everything I consumed this year.
a wrap of all the things i read, watched, studied and learned form.
hello there! as some of you may or may not know my name is Oreva, and I love a lot of things. sometimes i get burnt out from having too many interests and hobbies, i always feel like that one Will Smith meme.
so, as my own personal wrapped, these are a list of books, essays, articles, movies, video essays and more that i’ve consumed this year and learnt from, in the hopes that you, my dearest gentle reader, might explore from them too or use this as a leverage to get to know me more.
without much further ado:
BOOKS
sadly enough, i did not read that many books this year, and i say sadly because this is coming from a girl who read 55 books in 2024, and is now grappling to go through a single paragraph. but i digress. we are in an anti-intellectualism crisis and a couple of books is better than nothing at all.
Blackout by Candence Owens.
I didn’t particularly like this book or the author, but she had some pretty interesting points to make, mostly on American politics and how Black Americans have been brainwashed by the democratic party . She states why they need to pivot republican because Trump has them in his best interest. Same person who says this is now criticizing Trump and his regime but, hey, opinions can change.
This was kind of an insight into American politics which is always trying to be center of attention, but I will not recommend.
No longer human by Osamu Dazai.
This is actually a reread because it’s just that good of a book. No longer human narrates the story of a man and his detachment with humanity, given his experiences with humans and how disgusting and insane we can be at times. It highlights his descent into disappearance by trying to keep up a facade of humanness though drugs, alcohol and women. An absolutely beautiful work, really.
Heaven by Meiji Kawakani
Another beautiful Japanese fiction talking about friendship and solidarity between two school students undergoing intense bullying from their peers. Honestly can’t really remember what it was about but I do recall loving it.
Hunger by Choi Jin-Young
I read this my making my research on my essay , how to eat another human being but still couldn’t help but be captivated by choi’s voice and how occult this book felt. it tells the story of two lovers in which one of them dies, and affected by the tragic death of the other, one of them beings to eat them, highlighting the very thin line between love and cannibalism.
The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams
Still currently reading this but I really find the subject matter super interesting and pretty overlooked in regards to feminism and oppression. Although given from a vegetarian lens, Carol tries to correlate oppression, mostly women’s oppression, to the horrid treatment of animals. One would come to find that there are not so many differences.
SUBSTACK ESSAYS
i discovered this app this year and it’s been the most amazing thing that ever happened to me, both as a writer and a consumer. to fill the void of being unable to consume large and bulky books, substack has really helped provide short from essays that don’t only keep my brain turned on but makes me shape new perspectives on issues and ideas.
I read this one quite recently and I loved the thought process here. Practically, Tee Noir was breaking down why this sudden skinny pandemic—especially with seeing the bodies of Wicked stars—should be a major concern for the general public, coming from a group of consumers who want to emulate these certain aesthetics that are trendy and on the internet, most of them being children.
I loved this essay because I once thought it was none of my business, but we truly need to raise questions and ask what the hell is really going on.
Beautiful essay from the love of my life Nneoma , breaking down how pre-colonial societies where still very unjust to women, and although our ancestors had better cultural and social practices as opposed to now that we want to go back too, it doesn’t still undermine the fact that it was still very patriarchal and misogynistic.
Another lovely essay by Fọlá . I adore this woman so much and wishes she never stops writing her feminist essays. This one in particular talks about the pre-colonial African practice of communitarianism and although a stellar arrangement for society (as opposed to the whole neo-liberalism bs we have going on today), it will still be built on the backs of women as such societal arrangements relies on women as the backbone of the community. It’s so amazing and I think every African should read it.
I think about this write up all the time. Thee Supreme Nengi just carried my heart and decided to make it a Substack post, lol! If I would etch all the words written here into my soul, I would.
Lastly, an essay mirroring my detachment with religion. It’s wonderful how you can have some thoughts and epiphanies and someone out there has already dissected everything for you and given you their versions of the answers which is so comforting in the end. Adore the day I stumbled on this.
VIDEO ESSAYS
this is going to be the bulk of this newsletter i’m sure because all the time i wasn’t reading i was consuming video essays like there was no tomorrow, and they are incredibly lovely.
Hate that I have to start with this, but this was a documentary on Lily Phillips and her “record breaking” sleeping with 100 men challenge. This was a heartbreaking watch, and I can never go back to it.
Lesbianism in media and how some of it is filtered through “The Male Gaze”, therefore sexualizing a queer experience into some male fantasy. One movie that does this well, however is The Handmaiden, which was chefs kiss.
Watched this after the TV show, Adolescence and explains how red pill and incel content affects young boys, as explained in the show. It also ask the question on who is the blame for this, apparently, it’s all of us
Please I’m not a freak and Youtube just recommended this to me. Like the title says, it talks about cannibalism, the history, the types and just the inhumane act in general.
Cultural appropriation and its affect on the Black community. White people and other POC communities are quick to use Blackcent or African American Vernacular English to often time comes off as funny, but when it comes to being serious we witness a tone switch. This is reminiscent of minstrel shows in America and how this correlates to racism.
I loved this lecture by Gail Dines and her outlook on the Forth Wave of feminism and neo-liberalism. By turning feminism into a personal thing and defining it on how it affects you, can still gradually lead to women’s oppression. I can’t recommend this enough.
The rebranding of Japan and how after the Second World War and even still now, they still do not reflect on the crimes and injustice they committed to other Asian countries during the war and often play the victim card using the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
MOVIES
i wish i enjoyed movies more but i just don’t have the attention span, but I was able to gain some—and that results in only watching six movies this entire year. Sue me.
I was researching into the Rape of Naking by the Japanese and discovered this. A fictional story of some girls, concubines, a priest and their escape of Japanese horror and imperialism. Really graphic stuff that I had to pause watching it for a while.
If someone would erase my memory, I’m coming back to this movie. A truly anti-war film talking about the horror and literal pointlessness of the First World War
I swear I had to watch this with my eyes half-open. A pregnant woman is separated from her husband and has to spend months in the middle of nowhere, trying her best to survive. Women are the real mvp’s, I tell you.
This one touched my soul. A German man during the Holocaust’s uses his resources to save as many Jewish people as he could from Nazi brutality.
A war movie, again (sorry, I am obsessed with history.) Oh, I cried with this one. Two boys, one in a concentration camp and one born to a Nazi officer become friends in the midst of all the chaos, but, of course, that doesn’t end very well.
A short movie on two gay boys living in a world that hates them for who they are. Ends in a used box of tissues and me crying into my pillow endlessly.
TV SHOWS
The only TV show I remember finishing is Smells Like Green Spirit and honestly, I think it’s underrated. A beautiful queer show that navigates the trans experience, homophobia, love, gender and the tragedy of never being able to be who you truly are.
and it is a wrap! i would love if everyone does this too because it’d be such a nice insight into everyone else’s niche interests and personalities, and see what else I can consume and learn from that. Thank you for listening to my TedTalk.
Omds thank you so much 😭😭😭🥹💜 I’m grinning so hard rn
Mehn, this was fun readingggg. I'd love to do this too, only that i might not remember most of these things 😭
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