So far, Emma's monthly picks have included Gloria Steinem's My Life on the Road, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, bell hooks's All About Love: New Visions, and Caitlin Moran's How to Be a Woman.
The book she wants everyone to read in May though is The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson.
Emma hopes The Argonauts will change the way we think about identity, caretaking, and freedom in regard to both other people and ourselves.
I'm having to find books that are accessible, cover multiple perspectives and languages, that are unique and not too well known already... So without further ado...
Our next book is going to be The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson. The story is about the author's relationship with artist Harry Dodge, who is fluidly gendered. It's about their romance, the birth of their son, the death of Harry's mother and their changing bodies, as Maggie becomes pregnant and Harry undergoes surgery, but it's also about inclusion and the powers and shortfalls of language. It might require a bit of work but The Argonauts rewards us with an expansive way of considering identity, caretaking, and freedom—along with a liberation from, what Maggie calls, "the demand that anyone live a life that's all one thing." I am excited to read this book with you. Maybe it will change the way we think and speak about others and ourselves?
Hope I did you proud, Em Wats X
Fantastic choice, Emma! You sure did do us proud.
You can join her book club, Our Shared Shelf, here, and find a copy of The Argonautshere.
