What Are We Reading, Page 12

I read this article last week regarding the bias against reading books by women.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/09/why-do-so-few-men-read-books-by-wo...

Did anyone else see it? I was a bit surprised that this is still happening.

>1 vwinsloe: I saw the headline but didn't bother reading. The notion didn't really surprise me. I believe other studies show that men don't read as widely as women in any case, so maybe their expectations are set by the specific genres they're used to and the type of protagonist they expect?

>3 SChant:, the headline didn't surprise me, but the statistics did. Sadly, it still pays for women to use their initials rather than their first names.

>1 vwinsloe: Argh, that's infuriating. One of the saddest things I read in a women's literature group I belong to on Facebook was a woman saying, "I don't really like books by women." What in the world does that mean? I have to say, I was surprised by the article. It's the 21st century, and here we still are. I guess maybe I have to move to Denmark?

>5 Citizenjoyce:. Iceland. That's where I want to move.

And, yes, patriarchal women are just the worse, aren't they? I think that a woman reader's dislike of books by women authors is just an indication that the reader does not want any challenges to their point of view or their assumptions. If for example, a book by a women passes the Bechdel test, as a book by a woman is more apt to do, then the reader may feel disparaged about their own life choices which revolved around men.
Sigh.

>6 vwinsloe: That sounds likely. I posted the Guardian article to the same group and a woman who owns a bookstore challenged it. She said in 36 years she only had one man say he doesn't read books by women, and she thinks her clientele are typical. I don't know what to say. We're going through a horrible, unprecedented heatwave where I live and people are saying, oh yeah, it's always hot in the summer. No different from any other summer. Statistics and even first-hand experience have no effect on established views.

>7 Citizenjoyce: yes, it seems that statistics and first-hand experience only have an effect when they support confirmation bias.

And, I'm sure that most men don't come right out and say that they don't read books by women, and many might even be surprised by their actual statistics if they knew them.

> Nobody is racist or sexist so where do all the racist and sexist laws and actions come from?

>9 Citizenjoyce: It's so embedded and so internalized that unless you are on the sh*tty end of that stick, you can't see it. All we can do is just keep shouting it out when we see it; louder for the people in the back. ;)

I finished The Yellow House, and I learned so much from it that reinforced my understanding of how racism gets institutionalized. New Orleans East, like so many African American communities, was cut off by the construction of a highway, and it became estranged from the rest of the city. People lived there outside many of the legal conventions, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many found it impossible to prove that they owned their homes. They were outsiders in their own cities.

I've decided to start American Dirt on Citizenjoyce's recommendation. I also intend to read as much criticism of it as I can to balance it out.

Started Written in Bone by Professor Sue Black.She's a forensic anthropologist who has worked with police, war-crimes investigators, and in a lighter note, historians and archaeologists to investigate and identify human bones. Some of the stories are harrowing but she is alway respectful and professional, and has a wonderfully dark sense of humour.

>12 SChant: That looks good.
I just finished a weird book, Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin, an Argentinian writer with a German name. I should look into that. Anyway, we've heard that people in the rest of the world can tell a novel from the USA because we always have a happy ending. This woman is definitely not from the USA. Little Eyes represents kentukis which are little mechanical creatures that can be controlled, inhabited by a person connected on the internet. There are Keepers who have these cute, animal shaped pets in their home, and Dwellers who inhabit the pets. So keepers voluntarily let strangers roll around and view their homes, and Dwellers get to experience places they never would have seen otherwise. If it sounds creepy, some of it is. Kentukis can bring out the hope and sweetness of a child and the sadism of a Keeper. They can be superheros or lonely voyeurs. The novel was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and is worth a read, even while it makes you itchy.

>13 Citizenjoyce:. That sounds fascinating. On my list, thanks.

>13 Citizenjoyce: Great review of Little eyes. I read it last year ( I think) and found the whole premise of the kentukis hugely disturbing and couldn't understand why anyone would want one in their home (I could understand why people might want to be a Dweller). I've read all three of Schweblin's books so far and she's definitely a writer to watch.

