#10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world

[sousrantings]

#sad books #pachinko #min jin lee #a little life #hanya yanigahara #10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world #elif shafak #a thousand splendid suns #khaled hosseini #books #reading

[fiction-quotes]

But human memory resembles a late-night reveller who has had a few too many drinks: hard as it tries, it just cannot follow a straight line. It staggers through a maze of inversions, often moving in dizzying zigzags, immune to reason and liable to collapse altogether.

  —  10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (Elif Shafak)

#book quotes #magical realism #psychological fiction #elif shafak #10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world #psychology #memory #forgetting #remembering #confusion #metaphor

[bookloure]

This book reads like the way memory is pushed to the surface of the mind. A chapter will begin with a sensation—a smell, a taste, a feel—then memories will flood in.

The novel opens with Tequila Leila dead and dumped in the trash, and how, 10 minutes and 38 seconds after she died, her brain is firing up memories, letting the reader know the events that led her to her death. Through her memories we meet her five friends and are shown the beauty and tragedy that is Istanbul.

Many great things here. Gorgeous writing. Found family trope. But what stood out most to me is the intersection of the abstract and the concrete—of memories and events, of memories and corpses, of a patriarchal home and the sexual abuse of children, of conservative beliefs and murder, of religious beliefs and gravedigging, of regret and throwing out a corpse in a body of water—and how ideas, ideals and abstractions lead to real events that affect people, especially the marginalized.

Poignant and tender. But also brutal and tragic. And so full of love.

This was my favorite read of January and will stay with me for a long time. [x]

#book review #bookblr #10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world #elif shafak

[judgingbooksbycovers]

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

By Elif Shafak.

Design by Holly Ovenden.

#10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World #Elif Shafak #Holly Ovenden #botanical #books #book covers

[first--lines]

In the first minutes following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away. One last reserve of energy activated countless neurons, connecting them as though for the first time. Although her heart had stopped beating, her brain was resisting, a fighter till the end. It entered into a state of heightened awareness, observing the demise of the body but not ready to accept its own end. Her memory surged forth, eager and diligent, collecting pieces of a life that was speeding to a close. She recalled things she did not even know she was capable of remembering, things she had believed to be lost forever. Time became fluid, a fast flow of recollections seeping into one another, the past and the present inseparable.

  —  10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (Elif Shafak)

#book quotes #magical realism #psychological fiction #elif shafak #10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world

[lostalleycat]

Human beings resembled peregrine falcons: they had the power and ability to soar up to the skies, free and ethereal and unrestrained, but sometime they would also, either under duress or of their own free will, accept captivity.

Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (2019)

#post #quotes #Elif Shafak #10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World #lit #literary fiction #literature #book

[straydog733]

Reading Resolution: “10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World“ by Elif Shafak

7. A book written in the Middle East: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

List Progress: 15/30

TW: Violence, abuse of sex workers

-/-

It’s a staple of crime fiction: the dead prostitute left in the trash. The woman is anonymous, and is usually one of several victims: no one pays attention unless there are multiple bodies or a non-prostitute is also killed. It’s a trope, an inciting incident, a beginning to a detective’s story. But in 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, the body belongs to Tequila Leila, and this is the ending of her long, lush story. She is a person who has lived a full, colorful life: there has been a lot of pain, but also a lot of warmth and joy, mainly with her five close friends. For ten minutes and thirty eight seconds after she dies, her brain keeps working, and she looks back on everyone and everything that led her to that trash can. The world, and the city of Istanbul specifically, might see Leila as disposable, but Turkish author Elif Shafak makes it clear that no one is disposable, not even a woman left in the literal trash.

The premise of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds seems like a set-up for a grim novel, a story of suffering and pain and murder. And while it does contain all of those things, the real story comes from the warmth and the love. The reader sees the abuses of Leila’s childhood, and the rejection she ultimately felt from her birth family, but is also shown the family she built for herself in the chaos of Istanbul. Interspersed between her dying visions, each of her five fellow outcasts gets a chapter sketching their own journeys. Then in the back half of the novel, when the ten minutes have long run out and Leila is no more, they are the family who set out to honor her and carry on her memory. True love is being there day in and day out. True love is going to Leila’s apartment and feeding her cat.

