Stuck on what to read or listen to next? The VWT team shares what they’ve been absorbed in lately from books to pop albums. As expected, there’s a distinctly feminist flavour to these picks.
Take a look:
On the Calculation of Volume I, Solvej Balle
“It seems so odd to me now, how one can be so unsettled by the improbable. When we know that our entire existence is founded on freak occurrences and improbable coincidences. That we wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for these curious twists of fate.”
“Over the break — in between slathering myself and my daughter in layers of sunscreen, tending to mosquito bites, locating lost/wet/sandy togs, and keeping a vigilant eye on the Vic Emergency app — I snatched moments here and there to read On the Calculation of Volume I by Danish author Solvej Balle.
The first in a seven-part series (still in production), On the Calculation of Volume I describes the life of a woman who has accidentally fallen out of time and experiences the 18th of November, over and over again. Meticulously detailed and observant, Balle explores what’s left when time has no meaning, purpose is lost, and seasons no longer change. Beautifully written and eerily appropriate.”
– Ally Oliver-Perham Head of Programs and Partnerships
Lux, Rosalía
Red and round fruit
Who can guess it?
Obviously, it’s the apple
That is forbidden
And if you only looked at it
You’d be saved
But without biting it
“Summer for me has consisted of a lot of driving. Driving to holiday destinations just to leave due to smoke warnings, and then to do the same just a week later due to flood warnings. Nothing says ‘we are living through a climate crisis’ like driving through charred landscapes whilst blaring the maximalist, all-encompassing, spiritually charged manifesto Lux, Rosalía’s album released late last year.
Featuring 14 different languages, this record is an ode to femininity, faith and what it is to be human. The album showcases Rosalía’s remarkable operatic capabilities and features a close collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra. Pulling on the stories of rebellious women throughout time, Rosalía manipulates genre to deliver a feminist full-body experience.”
– Ava Wansbrough Youth Engagement Officer
We All Want Impossible Things, Catherine Newman
“Who knows you better than your best friend? Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self?”
“I read We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman over the break. By which I mean I finished it over the break. With two small children, books can take me months to read these days. But this one was definitely worth the effort. It is the story of Ash, whose lifelong friend Edie is dying slowly and unremarkably of cancer. It is unremarkable in the sense of how commonplace it is, but extremely and utterly worthy of remarking in how it rocks Ash to her core.
We’re with Ash as she oscillates between fully embracing her grief and running to all the places where it may not find her: the lives of her children, the beds of every second person she meets, and the (possibly futile) pursuit of the perfect lemon polenta pound cake. If you’re looking for a novel that isn’t afraid to talk about big loss and small joys, one that makes you sob in one sentence and cackle in the next, this book is for you.”
– Rachel Imam Digital Strategist
