Good morning everyone,

Happy new year! I hope you had a break, and I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you are pumped for a cool project in the year ahead.

As usual, I have written a review of the books I read over the last year. You will notice, if you read it, that I have supplied various ready-to-go opinions on the Arabian Nights for you to use as needed. There was one I forgot to put in the review, so have it here as a newsletter exclusive:

"There's a reasonable amount of gay stuff in the Arabian Nights!"

This is true. In one story there is just a guy who goes to a bath house, has a gay experience, and enjoys it. Nothing else happens to him and he's never mentioned again. Anyway, here is the Vincennes Review of Books:

[P]art of the joy of the Vincennes Review of Books is sharing some of the more demented ways I think about my cultural throughput over a 12 month period. This year, I’d like to introduce you to the Finchy Line. So named for Chris Finch (bloody good rep) of The Office (UK), who famously read a book a week, the Finchy Line measures exactly what you have just guessed; did I read more than, or less than, a book a week in any given year?

https://medium.com/@Vincennes/vincennes-review-of-books-2019-a1b89a96caa7

I read fewer than a book a week last year, by the way, in case that changes your mind about whether or not you should read the post.

Here's a good article on the Arabian Nights and the way that the woman who frames the stories, Shaharazad, has been used in popular culture:

Students and scholars in Gender Studies have studied the Arabian Nights by looking at gendered norms over time and place, as well as recasting characters as contemporary figures. This last perspective has also made its way into modern popular culture. The documentary film Scheherazade Diary (2013) tells the stories of several female inmates of a Beirut prison as they embark upon a 10 months drama therapy workshop and share their stories illustrating difficulties women often face in societies governed by entrenched patriarchy. Similarly Scheherazade Tell Me a Story (2009) is an Egyptian film that tells stories of everyday women as they "struggle against legally sanctioned male entitlement."

https://library.csun.edu/SCA/Peek-in-the-Stacks/arabian-nights

Finally, it's the time of year for resolutions, and maybe yours is to read from a wider variety of cultures! If yes I have a link for you, here's a woman who read a book from every country in the world and she has done a nice list if you are in need of ideas:

https://shoshana-world.livejournal.com/5227.html

Here's her rubric, it doesn't have to be yours:

1. Books I've already read count toward the total
2. Both expatriate and immigrant authors are okay, but a book by a native or long-term resident is preferred
3. If no book is available in English, and I cannot read the language, a biography of someone from the country is a poor yet acceptable substitute

There is also a woman who did this project in a year, which is impressive and I respect it. However she also did a TED talk about it, and is the start of the year not cloyingly "inspirational" enough without TED talks? I kind of think it is. If you have done a TED talk, I think you are great. xx

Love,

Alex.