LIFE LESSONS IN BOOKS

There is no doubt we can learn a great deal by reading excellent books. As someone who left school at sixteen, I can tell you that travelling coupled with reading is the sum total of my education. And will continue along those lines until the day I die.

Last year, in particular, I read a lot. Which is saying something. Because anyone who has spent time backpacking knows that reading is a large part of travelling. Reading fills the gaps of waiting that hard-core travelling requires. I’m 53 now but remember back in the eighties and nineties we didn’t have smartphones or wifi to blur time. When you travel for long stretches, you get used to waiting. You wait for cheap flights, the bus, trains, ferries, a cross country coach and of course the ultimate wait… for a ride. Hitch-hiking takes monumental patients and a huge amount of faith. Or perhaps guts? I don’t know, maybe it’s stupidity mixed with naïveté.

My point is, I have been known to enjoy a book or two on a regular basis. Yet somehow, reading last year was different for me. I suspect you know what I mean. Despite the abundance of time on my hands, reading felt urgent. I felt compelled to “catch up” on what I didn’t know, couldn’t know yet needed to know.

Last year, that overwhelming year of a global pandemic. Forever burned in my mind as the turning point for civilization. Well, I’m certain many of us read some truly incredible books.

Oh 2020, the lessons you taught…

As you know, last year there was no travel. In fact, for those of us with underlying conditions, there was no going out at all actually. And so we read…

I say to my kids – reading can take us anywhere, without taking a step outside.

2020 PANDEMIC BOOK REVIEW

This is my first ever book review on the blog. Why haven’t I written a book review before? I guess since I don’t usually read reviews myself it hadn’t occurred to me to write one. Sure I like to read a book that’s been recommended and I also like to know a little bit about the books I read before I read them. However, I prefer not to know the details before I start and often there’s just too much information in reviews that spoil it for me. Actually, I like to know as little as possible.

So why do a book review now?

Last year I read specifically to learn, which is not to say that reading was a chore or I didn’t enjoy these books, quite the contrary. But it’s also fair to say, the books had a purpose for me and often it was tough going. At times, I had to pause and research further before I continued. While other pauses were a rest for my breaking heart. With covid exposing the depth of racism in America, I quickly realised my understanding was shamefully lacking. I needed to learn more about what led us here AND I wanted to get in the fight against white supremacy.

It turns out that every book I chose, achieved far more than improving my knowledge. In a strangely organic and unexpected way, each book felt inter-connected and that’s how I came to understand that racial justice isn’t only linked to environmental justice, they are actually one in the same.

Collectively, the following books filled some gaps in my high school dropout brain. They refined lessons I’d learned from decades of travelling and enhanced my memories of living in different countries. Of course, we all read books that affect us deeply, but four in the same year? Not usually, certainly I don’t anyway. Although these aren’t normal times by any stretch of the imagination.

I did read a couple of other books that were also enlightening, although not in the same way as this particular group. I recommend them also and will link them at the bottom of this post.

In any case, I really want to share these specific titles with you. Let me know if you’ve read any of them and if so, what are your thoughts? Can you tell I miss my old book club?

*Note – All books are linked (via the image) to independent bookstores or directly to the author and are not affiliate links.

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME by Ta-nehisi Coates

Published back in 2015, you’ve probably heard of this book already. Perhaps even read it but if not, what are you waiting for? It was recently made into a film by HBO that I haven’t had the chance to watch yet. Read the book first, don’t be tempted to cheat. Although I’m sure the acting is incredible, this book should reside in your mind, it is exquisite. So beautifully written that every paragraph hums like mellifluous poetry. Throughout the book I often re-read entire pages twice, just to savour every flawless sentence.

Ta-nahesis Coates is an author who burns with emotion. Each paragraph evokes all of the reader’s senses. Hear the crackle, smell the smoke and feel the intense heat of his journey. At times his story is so immersive, such as the trip to Paris or his days at Howard – it feels like you’re actually there peering over his shoulder. But of course I can never know how it feels to be Black which is why it’s so important for White people to read this book. Coates has given White people like me, an incredible gift by sharing his perspective through beautiful prose and I am deeply grateful.

ALL WE CAN SAVE – TRUTH, COURAGE & SOLUTIONS FOR THE CLIMATE CRISIS

This book is a collection of writings that centre the feminine in the climate crisis. Curated by two incredible climate leaders, Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K Wilkinson. It holds my heart – feeds my dedication to our home planet Earth and admiration for all women, who are quite possibly the soul of it all.

I am in love with every single woman who has contributed her thoughts on the climate crisis. Some I’ve admired for decades and others I meet for the first time. Spanning generations, expertise and wisdom, every thoughtful composition a tribute to feminism. To absorb the depth of understanding on these pages, begs the question why so few women are included in this conversation. Indeed the UK body representing all of Great Britain at COP26 is entirely made up of men. Evidently, not a single woman has anything of value to add?

