The Memory Librarian

 The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae (2022) 321 pages

This could almost be called a short story collection, except the stories are loosely linked. There are five contributors listed on Goodreads that helped Janelle Monae put each part of the story on paper. I listened to the audiobook with the first part narrated by Janelle Monae and the rest narrated by Bahni Turpin. Fans of The Handmaids' Tale would probably enjoy this. The stories take place in a near-future totalitarian state. Even though there is less overt religious involvement in the regulations of public and private life, all the main characters are labeled "Dirty Computers." Janelle Monae's third album was titled Dirty Computer. I had seen their series of music videos that form an "emotion picture" for this album when it was released about five years ago. In this world, Dirty Computers have there memories erased to force conformity. This totalitarian state targets queer people of color. Concepts of Intersectionality are explored in each story. It is suggested, but not made completely clear, that each story advances in time and involves characters from the previous story living their re-invented life after their memory wipe. There is sci-fi tech controlled by the state for surveying the population and very little power left to the ordinary person. I don't read short stories very often. Just as you get invested in one, it is over. I wish the separate stories were more connected like chapters of a whole. I became a bit frustrated trying to guess how each connected to the previous one. And I wish there was more world building description that referenced the visual design of the music videos.

Dancing Bears

Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life under Tyranny/ Witold Szablowski, 233 p.

A very clever weaving of accounts of people struggling in the wake of post-communism in Bulgaria, Cuba, Poland, Ukraine, Albania, Estonia, Serbia, and Georgia.  The connecting thread, of course, is those  bears, whose story takes up the first half of this book.   The bears were owned by Bulgarian Roma and as a condition of that country's entry into the EU were rehabilitated in a sort of sanctuary dedicated to teaching them to be free. 

Occasionally the metaphor is strained, but mostly it works well to highlight the oddities and challenges of post-communist life for millions of people.  Thought -provoking.

Things that can and cannot be said

Things that can and cannot be said / Arundhati Roy & John Cusack, 125 pgs.

This slender volume is the record that exists of a meeting of the authors, Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg.  Arranged by Cusack, he and Roy knew each other from other meetings and he felt she would be the best addition to the meeting that he wanted to witness between Ellsberg and Snowden.  This meeting was not recorded so the evidence we have is this book which summarizes earlier discussions between Cusack and Roy.  The content here will make you think, is at times, upsetting and the use of footnotes and sources is well done but I can't help but want more details of their fascinating trip to Moscow.  Also, I need to go back and review the history of the Pentagon Papers since it has been years ago that I read about them and Ellsberg.

Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale Hurston

Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale, 313 pages

I got to blog about this wonderful book on Wednesday night, Thursday at 3pm, and on
Friday at noon. Sure, when I blogged there it was mostly the thoughts of others, but all the blogging was filtered through my faulty listening skills, short attention span, and fondness for the snacks, so there are,by necessity, some of my thoughts in there too. I enjoyed Hurston's retelling of Exodus and parts of Leviticus (leavened with a myriad of other Moses tales from around the world) immensely. It seemed to be a very quick read. I don't know if I enjoyed it more than June's selection, Jonah's Gourd Vine, since it was so different. Hurston is an amazing writer and the discussions were great.