Justice is not the goal in this story. No matter what does or doesn’t happen to her killer, there is a Leila-shaped hole in the world. Justice is so far beyond what her friends can give her, that what they are all really striving for is peace, for Leila’s spirit and for themselves. Justice alone couldn’t give 10 Minutes 38 Seconds a happy ending, but peace almost manages it. Elif Shafak has crafted a beautiful story about love among the disposable, with the warmth to make it readable and all the more powerful. Shafak has found the joy amongst the tragedy and the gems among the trash and made them shine.

Would I Recommend It: Very strongly.

#straydog's reading resolution #elif shafak #10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world #this was a random bookstore grab that completely blew my hair back #if you have any stomach for the subject matter i'd say read this book

[zelihatrifles]

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

The story is about Leila, about D/Ali, about her five friends. Each having lost something, and scarred by it, but each finding courage enough to still live and love, across boundaries, across divisions. After all, boundaries of the mind mean nothing for women who continue to sing songs of freedom under the moonlight. The corruption of their greater lives does not discredit, but rather intensifies the few pure moments of innocence.

Grief is a swallow... One day you wake up and you think it's gone, but it's only migrated to some other place, warming its feathers. Sooner or later, it will return and perch in your heart again. Grief thus assails each of these characters, forces them to be afraid and bend their heads low, but their beauty lies in their resilience which lifts them up from literal pits, to live life on their own terms, and no one more so than Tequila Leila. And Sinan's love is all the more poignant and painful because what was love if it wasn't nursing someone else's pain as if it were your own? The women of Leila's family, pious as can be in the presence of men, forgot all norms when alone, waxing and gossiping, they would pepper their remarks with curses that made the youngest among them blush like a damask rose. The beauty of freedom, however and wherever it may be.

In true Shafak fashion, Istanbul is so many things in this narrative too. It is the city of wilful amnesia, the city where all the discontented and all the dreamers eventually ended up, a dream that existed solely in the minds of hashish eaters... multiple Istanbuls. And true to Shafak style too is the insistence on the fluidity of divisions, as Jameelah's song soothes her friends, each from a different culture, but each comforted by the same melody. Chapters in Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul was named after food, here too, the prominence of the sensual is undeniably delightful. Like D/Ali, Shafak, and the reader too, falls into the delicious habit of taking memories and moments and converting them into flavours and fragrances.

Another of Elif Shafak's masterpiece, and i keep falling in love with her.

#books #reading #favourite #currently reading #10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world #elif shafak #booker prize shortlist #istanbul #postcolonial literature #impressions not reviews

[multicl]

1. Paracetamol - Declan McKenna

2. Working for the knife - Mistki

3. 10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world - Elif Shafak

#web weaving #parallels #art #books #literature #music #mitski #declan mckenna #elif shafak #10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world #working for the knife #paracetamol #what do you think about the car #laurel hell

[iambookseater]

Month in Review: August 2022

Month in Review: August 2022

So, August has been my lucky month. I came across so many amazing books. Some of them gave me the worst book hangovers I have ever encountered. I recommend all these books and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. P.S. Excuse me if at times it feels like I’m gushing because I totally will be. The Puma Years by Laura Coleman is a non-fiction story about a writer, artist, and activist, Laura…

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#10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world #between the pages of a book #Book Recommendations #book reviews #books to read #books unite us #curtain #the girl who fell beneath the sea #the puma years #to kill a mockingbird

[fiction-quotes]

"Grief is a swallow," he said. "One day you wake up and you think it's gone, but it's only migrated to some other place, warming its feathers. Sooner or later, it will return and perch in your heart again."

