My 2025 Fantasy/SF Badge Collection

One of the reading challenges I participated in this year was the Spells and Spaceships Virtual Badge collection. Look how adorable the little badges are! How could I resist?

Much to my surprise, I was able to collect twenty-three out of the twenty-five badges available, missing only the self-published fantasy blog off badge, and hence also failing to become a collector by reading books that counted for all of the badges. Overall, this was a super-fun reading challenge, and pushed me to read books I otherwise would not have read.

Spells and Spaceships Virtual Badge Collection

1. My first badge was the post-apocalytic badge: which I collected by reading A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Some books are classics for a reason.

The Post Apocalyptic Badge

2. I earned myself the Big Battle Badge by reading Anthony Ryan's The Pariah, the first book of the dark fantasy trilogy The Covenant of Steel. The novel's rather loutish hero, Alwyn Scribe, fights in a big battle against a pretender to the throne of Albermaine, under the banner of the devout and troubled Lady Evaline Courlain. It's a world inspired by late medieval Europe with women in military command! Very much my jam, and I enjoyed Alwyn's voice as a first-person narrator.

The Big Battle Badge

3. I earned my Debut badge by reading Emily Tesh's Some Desperate Glory, author's first novel, and the winner of a Hugo Award. In her wonderful, wise acceptance speech, Tesh spoke about how she wrote the book in response to contemporary concerns and fully hopes that the novel will join the many previous Hugo Award winners which were significant and of their time, but have now faded into obscurity. 

The Debut Badge

4. I earned my Epic Fantasy badge by continuing to read Anthony Ryan's Covenant of Steel series. The second book, The Martyr, shows the characters deepening their commitment to preventing a coming apocalypse. But are they actually preventing it or actually bringing it about?

The Epic Fantasy Badge

5. I earned my "mythology and folklore badge" with The Girl in Red, which is based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. 

Mythology and Folklore Badge

6. I earned my lightweight badge with Lolly Willowes, which is a book I would most enthusiastically recommend. If you read one book on this list, read Lolly Willowes. "A middle-aged spinster becomes a sworn servant of the Devil" doesn't sound like the most promising setup of a book, but just trust me, it's tremendous.

Lightweight Badge

7. Murderbot absolutely counts as not a human, right? At least, I'm 100% confident it doesn't see itself as human. I liked Artificial Condition well enough, but didn't find myself adoring it as much as All Systems Red. But it sets up some intriguing worldbuilding--I do hope the portion of the plot dealing with ComfortUnits is developed in later books--and I am now team ART forever. Sometimes what a depressed, socially anxious person needs is a figure in their lives who (lovingly) takes none of their crap and reminds them to pull their head from their nethers every so often--as ART does in this book. All hail ART.

The Non-Human Badge

8. My Asian Inspiration badge came from reading S.L. Huang's The Water Outlaws. The characters won my heart completely and I stayed up well into a Friday night to inhale it. If you are looking for a engrossing epic tale of good people taking down bad (who isn't these days), seek this out.

Asian Inspiration Badge

9. I earned my Dragon badge for reading the third book of the Empyrean, Onyx Storm. I wouldn't say I'm a fan of the Empyrean books, precisely--I definitely laugh in places the author did not intend me to--but I am fascinated by the phenomenon of the series, and curious what will happen to the characters. 

Dragon Badge

10. My Uncovered Diamond badge was from reading a collection of short stories, the Mile-Long Spaceship, published by Kate Wilhelm early in her career. It has only, at the time I am writing this paragraph (April 2025), seven reviews on Goodreads, so definitely counts for this badge! The collection was published in 1963, and the stories themselves were written in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which made them a fascinating time capsule. My favourite stories of the lot were "No Light in the Window," an extremely clever, subtle, and satisfying take on the selection of passengers for a generation ship; and "Jenny with Wings," because it made me laugh.

Uncovered Diamond Badge

11. My first contact badge came from reading Sylvain Neuvel's series The Themis Files. Unusually, the story is told as a series of journal entries, news broadcasts, and recorded interviews, which is a rather fun form to read! While book one, Sleeping Giants does contain "first contact", in the form of humanity discovering extraterrestrial artefacts (and humans with alien DNA); the second book in the series, Waking Gods, is the one I'm counting here. Aliens invading earth is pretty unambiguous first contact. And we get more details on the genetic mixing of humans and extraterrestrials, too!

