Le premier jour de paix

Read Le premier jour de paix by Elisa Beiram

2098. Aureliano est las du XXIe siècle, ses famines, ses guerres. Sa communauté s’entre-tue, isolée entre la jungle colombienne et l’océan. Seule porte de sortie : une aide extérieure à migrer et se séparer. Le vieillard lance des appels radio comme des bouteilles à la mer et érige un mausolée idéal fait des déchets déposés par les vagues.
Mais une rumeur parcourt le monde : certains continuent à œuvrer pour la paix. Si Aureliano regarde vers le rivage, d’autres rêvent toujours en fixant les étoiles.

Il me semble que la recommandation de lire ce roman me vient du serveur Discord Horizons Solarpunk, qui n’est pas très actif mais rempli de Wikimédiens gens sympa, et qui malheureusement n’a pas de forum, ou de plateforme d’échanges un peu moins dégueu à utiliser que Discord. Bon : le style d’écriture est un peu…

The Unfortunates

Read The Unfortunates by J.K. Chukwu

Dear Reader,
It has come to my attention that smoking kills, along with police, loner white boys, and looks. While embroiled in the process of trying to live, I have written this honors thesis [1]. It [2] is dedicated to the first years who haven’t yet died from alcohol poisoning, exhaustion, or overdosing. This work has been a labor of love and of hate. In it, you will find juxtaposition, verisimilitude, French, Freud, and anything else I’ve wasted 60K a year to learn.
I would like to thank my advisors: Mr. White Supremacy, Mr. Capitalism, Ms. Racism, and, of course, my Life Partner [3] for all the guidance they have provided during this process.
Set in the mind of a young Black woman who is losing it, The Unfortunates is a darkly funny debut about the realities of elitist institutions from an exceptional new writer.
[1] Ma lettre d’adieu.
[2] When writing an honors thesis, you can get away with vague antecedents.
[3] My depression

One of these books that make you call back your therapist and say « hiii I’m sorry I’ve been ghosting you for the past 6 months ». I struggled to get into this book because the writing style is far from classic, but once I had gotten into the rhythm, I could not let go…

Nevada by Imogen Binnie

Read Nevada by Imogen Binnie ( )

Maria Griffiths is almost thirty and works at a used bookstore in New York City while trying to stay true to her punk values. She’s in love with her bike but not with her girlfriend, Steph. She takes random pills and drinks more than is good for her, but doesn’t inject anything except, when she remembers, estrogen, because she’s trans. Everything is mostly fine until Maria and Steph break up, sending Maria into a tailspin, and then onto a cross-country trek in the car she steals from Steph. She ends up in the backwater town of Star City, Nevada, where she meets James, who is probably but not certainly trans, and who reminds Maria of her younger self. As Maria finds herself in the awkward position of trans role model, she realizes that she could become James’s savior–or his downfall.

I understand why Nevada is a classic, alright? I really do. It’s messy and unapologetic and the story is good and it explains things without feeling like a lecture and yes, it captures lots of trans experiences. Or, well, transfeminine experiences? I felt like many pieces of the description could apply to me, but Imogen…

Age of the City

Read Age of the City: Why Our Future Will be Won Or Lost Together ( )

In this book, Professor Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin show why making our societies fairer, more cohesive and sustainable must start with our cities. Globalization and technological change have concentrated wealth into a small number of booming metropolises, leaving many smaller cities and towns behind and feeding populist resentment. Yet even within seemingly thriving cities like London or San Francisco, the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen and our retreat into online worlds tears away at our social fabric. Meanwhile, pandemics and climate change pose existential threats to our increasingly urban world.

Felt rushed and superficial in some parts, some others were better. A frustrating read because many very interesting things are said but stay on the superficial level; a good read nonetheless, not too US-centric. Mes notes de lecture en français sont ici.

Refuse to choose!

Read Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams by Barbara Sher ( )

Don’t know what to do with your life? Drawn to so many things that you can’t choose just one? New York Times best-selling author Barbara Sher has the answer–do EVERYTHING!

This didn’t age very well in parts, but I enjoy the sheer optimism and positivity of it. I am definitely a Scanner-Type but I think I’m doing pretty well making the most it, which means I wasn’t the target audience for this self help book aimed at very confused and desperate people. There were still…

La Commune au présent, de Ludivine Bantigny

Read La Commune au présent by Ludivine Bantigny ( )

C’est de leur expérience si actuelle que part ce livre, sous une forme originale : il est composé de lettres adressées à ces femmes et ces hommes comme s’ils et elles étaient encore en vie et comme si on pouvait leur parler. Ces lettres rendent la Commune vivante et présente, par un entrelacement des temps. L’ouvrage s’appuie sur un vaste travail d’archives et de nombreux documents, le plus souvent inédits : correspondances, débats, projets, procès… Il offre aussi au regard plus de cent photographies qui s’égrènent tout au long de ses pages, images d’époque et images d’aujourd’hui, comme un télescopage entre passé et présent.

La Commune de Paris est une époque fascinante, qui mérite qu’on s’y attarde et que tout le monde la connaisse. Ce n’est pas le cas, et j’ai trouvé plus d’une fois qu’il était très difficile de s’intéresser à un sujet pourtant passionnant : les ressources sont si austères, si académiques ! La non-fiction épistolaire de…

Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make and Keep Friends

Read Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make and Keep Friends by Marisa G. Franco ( )

How do we make and keep friends in an era of distraction, burnout, and chaos, especially in a society that often prizes romantic love at the expense of other relationships? In Platonic, Dr. Marisa G. Franco unpacks the latest, often counterintuitive findings about the bonds between us—for example, why your friends aren’t texting you back (it’s not because they hate you!), and the myth of “friendships happening organically” (making friends, like cultivating any relationship, requires effort!). As Dr. Franco explains, to make and keep friends you must understand your attachment style—secure, anxious, or avoidant: it is the key to unlocking what’s working (and what’s failing) in your friendships.

I’ve been changing my entire world every decade at most for my entire life, and it gets lonely out there. Moving to a not-actually-new city and having to start from not-really-scratch has been very hard for the past six months, and my whole approach of friendship doesn’t help – I struggle a lot with keeping…

The other black girl, by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Read The other black girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris ( )

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.
Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.
It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.

Such an excellent book with such a disappointing ending. Mild spoilers for the endingI was really invested in the conspiracy arc and having it end nowhere AND sprinkled with magical realism when the plot could have been just as solid without it? I truly hope fanfic writers will write the conspiracy arc I need to…

Hêtre pourpre, de Kim de l’Horizon

Read Hêtre pourpre by Kim de l’Horizon ( )

Lorsque sa grand-mère commence à perdre la mémoire, Kim tente de combler les silences en invoquant ses souvenirs d’enfance, dans une remémoration d’une infinie et terrible tendresse.

S’ouvre alors une tourbillonnante quête familiale sur les figures féminines qui constituent sa lignée maternelle : un arbre généalogique de sorcières entretenant un puissant lien avec la nature, de femmes subversives en recherche permanente de liberté, parmi lesquelles Kim se crée une place.

Hêtre pourpre m’a dit de faire mon coming-out à ma grand-mère puis a passé le reste de ses pages à me faire passer un très mauvais moment. J’ai pas pu arrêter de le lire. Toutes les dix pages, un paragraphe exprimait tout ce que j’avais besoin de lire et justifiait le reste de ma lecture.…