  —  10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (Elif Shafak)

#book quotes #magical realism #psychological fiction #elif shafak #10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world #grief #memory #remembering

[searidings]

reading wrap up 2022 GO

ok so my goal this year was to read 100 books and then i went ahead and read 109. and if i read the locked tomb series three times through that's no one's business but mine <3

italics are queer, bold are amazing, bold italics are queer and amazing

jan:

middlesex - jeffrey eugenides

the mountains sing - nguyên phan qué mai

the vegetarian - han kang

the galaxy and the ground within - becky chambers

to be taught, if fortunate - becky chambers

when we were orphans - kazuo ishiguro

americanah - chimamanda ngozi adichie

h of h playbook - anne carson

klara and the sun - kazuo ishiguro

the space between worlds - micaiah johnson

feb:

normal people - sally rooney

circe - madeline miller

blood of elves - andrzej sapkowski

gideon the ninth - tamsyn muir

time of contempt - andrzej sapkowski

baptism of fire - andrzej sapkowski

march:

the tower of the swallow - andrzej sapkowski

lady of the lake - andrzej sapkowski

harrow the ninth - tamsyn muir

the last wish - andrzej sapkowski

we should all be feminists - chimamanda ngozi adichie

a memory called empire - arkady martine

burnt sugar - avni doshi

a psalm for the wild built - becky chambers

april:

the alchemist - paul coelho

sword of destiny - andrzej sapkowski

oranges are not the only fruit - jeanette winterson

the colour purple - alice walker

the midnight library - matt haig

where the crawdads sing - delia owens

10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world - elif shafak

the discomfort of evening - marieke lucas rijneveld

crying in h mart - michelle zauner

my year of rest and relaxation - ottessa moshfegh

the shadow king - maaza mengiste

the virgin suicides - jeffrey eugenides

sapiens - yuval noah harari

the manningtree witches - a. k. blakemore

may:

parable of the sower - octavia butler

hot milk - deborah levy

an unkindness of ghosts - rivers solomon

the water dancer - ta-nehisi coates

pure colour - sheila heti

this is how you lose the time war - amal el-mohtar & max gladstone

five little indians - michelle good

june:

indian horse - richard wagamese

ducks, newburyport - lucy ellmann

the vanishing half - brit bennett

medicine walk - richard wagamese

crier's war - nina varela

a quality of light - richard wagamese

after the quake - haruki murakami

death in her hands - ottessa moshfegh

the school for good mothers - jessamine chan

bluets - maggie nelson

of women and salt - gabriela garcia

lapvona - ottessa moshfegh

mcglue - ottessa moshfegh

songbirds - christy lefteri

july:

to paradise - hanya yanagihara

sankofa - chibundu onuzo

the argonauts - maggie nelson

jane: a murder - maggie nelson

eileen - ottessa moshfegh

iron widow - xiran jay zhao

homesick for another world - ottessa moshfegh

a desolation called peace - arkady martine

the art of cruelty: a reckoning - maggie nelson

the witch's heart - genevieve gornichec

dune - frank herbert

aug:

never let me go - kazuo ishiguro

the island of missing trees - elif shafak

the marriage plot - jeffrey eugenides

almond - won-pyung sohn

all over creation - ruth ozeki

the water cure - sophie mackintosh

drive your plow over the bones of the dead - olga tokarczuk

sep:

the remains of the day - kazuo ishiguro

the blind assassin - margaret atwood

go set a watchman - harper lee

a pale view of hills - kazuo ishiguro

seven fallen feathers - tanya talaga

an artist of the floating world - kazuo ishiguro

the atlas six - olivie blake

the inconvenient indian - thomas king

a tale for the time being - ruth ozeki

ru - kim thuy

split tooth - tanya tagaq

wintering - katherine may

nomad century - gaia vince

dune messiah - frank herbert

the unbearable lightness of being - milan kundera

oct:

nona the ninth - tamsyn muir

indians on vacation - thomas king

severance - ling ma

nocturnes - kazuo ishiguro

nona the ninth - tamsyn muir

a prayer for the crown-shy - becky chambers

nov:

gideon the ninth - tamsyn muir

harrow the ninth - tamsyn muir

nona the ninth - tamsyn muir

embers - richard wagamese

dec:

starlight - richard wagamese

the buried giant - kazuo ishiguro

autobiography of red - anne carson

notes on grief - chimamanda ngozi adichie

cloud cuckoo land - anthony doerr

on fire: the burning case for a green new deal - naomi klein

sufferance - thomas king

#thanks for asking bro!! #read some bangers this year that's for sure #read some stinkers too but hey #gotta cast your net wide right #hope you had a great reading year too!! #yes tamsyn muir owned my entire ass this year and what about it #if anyone has great recs that align with the greats i've read this year i am all ears!!! #happy holidays my bro #book recs

