We were spoilt with the sun on Saturday and used it to our advantage by taking our Shop Supervisor Selena down to the beach for our next #BooksellersOnTheBeach! Here are the books she has been reading and loving lately
With the release of Wandering Stars, I wanted to revisit Tommy Orange's debut novel, There There. This polyphonic tale weaves together the interconnected lives of a group of indigenous people in Oakland, ultimately converging at the Big Oakland Pow Wow. Orange succeeds in his ability to convey the breadth of the human experience through the complexities and nuances of each character, shying away from the stereotypes that have characterised indigenous stories for too long. You could consider this an angry and challenging book, but it is the humanity and glimpses of optimism that will stay with you long after finishing the book.
Published: 9th May '19
Format: Paperback
Price: £9.99
Enter Ghost is a contemporary work that follows an actor as she returns to Palestine for the first time in years and takes up the part of Gertrude in a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. The story ponders themes of art under occupation, the complexities of a family's history, examinations of sisterhood and the act of resistance despite unceasing oppression.
Published: 14th Mar '24
Format: Paperback
Price: £9.99
The title of On Savage Shores brilliantly inverts the common historical rhetoric of Indigenous peoples as 'savages' and the Americas being 'discovered' by Europeans, by instead referring to Europe as the 'savage shores'. This inversion mirrors the text which seeks to illuminate the lives of Indigenous peoples from the Americas that travelled to Europe, whether it be forced or willing, and the long-lasting effects and impressions these people left in shaping European history.
Published: 18th Jan '24
Format: Paperback
Price: £10.99
The Parisian follows the life of Midhat Kamal from his brief, but impressionable time in Paris during WWI, to his eventual return to life in Nablus (in today's West Bank). As he builds a life in Palestine, Midhat struggles with his feeling of being an outsider, eventually earning himself the nickname, The Parisian. This internal conflict brilliantly mirrors the turbulent, tragic and pivotal period in Palestinian history from WWI until the start of WWII. For me, this is an astonishing and perfect work of historical fiction.
Published: 6th Feb '20
Format: Paperback
Price: £9.99
Written by Layla Martinez (tr. Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott), Woodworm was a short, but impactful novella. Reading this felt as if I was amongst the malevolent spirits themselves and I enjoyed every second. Exploring generational trauma, gender, violence and class, Martinez crafts a menacing ghost story that you will want to savour.
Published: 2nd May '24
Format: Hardback
Price: £14.99
Through exhaustive research of firsthand Mexica accounts, Townsend creates a beautifully complex and rich history of the Nahuas and the 'Aztec' Empire from their own perspective. She manages to bring humanity to a history that has often been viewed through a colonial caricature.
Published: 4th Nov '21
Format: Paperback
Price: £19.49