stormkeeper_lovedoris: (perfume red)
[personal profile] stormkeeper_lovedoris
A higher-than-usual number of books by dudes in this crop:

The Sisters Are Alright by Tamara Winfrey Harris – This short book is, as one reviewer calls it, a love letter to Black women. Black women face all sorts of harmful and crazy stereotypes – from Sapphire to Jezebel to Welfare Queen, on and on. The author dispels the myths and stereotypes, and provides a few snapshots of successful and happy African American women. I read the book because I care about and empathize with any group that gets routinely slammed by the media and the public. This book was nice and refreshing. The one downside was the author’s amateurish writing; I felt like either I could’ve written this or like I was reading a friend’s blog post, as opposed to something more polished. Grade: B

The Big Feminist But edited by Shannon O’Leary and Joan Reilly – Sometimes you encounter something that’s just a mystery. Like how is it that I found about this book only while searching for another, rather than by reading a review of it in any of the left-leaning, feminist magazines I read and scour for reviews? Seriously, I have no explanation for how I never heard of this one until I happened to see it in my library’s catalog. In any case, this book is an anthology of comics exploring feminism today “and where things stand between the sexes”. (The title comes from the infamous line so many women speak, “I’m not a feminist, but… (I believe in equal pay/I believe in reproductive rights, etc etc”). I think the book’s best quality was its entertainment value. The comics provided a fun and crisp way to explore the subject matter. Unfortunately there were a lot of duds in here too; I’d have taken out almost half of the entries and replaced them with something better. But the good ones were good. Grade: B

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! By Jonathan Evison – The novel tells the story of one woman’s life, alternating between flashbacks and her present situation in which she boards a cruise ship bound for Alaska because her recently-deceased husband had bid on the tickets. Harriet finds out that a few things she had believed turn out to be based on lies. It was very readable but also, unfortunately, very forgettable. One note: the novel contains an anachronism. The term “Ms” didn’t common into any sort of regular usage until the 1970s, but here it’s used in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. Grade: C

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson – This award-winning literary novel has been compared to “Brave New World”, except that it takes place in a real setting: modern-day North Korea. There’s s much that could be said about it. It explores themes like sacrifice and identity. It’s darkly comic but at times very difficult to read due to the brutality of life in North Korea. There were times I wanted to say that the plot was unbelievable and absurd, but then I figured maybe it delves into “absurd” territory because life under a dictatorship is inherently illogical. It certainly was enthralling. (Also, PS, this was the first book I ever read on an e-reader, woo). Grade: B


Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris - The second book I read from my e-reader, and this was so perfect for that! Harris's memoir literally is structured like a Choose Your Own Adventure. With the e-reader, I just clicked where I wanted to go. I loved being able to just pull this up on an airplane and read it; each segment was a nice, digestible snippet. Harris made it fun. Okay, question for anyone who is reading this though: Am I being too judgy if I say that Harris seems like a wonderful person but wouldn't it be nice if his book including something about any work that he was doing or supporting to help
those not as fortunate? I mean reading about Elton John's (a friend of Harris's) wealth and lavish lifestyle kinda make me want to puke Yeah, I sound like a judgmental a-hole. Idk though, that was the only thing that kept me from embracing him more. Oh, and I partly want to ship Harris and his husband, but please God don't let me go there. I don't want them to break up Grade: B+
PS - Oh yeah, fun fact: Harris was up for the role of Simon Tam in Firefly, but he says that contract negotiations fell through. Interestingly the role went to a different gay actor.


Tomboy by Liz Prince - An engaging graphic memoir about a girl who refuses to dress or act like a 'typical' girl. Dolls and dresses are not for her. I enjoyed every page and as a bonus - though I must add SPOILER ALERT! - she's not a lesbian or a trans man. She's a straight girl growing up who likes guys but doesn't want her life to be limited to cheerleading and beauty products. It's good to see that gender non-conformity is not just for LGBT people. Grade: B

Date: 2015-10-29 07:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nytshd3.livejournal.com
It's so disappointing when a book has great potential but suffers from mediocre writing. Bummer.

I think someone else told me the Orphan Master's Son was a good book too. Cool.

