Daphne Gordon

Rise Sister Rise is the ROUSING call I need to hear right now

Rebecca Campbell’s 2016 book envisions a Tangibly better future for women

Rise Sister Rise: A Guide to Unleashing the Wise, Wild Woman Within practically jumped into my hands the first time I saw it. The cover, the colours, the title, the subtitle and the author bio on the back page… They all spoke directly to me.

And yet, I didn’t buy it that first time I held it in my hands. I don’t really understand why. But now that I’ve read it, I think maybe I wasn’t quite ready to hear the wisdom within this surprisingly empowering book.

I’m not usually a fan of self-help books. But Campbell’s tome, which rings with poetic truth, says exactly what I need to hear right now. The book is an invocation and an invitation for all women to turn to the wisdom they already have. It also calls for women to cultivate sacred sisterhoods.

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Daphne Gordon

This book about cat walking brings me joy in a dark time

What gives me joy, you ask?

I know you didn’t, but I’ve been asking myself this question during pandemic lockdowns. And the short answer is: Trees, books, words, sneakers, spring, and cats.

It’s a nice list, I think, because it’s simple. There’s one quirky joy though, which can’t be expressed in a single word. This one requires a bit more explaining.

It might seem weird to some, but I get effervescent feelings from collecting quirky books. Often small in size, but not exclusively so, and written by obscure authors, these are books hardly anyone has ever heard of, let alone read. I hold these books in a special place in my heart. They tell me stories about me. 

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Daphne Gordon

Dead Mom Walking brings humour to the hell of losing a parent

Rachel Matlow’s gut-busting memoir made me want to call my mom — ASAP

Dead Mom Walking forced me to face not just one, but several of my worst fears: losing my mom, being diagnosed with cancer, and leaving behind a grieving child when I die. But somehow, author Rachel Matlow had me laughing through almost every scene along the way to their effervescent mother’s death from cancer. (Matlow is genderqueer and uses the pronouns she/her and they/them.)

Honestly, it took me a couple of weeks to finish this book, despite the fact that it’s immediately unputdownable because of Matlow’s lively and conversational voice. I got three-quarters of the way in, laughing out loud at Matlow’s narration as well as their mother’s witty quips. But then I stalled.

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