The 15-Minute Book Club

Week 6: Homegoing

This week's book is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, another historical fiction novel. The story spans 300 years, alternating between Ghana and the United States in the midst of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and leading up to modern times. It's a tale of inherited trauma and its evolution across multiple generations of persecution. 
 
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The Guardian Books Podcast: https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/books 
 
Yaa Gyasi on The Guardian Books Podcast: https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2017/feb/17/reclaiming-history-yaa-gyasi-chibundu-onuzo-books-podcast

Week 5: The Red Tent

This week's book is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. A historical fiction novel that reimagines the life of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob. In The Bible, Dinah is very briefly mentioned in relation to the tragic loss of her husband at the hands of her brothers. In Diamant's novel, the Gods still have plans for Dinah who lives a long life beyond the tragedy. One of my all time favourite novels, it is a captivating tribute to womanhood.
 
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Book mentioned in this episode: Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
When my masters thesis becomes available in the public domain, I will post a link to it here :)

Week 4: Stolen Focus

This week's non-fiction book is Stolen Focus by Johan Hari. In my personal opinion, it is one of the most important books of the decade. We should all read this one.
Hari explores our collective inability to pay attention, and why this has increased over the last ten years. He interviews a number of experts to find out how and why our phones have been designed to keep us distracted. Is this something we are doing to ourselves, or is this being done to us?
 
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Johan Hari's interview with Oprah Winfrey:
Part 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/johann-hari-stolen-focus-pt-1/id1264843400?i=1000555669267
Part 2: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/johann-hari-stolen-focus-pt-2/id1264843400?i=1000555669244 
 
Johan Hari's other books:
On depression: Lost Connections
On addiction: Chasing the Scream
 
Other book mentioned in this episode: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.
 
Johan's conversation with Nir Eyal (chapter 8): https://stolenfocusbook.com/audio/  

Week 3: Prophet Song

This week's book is the 2023 Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
As Ireland slowly succumbs to a devastating civil war, Eilish refuses to leave. With her husband abducted by Ireland's secret police, she is on her own trying to keep her family together. As everything around her falls apart, she realises that the end of the world is not a grand world-wide finale, it's a localised event that happens over and over all the time.
 
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Article on how power affects the brain, by The British Psychological Society: https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/how-power-affects-brain 

Week 2: Flowers for Algernon

This week's book is the classic science fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
Charlie Gordon's life is changed by a group of scientists that develop a treatment that can help increase his IQ, but what happens once Charlie becomes aware enough to see things as they are? Is ignorance truly bliss?
 
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Week 1: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

This week's book: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo. 
Zhuang's life is forever changed after she spends a year abroad in England. She falls in love, travels around Europe, expands her cultural horizons, and learns what true loneliness means. Narrated as journal entries, we watch her struggle to navigate and make sense of a foreign language, as well as a foreign lover. 
 
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Interview with Xiaolu Guo: https://podcasts.apple.com/jo/podcast/world-book-club/id263658343?i=1000633622386
My research paper on Confronting Persistent Errors in the ESOL Classroom:
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/natecla/esol/2024/00000035/00000001/art00007