I can't see NPH as Simon. Though I suppose if he had been, I would have nothing to compare him to. Doesn't NPH support some charities? I seem to remember hearing that he was really involved in something. Maybe he didn't want to make a big deal about it (or look like he was only doing it to look good in his autobiography?). But if they were important to him, wouldn't he want to talk about it? I don't know. I don't think its assholey to ask what a wealthy person is doing to help the less fortunate. It might be assholey to ask 'why aren't you supporting my favorite charity'? When I was at DragonCon, a woman asked the marvelous John Barrowman why he didn't do charity events for military families. And as it turned out, he was very gracious, he did say that you can't just show up and say 'hi I want to do a show', but he said he did some volunteer work driving soldiers between the airport and their base, and told a few adorable stories about that. But I found it a little rude to ask about that *specifically* (she did say she asked because she's a military wife, but the way she asked it was not 'do you do any charity work for military families' but 'why don't you do any charity work for military families').

I'm surprised the Big Feminist But was not mentioned in Bitch or anything. Weird.

Date: 2015-10-30 12:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stormkpr.livejournal.com
It's embarrassing to admit how much I enjoy your comments and your LJ posts.

Orphan Master's Son is definitely good but depressing as hell. I had to read it in bits and pieces.

I'll see if I can research NPH and good causes. But I totally agree, no one should be publicly put on the spot about it. I do though tend to prefer rich people who donate money or volunteer or something.

Date: 2015-11-02 03:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nytshd3.livejournal.com
awww I really enjoy reading your posts and comments too! yay!

btw here's a little something about NPH's charity stuff: https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/neil-patrick-harris

Date: 2015-11-02 11:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stormkpr.livejournal.com
Okay, that is awesome! Now please god don't let me start to ship him and his hubby.

They were guest judges on Drag Race not long after Sharon and Alaska broke up. I looked at them and muttered, "Shouldda shipped them instead."

Date: 2015-11-03 03:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nytshd3.livejournal.com
LOL.

Well, humans are prone to disappointing us, so probably safest to not add another real life couple to your fangirl collection ;)

Date: 2015-11-03 04:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stormkpr.livejournal.com
I know, totally! I swear I never intended to get so deep into Shalaska. Doris and others warned me 'what if they break up' but it was too late, like once my mind decided to go down that road, I was gone!

So yeah, any time I start to think of shipping NPH and David, I just try really hard to turn my mind onto other things.

Date: 2015-10-30 08:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] megan-moonlight.livejournal.com
I don't read as much as I'd like to lately (I don't count obligatory reading here), so my to-read list gets longer and longer. And now I think I might add The Sisters Are Alright and The Big Feminist But to it, if I can find them.

I didn't know that NPH could play Simon. Now I think about it, it's difficult for me to imagine Simon not being played by Sean Maher. I think he was great in this role (one of my favourite characters).

Date: 2015-10-31 12:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stormkpr.livejournal.com
I hope you enjoy them, if you do come across them! And I do agree, Sean Maher was an amazing Simon Tam. I really felt like everyone in Firefly hit their role perfectly. But who knows? Maybe NPH would've done great with it too.

I, too. love that character!

Date: 2015-11-02 01:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rhoda-rants.livejournal.com
The Big Feminist But sounds like an excellent idea, but perhaps not as cleanly executed as it could've been? Maybe it would make a good Tumblr meme or something. I do hear that all the time though: "I'm not a feminist, but [lists totally feminist things they support]." It's sad that the concept has been so effectively smeared that people don't want to even say it.

It's getting better though, I think.

Oh wow, I love that about the eReader! I've seen NPH's Choose Your Own Autobiography on the shelves, and thought it was an adorable idea, but now you mention it, I can definitely see how that might been even better in the electronic format. How cool!

I don't think it's assholish exactly to expect him to talk about his charity work, but maybe the tone of the book was wrong for it? I got the impression it was more leaning towards the comedic. Anyway. Chiming in to agree that I definitely couldn't see him as Simon. Not no way. He's an excellent Dr. Horrible, though!

Speaking of which, my next autobiography I'm reading is Felicia Day's You're Never Weird On the Internet (Almost). One of my coworkers suggested we do a co-review for the newspaper, and that's the book she picked. Excited!

Date: 2015-11-02 11:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stormkpr.livejournal.com
I think sometimes the hard thing about any anthology is maintaining the quality throughout.

I forget, do you use e-readers or not?

Sean Maher did a great job as Simon and he's clearly got fans! Looking at Sean's wiki page though, I feel bad for him since it seems like he hasn't had much going on lately.

That book sounds good. I will add it to my list!

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