Tag: historical fiction

Posted on

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.

Image

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.

Continue reading “Blackoweenathon: Books Read, Reading and TBR”
Posted on

Visiting the Burial Rites Locations in Iceland

Before moving to Iceland, my partner and I were keen to read lots of books written by Icelandic authors or set in Iceland.

One such book that we both enjoyed reading was Burial Rites by Hannah Kent.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson laying upon a table by a sun lounger, next to a pool in Greece.

Burial Rites tells the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, a young woman accused of the murder of Natan Ketilsson, which took place at a remote farm in 1829.

Agnes is placed at a different remote farm during the trial. She is housed, rather reluctantly, by a local family as she faces the final days leading up to her execution.

There is great mystery in the book regarding whether or not Agnes actually committed the murder and, as the story unravels, we learn more about what happened on the night in question.

While it is not known exactly what happened on that night, in Burial Rites, Hannah Kent imagines what may have happened. By doing so, she invites us to consider the life lived by Agnes and the circumstances leading up to her execution.

Continue reading “Visiting the Burial Rites Locations in Iceland”