The Impulsive Reader

In an effort to condense the last six months of reading into a list (probably not comprehensive - or I just haven’t read that much) here’s a list of what stood out, in no particular order: Orhan Pamuk’s “The Museum of Innocence” - took up three months at least, got slow in the middle, but beautiful and insightful on that Istanbul life in the ‘70s. The Netflix show that serendipitously came out a few months after I finished it is doing it a l o t of justice and it’s deffo worth a watch if what you’re looking for is heartbreak. Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - intrigue, plot, etc; could not get over the misogyny and colonial undertones. Anne Tyler’s “Three Days in June” - bright, sharp, witty and actually really adorable. Read that last page with a massive smile on my face. Barnaby Rogerson’s “The House Divided” - non-fiction on the split of Shia and Sunni Islam after the death of Prophet Mohammed. Practically started it a year ago but the chapter split allows for a more relaxed reading approach. Really really interesting stuff in there, comprehensively considering the Middle East and Iran. Quite an ambitious project (looking into the geopolitics of the Middle East and Iran, and how they coincided with variations and conflicts in Islam) but I’d say it stands up to the task. Menelaos Lountemis “A kid counts the stars” - an absolute Greek classic. Sometimes I wish my superpower was being able to transfer Greek knowledge straight to the brains of non-Greek speakers. A very withered “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte - absolutely messed up, spooky and completely revolutionary. Goth at its finest. Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity” - witty and - thank God - the dumbass protagonist gets a grip by the end. Your typical thirty-something male loser for a protagonist that you somehow have to empathise with. Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” is a feminist manifesto. Even though the level of Christian conviction was definitely not my cup of tea, I kept cheering for Jane all the way through. You go, girl. Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” - 🖤 #reading #bookoftheday #bookstagram #favereads

Garcia Marquez’s “Until August” kept me company for the last few days of August, so I thought it would be appropriate to log first, now that summer has ended here in Glasgow. Every August, a woman visits the island where her mother is buried, looking for a different stranger to have an affair with. Completely cut off from her real life, that one night in August gives her a release, an escape, a reason to hope, a reason to believe she is still who she wants to be. I found the concept entirely thrilling and thought there was so much potential to the idea, however the ending left me wanting more. I truly felt it was missing a real feminine touch; something about her relationship to her deceased mother, how she experienced lust, betrayal, the depths of her, were not exactly explored. Definitely worthy of expanding on, though, maybe it should be used as a writing prompt! Let me know if you’ve read it! What did you think? Off to the next read :) #reading #books #bookoftheday #boostagram #gabrielgarciamarquez #untilaugust #summerread #summer #summerbook

Hey folks :) been a hot minute! And to put things in perspective, this photo has existed in my photo album since March 2024 😅 taken outside my old flat! I have had this book lying around for ages and it has taken me some time dipping in and out, as it is a collection of old stories (and as I keep on starting books I never finish) and, let me tell you, I have savoured every single one of them. ‘Every drop is a man’s nightmare’ is a collection of short stories about womanhood, the modern Hawaiian female experience, and indigenous bodily autonomy. It’s an incredible project that ventures to uncover the Hawaiian roots that keep the modern day culture alive, the traditions and myths that feed the beating heart of Hawaii’s people - always with a focus on the female experience. Absolutely riveting read - 100% reccomend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #instabook #instaread #bookoftheday #readoftheday #everydropisamansnightmare #japanese #hawaiian #hawaii #myths #female #woman #hawaiianwoman

‘The moral component of history, the most necessary component, is simply a single question, asked over and over again: When it mattered, who sided with justice and who sided with power? What makes moments such as this one so dangerous, so clarifying, is that one way or another everyone is forced to answer.’ “One day, everyone will have been against this” by Omar El Akkad @oelakkad is an absolute must-read. Incredibly real and powerful. And kudos to the @service95 bookclub for not shying away from taking a stance. Free Palestine. #omarelakkad #bookstagram #bookoftheday #instabook #politics #books #bookclub

Happy International Women’s day! 💐 Happened to be reading quite the appropriate book for the occasion, “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo which has completely stolen my heart. Witty, rich, scathing, funny and really moving, it manages to capture so many essences and complexities of womanhood, as well as life in Britain as an immigrant, queer or underprivileged female person. Absolutely recommend ⭐️ #books #bookstagram #girlwomanother #womensday #internationalwomensday #bookoftheday

