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Have you read The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe et al. (2022)?

yes

I've read parts of it

I've never heard of it

Voting ended onSep 20, 2024

#the memory librarian #janelle monae #short stories #science fiction #book poll #have you read this book poll #polls #requested

“don’t care what i look like / but i feel good / better than amazing & better than i could”

I love this Janelle Monáe lyric. As a big girl, people tend to care what I look like. I don’t care what they see, as long as I feel good. And as a chronically ill girl, every day is a negotation between how bad I /could/ feel. So any day when I feel good at all, I feel better than I could feel. Both of those sentiments have made me embrace myself and wear what I want in recent years. I’m not going to waste my feeling good days on other people’s opinions.

Today I’m feeling meh, but I’m feeling way better than I could, and I feel great about the sunflower summer look I put together. I’m off to see Janelle Monáe on her tour. I have her book on hand and am ready to dance!

#janelle monáe #age of pleasure #age of pleasure tour #the memory librarian #bookworm

Title: The Memory Librarian | Author: Janelle Monáe | Publisher: Harper Voyager (2022)

#books #The Memory Librarian #Janelle Monáe

Started reading a cyberpunk/sci-fi short story collection, only to be delighted by the focus on experiences and stories of black lesbians and nonbinary folk in a world where those who deviate from the norm risk losing their memories, and everything that makes them who they are. It feels like an honest interpretation of the world and what so many people risk already.

I don't really follow pop music or celebrity gossip, so my knowledge of Janelle Monáe was limited to the name sounding distantly familiar and as the author of the book I was reading. The way they wrote non-binary characters really resonated with me though, and I love that each of them has a different and personal relationship to gender.

I had no idea the author was queer and nonbinary going in, but honestly I can't imagine something like this being written by an author who isn't. In a world where lgbtq+ representation is rare, and black lgbtq+ representation is even rarer, it'd be great to see more stories like these

#janelle monae #the memory librarian #books #lgbtq

okay i've only read the first short story but janelle monae's sci-fi collection book "the memory librarian" is actually really really good. i've been sitting on my copy for nearly a year now bc i was afraid it wouldn't hold up to my hopes. but like. the first story already has me feeling some big fucking feelings. a queer Black girlboss navigating being head memory cop and realizing the ways she's been policing herself through falling in love with a trans girl memory hacker??? like. holy shit.

#janelle monae #the memory librarian #alaya dawn johnson

Second Entry

“In the end, a simple happiness is better than a complex disillusion.”

― Janelle Monáe, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer

Synopsis

Memory Librarian and Other Stories is an anthology inspired by Monae’s album Dirty Computer. Each story is set in the near future, where a new government called New Dawn controls everything a person does down to their memories. Within each short story is a message of Queer, POC, and Female resistance against the rigid conformity New Dawn tries to impose.

There are five stories within the anthology, every single one could be read independently of the other, however there are references interspersed each novella. The titular story, Memory Librarian, follows Seshet as one of the high ranking officials in New Dawns order. Her job focuses on categorizing as well as monitoring the memories of her city until strange circumstances cause her to question her loyalties and even her own memories.

Nevermind follows the residents of the Pynk Hotel, a resistant group of queer women who have run away from New Dawn, dubbed Dirty Computers. However things are not as harmonious as they assume, as tensions between those who try to restrict what it means to be Pynk threaten to destroy the safe haven forever.

Timebox centers around two women who have found out that their closet has time altering powers, and the arguments on how best to use such a valuable resource as time for the benefit of the whole, or the individual.

Save Changes also deals with time, as Sisters Amber and Larry deal with being outcasts due to their mothers status as a reformed resistance leader. Gifted with a stone that their late father claims to rewind time, Larry tries to save her sister and mother from fates worse than death.

Timebox Altar(ed), the final story, is about a young child named Bug, who with their friends find and create art in a clearing with the help of Mx. Tangee, a strange woman who almost seems to have magical powers.

First Impressions

Wow! Memory Librarian blew me away with the descriptive prose and inventive stories of rebellion and love in an oppressive society. I enjoyed each story and the messages they imparted. I think my favorites were Nevermind and Save Changes, especially Save Changes with how well it mixed technology and magic together. I think for me it was definitely a fun read all the way through

The Good, The Bad, and The Fuzzy

The good has to go to the inventive worldbuilding of the setting Memory Librarian is in! Details are kept vague in terms of how New Dawn gained power, how memories are able to be used as a resource as well as what being a Torch entails. But I think that vagueness is in its favor from a narrative standpoint as the characters we meet already know all these things (Save for Bug and their friends), as well as for the reader to keep drawing you back in. It’s a nice blend of sci-fi contemporary without being set in such a heavily futuristic setting, there’s technology everywhere but it doesn’t feel like it’s the main focus or detracts from it.

The bad, I will admit I had trouble reading through some of the prose, especially in the Memory Librarian novella. I had to go back and reread many large paragraphs to try to figure out what exactly was going on. I think other than that I couldn’t really find anything else I had a problem with?

The fuzzy is more to deal with plots being abruptly cliffhangers, however I don’t find it as a fault due to the formatting but I still had moments where I would go “And then what??!!” before turning the page to be met with a new story.

Conclusion

Memory Librarian and Other Stories from Dirty Computer is an amazing anthology that talks about being different in a society that tries its hardest to stamp it out through the lenses of black queer women. Its sci-fi setting is friendly enough to those who aren’t familiar with the genre while also providing an interesting spin on the genre. I think this is a perfect read for those that enjoy evocative short stories within the same world as well as fans of Monae’s music. Listening to Dirty Computer while reading definitely helped immerse me in the world of New Dawn.