The First Contact Badge

12. My Standalone Badge came from reading the science fictional climate change novel, Daylight Come by Diana McCauley. I haven't ever read a scifi novel set in Jamaica (renamed Bajacu) and the novel chronicles the efforts of a mother and daughter, Sorrel and Bibi, to seek safety and community. It's a short, fast-paced book with intriguing worldbuilding.

The Standalone Badge

13. Horror is not a genre I would have said I liked but Chuck Wendig's Black River Orchard had changed my mind. I may never look at an apple orchard--or an apple seed (shudder)--the same way again. A wonderfully creepy book.

The Spooky Badge

14. I earned my historical fantasy badge by reading The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi (London, 2021), set in Elizabethan England (sure, the names of the queen, the country, and the newly established church are all technically changed, but the original serial numbers are still plainly visible). I read this book just before my international move--it was the final novel I finished from my local public library. It has that wonderful folkloric quality that all the best historical fantasy does, and compelling worldbuilding.

The Historical Fantasy Badge

 

15. I earned my big'un badge by reading Robert Silverberg's mammoth (715 page) Legends: short novels by the masters of modern fantasy. The stories that linger particularly with me are Stephen King's The Little Sisters of Eluria (wonderfully creepy); The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin (still not tempted to take another run at ASOIAF though); Grinning Man by Orson Scott Card (love the appearance by Daniel Boone and would vote for the story's bear-mayor); but above all, The Sea and the Little Fishes by Terry Pratchett (my introduction to Granny Weatherwax. I need more, I tell you, more!) Silverberg was clearly a hell of an editor to put this thing together.

The Big'un: Legends clocked in at 715 pages!

16. For my monster badge, I'm counting Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. Vampires and demons count as otherwordly creatures, right? They do for purposes of this badge! As far as dark academia goes, it's heavy on the dark and light on the academia; with actual Ivy League coursework alongside their trips to hell, every single character should be on academic probation at the start of the book and suspended by the end. (College kids, do your reading!) Doesn't stop me from loving the luxuriously detailed description of Yale's magnificent library, though. I could also count Uprooted by Naomi Novik (which I adored) for this badge.

The Monster Badge

 17.  Annihilation the movie would scare the crap out of me--Annihilation the book certainly did. The first book I have read by Jeff Vandermeer. Definitely not the last.

Big screen badge for Annihilation

 18. Although I enjoy a number of blogs--especially SFF Book Reviews--that focus on following new books and new released, I rarely make the effort to keep up the latest new books myself. So, I figured this badge was going to be one of the ones I missed, but then I realised that a book Dina reviewed was a) available from my local library and b) published in 2025! So, I picked up The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig and rather enjoyed it! Even if the plot is uneven, the world is well-structured, the romance at the center of the story is pleasant, and the talking gargoyle is an absolute delight. 

2025 Badge for The Knight and the Moth

19. For some reason, I find the experience of reading graphic novels to be a distinctly uncomfortable. It feels like there's too much to take in at once, and hunting down all the text and details of the page to make sure I've understood everything frustrates me. I've never seen anyone else talk or write about similar feelings--mostly, graphic novels seem to be discussed as an easier alternative to print books, but they're not that way for me. So I knew that this badge was going to be among the hardest for me to grab, simply because I'd have to make a real effort to collect it. Fortunately, my public library has a small section of adult graphic novels, including some in the genre of science fiction and fantasy. So for this badge I read Nnedi Okorafor's Laguardia. The art was extremely fun, and many aspects of the story were very engaging. But I don't think I'll go out of my way to read more graphic novels.

The Graphic Novel Badge

20. While I could another book from the Murderbot Diaries for my space opera, I thought it would be fun to try to add a new author to my list. So I picked up a book that--with 1,108 pages (counting the extras) absolutely could have counted for the Big'un badge, but which the blurbs on the back also described as "super intelligent space opera" and "brash, broad space opera with military hardware galore". The reviewer of the Denver Post wrote that "Space operas are galaxy-spanning tales of battling starships, exploding planets...and questions on the nature of good and evil and the evolution of man. Making coherent stories from this material is a rare talent..." A reddit reviewer described Peter F. Hamilton's work as "pulpy", and for me, that description encapsulates The Reality Dysfunction, book one of the Night's Dawn Trilogy. This entertained and exasperated me and I might read the remaining 2,000+ pages of the series, just to see how it all ends...