[mint-mumbles]

I’m evolving…

Here’s my Spotify Wrapped if anyone is interested (I’m not adding pictures other than the conclusion, I’ll just write it out in text):

I listened to 21 genres

1. Rock

2. Vocaloid

3. pov: indie

4. Pop

5. Pixel

My song taste is most similar to Savannah, Florida, USA (because Spotify said how they like MCR, Will Wood, and IDKHBTFM)

I played 769 songs this year

My top songs were:

1. Vampires Will Never Hurt You by My Chemical Romance (played 35 times)

2. Absinthe by I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

3. Freak on a Leash by Korn

4. Dead! by My Chemical Romance

5. The End. by My Chemical Romance

I listened to Spotify music for 9,272 minutes (6 days) with the highest day coming out to 363 minutes (6.05 hours) and was in the top 33% of listeners worldwide

I listened to 397 artists this year

My top artist was Muse (as you saw up top, I’m keeping up the trend) and was a top 1% fan who spent 1,401 minutes (23.35 hours) listening to them with the song I listened to the most by them being Futurism (2001)

My other top artists were:

2. MCR

3. Korn

4. Pierce the Veil

5. Ghost

I now conclude this by letting you know that I’m going to Spotify’s HQ and finding the person who didn’t pay their overworked employees who created this… “design” (I just wanna talk…)

Top 100 incoming, so brace yourself! Turn back before it’s too late!

1. Vampires Will Never Hurt You (by MCR)

2. Absinthe (by I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME)

3. Freak on a Leash (by Korn)

4. Dead! (by MCR)

5. The End. (by MCR)

6. System of a Down (by SOAD)

7. Young Girl A (by Siinamota)

8. Futurism (by Muse)

9. Demolition Lovers (by MCR)

10. Rolling Girl (by wowaka)

11. Moonchild (by Fields of the Nephilim)

12. Sunburn (by Muse)

13. You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us (by MCR)

14. Duality (by Slipknot)

15. Death of an Executioner (by Pierce the Veil)

16. Pretty Rave Girl (by S3RL)

17. Freakin’ Freak (by Dot Dot Curve)

18. 2econd 2ight 2eer (that was fun, goodbye.) (by Will Wood)

19. King for a Day (by Pierce the Veil)

20. This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race (by FOB)

21. Dragula (by Rob Zombie)

22. The Second Law: Unsustainable (by Muse)

23. I Can’t Decide (by Scissor Sisters)

24. Venom (by Kairikibear)

25. As the World Caves In (by Matt Maltese)

26. Muscle Museum (by Muse)

27. The Only Hope for Me is You (by MCR)

28. Ga (ft. Hatsune Miku) (by Utsu-P)

29. girl’s a liar (by witted)

30. Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever) (by Muse)

