Welcome to another instalment of #BookishBloggersUnite – a tag put together by a group of friends who wanted to talk about books together. I’m hosting this week, so pop your link in the linky at the bottom if you’d like to play along.

The news is pretty rotten wherever you are right now. Here in Australia politicians are continuing to behave in ignorant and appalling ways, and I have nothing but admiration for the Aboriginal community who kicked out the new “Indigenous Envoy” Tony Abbott, whose previous behaviour shows him to be completely incompatible with the job (not to mention that the Aboriginal people were not consulted).

If you are in the US you’ve been subjected to some pretty hideous behaviours from old white guys in the form of Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony to the senate. I hope you’re all taking whatever form of self care you need during this time and not subjecting yourselves to the news cycle, especially if you find it triggering.

This week we will talk about empowering reads, comfort reads or an amalgamation of the two depending on how people are feeling.

I’m feeling a little ragey, so I’m going for some empowering reads.

I’m pretty excited about Clementine Ford’s new release Boys will be Boys which is all about toxic masculinity. I haven’t read this one yet, but if it’s anything like her breakout book Fight Like a Girl it will be totally awesome.

I’ve just started this one today and I’m pretty hooked. Chemaly examines anger and how socially acceptable it is depending on your gender/s and race, and the health effects it has on people who are expected to swallow their anger. I’m really enjoying this and doing some aggressive highlighting.

I think I’ve mentioned before on the blog that I wished I was better with poetry. I don’t always get it and don’t always appreciate it as much as I wish I did. This book by Amanda Lovelace is brilliant. It’s full of love, wisdom, insight and encouragement.

Take care of yourselves people.

Hi folks,

Welcome to another edition of Bookish Bloggers Unite, a tag put together by a group of friends who wanted to write about books together. This week we’re being hosted by Summer over at Paper Cathedrals, so make sure you check out her blog, and add your link there if you would like to join us

This week we’re talking about impactful books, books that make you think or feel differently, or see the world from a different point of view. As we’re coming to the end of Australian Black History Month, I’m going to talk about impactful books by Aboriginal authors.

Too Afraid to Cry is a memoir by poet Ali Cobby Eckermann. Cobby Eckermann was removed from her mother when a baby and was adopted by a white family along with a number of other Aboriginal children. She didn’t realised she was Aboriginal until later in her childhood when she was bullied for her appearance by students at her school. Abuse and trauma during hr childhood and teen years, followed by her own child being taken away, Cobby Eckermann tells of her journey through addiction and depression, her struggle to find where she belongs. She eventually finds both her birth mother and her son. This book shows the human face to the Stolen Generations and the cyclical trauma placed on Aboriginal people by the government’s terrible policies.

Taboo by Kim Scott has been nominated for the Miles Franklin this year. Based on actual events, Taboo follows Tilly as she finds her way back to her father’s land and people after being raised by her white mother. This happens at the same time as a proposed Peace Park/Plaque being discussed by her father’s family, victims of a local massacre. Taboo is another exploration of loss and trauma and how those things impact today’s Aboriginal people. (One of the white characters keeps saying “I don’t like the word ‘massacre'” in what appears to be an attempt to downplay the event, and it’s a completely infuriating, although accurate, portrayal of the way white Australia seems to want to wash it’s hands of what happened to the Aboriginal population.)

I spotted this article on Twitter yesterday which talks about 500 massacre sites being mapped across the country. You can see the map itself here. It’s a sickening reminder that the government’s plan for the Aboriginal people was for them to be exterminated completely.

I feel like I can’t talk about this book enough, especially to Australians. If you have had any level of education about the Aboriginal people, you would have been taught that prior to invasion, they were a nomadic people who didn’t have any agricultural structures . Dark Emu shows that the Aboriginal people used sowing, harvesting, irrigating and food storage techniques that don’t line up with the “hunter/gatherer” tag their society was usually described as. (And these techniques were deliberately downplayed/hidden by the whites to make Terra Nullius an option. Please read this book.

That’s it from me. What books have significantly impacted you?

Cheers,