I just finished A children's bible by Lydia Millet which is a literary apocalyptic type novel. A group of families are vacationing in a big house near the coast, the children largely detached from and contemptuous of their parents. When a storm blows up causing massive destruction the children leave to take care of themselves. What follows is a harsh and thought-provoking treatment of the generational divide regarding climate change. I could have done without the obligatory redneck quasi-military looters who turn up, but I guess they were needed to propel the plot and I have to admit that such an occurrence is highly likely given the book's situation. A very interesting read.

My copy of The letters of Shirley Jackson arrived yesterday so I shall be delving into that very soon.

>15I wonder if I started a children’s Bible and the abandoned it. The plot sounds familiar. I hate books like Lord of the Flies were kids are just able to be mean to each other. Is there anything like the Lord of the Flies?

I recently finished The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye, Wonderful historical fiction about 19 th century NYC and the origin of their police force. It has delightful characterization and also a beginning, a middle, and an end in that order. I could just take a deep breath and relax into it. After that I read Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, Native American fiction about gods and their worshipers. It starts kind of toward the middle and then goes back and forth and jigs and jags and you get a little bit of this character a little bit of that character and it ends up being wonderful, but you have to work for it. Sometimes when I don’t want to rack my brain to figure out what’s going on, I like a nice book with a beginning middle and end. So now I’m reading the sequel to Gods of Gotham, Seven for a Secret.

>18 vwinsloe:. I finished American Dirt, >17 Citizenjoyce:. Thanks for recommending it. I think that the criticism was definitely warranted, too, although I think that it was somewhat unfair.

Now that the pandemic has loosened its grip, I have been finding a treasure trove of newer books at library sales again. I never made much of a dent in my old TBR piles after all. Sigh.

>18 vwinsloe: The thrill of the chase. My bookshelves have many books I'll probably never read as I look for new ones.

>16 Citizenjoyce: No, I wouldn't say A children's bible is like Lord of the flies. The children aren't always nice to each other, but essentially they are united against the adults. The narrator Evie takes great care of her younger brother and they have a lovely relationship.

>20 Sakerfalcon: Maybe I should try it again.
I finished 1 great and 1 good book recently. Because of the Olympics I read What Is a Girl Worth? My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander. I have to admit that I didn't pay any attention to the story at the time except to be glad that another sexual predator had been caught and to slightly wonder how a doctor would go about sexually abusing patients. The most important thing about Rachael Denhollander, and what almost stopped me from reading the book, is that she is very, very, very christian. You know, the homeschooled, small church kind of christian, and she pretty much shills for her religion throughout the book. But, in spite of her religion, or she would say because of it, her parents managed to raise a highly ambitious, intellectually, and physically accomplished woman who is determined to stand up for her rights and the rights of others. As a twelve-year-old, she started training in gymnastics only after her mother cautioned her that the sport can be damaging to young girls - pushing them beyond their endurance and promoting an unhealthy body image. She trained obsessively, as she does everything obsessively, and she injured herself in several ways, particularly her back and wrists. After going to doctors who didn't listen to her (that's a particular emphasis in the book - professionals who do and do not listen to the public) she found she could go to the famous Dr. Larry Nassar (whom she determinedly calls Larry throughout the book, you have to love that). He listened to her, he paid attention to her specific injuries, and gave her hope that he could treat them. He also, from the very first visit and with her mother right there in the room, slid his thumb and fingers inside her vagina while doing a pelvic adjustment. She and her mother had discussed the fact that some doctors do internal pelvic adjustments, but her mother thought that if it was determined that Rachel needed such treatment, they'd go to a female therapist. He never told them he was doing such a treatment, he never asked for consent, and he never wore gloves. This apparently is what he did to all his young, never been touched gymnasts and he was such an excellent doctor, with such a good reputation, that he got away with it for decades. Finally, years later when Rachel had become a lawyer she read a news story about girl-women gymnasts who were exposing the abuse they had suffered at the hands of coaches, and she emailed the man writing the articles to tell him that the famous doctor had sexually abused her and that she was willing to cooperate in any way, including the use of her name, to stop him. The rest of the book, much like Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller, describes the excruciating process of bringing a rapist to justice. I bought this book for my evangelical sister because I know she will appreciate the strong emphasis on religion, and I hope she'll accept Denhollander's emphasis that we have to root out rape culture wherever it is found: in sports, politics, or churches - even when exhibited by people we know and respect. It was pertinent that the slimy long-term after-effects of this doctor were highlighted in Simone Biles' breakdown at the Tokyo Olympics and also in recent articles that he is spending thousands of dollars on himself in prison while he sends about $3 a month to the mandated victim fund.
The good book that I finished was Madam by Phoebe Wynne about a new teacher at a prestigious, but strange girl's boarding school. It seemed to me that, with her exquisitely modulated voice, surgically perfected features, and enduring support of Daddy, Ivanka might be a Hope graduate.

