Samra Habib talks about the process of their self discovery — moving from Pakistan to Canada as a child & the discrimination they faced, navigating relationships with their bio family & chosen family, exploring their religion & sexuality, and finding spaces of belonging.

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They developed a pretty frickin amazing worldview along the way and at times I wanted to yell YESSS and high five them lol. For example: I REJECT the idea that romantic love is superior to other forms, so I especially liked their perspective on love and friendship:

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“What if I were to renew my vows to myself, and ask guests to share what our friendship means to them? Did I need the occasion of marriage to feel validated by those I love, or to celebrate love itself?”

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This memoir wasn’t a ~losing my religion and embracing my sexuality~ type of story. It was about reconciling the two and discovering what their religion and sexuality mean to them as core aspects of their identity. I loved this because I feel like often people/society see the two as mutually exclusive.

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Near the end they talk about their project “Just Me and Allah” where they photograph LGBTQIA+ Muslims around the world and ask them to share their experiences:

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“It seemed that because we didn’t fit the popular imagination’s perceptions of Muslims, we simply didn’t exist. I wanted to convey the countless narratives found within Islam and explore unfamiliar territory to create a broader, more multi-layered understanding of Muslims.”

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After I finished reading I looked at some of their portraits online — they’re so gorgeous and it was exciting to put faces to some of the names mentioned in the book!!

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Reading this made me think lotsa thoughts (too many to write here lol).

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Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

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emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

the vulnerability in this collection…. the boldness…

in his exploration of human existence, vuong emphasizes the role of his family, his roots— how he came to be. at one point he writes from the perspective of his own mother talking to him in the womb. putting himself in his mother’s mind must’ve been so emotional; this especially stood out to me thinking about his relationship with his mother that i read about in “on earth we’re briefly gorgeous”

in contrast to this deep, complex illustration of family, he also talks about his family in blatant terms: “an american soldier fucked a vietnamese farmgirl. thus my mother exists. thus i exist. no bombs = no family = no me.” i admire the way that he is able to think about his existence in both complex and simple terms — neither of them is more or less true or important

i gasped out loud when vuong quoted jeffrey dahmer at the beginning of “into the breach.” it’s hard to wrap my head around that one; out of context, dahmer’s words seem almost relatable— and how disturbing is that? he’s not afraid to draw attention to the uncomfortable idea that we share aspects of humanity with someone so evil

these are only my initial observations; this collection made me think so much and i’ll keep coming back to it

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21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality by Bob Joseph

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informative fast-paced

5.0

every canadian should read this book! is a great starting point for non-Indigenous canadians to learn about the relationship between Indigenous peoples and settlers from colonization to present day, as well as current reconciliation efforts.

so many of the barriers Indigenous peoples in canada face today are a direct result of the Indian Act. the author goes over the 21 items, listing how long they were/have been in effect for, and explaining how each item impacted Indigenous communities. out of the 21 items the book discussed, i was aware of around 1/3rd of them.

at the end of the book, the 94 calls to action by the truth and reconciliation commission of canada are listed. out of curiosity i searched up how many have been completed, and as of the end of 2021 only 11 have. every canadian should also be aware of these calls to action.

this book was a super important read — i was able to confront my internal biases and reflect on my personal responsibility as a canadian settler when it comes to reconciliation.

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

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adventurous hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

Something's Not Right: Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abuse--And Freeing Yourself from Its Power by Wade Mullen

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informative fast-paced

as someone who has been in and out of church circles my whole life and has had some less than ideal experiences in said circles, this was a very useful read.

i found this book really comprehensive; the chapters were short, sweet (?), and to the point. the author divided the book into easy to follow categories and used real life and hypothetical examples to illustrate his research findings.

the book teaches how to recognize abuse and combat it. it goes over a number of aspects of abuse: manipulation tactics, the dangers of sacred roles & tribalism, walls of defence, types of apologies, etc., all in relation to church environments.

i think this book is super important and useful, not only for people who have experienced abuse in the church, but for the rest of the church-going population to recognize when we might be enabling the abuse/giving the benefit of the doubt to people in power.

i recommend for christians and ex-christians alike, especially if you’re going through the process of unpacking your religious trauma or are a part of a religious circle where you have that gut feeling that “something’s not right.”

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Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i love a good feminist retelling. definitely wasn’t as memorable as circe (i compared it to circe by madeline miller the whole timeeee which makes me biased bc i loved circe) but still a solid, enjoyable story.

the whole overarching theme in this book is: women suffer for men’s mistakes. it all starts with this well known myth: poseidon punishes king minos of crete by making his WIFE suffer and give birth to a MINOTAUR. as ariadne recalls other stories that she’s heard, she keeps bringing up this theme.

even on the island of naxos, which is meant to be a safe haven for women escaping their shitty lives

the peace is corrupted by dionysus’ need to be worshipped, flaunting his “gift” of being able to bring things back to life.

the ending of this book was so abrupt and honestly left me in shock. as i was nearing the end i was thinking “how can the story resolve itself with so few pages left?” the abruptness wasn’t a problem — it was necessary — but it left me unsatisfied and upset (as i think it is meant to).

if this story was meant to motivate the reader to seek justice for women being wronged, then it worked. i just wanna PROTECT WOMEN. ok the end <3

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giordana's reviews 131 reviews

giordana's reviews
131 reviews