Reading Lists – Page 2 – READING WITH KT

October 18, 2020January 31, 2024

Blackoweenathon: Books Read, Reading and TBR

It’s mid-October, which makes this the ideal time to check in on how I’ve been getting on with Blackoweenathon.

If you don’t already know, Blackoweenathon is a readathon hosted by Loc’D Booktician. The aim of the readathon is to centre Black authors during the spooky season and for readers to prioritise reading Black-authored genre fiction.

Loc’D Booktician created a whole host of resources including a bingo board, a curated book recommendations list, some spooky BookTube tags and a whole host of prompts to guide your reading.

The prompts are:

A fantasy novel by a Black author
A book by a Black trans, queer or non-binary author
A book that features Black mermaids/sirens
A mystery book by a Black author
A historical fiction book by a Black author
A thriller book by a Black author
A book that discusses intersectionality by a Black author
A book that includes a Black witch
Read a book by an underrated Black author

The group book is Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin.

You can combine as many of the prompts as you like, making this as manageable or ambitious as you want it to be.

Blackoweenathon has been such a well-organised readathon and you can tell that so much work and energy has gone into hosting it, so I’m super glad to join in!

I also think it’s exceptionally important to consciously think about race representation in genre fiction.

During the 2019 Reading Women Challenge, one of the prompts was “read a mystery/thriller by a WOC”. Despite reading a fair amount of mystery/thriller novels at the time, I was ignorant of how white the genre is.

Since then, I have become interested in who gets published and for writing what books. In other words, what narratives are considered “commercial” enough for the publishing world. The ethos and intentions of Blackoweenathon speak to this conversation and the readathon aims to highlight work which is already out there. I think it’s a wonderful thing so, again, I’m really glad to be taking part.

Here I’ll be doing a mid-month check in on what I’ve read so far, what I’m reading right now and what I’m hoping to read.

October 16, 2020January 31, 2024

6 Prime Reading Short Story Recommendations for Your Kindle

Alongside the announcement that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie would soon be releasing a short story via Amazon, I learned that I had access to Prime Reading: a service that comes with an Amazon Prime membership and allows you to rent book titles to read on your kindle.

As my local library is temporarily closed, and I suddenly had the unshifting desire to read exclusively on my kindle, this couldn’t have come around at a better time.

I’m not here to explicitly promote Prime or Amazon (I have nothing to gain from doing so), nor enter the debate about its ethical practices but I will say that while I agree that capitalism is abhorrent, I do find the current discussion around boycotting Amazon very classist, ableist and US/UK centric.

Regardless of that wider debate, I wanted to use this space to shine a light on some of the exceptional short stories that I was able to access via this service, in the hopes that you might benefit from a short read. In my eyes, these Amazon exclusive short stories are perfect for reluctant readers, those with limited time on their hands, or those moments when you feel you want a bite-sized story (one you can gobble up on your lunch break… too far?). While these were all free for me to read, the retail cost is £0.99, so if one takes your fancy it might be worth taking a punt on one of these short stories.

Those listed here are my favourites from among the ones I’ve read so far. There should be something for everyone among these, including readers who love romance, non-fiction, sci-fi and thriller genres.

July 31, 2020January 31, 2024

Transathon | Brilliant Books by Transgender, Non-binary and Genderqueer Authors

In July, I took part in a readathon called Transathon, which encouraged readers to seek out and celebrate books by transgender, non-binary and genderqueer authors.

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of hate speech directed at transgender people online. As part of the literary community, it seems to have been particularly rife.

I believe it is always important to seek out stories from people whose lives are or have been different to your own.

At this present time, as a cis woman, I think it’s especially important that I use this space to uplift the voices of transgender and non-binary people and that I make a conscious effort to champion and celebrate their written work.

July 29, 2020January 31, 2024

25 Books by Women in Translation From the Russian Language

August is Women in Translation month; a month to celebrate women whose work has been translated from languages other than English, into the English language.

This year I wanted to take some time to celebrate work by women who are typically underrepresented in the translation field.

According to a 2018 Diversity Report, this includes women who are writing in the Russian language.