I am probably the last person in the world to read The Dutch House, but I've just started it.

>22 vwinsloe: Not her best, but I liked it.

>23 Citizenjoyce:. Bel Canto being her best, right?

I loved Bel Canto, State of Wonder, Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, and The Patron Saint of Liars more. She's one of my favorite writers, I'll read anything of hers.

>25 Citizenjoyce:. Huh. I read State of Wonder, Commonwealth and Run and I hate to say that none of them were really memorable. Bel Canto stuck with me. Maybe I should read the other two that you linked.

>25 Citizenjoyce: I think I feel about some authors as I do about my children. They might do things I don't really like, but I love them anyway. Ann Patchett can get away with anything with me.

>27 Citizenjoyce:. I hear you. Sometimes it is just the way that an author writes, the style or the flow, that resonates.

I finished The Dutch House and I was on the way to giving it 5 stars until the last quarter of the book. I rarely think that a book should be longer, but the last quarter of the book introduced new characters that you really didn't get to know or care about before the book ended. It felt rushed to meet a deadline or something. That being said, I connected with some of the themes personally, and I loved the dialog in the first three quarters.

I am now reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down which has been in my TBR stacks for a very long time. When I saw Sunisa Lee win the Gold medal in the All-Around Gymnastics competition at the 2020 Olympics, and they mentioned that she is a Hmong-American, I remembered that I owned this book and decided to finally read it.

>29 vwinsloe: When I saw the great job Sunisa was doing and her large supportive family then the mention that she was Hmong-American I remembered all I had read about the difficulty of treating Hmong patients, but I couldn't remember where I had read it. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a great book, but so frustrating. Obviously, Lee's family has kept the traditional camaraderie but has dialed down the paranoia. And then you realize all the harm Nassar has done and realize that sometimes medical paranoia is a reasonable attitude.

I just finished The Barbizon, a history of the eponymous New York City hotel for women, which is really just the starting point for a social history of (mostly white, largely middle class) women in C20th America. It does of course feature some of the hotel's best known resident, including Grace Kelly, Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion, but at least as interesting are the accounts and memories from the less famous but more typical women who stayed there. It's a good device with which to frame the shifting attitudes to women's professional, social and sexual lives over the decades. Recommended.

>30 Citizenjoyce:. Good point. I bought The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down years ago from a sales cart at the West End Library in Boston, which is right up the street from the Mass General Hospital. I kept seeing copies of it over and over again, and I thought that it must be medical professionals who were reading and donating it. (I also saw a lot of The House of God probably for the same reason.) I hope that they have gotten better as a result.

>31 Sakerfalcon:. I'm putting that one on my list. Thanks!

