective and black feminism. I'm a little behind, but actually still speeding through my nonfiction to-read shelf with #WhileReadingNF, and I should finish the list I made myself by the end of this week. ✨✨✨

My bag is full of Chicago presses. ✨✨✨

Anxiety and frustration can often be solved by beer and book stacks.

“I want my flowers when I’m living. When I’m dead, I can’t smell ‘em.”—Coach Edward Temple, as quoted in the memoir of Wyomia Tyus, a black woman and the first person to win the 100m at back-to-back Olympic games. ✨✨✨