31. I / Me / Myself (by Will Wood)

32. It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Deathwish (by MCR)

33. Got the Life (by Korn)

34. Screenager (2001) (by Muse)

35. People Are Strange (The Doors)

36. The Foundations of Decay (by MCR)

37. Redesign Your Logo (Bonus Track) (by Lemon Demon)

38. Creep (by Radiohead)

39. You Know My Name (by Chris Cornell)

40. This is How I Disappear (by MCR)

41. Ruler of Everything (by Tally Hall)

42. Eighth Wonder (by Lemon Demon)

43. Virtual Insanity - Remastered (by Jamiroquai)

44. Planetary (GO!) (by MCR)

45. Lost One’s Weeping (by Neru)

46. Newly Edgy Idols (by Mitchie M)

47. Take Me to Church (by Hozier)

48. Hang ‘Em High (by MCR)

49. Hurt (by NIN)

50. Starman - 2012 Remaster (by David Bowie)

51. Escape (by Muse)

52. Give ‘Em Hell, Kid (by MCR)

53. Dead Bodies Everywhere (by Korn)

54. Because You’re Here (by PinocchioP)

55. Setting Yourself Up For Sarcasm (by Get Started)

56. BUG (by Kairikibear)

57. Twist (by Korn)

58. Mama (by MCR)

59. Witch Image (by Ghost)

60. DARLING DANCE (by Kairikibear)

61. Freely Tomorrow (by Mitchie M)

62. Sleep (by MCR)

63. Press Play Walk Away (by S3RL & SynthWulf)

64. Hysteria (by Muse)

65. Babooshka - 2018 Remaster (by Kate Bush)

66. Party Poison (by MCR)

67. Law-Evading Rock (by Neru)

68. Meltdown (by iroha(sasaki))

69. Du hast (by Rammstein)

70. Micro Cuts - XX Anniversary RemiXX (2021) (by Muse)

71. Acid (by Ghost Town)

72. Hurt (by Johnny Cash)

73. Living Dead Girl (by Rob Zombie)

74. White Rabbit (by Jefferson Airplane)

75. Bad Romance (by Lady Gaga, covered by Artist Vs Poet)

76. KING (by Kanaria)

77. ‘Cause I’m a Liar (Kokichi Oma Fan Song) (by Mcki Robyns-P)

78. Showtime Ruler (by Karasuyasabou, covered by Kino Hina, Machico, Hirose Daisuke, and Toki Shunichi)

79. Little Kandi Raver 2012 (by S3RL)

80. Poi Poi Poi Popoi Poi Popi (by Ayaman Japan)

81. Thank You for the Venom (by MCR)

82. Points of Authority (by Linkin Park)

83. Love Me, Love Me, Love Me (by Kikuo)

84. Death city (by 6arelyhuman, syris)

85. GouZinZanGoku (by DEVILOOF)

86. Hurt (Quiet) (by NIN)

87. Dead Star (by Muse)

88. Blind (by Korn)

89. Absolution (by Ghost)

90. Savior (by Rise Against)

91. Unintended (by Muse)

92. My R (by WADATAKEAKI KurageP)

93. Caramelldanse (by Caramell)

94. I’m Not Okay (I Promise) (by MCR)

95. Endlessly (by Muse)

96. Johnny Johnny (by Danny Gonzalez)

97. Cirice (by Ghost)

98. I Never Told You What I Do For a Living (by MCR)

99. Momento Mori: the most important thing in the world (by Will Wood)

100. I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry (by Kikuo)

#spotify #spotify wrapped #music #muse band #my chemical romance #mcr #korn band #pierce the veil #the band ghost #vocaloid #(I was listening to a lot of that by the end of the year) #rock music #scene #emo #scemo #mint mumbles

[strangledeggs]

The Best Albums Of 2018

If you want to see a full review of any specific album on this list, or are wondering why a particular album did or didn’t make the top 10, or are wondering why an album you like from the year in question isn’t on this list at all, send me an ask about it and I’ll try and respond!

