aliyahmk
writer & lover of Black queer horror • none of us are free until all of us are free 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩 • sydney, aus
12984 points
aliyahmk is interested in reading...
Nymph
Sofia Montrone
0aliyahmk commented on a feature request
2
“recently updated lists” section
i think it’d be neat to have a section on the “lists” tab where recently updated lists could be shown a la the “new lists” section.
i have a lot of lists saved but i don’t always remember to check for additions and oftentimes miss new books on them! it seems like it could be a fun way to keep older lists alive/active and prevent doubles since older continuously maintained lists would be more visible.
aliyahmk commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I posted a review on the Hello Chaos A Love Story: The disorder of Seeing and Being Seen page, and realised... practically nobody else has read it! I loved it, so I thought I'd reach out and ask if people had similar experiences.
I think it can feel a bit lonely in the forums of some of the less popular books, so I wanted to make a space where you can gush and be supported about your favourite niche read. (Or even reads where there are active forums but you feel you don't get to participate enough!)
One of my longstanding rules is that I WILL add anything to my TBR if it comes with a glowing recommendation, so this is your chance to get a buddy for your favourite niche book :)
149aliyahmk commented on aliyahmk's review of Love is a Dangerous Word: the Selected Poems of Essex Hemphill
“When I die, honey chil’, my angels will be tall Black drag queens. I will eat their stockings as they fling them into the blue shadows of dawn. I will suck their purple lips to anoint my mouth for the utterance of prayer.”
though i am a poet, and though i am a performance poet, i almost always read poetry inside my own mind and mouth. it’s ironic, because i am such a firm believer in eroding some of the lines that seem to seperate spoken word from written verse—that delineate one of these forms as more literary (read: more white, more wealthy, more emblematic of a high society) and more prestigious than the other. so, i very rarely read other poets’ words aloud. looking at it now, i realise that this is probably because, where slam and spoken word ought to invoke community, reciting lines to yourself in your living room can feel—for a lack of a better word—lonely.
essex hemphill was a performance artist as well; poet, as a single word—flaming and mythical word that it is—cannot contain all of his genius and artistry. i first encountered his words when i watched tongues untied, a phenomenal and empathetic and devastating and hopeful look at Black queer culture, directed by marlon riggs. hemphill’s poetry is a rod of lightning through the moving images. tongues untied is my favourite film.
so, it felt fitting—and strangely necessary—to not trap the weight of these words inside of myself. i read the foreword to myself (which, in its own right, left me teary-eyed), and, once i reached the first page of hemphill’s poetry, i unlatched my tongue.
there is no isolation to hemphill’s words, though they often come from a seemingly isolated place. his words fill my stomach with bees as i speak them, and i am once again aware of language as a weapon of community and resistance. as i read through love is a dangerous word front to back for the first time, i was struck down by a sense of profound understanding and familiarity. this is not me trying to present myself as genius or startlingly important by association, but a reminder that, in order for traditions to exist, we must make and manipulate and devour and disfigure those traditions. we must continue to make and honour Black queer art. we must continue to make and honour radical Black art. we must continue to make and honour art as protest.
hemphill was my favourite poet going into this selection of his words, and is my favourite poet coming out of it. though some of my most cherished of hemphill’s words are not present in this collection—most notably the full version of his critical text vital signs—love is a dangerous word is an excellent insight into the audacity, bluntness, tenderness and vulgarity that have cemented hemphill as a genius, and a pioneer of Black art, queer art, and art that refuses to conform.
it would be futile for me to list my favourite poems from this collection, as they are all so rich with such a wide range of offerings. in love is a dangerous word you will find sensuality, politic, violence, beginnings and endings in equal measure; you will find sickness and health, you will find nurses and drag queens and divas and destruction. you will find family, and you will find a fight you didn’t quite know existed within you. you will find notes war and freedom and love and life.
there is no adequate way to sum up this giant of poetry. i can only tell you to read it.
19aliyahmk commented on aliyahmk's update
aliyahmk is interested in reading...
Lobster
Guillaume Lecasble
2aliyahmk is interested in reading...
Lobster
Guillaume Lecasble
2
aliyahmk is interested in reading...
City of Rats
Copi Copi
0aliyahmk is interested in reading...
Dinosaurs
Lydia Millet
0aliyahmk commented on moski's update
aliyahmk commented on a List
pray god you can cope: pregnancy horror
pregnancy horror has been a prevalent form of body horror for decades, popularised by the arrival of rosemary’s baby. this list offers a mix of classics and more niche picks, traversing the many questions of authority, complexities, and subversions of the subgenre. these books explore pregnancy and its aftermath, sometimes literally, and sometimes through metaphor.
18
aliyahmk is interested in reading...
Kallocain
Karin Boye
0aliyahmk commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I posted a review on the Hello Chaos A Love Story: The disorder of Seeing and Being Seen page, and realised... practically nobody else has read it! I loved it, so I thought I'd reach out and ask if people had similar experiences.
I think it can feel a bit lonely in the forums of some of the less popular books, so I wanted to make a space where you can gush and be supported about your favourite niche read. (Or even reads where there are active forums but you feel you don't get to participate enough!)
One of my longstanding rules is that I WILL add anything to my TBR if it comes with a glowing recommendation, so this is your chance to get a buddy for your favourite niche book :)
149aliyahmk is interested in reading...
Her Wicked Roots
Tanya Pell
0aliyahmk TBR'd a book
Things We Lost in the Fire
Mariana Enríquez
0aliyahmk commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Hello everyone! I'm looking for books to add to my Out of Pocket Queers list and also to expand my TBR with weird and taboo books! I love reading about weird and unusual things so if you have a rec let me know! If it made you uncomfortable and it's queer comment it!
24aliyahmk commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Hello boundlings! Lately, I've been pondering the idea of what it means to be a reader in a community of readers (like Pagebound). Reading can be such a solitary activity and it is a joy to see how that activity can be used to bring people together. I think most of us here acknowledge that community is actively built and maintained; it is a place where we can connect, support, and uplift each other. However, I do wonder if bookish spaces (especially online) can become over-relied upon.
I think there is a lot of room for misinterpretation here, so let me outline what I am specifically referring to: As more users join PB, I feel I see more club posts along the lines of "which of these five books should I read next," "should I do this," "should I do that," and so on (with no other information, and no one truly engaging with each other---they could be Instagram polls, essentially). I find a lot of these posts disconcerting because they often read as though the user isn't looking for advice, but rather explicit decision-making by others. I feel like this defeats the purpose of being in a reading community, but also of being a reader in the first place. Reading is such a major channel for autonomy, intentionality, and expression---I feel like those things are taken away when relying on others to make every decision about one's reading journey. (To be clear, I'm not referring to advice/rec posts in general, nor any specific users/posts. Just a prevailing trend.)
I don't want to seem like I'm trying to tell people how to act in a community space---that is not my intention. If this posts comes off that way, please let me know and I will reevaluate my words.
Ultimately, my questions are,
- How do you feel about these types of posts? (Am I reading too much into them?)
- What does reading, as part of a community, look like to you?
- How did you find confidence in your decision-making as a reader?
I do know it takes time and experience to develop this aforementioned confidence; perhaps these posts are a new way of doing that in the age of technology. I'd love to know your thoughts.
84
aliyahmk commented on ruiconteur's update
