What’cha Readin’?
Reading is hard when you’re at war with your own mind and body.
BUT, despite my struggles, a few incredible books have managed to fight their way to my attention. Here’s what I am currently reading when my anxiety isn’t causing a spiral!
Why Me? by Omar Suleiman
Every Ramadan, Omar Suleiman and his team over at Yaqeen, put together an impressive series of videos to be released daily for the whole month. Honestly, it’s the highlight for me. At no more than 10-15 minutes, these videos are high quality and hard hitting.
A couple years ago, the theme was centred around understanding Qadr and one’s fate in this world. My kids and I would tune in every day and became very invested in the narrative being told alongside the Islamic information.
Usually, the following year, Kube Publishing releases a book to go alongside the series. The moment this one became available, I bought it….
And then put it on my shelf without finding the time to read it. How often have we all been there?
Anyway, when my physical health took a turn and my mental health spiralled, I was chatting to one of my writers about everything I was dealing with. Her support was incredible, and honestly, she is the sakeenah Allah blessed me with to help me get through this trying time. In one of her emails, she sent me a photo of her heavily tabbed copy of ‘Why Me?’ and recommended I give it a read.
We all know I love a good ol’ tabbed book, so my interest was already locked in—”I’ve got that book!” I cyber-squealed onto my email. And I began reading it that very same day.
Let me tell you… I LOVE it!
Not only has it helped me emotionally and mentally deal with the tests I am facing right now, but it is also opening my mind to so many other areas I haven’t thought about in a long time.
And, yes, I am tabbing and annotating like CRAZY!
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely!
The Iliad by Homer
I’d love to claim “I’m just bougie like that”, but that’s not the reason I’m reading one of literatures top intimidating tomes.
Chris Nolan is directing The Odyssey with Zendaya as Athena AND Tom Holland is in it as well.
Consider me sold!
The Iliad famously tells the tale of the Trojan War—Helen of Troy causes men around her to become all possessive and competitive, so-called gods see an opportunity to stir the pot, all-out war and people die. We also have Achilles and a wooden horse.
Captivating stuff.
The Odyssey is a sequel of sorts and tracks Odysseus’ journey home after the war. So I’m attempting to read both The Odyssey AND The Iliad.
Now, to be totally honest, there is a slightly more cutesy reason why I’m attempting this. For those who don’t know, I home educated my children for years. My eldest LOVED our Ancient History lessons and he dove headfirst into the myths and became fascinated with these stories that have stayed with us until this day. It is something we bonded over for years. He’s now almost 16 years old and we both gave a little cheer when we saw the trailer for The Odyssey this year.
So to answer your question, yes. I will be going to the cinema with him!
As for The Iliad, I’m genuinely enjoying it. I love texts where every single word is intentional and carries weight for the whole story, and the Emily Wilson translation is excellent at captivating the feel and intention behind the original piece. (Yes, I did geek out over her translation notes at the beginning.)
Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D.
This book and I go waaay back. The fables in this book speak to my soul and it is a book I constantly thank God for. He guided me to this book at a time when I needed it the most, and more importantly, when my heart was open for its messages.
I needed a way to reconnect to who I was when I first read this book, when I was clear on what I wanted and who I wanted to be. I chose to dive back into this book to remind myself of those values and intentions so I can better show up as a writer, not just an editor and writing coach.
I explore my writerly identity over on Substack, so head over there to see my article about this book and how it shaped my rebranding last week.