Space Opera Badge

21.  For my animal companion badge, I could pick either Chouette, a strange, spiky novel about a woman who gives birth to an owlet (rather stretching the definition of "animal companion") or another book by Nnedi Okorafor, Remote Control, where the main character, Sankofa, is accompanied by an inscrutable fox named Movenpick. I'm counting Remote Control, despite my preference for not repeating authors. My favourite of Okorafor's novels is and remains Lagoon, closely followed by Who Fears Death; despite having some beautiful and atmospheric momemts, Remote Control never quite grabbed me the way I hoped it would. 

Animal Companion Badge

22. Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf, is the book on all this list that will linger with me the longest. Even in moments where the writing and characters frustrated or baffled me, there was something gripping about its ambition and brutality. Not a book I would have read without the desire to collect the African Inspiration badge, and not a book I can easily recommend, but what a ride.

African Inspiration Badge

23.  The last badge I managed to snag was a reread of Scott Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies, which enabled me to capture my Sea Setting badge. A casino heist turns into a pirate adventure on the high seas, this book features two of the best lady pirates of fiction. 

Sea Setting Badge

2025 Books in Translation Reading Challenge

This is my second year of participating in the Books in Translation Reading Challenge, hosted by Jen of the Introverted Reader.

2025 was a particularly interesting year for reading since my local library situation changed over the course of the year: I moved from the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands, where my public library contained an extensive collection of books translated into English, to a town of less than eight thousand people in the southern United States, with a beautiful and much smaller library. Fortunately--three cheers for amazing librarians--my access to translated books continued uninterrupted, and I actually read more translated fiction after moving.

In 2025, I read twelve books, arriving (to my surprise) at the Linguist level of the challenge... 

Serendipity was my preferred method of finding books for this reading challenge. All of the books on the list below were chosen by browsing the shelves of my local library looking for books with "translated by" on the cover or title page, and a blurb or cover that appealed.

Books in Translation Reading Challenge

1. Voices of the Lost by Hoda Barakat, translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth (London, 2021)

A story told in parts, I remember this as being good but not extraordinary.

2. Good Will Come From the Sea by Christos Ikonomou, translated from Greek by Karen Emmerich (Brooklyn, 2019)

A collection of longish and rather bleak short stories, this was an enjoyable opportunity to visit a place and culture totally new to me. 

3. A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare, translated from Albanian by John Hodgson (London, 2023)

A short, dense concept novel--the plot centers around a famous 1934 phone call between the dictator Josef Stalin and the novelist Boris Pasternak. 

4. The Alphabet of Birds by SJ Naudé translated from Afrikaans by the author (London, 2015)

Another short story collection; though none of the stories rewired my brain or lingered in memory, it was overall a pleasant reading experience.

5. Terminal Boredom: Stories by Izumi Suzuki, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton, Sam Bett, David Boyd, Daniel Joseph, Aiko Masubuchi, and Helen O’Horan (London, 2021)

This was the last book I read before an international move; I remember liking it a lot, but none of the stories have specifically stuck with me.

6. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman (New York, 2005)

A short novel about an elderly Lothario of a journalist who falls passionately in love with a very young prostitute. I didn't enjoy this and wouldn't recommend it, but if you're looking for a very short translated novel, it is that.

7. The Three-Body Problem by Cinxin Liu, translated from Chinese by Ken Liu (New York, 2014)

I know almost nothing about China's Cultural Revolution and its aftermath, so the setting alone would have fascinated me regardless, but this is genuinely a gripping and original novel about vengeance and alien contact with humanity. Also, the translation is genuinely terrific. Will very likely read the rest of the trilogy just to find out what happens.

8. Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin, translated from French by Hildegarde Searle (New York, 2021)

I loved the first two-thirds of this book (and its plot twist), as well as the fact that it has short chapters. Definitely something to look into if you enjoy gentle, optimistic books about people living good lives after great loss.

9. Your Utopia by Bora Chung, translated from Korean by Anton Hur (New York, 2024)

My personal favourite book on this list, and the one I most want other people to read and love so I have someone else to shout with about how good and weird and devastating some of these stories are. "Your Utopia"; "Maria gratia plena"; "the Centre for Immortality Research"; "the end of the voyage"; perhaps it's just that I read it late in the year and haven't had the chance to forget it yet, but so many of these stories were among the best I read in 2025. Not to be missed if you have any interest at all in speculative fiction.

