Right? Of course we already knew that time was a construct, but this pandemic year has proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt. How have I measured my time? By zoom meetings, by meals, by the days between receiving packages, by the weeks between seeing friends, by the months between seeing my parents, my nieces and nephew. Perhaps others have found that this weird, shifting pandemic temporality has negatively impacted their concentration. It definitely has pulverized mine. Reading for class, that I have been able to continue, but only through a sense of urgency and duty. Research reading and pleasure reading fell by the wayside. (And tik tok filled the void. I feel as if my attention span has been reduced to 60 second intervals.)
But I am on pre-tenure leave this term and trying to get back into the swing of reading — for work and for pleasure. It’s been a rocky start but I think I am getting back into the groove. So, as a way to kick this blog off (again), I am going to tell you what I am reading!
On my desk: Jack Halberstam’s *Trans, Emma Heaney’s The New Woman, Ann Chetkovich’s Depression: A Public Feeling, and Lauren Fournier’s Autotheory as Feminist Practice.
On the floor in my office: Rita Felski’s Hooked, Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism, and Talia Lavin’s Culture Warlords.
On my bedside table: Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven and Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing.
Downstairs on the couch: Elizabeth Holme’s HRH: So Many Thoughts On Royal Style and Matt Kracht’s Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America.
My “To Read” bookshelf is already full to the brim — spilling over with the edition of a Judy Blume box set! — but I am always open to recommendations!