Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
I first read Home Fire shortly after the Brexit referendum. At the time, it felt like a freshly vitriolic wave of xenophobia and Islamophobia was soaring through the UK and, nearly ten years later, we’re seeing the same prejudices at play. Home Fire skewers the competing demands made of British Muslims in exchange for acceptance in British society, down to what ought to be the weightless everyday; for example, the humour about the dangers of ‘Googling while Muslim’ was heartbreaking. A book I have reread at least once a year since, it has everything: family, love, hate, politics, tragedy, faith.
Recognising the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad
In this essay on the power of narrative vis-à-vis the war on Palestine, Hammad refers to moments of recognition in literature as mirrors to the world’s reckoning with the reality of oppression and dehumanisation in Palestine. It’s commanding and challenging in its questions, with clear insight into the fight for freedom and the hope for change.
Exposure by Olivia Sudjic
A short book with huge impact, Exposure begins with reflections on Sudjic’s own anxieties and vulnerabilities following the publication of her first novel, which, as a debut novelist, was essential reading for me. It then takes us on a whistle-stop tour of great female writers, examining the invalidating assumptions and expectations made of them when they share their work in the public domain. Sudjic writes incisively on the double-standards applied to male and female authors, with the work of the latter often being delegitimised as auto-fiction, and how to navigate such challenges.
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
A witty, realistic novel that follows a trio – trans woman Reese, her ex Ames (formerly Amy), and Ames’ pregnant girlfriend Katrina – as they decide whether to have and co-parent a child together. It’s a vivid social comedy about loyalty, parenthood (and its intra-relationships), sex, independence, and, despite a very specific set up, speaks to the unifying theme of chosen family.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Following the tragic loss of her mother, Zauner’s memoir is a stunning exposition of complex mother-daughter relationships, where the two generations were raised in different languages and cultures. Zauner not only grieves her mother’s passing, but also what she fears is her connection to her Koreanness. It’s a book about multiplicity, dutiful daughterhood, the mixed-race experience and grief. The dismantling, and tentative rebuilding, of Zauner’s identity is both painfully tender and freeing to read.