Books
You Didn’t Hear This from Me - Kelsey McKinney
∞Finished reading: You Didn’t Hear This from Me (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip by Kelsey McKinney 📚
To be honest, it didn’t quite hit for me. Fundamentally, I’m already a fan and a believer, and look to Kelsey as a Though Leader in the field of gossip.
This book read like so much of it was about citing her way to establishing an authoritative voice. I went in looking more for the firehose of McKinney takes.
I think she establishes the core take early in the book: gossip is Important. It has the power to contribute to social phenomena that can protect people from danger, and unseat people with hidden operations. It should, like so many things, be asked what it hopes to accomplish rather than merely judged as Good or Bad.
It’s a good take, well established by hours of Normal Gossip guest interviews. I was moved over the years of listening to Kelsey develop this perspective as the seasons went on.
I think this book was probably good. It had the feeling while I read it that it was probably Contributing to the Conversation, and maybe just going over my head?
Finished reading: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 📚
I think Becky Chambers is a master of atmosphere, tone, and environment. Every book she writes feels deeply lived in and expansive. It didn’t hit me personally as hard as Psalm For the Wild Built, but I question if anything really could.
I feel like I could re-read this book immediately and pick up on a whole second set of considerations about my automatic thoughts on the way things should be. Even only at a surface level, there’s so much to consider here about chosen family and living outside the walls your culture (and species?) give you