Russian is an East Slavic language. It is the official language of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used in the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

When suggesting 20 Great Russian Novels, Qwiklit says: “the Russian literary tradition rivals most if not all countries, and its consistent ambition to define (and even redefine) social conditions has kept even it’s oldest works relevant in the public sphere.”

While compiling this list of Russian language translations, I noticed this in the literature I was finding: a desire to redefine the boundaries of literature and push the reader to view the world through a critical lens.

With that said, here are 25 recommendations for books by women in translation from the Russian language.

July 29, 2020January 31, 2024

23 Books by Chinese Women in Translation

August is Women in Translation month; a month to celebrate women whose work has been translated from languages other than English, into the English language.

This year I wanted to take some time to celebrate work by women who are typically underrepresented in the translation field.

According to a 2018 Diversity Report, this includes Chinese language translations.

As I was researching this, I found that the term ‘Chinese language’ could be seen as reductive, not taking account of the wide range of languages and dialogues that make up the Chinese language family.

With this in mind, I have here chosen to highlight Chinese women in translation, regardless of what language the work was originally written in.

Books and Bao recognise that Chinese women are drastically underrepresented in the translation field: “the Chinese novels of male authors are still far more in abundance than those of women.”

I have been interested in Chinese culture and politics for quite some time. As a young adult, I read Adeline Yen Mah’s ‘Chinese Cinderella’ and listened to her speak at Edinburgh Book Festival. I studied Chinese politics briefly in high school and then, in 2012, I went on to study “China as a World Superpower” at a summer school in Prague.

It was, then, with curiosity and excitement that I learned of these female writers whose work has made its way into English language translation.

Of all of the spotlights I have done, this one was the trickiest to find recommendations for and I’m extremely grateful to all my friends on Instagram who contributed recommendations to this list. I’ve credited them all and I hope you’ll consider checking out their accounts for more recommendations.

With that said, here is a list of 23 books by Chinese women in translation.

July 29, 2020January 31, 2024

24 Books by Black Women in Translation

August is Women in Translation month; a month to celebrate women whose work has been translated from languages other than English, into the English language.

This year I wanted to take some time to celebrate work by women who are typically underrepresented in the translation field. According to fellow blogger, Translationista and poetry translator John Keene, that includes Black women.

In recent months we have seen a lens shone on the way Black authors are treated in the UK and US publishing industries, with such hashtags as #PublishingPaidMe revealing the stark disparities in advance payments, and many Black writers speaking out about the multiple layers of gatekeepers that they are faced with before they even broker a publishing deal.

In my eyes, this makes it all the more essential that Black writers work is consciously sought out in such months as Women in Translation month, and that their writings are approached with excitement and intrigue.

As Tasnim @reads.and.reveries says in her article On Black Authors and Buying Their Books:
“approach books written by Black authors in the same way you would approach any other book – with joy, enthusiasm and curiosity”

With that said, here are 24 book recommendations of books written by Black women in translation.

July 21, 2020January 31, 2024

17 Books by Women in Translation From the Arabic Language

August is Women in Translation month; a month to celebrate women whose work has been translated from languages other than English, into the English language.

This year I wanted to take some time to celebrate work by women who are typically underrepresented in the translation field.

According to a 2018 Diversity Report, this includes women who are writing in Arabic.

The Arabic language is a Semitic language which is spoken by approximately 422 million people, including those living in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and other parts of the Middle East.

LitHub describe Arabic literature: “There is perhaps no other literature so closely allied to the history of its people as is that of the Arabs.”

In recent years, Arabic fiction has been receiving some much-deserved attention and celebration.

With Jokha Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies winning the International Man Booker Prize in 2019 and the International Prize for Arabic Fiction drawing more and more attention from a global audience every year; Arabic fiction could be set to be the next hot literary trend.

With that in mind, here are 17 book suggestions for women in translation from the Arabic language; to read during August and beyond.

July 17, 2020January 31, 2024

Women in Translation | 6 Book Recommendations

The month of August marks a celebration of Women in Translation: female writers whose work has been translated into the English language.

If you don’t know where to start with looking for recommendations, I’ve compiled a list of great books I’ve read by women in translation.

I loved reading all of these and would love to put them on your radar, if you’ve not yet heard of them.

I’ve included a range of literary fiction, historical fiction and crime/mystery/thriller on this list, so hopefully you find something that piques your interest.