For far too long women have been sidelined as over-emotional when it comes to governance. Who can forget when the former British Prime Minister David Cameron told Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Angela Eagle to “calm down dear”  in parliament? The reason is unambiguous patriarchy and the truth is some men want to hold onto that. Well here’s a news flash – the names Mother Earth and Mother Nature are feminine for a reason – women are the voices of the ecosystem, every one of us should be heard. And yes, we are emotional. The time we live in calls for strong emotion.

If you think books about the climate crisis are depressing or too sciencey to be your bag, this one will change your mind. There is wisdom, vision and beauty beyond the subject matter. This title is a work of art inside the frame of solutions, poignant yet uplifting. It will draw you into the movement with enthusiasm while knowing the stakes have never been higher.

SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE BY Ijeoma Oluo

Published in 2018 So You Want to Talk About Race was the first book in my town’s community read of 2020. I had heard of it but had no idea of the context although I assumed (incorrectly as it happens) that it was similar to Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad which I’d already read. Consequently, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read this book had it not been for the community group. A fortunate circumstance I’m now grateful for.

I borrowed it from the library and opened the book that same day. The difference between this book about racism and others? Ijeoma Oluo teaches anti-racism by recounting her personal experiences of life as a Black woman in racist America. Oluo writes in firm yet generous prose as if she’s sitting down with a friend, having a difficult conversation. She articulates each problem through a vignette then offers the reader the language to engage in constructive dialogue. Partway through the book the reader learns, Oluo’s mother is White. Does this accommodate white tears? Not in the slightest. Although Oluo has drawn from her Mum’s observations, which gives a more lenient viewpoint of whiteness. 

While Oluo’s book is an instructive teaching tool, she shows an abundance of empathy. This gives the reader confidence to take action despite fear of inevitable mistakes. After all, reading a book about racism doesn’t make you anti-racist. Just like reading a book about Mt Everest doesn’t make you a mountain climber. Of course the real anti-racism work is a lifelong commitment that sits firmly on the shoulders of White people.

ON FIRE by Naomi Klein

Known as the intellectual Godmother of The Green New Deal, Naomi Klein pens this love letter to the progressive package. Klein’s book is a mix of frontline reporting, essays and historical reference to elucidate why the GND is our only option to avert climate catastrophe.

Reading as someone already sold on the GND, this book was more about context and nuance for me. Klein never disappoints on those two, so I knew I’d fall down a rabbit hole with her book. It’s dense but riveting, no doubt I’ll read it again at some point, perhaps as we start to see the Biden administration roll out green policies. As a side note –  it was encouraging to read AOC compare Bidens next phase of recovery (his Build Back Better) to the Green New Deal she co-authored with Senator Ed Markey.

I realize Biden hasn’t publicly committed to the GND however his Climate Mandate has the makings of something very similar if he keeps his promises. And the Democrats get rid of the filibuster. Coupled with the fact that the tenacious Sunrise Movement, The Squad and a growing number of progressives in congress champion the GND – the UN, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and the UK have declared climate a global crisis of utmost urgency.

The last word about ON FIRE goes to the author herself, Naomi Klein. She describes how the system built for capitalism, through racism, is the direct cause of our current climate crisis. You know it as White Supremacy.

“We must always remember that the fossil fuel era began in violent kleptocracy, with those two foundational thefts of stolen people and stolen land that kick-started a new age of seemingly endless expansion.

The route to re-newel runs through reckoning and repair : reckoning with our past and repairing relationships with the people who paid the steepest price of the first industrial revolution.”

“…a new form of democratic eco-socialism, with the humility to learn from Indigenous teachings about the duties to future generations and the interconnection of all life, appears to be humanity’s best shot at collective survival.”

*White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo was a curious insight into White America that explained a lot in terms of attitude I’ve encountered since moving to the U.S. This is a controversial book because it manages to piss off Black people, who resent a White author benefiting from racism under the guise of teaching anti-racism and White people who note DiAngelo has homogenized whiteness thus perpetuating the myth of white as the norm. I noticed the book is Americentric which would be fine if it wasn’t written as a global perspective. I read this with a critical thought process, taking on board what I’d already read about race from Black authors. Bear in mind how problematic it is for a White author to benefit from antiracism. Personally, I won’t buy another book by DiAngelo unless she redistributes her vast proceeds to Black causes.

*Stamped by Jason Reynolds is the re-imagined Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi that I bought for my kids to read. Not only in America and because of my childhood experience I know that history taught in schools is through a white lens. It is mostly lies and honestly serves no purpose but to perpetuate white supremacy. I learned more about what really happened in my birth country Australia, after I left. It is disgusting to think that a child is taught such vile lies in an institution that we trust with their education. Now as a parent, I’m constantly on the defensive with every stage of my children’s education on history – not so much involved in the maths side of things funnily enough.

I have to say, Kendi’s book edited by Reynolds is a revelation and I highly recommend it to other non-American adults as well as all kids. It was a bit like cramming for a high school test on the origin of racism in America i.e. simplified yet accurate events. If you have teens in your life, take a look through Reynolds’ other brilliant titles.