I just finished a fun science fiction - mystery, Yesterday by Felicia Yap in which society, or at least British society, is divided into 2 classes - Duos who can remember life events for 2 days and Monos who can remember for only one day. Evidently Memento had its effect on writers, but there are no tattoos here. Everyone keeps a daily diary that they read first thing every morning to find out what happened yesterday. I'm a science fiction buff, not a mystery buff, so it was entertaining and kept me guessing.

I just finished The Women’s March: A novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession by Jennifer Chiaverini. I liked it. I really enjoyed that Ida B. Wells was a character in it.

>34 ElizabethPotter: Looks good. I requested it from the library. It'll probably take 2 months.

About to start Ancestors: the Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials by the wonderfully enthusiastic and knowledgeable Professor Alice Roberts.

I just finished She Who Became the Sun, which has a great rating, I think only because of the gender-bending aspect, but I can't really judge books about succession since they don't appeal to me. This is my review: The Ming dynasty was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang. In this queer retelling of the history, Zhu Yuanzhang is a girl who has taken her brother's name and fortune after he and their father are killed by bandits. It's an interesting story, to me much more interesting when Zhu is a determined and supremely well-disciplined child. After s/he grows to adulthood it becomes a story of strategy and succession. The parts about gender, sexuality, and living in poverty are interesting. The strategy is probably well done, but since I have no interest in it, I didn't care. People love this book because of the gender-bending. I guess others love it because Zhu is so clever. I think I dislike stories of succession because ultimately no one gets to be the boss by being a good person. I know life does not reward the good and punish the bad, but I'm foolish enough to wish it did.

I'm rereading The Left Hand of Darkness. I think that I read it as a teen or young adult the first time, and I don't remember it well.

>38 vwinsloe: Such a good read.

You know that you're not supposed to call or text your ex while you're drunk. I think there needs to be a new commonly shared rule that you shouldn't write a memoir while depressed. I just finished This Will All Be Over Soon: A Memoir by Cecily Strong. I love Cecily Strong on SNL, she's funny in many different ways, she can sing, and she's beautiful. I'm still a little miffed that they pulled her from Weekend Update with co-host Colin Jost and substituted Michael Che. That would have been something to address in the memoir, wouldn't it? No. Instead, she goes in-depth into her emotional reaction to every death she has experienced. Her young, talented, inspirational, fun cousin Owen died of a brain tumor. She starts this book of interconnected essays with that and repeats it over and over in essay after essay. Unfortunately, Strong struggles with clinical depression and Covid has hammered her psyche. You would think her psychiatrist would have casually mentioned that her obsession with the death of others, especially this cousin, is diverting her attention from something of her own that needs to be examined. If she did, we get no insight into that. All we get is death after death of people she loves. Someday, when she has recovered from this pandemic, I hope she writes another book that showcases her humor.

>36 SChant: On your recommendation I listened to Rememberings. I don't know what to say. She had a horrific childhood, yet she completely forgives her parents, especially her mother. I tried to kind of ignore her belief in angels and visions but when she finally converts to Islam thinking it is in some way better than Catholicism, it was too much for me. I agree, the stories are interesting, but she's just too much and too irrational. Which I'm sure she's been told all her life.

>41 Citizenjoyce: Not just irrational, she has been hospitalised several times for mental health issues, which I'm sure doesn't help. I agree that the religion-hopping thing seems excessive, but just assumed that one is as good as the next if someone is prone to that variety if belief.

>42 SChant: I just finished The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson that talks, among other things, about the possibility of editing genes for human potential. There's a discussion of the pros and cons of "repairing" one's offspring. In the afterward, O'Connor says that her mental illness was not caused by anything done by her parents. After the severe abuse perpetrated by her mother, I can't say that's not true, but it's possible that if she hadn't had the genetic propensity perhaps the illness wouldn't have manifested. Would it have been better if that gene had been edited before her birth? Well, I'm sure it contributes to her creativity, so the world would then not have benefitted from her music, but is our entertainment worth her suffering? I imagine, especially with her strong religious beliefs, she would choose to be just the way god made her. I myself was born without whatever genetic propensity there is for belief, so I react very strongly against people who wallow in it. I think my way is the best way, so I guess I'm just as blinded in that area as she.

