On rereading & books about beauty standards!
The Reading Nook #2
Hi there and welcome to the second edition of The Reading Nook!
Three things on the agenda today:
1.) My recently changed views on rereading books
2.) My October reading journey
3.) Two (fiction) book recommendations based on the theme: beauty standards.
Let’s get into it!
On rereading
Rereading books isn’t something I considered to take much space in my reading journey. Until very recently, I wouldn’t tag myself as a rereader. Then it dawned on me how many times I’ve read assigned books from Secondary school like My Last days at Forcados High by A.H Mohammed and Faceless by Amma Darko out of boredom or a lack of new books to read and how that counts as rereading.
I used to be one of those people who said they wanted large libraries in their houses, books aesthetically arranged from wall to wall and all of that. Then when I learned about into intentional consumption, I started to wonder if I wanted a library at all.
I realised how with those huge libraries, I’d probably have so many books I wouldn’t read lying around doing nothing. So I left that dream behind. I started thinking of better ways of engaging with books like borrowing them from a library and a friend and I even entertained the idea of starting a book swap thingy in Abuja. This would make sure I didn’t end up having too many books or books I didn’t care for in my possession.
But back to the topic of rereading. I’ve realised there are books you read that are too good to not read again or are very close to your heart. I’m understanding there are some books where you have so many highlights or marginalia (if you’re the kind to highlight and write in books) and having a copy is so important. That there are comfort books you keep going back to. And this is what a personal library should be made up of. These kinds of books.
So rereading books is a good reason for having a library. I’m an avid rewatcher of movies so it’s funny I thought I wouldn’t be a rereader of books. We tend to forget books we read so when we reread, we’re reminded of how amazing a book was. Sometimes, it takes us back to a different time. Sometimes, you read it and are awed by how much things have changed and how much you see differently. Or how you relate differently from the last time because you’ve grown.
There are too many good books out there that deserve to be read and savoured over and over again and I’ve decided I want a library filled with those books. (I still want to start a book swap btw!)
October Books
Yellowface by R.F Kuang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I finished it this month and it was a crazy ride! to be honest. It has been making rounds online for a reason. We follow the story of June, a white not so successful writer, as she steals the unpublished manuscript of her successful Chinese-American friend(?), Athena Liu, after her death which happens right in front of June.
Reading this from June’s perspective and seeing how all her horrible decisions brings chaos and watching the huge role race and social media has to play in it all is what makes it a crazy ride.
As a writer, I love that there’s a lot of details and lingo about the publishing world, but it might not be so fun for some.
I recommend this a hundred times, it’s so crazy and will make you go what the hell?! a lot.
Children of the Quicksands by Efua Traoré ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After finishing Yellowface, I started and stopped about two or three books before accepting I was in a slump. But then I came across this book and 🤯
I was so excited to see a Nigerian book (actually set in Nigeria) crafted around Yoruba mythology and Nigerian juju.
It’s a children’s book, I think for preteens and it’s about a girl, Simi, who is sent to her grandmother in the village, Ajao, for the summer. But the thing is she never knew her grandmother existed. Her mother never talked about her. She also didn’t know her grandmother is the Priestess of Osun and that Ajao is a village filled with magic.
This book was so easy to go through plus it has adventure and an evil forest. It was so good and a nice story for kids on Nigerian gods and mythology.
The List by Siobhan Vivian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Speaking of rereading, I reread this book after maybe five or six years. It’s close to my heart probably because I read it when I hadn’t seen a lot of stories about girls struggling with beauty culture and standards.
It’s about a highschool that has a nasty tradition of annually releasing a list of the ugliest and prettiest girls in every grade. The books follows the journey of eight of these girls from freshman to seniors and we see the consequences of this objectification of girls.
It has eight POVs which might be overwhelming, but I enjoyed each girls’ story. And the characters are not diverse at all and it would’ve been more inclusive and interesting to see the way other forms of prejudice that intersect with sexism, like sexuality or race, play out in this situation. But I guess that might have been too much or not the place of the author to write.
I don’t have a specific reason for picking the theme of beauty standards but it is an interesting and important issue in society for everyone, but especially women. These two books explore that theme from the perspective of Asian women.
TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jasmeen Kaur Deo.
This is a young adult book about an Indian American girl, TJ Powar who is used to going through all of the extensive maintenance to keep up her looks by taming her hair. Her mom does it, her aunties do it, her and her close friend have been doing it since they were preteens.
But TJ’s cousin doesn’t do it and it isn’t until a meme that compares her to her cousin swamps the internet that TJ starts asking questions and decides to forgo all her hair removal habits.
It’s an uncomfortable journey through beauty standards, culture, and the exploration of body hair and so much more. It is such a powerful book (the rereading type ;)) and I’d recommend it a thousand times.
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
It’s been years since I read this book but I have it imprinted in my mind over how much of a good book it was. Its set in Seoul, Korea and it’s about four women and how they deal with Korean beauty culture and the obsession with surgery and how it can all change your life. I’m probably going to re-read it soon as I can barely remember anything but it was so good!
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this edition and if you’ve read any of these books or are going to, let me know in the comments and just let me know anything you have to say!
Thank you so much for reading. I hope November will be a fabulous month for you✨