WORLD BOOK DAY
Counter Arts Prompt Delight
On Medium, we write and read people’s work. Hardly do we get to peep into their library — till this prompt came along
“What Are You Reading On World Book Day?” was the title of Sadie Seroxcat’s piece in Counter Arts that got me really excited. When Sadie said it doubled as a prompt, I threw myself at the comment section and asked Sadie unabashedly, Could I join? Then fellow comrade Marc Barham tagged me as if he could already read my mind!
When something lights you up, you go for it.
So here’s my bit to the prompt. Thanks again Sadie and Marc, this was indeed the maraschino cherry on my weekend sundae!
- What was the last book you finished reading?
Two actually, as I tend to read concurrently. “The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir” by Telford Taylor. I have a confession: I have a degree of obsession with anything to do with the International Criminal Tribunal (ICT). It started with COVID lockdown and for some odd reason the whole idea of being held hostage in our homes got me started on survival stories — till present.
It started after I had finished Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search For Meaning” which took me down this rabbit hole of holocaust and genocide study. My mother was getting a bit worried I was going to be miserable, but I found comfort in these narratives. I highly recommend listening to “Nuremberg: The Trial of the Nazi War Criminals” by BBC Radio 4 as a preamble or supplement to this book.
Simultaneously, reading into ICT led me to Rwanda’s devastating history. A learning I’m glad I did. “Life Laid Bare The Survivors in Rwanda Speak” by Jean Hatzfeld is a gripping account on the Rwanda genocide which included unspeakable ethnic and sexual violence. Here, I developed a newfound respect for historical documentation that inspired me to write my own book. Survivor stories are, to me, the most powerful documents we need to archive. They’re tough to digest but we must read them. We are survivors, too.
2. Tell me about something you are reading right now.
“Trauma and Recovery The Aftermath of Violence From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror” by Judith Lewis Herman MD. It’s more like a supporting read bridging the scientific and psychiatric understanding to all the survivor stories I’m reading. It’s all interconnected to even the daily struggles, childhood traumas and stories of depression I read on Medium.
3. Do you have a book in mind you are excited to start next?
“Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of the Nuclear Disaster” by Svetlana Alexievich. Memories and true accounts by survivors living with illness and fear (by those sent in to clean up the mess and monitor the damage) to how they accept a fate that was out their control knowing later it was a political failure that could have saved lives.
It is difficult not to be upset when reading such stories, yet they also provide you with deep lessons in forgiveness.
One fascinating thing I’ve discovered from survivor stories, is that those standing on the margins, outside looking in, are the ones with the most hatred and anger. Closer to within the core of suffering, victims are more compassionate. This fact blows me away.
4. What are 3 books you’ve read in the last few years that you loved and would recommend to other readers?
Definitely, “Er Ist Wieder Da” (Look Who’s Back) by Timur Vermes, the brilliant and creepy satire about Adolf Hitler returning to our modern world and resuming influence too easily. It’s originally in German but the English-language translation is by Jamie Bulloch (published by MacLehose Press). *Read this before you watch the movie.
“We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi is a powerful story about equality in gender in the storytelling we surround ourselves with. Don’t be thrown off by the term “feminists” thinking of bra burning and radicalism. It’s about the dangers of hearing a single story.
Too often we take one side that’s closest to our hard-wiring, whether it’s about a person, a subject or a country, and we risk a critical misunderstanding. I see this happening a lot on Medium. We need to learn to take a step back before speaking, to see the danger of how we can become impressionable and vulnerable in the face of a story — especially the one that has been fed to us by our schooling system, close communities (tribalism) and traditions. It’s about respecting diverse experiences, identities and knowledge.
“Survival In Auschwitz The Nazi Assault on Humanity” by Primo Levi (translated in English by Stuart Woolf) may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a must-read to remind ourselves of the systematic cruelty and dehumanization that occurred at the concentration camps. Like Frankl’s “Man Search For Meaning”, it’s a humbling read to learn about the indestructibility of the human spirit.
Similar to Roberto Benigni’s Oscar-winning movie “Life is Beautiful”, it’s unfathomable — yet true — that despite the brutal reality, stories of survivors contain this coating of wit. Humor, it seems, is a critical component to how we look at a situation and overcome its challenges. Our survival greatly depends on our wit.
5. What were your favorite books when you were a child?
I grew up on a diet of classics which was somewhat orchestrated by my parents. The first present — and perhaps the only type of presents — I’d received from them were books. My formative years were in the UK and we lived on a tight budget as my father was a post-grad at the time. Books were ideal, purposeful and affordable. I think it was also a form of discipline to keep me occupied during the cold months when I couldn’t go out and play with my friends, to read on train rides, and before bedtime. My first memorable read was a hardcover of “Black Beauty” by Anna Sewell which they got at a discount at 99p. Next came “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott, “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe and “The Swiss Family Robinson” by Johann David Wyss.
These books gave inkling to my independent spirit and appetite for adventure. Enid Blyton’s “The Faraway Tree” and “The Wishing-Chair” series were my comfort read. To this day, I call my mother Dame Washalot (equally obsessed with laundry).
6. What did you enjoy reading as a teenager?
“Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Enid Blyton’s “The Secret Seven”, “Famous Five”, “Nancy Drew” series, and everything by Roald Dahl and Sue Townsend. The moment I picked up “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾” I never looked back. Who knew Townsend’s “The Queen and I”, a tongue-in-cheek and satirical jab at the British Royal family, is more factual today than a silly story! Here, I developed a penchant for sleuthing, sarcasm and deadpan humor.
There was a transition here due to a summer of boredom to more adult material after I came across Jeffrey Archer’s “Kane and Abel”, Judith Krantz’s “Scruples” and “I’ll Take Manhattan”, and realized I understood what I was reading and enjoyed them! In my late teens I came across a book “The Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant” and couldn’t put it down.
Maupassant shaped my love for, and my framework of, supernatural horror. That has stuck with me to this day. Maupassant’s body of work also shaped my romanticism for all things dark in a beautiful sort of way which I termed Celebrating Darkness. If I were to publish my first anthology of poetry that would be the title, and in his honor.
Here’s a taste of his intense madness:
“I love the night passionately. I love it as I love my country, or my mistress, with an instinctive, deep, and unshakeable love. I love it with all my senses: I love to see it, I love to breathe it in, I love to open my ears to its silence, I love my whole body to be caressed by its blackness. Skylarks sing in the sunshine, the blue sky, the warm air, in the fresh morning light. The owl flies by night, a dark shadow passing through the darkness; he hoots his sinister, quivering hoot, as though he delights in the intoxicating black immensity of space.” — A Nightmare by Guy de Maupassant
A toast to books and World Book Day, and hope you enjoyed visiting my library!