10. The Call of the Toad by Günter Grass, translated from German by Ralph Manheim (New York, 1992)

Parts of this novel I really loved--it features an elderly German widower (an art history professor) and a Polish widow (a conservator specialising in gilding) meeting, falling in love, and going into the cemetery business together. Overall, it was marred by a pretentious and unpleasant narrator, whose frame story I very much could have done without.

11. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri, translated from Italian by the author (New York, 2021)

I absolutely loathed this book: for me its anonymous narrator was solipsistic, deeply unpleasant, and utterly tedious to read about. Did not live up to the hype, or my previous experiences of enjoying work by this author.

12. The Plotters by Un-Su Kim, translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell (New York, 2018) 

I was very happy to close out my year of reading translated books on such a high note.  Of all the books on this list, this is the one I would recommend most highly to other readers of translated novels--if you like thrillers and don't mind some gore and violence, this is a genuinely fun and propulsive read. This is the first novel of Un-Su Kim's to be translated into English and it makes me want to seek out more Korean crime fiction in 2026.

I hope this post makes plain the great delight reading translated books brought me in 2025. Very much looking forward to taking part in 2026! I'd love to hear from other readers of translated books--do any of these sound like books you might try? What translated fiction would you recommend I read next?

Previous Books in Translation Reading Challenges: 2024

As Autumn Ends

Warming

The seasons' course seems strange to me,
more strange than I remember;
wild flowers bloom unseasonably:
primroses in November.

The young pretend to blame us all.
Well, youth's a great dissembler:
May was forever, I recall,
and there was no November.

These days I'll take what Nature sends
to hoard for dour December:
a glow of warmth as autumn ends;
primroses in November.

~ David Gwilym Anthony, reprinted in Autumn: An anthology for the changing seasons, edited by Melissa Harrison (London, 2016), p. 187. The poet's biography, and the text of several of his other poems, can be found here

Winter's returning song

November

The landscape sleeps in mist from morn till noon;
And, if the sun looks through, 'tis with a face
Beamless and pale and round, as if the moon,
When done the journey of her nightly race,
Had found him sleeping, and supplied his place.
For days the shepherds in the fields may be,
Nor mark a patch of sky – blindfold they trace,
The plains, that seem without a bush or tree,
Whistling aloud by guess, to flocks they cannot see.

The timid hare seems half its fears to lose,
Crouching and sleeping ‘neath its grassy lair,
And scarcely startles, tho’ the shepherd goes
Close by its home, and dogs are barking there;
The wild colt only turns around to stare
At passer by, then knaps his hide again;
And moody crows beside the road forbear
To fly, tho’ pelted by the passing swain;
Thus day seems turn’d to night, and tries to wake in vain.

The owlet leaves her hiding-place at noon,
And flaps her grey wings in the doubling light;
The hoarse jay screams to see her out so soon,
And small birds chirp and startle with affright;
Much doth it scare the superstitious wight,
Who dreams of sorry luck, and sore dismay;
While cow-boys think the day a dream of night,
And oft grow fearful on their lonely way,
Fancying that ghosts may wake, and leave their graves by day. 

"Barn Owl (Tyto alba)" by sussexbirder is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Yet but awhile the slumbering weather flings
Its murky prison round – then winds wake loud;
With sudden stir the startled forest sings
Winter’s returning song – cloud races cloud,
And the horizon throws away its shroud,
Sweeping a stretching circle from the eye;
Storms upon storms in quick succession crowd,
And o’er the sameness of the purple sky
Heaven paints, with hurried hand, wild hues of every dye.

At length it comes among the forest oaks,
With sobbing ebbs, and uproar gathering high;
The scared, hoarse raven on its cradle croaks,
And stockdove-flocks in hurried terrors fly,
While the blue hawk hangs o’er them in the sky.
The hedger hastens from the storm begun,
To seek a shelter that may keep him dry;
And foresters low bent, the wind to shun,
Scarce hear amid the strife the poacher’s muttering gun.