The Top 10

Room 25 by Noname

Invasion Of Privacy by Cardi B

A Laughing Death In Meatspace by Tropical Fuck Storm

Wide Awake! by Parquet Courts

Whack World by Tierra Whack

Superorganism by Superorganism

Transangelic Exodus by Ezra Furman

Be The Cowboy by Mitski

Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides by SOPHIE

Três by Thiago Nassif

The Rest

Care For Me by Saba

Conexão EP by Amber Mark

DAYTONA by Pusha T

Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae

Ephorize by CupcakKe

Foreign Ororo by Riton + Kah-Lo

Guatemaya by Doctor Nativo

Hive Mind by The Internet

I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life by tUnE-yArDs

Interstate Gospels by The Pistol Annies

Queen by Nicki Minaj

Quite A Life by Lyrics Born

Record by Tracey Thorn

Snares Like A Haircut by No Age

Streams Of Thought Vol. 1 by Black Thought

Tantabara by Tal National

Temet by Imarhan

The Terror End Of Beauty by Harriet Tubman

DROGAS WAVE by Lupe Fiasco

There’s A Riot Going On by Yo La Tengo

Things Have Changed by Bettye LaVette

Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz

Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest

Un Autre Blanc by Salif Keita

What A Time To Be Alive by Superchunk

What Happens When I Try To Relax by Open Mike Eagle

Your Queen Is A Reptile by Sons Of Kemet

Coming off of a previous year I described as lackluster, this is more like it. 38 albums in total, but more importantly, I had a particularly difficult time picking the top 10 for this year. The top 3-4 proved especially difficult – I was pretty certain after a while that Noname’s “Room 25”, perhaps the peak of what one can accomplish with the “personal is political” mantra, was going to take the top spot, but was I prepared to admit that Cardi B’s pop triumph “Invasion Of Privacy” was better than Parquet Courts’ best album yet? And so, apparently, was Tropical Fuck Storm’s unrelenting “A Laughing Death In Meatspace”? It hurt me to rank some of these things the way I did, but because of this, I’m fairly confident that you could pull any of the top 10 albums at random and have a great time regardless. Just make sure to watch the videos for Tierra Whack’s album, too, since they’re a whole work of art in themselves (it’s 15 minutes of your life for one of the most creative hip-hop visual spectacles of the century so far, come on, just do it).

What’s more, typing out the rest of the list made me realize what an awesome year this was simply by how many I realized I was sad to have to leave out of the top 10. Let me tell you, in any number of weaker years (like the last, or perhaps the next one, as you’ll see), contributions by Speedy Ortiz, Superchunk, Open Mike Eagle, Harriet Tubman, No Age, The Pistol Annies, Saba, Amber Mark and more would have made it into that upper tier. It’s a true testament to the strength of this year’s releases that they didn’t; I would strongly recommend checking out much of the second-tier list as well if you’re looking for the outstanding accomplishments in hip-hop, country, indie rock, desert rock and believe it or not, avant-garde jazz (Sons Of Kemet deserve a shout-out here, too, for their unique brass band approach).

One strange quirk I’ve noticed about this year is that it features several artists who seem either to have peaked here, releasing a lesser follow-up in the next few years, or who have yet to release a follow-up at all. Parquet Courts, No Age, Noname, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, The Internet, Cardi B, Tierra Whack, Mitski, Superorganism and sadly even Tropical Fuck Storm and the aforementioned Sons Of Kemet all fall into these categories to varying extents. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong in some way on at least a few of those soon, but even if they don’t bounce back, many of those artists can rest easy knowing they’ve created at least one masterpiece, which is more than most can say.

Speaking specifically to a few trends I noticed from the previous year, I will acknowledge that “mainstream”-leaning pop remains under-represented here, though I think this may just be my general bias as a critic to ignore most of it or even to recognize that the stuff that makes it on to my radar as interesting enough to write about is still too inconsistent to make a year-end list in terms of quality. Then again, I put Cardi B, breakout pop-star of the year, at #2, so you can’t complain too much there. Second, I should clarify that while I said in the previous year’s essay that I was ready to re-listen to Mount Eerie’s follow-up grieving-process album “Now Only”, I ultimately felt that it couldn’t hold its own against the other albums I selected for this year’s list. Which, again, is just an indication of how good 2018 was; nothing against “Now Only”, it’s still a very good album and you should listen to it if you...enjoyed(?) “A Crow Looked At Me”.

