Author Archives: Tillie

Reflections on Conversations with Zionists

My dad has often said I have “the gift of gab.” I can talk circles around just about anyone on just about any topic. Sometimes, I think arguing is the only thing I’m any good at.  So, since around October 8th, keeping my skill set in mind, I’ve been having conversations.  I’ve talked to “friends,”Continue reading “Reflections on Conversations with Zionists”

Review: They Called Me a Lioness (Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri)

Ahed Tamimi and her family have spent their whole lives fighting for a free Palestine. From the village of Nabi Salih in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Tamimi has been an icon of resistance since she was a young girl but gained international attention in 2017 after she was arrested and jailed for eight months at the age of 16 for slapping an Israeli soldier who had just shot her cousin in the head. A video of the slap spread on social media, bringing much-needed attention to the violence in the West Bank. 

Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History (Nur Masalha)

Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha ambitiously traces, as the name suggests, four thousand years of Palestinian history, from the beginning of recorded history to the modern Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Masalha is a professor of Palestinian history, former Director of the Centre for Religion and History at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, and editor of “The Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies,” published by Edinburgh University Press. He studies, among other things, memory, social activism, and decolonizing methodologies.

Review: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Ilan Pappé)

You cannot read 336 pages of Israel committing ethnic cleansing over 70+ years without having to come to terms with the fact that not having a strong opinion on some things is just being a coward. As it turns out, the situation is really, really simple. 

I read 100 books in 2023, some of which were important. 

It has taken me a while after New Year to figure out how to present this list, primarily because it’s actually two lists. I read 87 books for pleasure, and I read 15 books (and counting) to wrap my head around the genocide in Palestine.

Writing to Remember

One of the hardest things about living after a brain injury has been scraping together what remains of my sense of self, gluing it all back together with only my notes to guide me. I don’t feel like the person I was before. I’m not the person I was before. She died. It is so easy to feel like a stranger in my own life, to feel like everything I have isn’t really mine. My old friends, my family, and even my writing is someone else’s. I’ve merely inherited them.

Review: The Lost Apothecary (Sarah Penner)

An apothecary named Nella sells poisons to wronged women in 1791 London. Twelve-year-old Eliza seeks her help on behalf of her employer, a woman who wants her husband dead, and soon after, Nella’s world begins to crumble around her. In present-day London, history enthusiast Caroline Parcewell spends her 10th wedding anniversary alone, trying to figureContinue reading “Review: The Lost Apothecary (Sarah Penner)”

Review: The Humans (Matt Haig) 

The Humans is a novel that could only have come from Matt Haig. I’ve been reading a LOT in these past months, but there is something about Haig’s work that makes turning the page feel as easy as taking the next breath.  The Humans is about an alien sent to Earth to stunt human development by replacingContinue reading “Review: The Humans (Matt Haig) “