The ploughman hears its humming rage begin,
And hies for shelter from his naked toil;
Buttoning his doublet closer to his chin,
He bends and scampers o’er the elting soil,
While clouds above him in wild fury boil,
And winds drive heavily the beating rain;
He turns his back to catch his breath awhile,
Then ekes his speed and faces it again,
To seek the shepherd’s hut beside the rushy plain.

The boy, that scareth from the spiry wheat
The melancholy crow – in hurry weaves,
Beneath an ivied tree, his sheltering seat,
Of rushy flags and sedges tied in sheaves,
Or from the field a shock of stubble thieves.
There he doth dithering sit, and entertain
His eyes with marking the storm-driven leaves;
Oft spying nests where he spring eggs had ta’en,
And wishing in his heart twas summer-time again.

"Crow..." by Klearchos Kapoutsis is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Thus wears the month along, in checker’d moods,
Sunshine and shadows, tempests loud, and calms;
One hour dies silent o’er the sleepy woods,
The next wakes loud with unexpected storms;
A dreary nakedness the field deforms –
Yet many a rural sound, and rural sight,
Lives in the village still about the farms,
Where toil’s rude uproar hums from morn till night
Noises, in which the ears of Industry delight.

At length the stir of rural labour’s still,
And Industry her care awhile foregoes;
When Winter comes in earnest to fulfil
His yearly task, at bleak November’s close,
And stops the plough, and hides the field in snows;
When frost locks up the stream in chill delay,
And mellows on the hedge the jetty sloes,
For little birds – then Toil hath time for play,
And nought but threshers’ flails awake the dreary day.

~John Clare, reprinted in Autumn: An anthology for the changing seasons, edited by Melissa Harrison (London, 2016), pp. 171-4 

Spells & Spaceships: A Reading Challenge Update

I'm taking part in the Spells & Spaceships Virtual Badge Collection Challenge 2025!

In my goals for 2025, I set myself a number of reading challenges:

My LARGE goal is to participate in the Books in Translation Reading Challenge. I had such fun with it last year! I also want to collect some of the adorable badges from the 2025 Fantasy/SF Badge Collection. I have a new reading challenge of my own, which I'm calling the Bancroft Prize Reading Challenge. Awarded annually by Columbia University, the prize is given to books on American history and/or diplomacy. Two of my favourite works of history I've read for fun have been by Bancroft-winning authors, so I'm setting myself the goal of reading a previous winner or the 2025 winner when it is announced in March or April. 

So how's that badge collecting going? 

My badge collection bingo card to date

Simply by picking up books that interested me at my local libraries, I've managed to collect eighteen of the twenty-five badges. That leaves me with six books to read to collect the remaining seven badges. It would be fun to go for a full set! Can I do it? There are sixty-eight days remaining in 2025 and the badges I have yet to collect are:

1. The African inspiration badge
2.  SPFBO (self-published fantasy blog-off) badge
3. The animal companion badge
4. The sea setting badge
5. The space opera badge
6. The graphic novel badge
7. The collector badge (all of them) 

I don't normally read graphic novels or self-published fantasy, and am unlikely to stumble across either accidentally, so some research and planning is clearly in order! 

• For reading suggestions of fantasy and science fiction inspired by the countries and cultures of Africa, I looked at lists of books on Book Riot, the Conversation, and Reactor.com as well as on reddit. As it happens, I've just checked out Out There Screaming, an anthology of horror stories, which appears on Publishers Weekly's list of "8 New Works of Science Fiction Influenced by Africa and the Diaspora". 
•  None of the SPFBO winners are available in my public library system, so I will have to put in an inter-library loan or purchase request to get this badge. 
•  I've previously read most of the books and series recommended for the animal companion badge, except the faithful and the fallen series by John Gwynne, which is available at my local library. 
• Deep as the sky, red as the sea, was wonderful, but isn't SFF, so I'm still looking for my sea setting badge. Fast Ships, Black Sails--an anthology of pirate fantasy--would meet the criteria and satisfy my love of anthologies; but I might also look for some of the recommendations in this reddit thread, or this list from Books Are My Third Place. (Reactor gets a shout-out again for a wonderful list of fantasy's best boats--the only trouble is I've read almost everything on the list.)
• Shocked, absolutely shocked that I haven't yet checked space opera off the list, but the rules of the challenge specify that one book cannot count for multiple badges, and I already counted Artificial Condition for the nonhuman badge. I haven't yet counted other Murderbot books for this badge, so that's a back up plan, but I have counted multiple books of a series once already, so it would be fun to push myself to keep reading. My library system doesn't have Wayfarers (although Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep, part of a series with a very similar title, sounds rather fun); or the Protectorate, the two books/series suggested as examples of space opera. But I can check out the third suggestion, Pierce Brown's Red Rising. For classics like Downbelow Station or other works listed on the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (not to mention more recent hits like Gideon the Ninth), I'd need to use inter-library loan.
•  I know absolutely nothing about graphic novels or comics but tracking down something from this Book Riot list or browsing the library shelves and seeing what I can come up with should be fun! 

