Episode 14 - The One About Being "Forced Ripe"
Looking through the lenses of popular book to TV adaptations, Tiffany Jackson’s Grown, Jamaican history and our own personal experiences, we talk about the insidiousness of glamourized paedophilia, the over-sexualization of Black women’s bodies, why we should leave Minister Marion Hall alone and...so much more.
Listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Whenever the three of us gather to record for this podcast, something (the Lorde/universe/whoever) softly nudges us towards a conversation we had no intention of having. These conversations are hard and uncomfortable but with beautiful friends that can hold space for you, they become significantly easier.
In this new episode of Like A Real Book Club, we traverse a very dark and all too common feature of Caribbean girlhood and womanhood by looking at sexual grooming and sexual violence. Looking through the lenses of popular book to TV adaptations, Tiffany Jackson’s Grown, Jamaican history and our own personal experiences, we talk about the insidiousness of glamourized paedophilia, the over-sexualization of Black women’s bodies, why we should leave Minister Marion Hall alone and...so much more.
Further Reading and References
Film
Lady Bird (2017 Film)
Book-to-TV Adaptations
Pretty Little Liars
Gossip Girl
Books/Essays
Grown by Tiffany Jackson
“Property Rights in Pleasure: The Marketing of Enslaved Women’s Sexuality”, by Hilary McD. Beckles - Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World
“Queering Feminist Approaches to Gender-based Violence in the Anglophone Caribbean” by Tonya Haynes and Halimah A.F DeShong
Play/Video
Dancehall Queen - https://youtu.be/XAm5n8aQxhI
For Harriet, “Why do Black women performers HAVE to sell sex?“ - https://youtu.be/UeWlySR4wBU
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 13 - The One About Mental Health & Jamaican Churches
Ashley, Jherane and Kristina have an intimate conversation about their experiences with churches, mental health, and of course books.
Listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, or search for it wherever you listen to podcasts.
You know the end of Ari Lennox' 'Chicago Boy' where she asks everyone who is not her friend to leave?
That's how this episode feels.
Ashley, Jherane and Kristina have an intimate conversation about their experiences with churches, mental health, and of course books.
Books Mentioned:
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
PATSY by Nicole Dennis Benn
The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller
Augustown by Kei Miller
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 12 -Because We Owe You Five Book(ish) Episodes
One thing about us, we’re gonna intend to talk about one thing and end up talking about 27. It’s been such a long time since we’ve done an episode that everything came pouring out of us. But that’s the beauty of a book club (and the podcasts that are like them) - you get to gush about your favourite things, the things you hate and everything in between with amazing people.
In this episode of the podcast, Ashley, Jherane and Kristina catch each other up on what they’ve been reading; all the reasons Goodreads sucks (and why we’re switching to Storygraph); our vendetta against Alfredo pasta and, perhaps more importantly, why we think Spice and Shenseea would be big fans of Talia Hibbert.
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 11 - Verandah Chat and Reading with Diana McCaulay, author of Daylight Come
We interviewed award-winning author and environmental activist Diana McCaulay, about her latest novel Daylight Come
Listen to this episode on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
We’re deep into 2020 now, and both the days, and the years to come, look darker than they have in a very long time. No, we’re not (just talking about COVID-19) we’re talking about our rapidly changing climate. So why not curl up with an appropriate book?
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 10 - Verandah Chat and Tea with Curdella Forbes, author of A Tall History of Sugar
We got to chat with Curdella Forbes, author of her latest award-winning novel A Tall History of Sugar
Get a cup of your favourite tea, cut yuh ten and enjoy our interview with the very masterful, Curdella Forbes.
Kristina and Jherane sat down with Curdella on her verandah with three cups of tea, beautiful rolling hills before us and some nice, cool breeze washing over us. At least that’s the imagery we had in our heads while we sat in our respective homes chatting with the Curdella Forbes, Jamaican author of A Tall History of Sugar.
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 9 - 100 Caribbean Books That Shaped Our World
We teamed up with BOCAS Lit Fest to select (not 100) Caribbean books that had an impact on our lives.
Book mentioned:
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (included in our Patreon travel club)
Beka Lamb by Zee Edgell
Gardening in the Tropics by Olive Senior
The Fear of Stones and other Stories by Kei Miller
Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World by Verene Shepherd
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 8 - A Tall History of Sugar Book Club Meetup
We talk about the Caribbean's legacy of sugar in the form of our education and careers, economic and political life, and even our diets... and of course the book.
Book mentioned:
A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 7 - Learning to Love Complicated Mothers
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or search ‘Like A Real Book Club’ wherever you listen to podcasts
We meditate on the complexities of Caribbean motherhood - ladened with a history of patriarchal violence that has architected the tenuous, terrible and beautiful bonds we form with the matriarchs in our lives (and, of course, how these relationships are depicted in Caribbean literature).
Book mentioned:
Learning To Breathe by Janice-Lynn Mather
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
The Star Side of Birdhill by Naomi Jackson
Working Miracles: Women's Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean by Olive Senior
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 6 - Does This Make Us Demanding Caribbean Readers?
Is it ok to “feel a way” when a Caribbean author doesn’t use our language and our culture in their work? We love reading novels and poetry from the Caribbean, especially ones written by Jamaican authors, but are we demanding in our expectations? Also, wtf is magical realism?
Books Mentioned Worth Reading:
A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes
Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis Benn
PATSY by Nicole Dennis Benn
Like A Real Book Club: Episode 5 - Interview with Sara Collins
Interview with Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton
We chat with Sara Collins, winner of the Costa Book Awards 2019, about her debut novel The Confessions of Frannie Langton! We talk about the inspirations for the book, writing complex enslaved characters, a bit about white feminism, and her experience recording her own audiobook.
Bonus: She talks about her upcoming sophomore novel.