August 2020 – She Eats Books

Story Gifters

I write this blog because I love to read. I utterly adore it. Reading to me is like breathing. Seeing children come into the library, fired up with enthusiasm about the books they have read and the books they are about to find on the shelves makes me happy. The conversations I have with those children about the books can change my day completely. That is why it is so heartbreaking to hear that there are children in the UK who don’t have any books at home, who don’t get read to, who aren’t given a chance to develop a love of stories. There are lots of reasons that this happens and I am not about to point fingers or apportion blame.

Luckily some people are trying to change this situation and put books into the hands of those children that need them the most. One of them is my friend Laura. She is in the process of setting up a charity called The Story Gifters that will give new and pre-loved books to children in Plymouth, UK, where we live. Since putting out the first posts she has received so many donations, both of books no longer needed and of new books using a wish list on amazon.co.uk. She has now set up a Go Fund Me page to raise the money needed to get the charity off the ground. If you feel able to give anything to help please visit the page here. At the moment the charity webpage is being developed but you can follow the charity on Facebook and Instagram.

Educate Yourself

I am white. I live in a very white city and almost everyone I know is white. Therefore when the Black Lives Matter protests began, first in the USA then across the world, I wanted to know more about the experience of non-white people in the UK. This short book, which can be read in next to no time, shows that however much we think that racism is not part of our society, we are sadly mistaken.

**Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race** by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Washington Black

A thought-provoking book that I struggled to put down.

Found in Translation

Many of us are guilty of assuming all books are written in our native tongue, especially if that tongue is English. I know most of the books I read were written in English. It is always a joy therefore to discover books translated from another language. It also makes me wonder if people are more or less likely to read a book if they know it has been translated from another language. I don’t think I am swayed either way. I have noticed differences in style and humour within books in countries other than the UK and USA and I really enjoy these differences. An example of this is that books for children tend to be more open about subjects Brits skirt around, such as death. Below are 3 books I have recently read that were not originally published in English, not that you would notice it from the perfect translations.

**The Reader on the 6.27** by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent, originally written in French

**White Fox** by Chen Jiatong, originally written in Chinese (children’s fiction)

**Little Wise Wolf** by Gijs van der Hammen, originally written in Dutch (picture book)

Believe the Hype

A surprise parcel from a friend arrived containing this book. Although I hadn’t read it previously I was aware that it had been named Book of the Year by Waterstones and I was excited to read it. I was not disappointed and have followed her advice of keeping it by my bed to dip into when needed.