What would you read to collect these last few badges? Recommendations and suggestions very welcome!

#AHA Reads: 2025 Summer Reading Challenge

For the past four years, the American Historical Association has sponsored a Summer Reading Challenge. Each year, there are a series of prompts, of which participants are challenged to complete at least three. 

The Summer Reading Challenge

Here are my goals:

• Read an edited collection, journal forum, or other multiauthor work: the Medieval Academy of America Centennial Issue in Speculum, 100:1 (2025). 
• Read a history that’s been sitting on your shelf too long: Practicing History by Barbara Tuchman (New York, 1982) Also has the advantage of being an anthology: easy to pick up and put down in times of distraction. 
• Read a piece of historical fiction (novel, story, poem, play): The Women in the Wall by Julia O'Faolain. Possibly the only novel on Saint Radegund in existence; certainly the only one I know of where the sixth-century poet Venantius Fortunatus is a main character.

Now I only need to remember not to pack these books away! I'm completing a major international move this summer, godwilling, so I'm not convinced I'll manage any of this, but it's always fun to try.

As I've done in the past, here are my personal rules for the challenge for 2025:

• No buying books! I must either borrow or own the books I read.
• Read in whatever format is possible: print, PDF, ebook--whatever works. In the past I've insisted on print but not this year.
• Write one post about what I read by the end of the challenge (1 September).

Why People Do Things

    It's a long weekend here in the Netherlands and I am celebrating by staying in to read and do my grading. Yesterday, I finished A Drop of Patience by William Melvin Kelley (1937-2017). Called "a lost giant of American literature" by Kathryn Schulz, Kelley was a significant writer of the Black Arts Movement. I had never heard of him before I picked the book up off the library shelves a few weeks ago, although his name might be familiar to you--he's widely credited to be the first person to use the term "woke" in its modern sense in print.

    A Drop of Patience tells the story of Ludlow Washington, a blind jazz musician who grows up in a state institution for blind Black children, where he learns to play music. The novel's six parts follow his musical career and relationships--with Etta-Sue Scott, his landlady's daughter; Ragan, a white New Yorker; and Harriet Smith, a Black woman studying journalism at college. The introduction I read--by Gerald Early--describes it as "one of the classic literary depictions of the jazz artist." Ludlow Washington is a rare talent of a musician--he knows it, the people around him know it--but I don't think I've ever read a book about artistic genius where the artist is constantly practicing. For me, this was a book that asks complex questions about art, audience, and race; and the meaning of creative work. This passage, from the middle of the novel, is one I'm going to be thinking about for awhile.

The pianist was quiet for a long while and just when Ludlow was convinced he had refused to talk, he started: "Some folks around think we artists, like classical musicians. Maybe we are."

Ludlow did not understand the connection. His dismay must have crossed his face.

"Ludlow, there are only two reasons why people do things--because they want to, and because they got to. The only time you can do something good is when you want to. Now maybe sometimes you can want to do something so bad that after a while it's like you got to. But now instead of being made to do it by someone else, you making yourself do it, and then maybe you an artist. Okay, now take you. You could be playing like everybody else and then instead of being in O'Gee's band, he'd be in yours. For some reason you don't play like nobody else. But ain't nobody forcing you to be different. So maybe you better forget about money because if you really cared about it, you'd be playing the way that makes the most money."

Ludlow was more confused than ever. "Then why do I play?"

~A Drop of Patience by William Melvin Kelley (New York, 1965), p. 156

I recommend it.

Further Reading

Gerald Early's introduction made me want to learn more about Kelley's work and life. Here are some pieces I enjoyed.

