Book Report
Jun. 27th, 2023 07:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisFat Girls Hiking by Summer Michaud-Skog - I love a good how-to book. And it’s even better when the book is written with an awareness of prejudice and discrimination. So this book was written to help give fat girls the confidence to go hiking. The author has formed groups and traveled the country to that end. Like I mentioned, she is also very aware of racism and other forms of discrimination – she did a very good job ensuring the book is NOT just “fat white straight girls” hiking. Also, the book is full of breathtaking pics. Makes me want to get out and hike right now! Grade: 8
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels – A novel, taking place in the 1980s, which is told in first-person by three characters: Brian who is gay, has AIDS, and has returned home to Ohio to be taken in by his parents; his young sister Jess who doesn’t know that Brian is gay and has AIDS; and their mother Sharon who is torn between loving her son and being mortified. Definitely the story hit home for me. I remember what it was like to be gay back then, the way everyone hated on queers but no one really discussed it (at least not in any sort of meaningful way). The story is compelling as it moves towards its inevitable conclusion. My major complaint is that the section narrated by the teenage sister Jess just didn’t ring true for me at all. Jess is not a poet or writer and yet she uses phrases like “nervous as hens” (to describe her friends when a hot guy is around) and “loaves of uncooked dough” (to describe her thighs as she is “overweight”), and so on. I was a teenage girl in the 80s, one who liked to write, and nobody wrote or thought like this, come on! Still, a good book overall. Grade: 7
Sex Cult Nun by Faith Jones – I really wanted to read a book that hooked me, that forced me to keep picking it up when I should be working instead. This is that book. The author was born and raised into The Family (AKA The Children of God), a patriarchal cult. Several others have written about them; Rose McGowan was born into them as well (and I remember reading her memoir a few years ago). Some of the examples Jones gives are harrowing, and I won’t even try to recount them all. But a few: children having nightly inspections to ensure they have no underwear on since their cult leader believes everyone has to air out their privates, children being forced to give hand jobs to adults. You know, I am going to stop – this is so horrid and there’s no point to giving any more examples here. Putting aside the disgusting details, this book is totally absorbing. (I guess I can say one positive thing for the cult. Apparently when the author was about 10 years old, the cult surveyed its members and found that the female adults were now all traumatized from having been forced into sex when they were kids, so the cult raised the age of consent. It’s still gross though). It was great reading how Jones breaks free. Grade: 9
A Waiter in Paris by Edward Chisholm – In the economic downturn of 2008, the author is an Englishman living in Paris, desperately trying to find a way to make a living. You might think getting a job as a waiter is not so hard, but it is. It’s a very competitive endeavor in Paris, and the pay sucks and the hours are long. In fact, I guess I’d hoped that Western Europe wouldn’t be as terrible to its service workers as the US is, but unfortunately it seems to be just as bad, based on this book. Its subtitle is “adventures in the dark heart of the city”. Several times I wondered why I was reading this; the book is nearly 400 pages – big pages with small font! – and I can’t say it’s a thriller like the above book. But the author provides just enough good anecdotes to keep me reading. Though I must point out that he is utterly without the social awareness of the author of the first book on this report. Grade: 5
Believe in People by Charles Koch with Brian Hooks – It’s easy to get cynical. But this book asks that we don’t, and it provides lots of reasons why. It’s a good book. It starts with the author talking about his life, inheriting a large company when he’s in his twenties and spending decades trying to do right by his employees, his community, and the world. He then talks about how often the best solutions to societal problems often come from the ground up, and as always he gives many inspiring examples. The author also made an admirable attempt to – despite being an old straight white dude with money – to bring in lots of voices of people different than he. Grade: 7
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Date: 2023-07-02 12:44 am (UTC)The Prettiest Star sounds good, but I had to laugh at your description of the teenage sister's comments. "Nervous as hens"? "loaves of uncooked dough"? That only sounds feasible if it was something her mother said all the time and she started copying it. I feel like I was the most sheltered, naive person growing up. Just totally didn't understand ANYTHING.
Ugh, children of god. I am admittedly a bit baffled that they surveyed their members and in such a way that they could get that the female adults were all traumatized. Like, what happened that they suddenly decided that they cared about this after all those years of just seeing women as a means to an end? Also very much hope they raised the age of consent to, like, an ACTUAL age of consent. There's a woman i've seen on Instagram who grew up in a cult like this and talks a lot about how women are "trained" from a young age at EVERYTHING including stuff like how they modulate their voices and stuff like that. Crazy and terrible.
I honestly don't know how people keep working as waiters given the terrible hours, shitty pay, and craptastic customers. It is at least relatively quick cash (if you get cash tips) and presumably with some experience under your belt, you could get a job at a higher-end place which in theory would have better tips. But, wait, they don't tip in europe, right? So the pay is just terrible everywhere? I've always been a big tipper but ffs, how is it even possible that we continue to have people willing to bring us food in restaurants? Or work in restaurants at all?
Believe in people sounds so uplifting! We sure need it.
Thanks for sharing, as always!
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Date: 2023-07-02 02:35 pm (UTC)I just keep shaking my head at the way that writer had the 80's teenage girl narrate. She wasn't a poet or a writer - who in the hell is gonna use phrases like 'nervous as hens' and 'loaves of uncooked dough'?? Ugh.
Yeah, those Children of God....there were so many other horrific examples but what's even the point of listing them? I am truly shocked that they realized at one point that forcing female children to engage in sex was leaving their adult female members scarred and that they actually made a change based on it.
And about that waiter in Paris book? I read your comment before I went to bed and last night I had a nightmare that I was working as a waiter in some high-end restaurant!! LOL.
Thanks for reading!
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Date: 2023-07-15 02:58 am (UTC)