Finally, I’m glad to see a bit more music from outside the “western” pop sphere sneaking onto this year’s list as well. Thiago Nassif’s Tom Zé-like “Três” made the very end of the top 10, but you’ll find Guatemala’s Doctor Nativo, Nigeria’s Kah-Lo, Niger’s Tal National, Algeria’s Imarhan and Mali’s Salif Keita elsewhere on the list, each of which is worth checking out and each of which brings their own unique sound to the table. And on a sadder note, it’s still hard for me to believe SOPHIE is no longer with us after releasing such a final masterwork as “Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides”. We truly lost a once-in-a-generation talent with her.

#Music Criticism #Music #2018 #Best of project #Albums #Pop Music #Albums of the year #Best of 2018

[flodaya]

Hi flora did you end listing the book recommendations you got. I’m looking for recommendations on what to read

thank you for reminding me, and thank you to everyone who sent in their favorites <3

10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

All About Love by Bell Hooks

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

Beware of pity by Stefan Zweig

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Piranesi by Susanna Clark

Pride and Prejudice

Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet

Starling House - Alix E Harrow

The Concubine by Elechi Amadi

The light pirate - lily brooks dalton

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin

The Sorrows of Satan by Maria Corelli

The unmaking of June farrow - Adrienne young

Tobacco by Dimitar Dimov

Wolf among wolves by Hans Fallada

Yellowface by R.F Kuang

can't wait to read some of these!!

#ask #books #future reference

[quittingfiction]

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

Read from October 2 to 28

The possibility of an immediate and wholesale decimation of civilization was not half as frightening as the simple realization that our individual passing had no impact on the order of things, and life would go on just the same with or without us. Now that, she had always thought was terrifying. (5)

Mother was gentle with the dead, less so with the living. But the boy thought one should be even gentler with he iving han wvith the dead because, after all, they were the ones struggling to make sense of this world, weren't they? (75)

... perhaps her home was not where she was born but where she chose to die (131)

You said cows recognize people who have hurt them in the past. Sheep can identify faces as well. But I ask myself, what good does it do them to remember so much when they can't change a thing? (136)

You believe you are a victim of circumstances beyond your control. Today is the day you can change that ... (173)

How pathetic it was to try to relegate death to the periphery of life when death was at the centre of everything. (190)

'Grief is a swallow,' he said. 'One day you wake up and you think it's gone, but it's only migrated to some other place, warming its feathers. Sooner or later, it will return and perch in your heart again.' (197-198)

'My mother - I used to call her Auntie - she often felt the same way, maybe worse. People always told her to fight depression. But I have a feeling that as soon as we see something as our enemy we make it stronger. Like a boomerang. You hurl it away, it comes back and hits you with equal force. Maybe what you need is to befriend your depression.' 'What a funny thing to say, honey. How am I to do that?' 'Well, think about it: a friend is someone you can walk with in the dark and learn lots of things from. But you also know you are different people - you and your friend. You are not your depression. You are much more than what your mood is today or tomorrow.' (212-213)

How could meditation help you to quieten your mind when you needed to quieten your mind in order to meditate? She lived with an endless commotion inside. (213)

Back in Anatolia, Nalan had seen at close hand how falcons would perch on their captors' shoulders, obediently waiting for the next treat or command. The falconer's whistle, the call that ended freedom. She had also observed how a hood would be put on these noble raptors to make sure they would not panic. Seeing was knowing, and knowing was frightening. Every falconer knew that the less it saw the calmer the bird. But underneath that hood where there were no directions, and the sky and the land melted into a swathe of black linen, though comforted, the falcon would still feel nervous, as if in preparation for a blow that could come at any moment. Years later now, it seemed to Nalan that religion - and power and money and ideology and politics - acted like a hood too. All these superstitions and predictions and beliefs deprived human beings of sight, keeping them under control, but deep within weakening their self-esteem to such a point that they now feared anything, everything. (265-266)

We must do what we can to mend our lives we owe that to ourselves but we need to be careful not to break others while achieving that. (271)

Nalan thought hat one of the endless tragedies of human history was that pessimists were better at surviving than optimists, which meant that, logically speaking, humanity carried the genes of people who did not believe in humanity. (306)

After all, boundaries of the mind mean nothing for women who continue to sing songs of freedom under the moonlight ... (Acknowledgments, 312)