Sarah Hughes, "Lost literary masterpiece of 1960s black America comes to UK," The Guardian, 27 October 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/27/william-melvin-kelley-lost-masterpiece-sixties-black-america

Steve Kemme, "William Melvin Kelley: Interview," Mosaic, 30 October 2012, https://mosaicmagazine.org/william-melvin-kelley-interview/#.WKACYes8KrV

 

Eli Rosenblatt, "If you're woke you dig it: William Melvin Kelley," Public Books, 22 May 2017, https://www.publicbooks.org/if-youre-woke-you-dig-it-william-melvin-kelley/

Coll Rowe, "Remembering William Melvin Kelley, author of A DIFFERENT DRUMMER," Penguin Random House, 20 November 2020, https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/2020/11/20/william_melvin_kelley/ 

Kathryn Schuz, "William Melvin Kelley: the lost giant of American literature," The New Yorker, 22 January 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/29/the-lost-giant-of-american-literature

New Recipes of the 2024-2025 Academic Year

Here are new recipes I tried this academic year. The list is not complete for November, when I was ferociously busy with job applications; or for December and January, when I was with my family on vacation and didn't write down everything I cooked; and I'm sure I've left out some things I cooked in April. As you can probably guess from the long gap between posts, the last year of my postdoc has been a full one.

In and among conference travel, applications, a dream trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum, and more, it's been fun to use this blog as an archive of recipes I tried and might want to come back to. One thing this helps me do is test cookbooks. They're expensive, so if I am going to purchase or recommend one, it needs to be something I will really use and don't already have. Although I enjoyed trying Susie Lee's Simply Chinese, for me it covers the same ground as the food blog Woks of Life and the cookbook Stir Crazy by Ching-He Huang. Stir Crazy is a book I use all the time--the instructions are clearly written, the prep time is reasonable, and the resulting food is delicious (as a bonus, the recipes usually make extra servings!)

In May, I discovered the food pages of the Guardian newspaper--if you have some red wine to use up, do check out Rachel Roddy's Penne con pollo scapato. The ingredients add up to more than the sum of their parts, it doesn't require much effort to make, and it's great way to use up those last few stalks of celery if you have them lying around. If the late spring and early summer are turning cold and wet where you are, it might be just the thing.

October

• Za'atar roasted squash with Spiced Yogurt and Pickled Chilis from Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour
• King Prawns, Celery, and Carrot from Simply Chinese by Susie Lee 
• Veggie Singapore Noodles from Simply Chinese by Susie Lee  
• Ma Po Tofu with Aubergine from Simply Chinese by Susie Lee  
• Salted Chili Tofu with Perfect Basmati Rice from Simply Chinese by Susie Lee  
• Aubergine and Chickpea Stew from BBC Good Food
• Risotto with spinach, sultanas, and pine nuts from World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey 
  

November 

• Sesame Chicken from Woks of Life by Ching-He Huang

December 

Sweet

• Gevulde Speculaas from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (a version of this recipe can be found online here; it is a bit of a project but incredibly delicious. Highly recommended!)
  

January

• Roman Mint and Lentil Soup from Fields of Greens by Annie Sommerville
  

February

• Best Winter Vegetable Soup from Woks of Life
• Slow Cooker Chicken Korma from BBC Good Food
  

 March

• Spicy Garlic Tofu from Woks of Life
  
• Ziti Chickpeas with Sausage and Kale from Smitten Kitchen
• Cauliflower and Tomato Masala with Peas from Smitten Kitchen 
• Ethiopian Split Pea Stew – Kik Alicha from Vegan Richa
• Homemade Tea from Woks of Life
  
• Chinese Wok-fried Spicy Spring Onion Salda Verde with Kale and Egg Noodles from Woks of Life by Ching-He Huang

April

• Pineapple Chicken from Stir Crazy by Ching-He Huang
• Fresh Celery Soup from Big Heart, Little Stove by Erin French
• Poached chicken with sweet spiced freekeh from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
  

May 

• Meen Curry: Baked Coconut and Tamarind Salmon from Masala by Mallika Basu
• Nariyal Murgh: 30-minute creamy coconut chicken from Masala by Mallika Basu
• Penne con pollo scapato by Rachel Roddy in the Guardian 
• One-pot orzo with peas, mushrooms, and bacon by Samuel Goldsmith in the Guardian
• Minced Soy Pork with String Beans from Woks of Life by Ching-He Huang
• Strawberry Cornmeal Griddle Cakes from Smitten Kitchen