End of 2024 books ⭐️ Bit of a random selection here, with Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck being one of my favourites. Beautiful, poetic prose and an interesting take on a pre-Berlin-Wall-fall era, with a backdrop of classical music, poetry and philosophy. I’ll always be a sucker for a doomed love story, especially when it acts as a metaphor for the times in which it takes place. What’s more, I made an effort to put together the music referenced throughout the book in a list you will find on my Spotify (@ nefeli.st) under the name “Kairos”. Find the link in my bio and drop me a message if you’re reading the book and you spot a song missing 🎶 White Teeth by Zadie Smith is a critically acclaimed powerhouse of a novel. It unabashedly paints the full ugly picture of a post-colonial Britain and the realities of immigrant life, with hilarious irony and, a lot of the times, chilling honesty. Read it for the purposes @otherstories_bookclub , which will be meeting soon so keep an eye out for the next book of the month! McGrotty and Ludmilla by Alasdair Gray was another hilarious, politically charged novel. If I’m not mistaken, it was initially written as a play for radio and then turned into a book. It follows the making of the deadliest UK prime minister since Margaret Thatcher. Good Material by Dolly Alderton was not exactly what I had hoped for. I had previously enjoyed other books by Alderton, for their absolutely relatable storytelling, however this one felt slightly forced for me. Last but not least, Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, both from which I chose monologues for an acting class. Dido was my favourite of the two: the all powerful empress of the North African Carthage falls victim of Venus’ plotting and starts loving Eneas, a shipwrecked soldier from Troy, and Venus’s son. Even though Dido had sworn never to marry, she falls head over heels for Eneas, whose destiny is to found Italy and who, even though promises to stay with Dido forever, betrays her and leaves after being given all of Carthage’s fleet. #books #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #play #poetry #kairos #whiteteeth #mcgrottyandludmilla #dido#shakespeare

Happy new year folks!! ⭐️📚 Starting off the year with the much-awaited-for “Intermezzo” by @sallyrooneyofficial ✨ She’s been one of my favourite writers for the past few years, and it’s very exciting to see how her style varies - I’m only a few chapters in but what I can definitely say is she’s getting a bit experimental with this one so I’m hooked… Haven’t posted anything in a while so I’m thinking of doing a quick round-up of the books I went through the past few months… What have you been reading over the holidays?🎄 #books #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #sallyrooney #intermezzo #normalpeople #happynewyear #holidayread

Happy holidays everybody!✨🎄📚

Just received my first book as a member of the @leftbookclub ! I’m super psyched to get reading, alongside Zadie Smith’s “White Teeth”, for the purposes of the @otherstories_bookclub , as well as recently having been acquainted with the virtues of audiobooks 👀 Review coming asap🍋

“Minor Detail” by Adania Shibli reads like a sick, dystopian science fiction story one wishes never to be materialised in the real world; like most of (fictional or real) stories from occupied Palestine. ⚠️Trigger Warning: mentions of extreme violence Separated in two parts, the first follows a high ranking officer of the Israeli army settled in the Negev desert a year after the 1948 Nakba, when a Bedouin girl is captured, brutally assaulted and buried in the sand, all the while dealing with a infected bite on his leg that gradually makes him weak and delusional. Despite his delusions, the raw writing makes the narration inescapable; the reader is fully immersed into the reality of the Israeli officer, what he smells, feels and sees, in a way that does not leave space for another side of the story. His experience overpowers that of the other characters and, consequentially, defines that of the reader. The second part of the story follows a female Palestinian reporter in the early 2000s, living in occupied Palestine. After she reads about the 1949 crime, she becomes obsessed with it, given it took place 25 years before her birth, to the day. She embarks on a journey to discover the connections between the crime and herself. On a stark contrast to the officer, the narration is doubtful, fearful and constantly self-questioning. She does not seem to trust herself to make the right choice at the right time, while she never shies away from self deprecation. Her tragic ending is no less impactful than the personal narration. Shibli brilliantly manages to make a point about the status of an Israeli versus a Palestinian point of view. The first is factual and yet immersive, goes unquestioned, and paints a vivid picture in the third person. The Palestinian, on the other hand, has learned to doubt herself, her voice never heard, always questioned and judged, written in the first person in what can arguably be characterised as a constant justification of her own existence. I’d recommend the book for its choice of exceptional narrative techniques, and its skilful way of assuming a political stance through fiction. Off to the next read! #bookstagram

“Summer” by Edith Wharton proved to be a much more interesting (and, not gonna lie, kinda depressing) read than I expected. It follows the story of a woman who has to let go of her romantic, teen illusions, in order to accept adult reality, after a passionate affair doesn’t exactly provide her with the life she had hoped for herself. I was surprised at the way with which matters of women’s freedom are dealt, as the book was published in 1917 and yet it speaks of abortion, pre marital relations, class distinction and the right to chose for oneself. Off to the next read! #summer #edithwharton #book #bookstagram #insta

“Sunburn” by Chloe Michelle Howarth is another example of irresistible Irish literature. Wishing I could have read this when I was seventeen, and maybe having been able to see that (thankfully!) the intricacies of adolescent love and friendship are the least uncommon thing in the world, I’m simply so grateful that there are books out there encompassing all of the complex and soul-crushing beauty of the teenage psyche and infatuation. Having read my fair share of coming-of-age, *straight* love stories, that made me wish of growing up as soon as possible and falling in love as soon as possible, I can attest that “Sunburn” has everything a book needs for a perfect love story: pining, obstacles and Catholic guilt. The story provides some truly magnificent insight into the reality of gay love beneath the shadow of oppressive religion, without actually making religion the centre of its world, in the characteristically subtle way I’ve stumbled upon in Irish literature before. The writing is more than poetic, while a lot of the side characters are simply infuriating, in a way that implores the reader to take the social commentary that hides along the lines of the plot personally. “Sunburn” is an ode to true love - that can only exist after the true self. I’d recommend it for the earthy language and the heavenly female gaze; may our worst sins be as great of a salvation. Off to the next read! #sunburn #chloemichellehowarth #irishliterature #summer #read #book #bookstagram