What’s Kathy Stinson Reading?

I recently finished reading A History of Women in 101 Objects by Annabelle Hirsch. I was drawn to the book by its title, then a little put off by its textbook-ish appearance — but this history of the world and the role of women in it from prehistory to the present day was anything but dry. Well-researched stories about objects and women who used them, as far-ranging as a thumbscrew and a 16th century glass dildo are offered with wit and wisdom. I’d never thought before about the difference between the prevalence of pockets in men’s clothing and relative paucity of them in women’s, and the changing meaning of lipstick over the years was fascinating to learn about too. This subversive book also challenges such “facts” as ‘men hunted, women gathered.’ I can’t imagine a woman of any age who wouldn’t love A History of Women in 101 Objects.  

A feminist who accepts that people of any gender can write fine books, I am currently reading Lump, a novel by Nathan Whitlock. I discovered his podcast series “What Happened Next” this fall. Enjoying his interviews with a wide range of Canadian writers, I decided to check out one of his books. Lump is described as “a dark comedy about a marriage, motherhood, class, and cancer” and I’m enjoying how well he’s captured the women in the novel, and how cringe-worthily gross the husband in the marriage is. My favourite book ever by a male author may be This Is Happiness by Niall Williams. 

In contrast to Whitlock’s Lump, the novel I read just before starting it was In winter I get up at night by Jane Urquhart, whose prose often reads like poetry. One of the things I particularly enjoyed about this novel, which explores “colonial expansion, scientific progress, and the sinister forces that seek to divide societies along racial and cultural lines,” is Urquhart’s ability to capture the child Emer’s perceptive on what was going on around her, even as recalled by her adult self. That and the setting of rural Saskatchewan in the 1950s.

At this fall’s Wild Writers Literary Festival, Tanis MacDonald chatted with two poets on the topic of poetry as memoir, inviting each of them to read from their recent collections as part of the conversation. Since the Festival, I have been dipping in and out no credit river by Zoe Whittall and This Report is Strictly Confidential by Elizabeth Ruth. I’m more drawn to poetry than I used to be, both reading it and writing it, and I love seeing what different poets have done with various forms, then trying my hand at them. no credit river is prose poetry written with wit during a tough time in Zoe’s life. This Report is Strictly Confidential is erasure poetry based on official records of Elizabeth’s aunt’s thirty years living in an institution. I felt the need to read two library books that came available before the two books of poetry I’d purchased, and I look forward to giving both collections the focused attention they deserve.