Productivity has been a big topic on our editorial meetings. How to deal with cabin fever, how to process the cyclonic onslaught of terrible news, and how to effectively work and help from home, have been in our minds. And when the conversations turn to what we’re reading, somehow we also find ourselves reflecting intently on things now in front of us and beyond, from creative nesting to the prospect of travelling.
Below, the editors share their reading lists this month.
“If this quarantine made me realise anything it is that, the space wherein we live should be the place we show the most love. It does house the most precious people in our lives and waking up to a beautiful dwelling space is always good for the soul. So yes, my coffee table has been laden with interior books, me trying to get inspiration, because when this lockdown is over, I’ll be redecorating and showing our home some love.” — Ria Prieto, Editor in chief
“I have yet to profess allegiance to the e-book, but I think I’m getting there. I tend to read books like I flip between channels, so now I’m switching between Slavoj Žižek and Mladen Dolar’s Second Death of Opera and Lise Uytterhoeven’s Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui: Dramaturgy and Engaged Spectatorship. While reading the Cherkaoui book, often I would switch to Youtube to watch some of the cited performances. What a great time to be alive, despite everything. I’m writing an essay on a Borges story, so I’m reading his collected fictions for that purpose. I’m also looking forward to Tristan Garcia’s Form and Object.” — Jed Gregorio, Senior Editor
“I’d choose a good book over a gadget any day! I’ve been flipping through the dog-eared pages of books I’ve read before to find some inspiration for creative projects and for Ta LouLou, the brand my best friend and I founded. I’m also about to finish Why We Buy by Paco Underhill and I can’t wait to start Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell, who’s one of my favorite authors.” — Cit Sioson, Fashion and Beauty Editor
“What I’m reading this April is my haul from the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale. When I was shopping around, I made a conscious effort to get at least one book per continent and to mix contemporary authors with classics. From Asia, I got The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam and Jung Yun’s Shelter. North America is represented by Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men, while for South America, I got Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ News of a Kidnapping. I’m going to Africa through the words of Naguib Mahfouz in Midaq Alley. George Orwell and James Joyce round it up for Europe in my stack. This is how I’ll travel the world while we’re on lockdown.” — Olivia Estrada, Features and Copy Editor
“The books I read tend to be fiction or creative nonfiction, the kind of things that drag you out of reality and into far off worlds, or else make you critically rethink the world around us. All the books I’m reading are some of my comfortable favourites with the exception of A Conspiracy of Truths, which I bought purely on the strength of the cover art. Now that I’m reading it, the story is actually pretty good too.” — Kyle Tinga, Contributing Writer