>43 Citizenjoyce: I've read about various experiments with stimulating different parts of the brain to produce or reduce experiences of religious belief or societal prejudices. I don't understand all the technical stuff, but it is fascinating. The brain is a marvelous organ!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4769621/

>44 SChant:. I had not seen that study, but it seems to add physical evidence to support the Terror Management Theory in psychology advanced by Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, and Sheldon Solomon. Fascinating.

>44 SChant: Looks like we're doomed. The worse Covid gets, the stronger anti-vaxers and anti-maskers are going to hold on to their religious-political beliefs. It's a perfect death spiral.

>46 Citizenjoyce: As the redoubtable Monty Python crew said - "Always look on the bright side of life" (whistles). Haha.

>46 Citizenjoyce:. Bingo

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022167820959488

I finished my reread of The Left Hand of Darkness and was glad to have read the 50th Anniversary edition with the afterward by Charlie Jane Anders. The Afterward highlighted the Envoy's subtle sexism and noted how the Estraven character has resonated with non-binary and trans people reading it since it was published in 1969 .

Now I'm reading Olive, Again and despite the description of Olive as a big woman, I can't help but picture the always wonderful Frances McDormand in my mind's eye as I read.

>49 vwinsloe: Frances McDormand is perfect for Olive. Do you find you have to start all over with her in this novel? She starts out pretty unlikeable once again.

>48 vwinsloe: I think I'm losing my hope for humanity. I don't know how we get out of this mess since it doesn't seem we're programmed for solution.

>50 Citizenjoyce: No. I really like Olive right from the start, probably already being aware of her inner compassion.

>51 Citizenjoyce:. I feel like that a lot as well. But I think that there are more of us than there are of them, and backwards ideas and behavior are not a good survival strategy in the long term. ;)

>52 vwinsloe: I so hope you're right.

I finished Olive, Again and was pleasantly surprised at how Strout brought in characters and settings from her other books. I liked it quite a bit.

I'm now reading Bag Man. I am old enough to remember VP Agnew pleading out to tax evasion. I didn't know much more, so I am interested to find out the whole story now.

>54 vwinsloe: Maddow does make history and politics fascinating. I haven't read Bag Man but I listened to her podcast about it. Nope, corruption didn't start with trump, but he is pretty much the leader in being able to do it without consequence.

I'm reading A town called Solace by Mary Lawson and am completely engrossed.

>56 Sakerfalcon: I put A Town Called Solace on hold at the library, but I'm pretty sick of angry, rebellious daughters. That's become one of my top peeves in literature.

>56 Sakerfalcon: & >57 Citizenjoyce:. I love angry rebellious daughters - having been one. ;>) I'm putting that on my wishlist as well.

I like daughters who rebel against oppression. I just finished Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free by Linda Kay Klein, now there was a needed rebellion that it took daughters years to accomplish if they did. Most of my reading is audio these days, and it's a little cringemaking to listen to Klein read her book full of laughter and audible smiles. She learned growing up in the church that girls and women are always friendly and smiling, and she does it well. She is so addicted to friendly smiles that her Chron's Disease wasn't diagnosed for years because a doctor didn't believe she could be in the pain she described. She said when she submitted an earlier version of her book publishers rejected it saying it was too dark. She took that message to heart and really tried through her narration to brighten up the book, as a good christian woman would do.
So warranted rebellion is fine with me.
What I hate are all the books about daughters rebelling against parents who love them and are doing the best parenting they can. These girls throw themselves into self-harm as a way to "get even" with the people who love them. Have you watched the NetFlix series Atypical? That daughter drives me crazy. She is almost completely self-centered and insults her mother at every opportunity. The mother, since she has made mistakes in her life, just takes it and takes it. I haven't finished the series and still have hopes these people will wake up.

>59 Citizenjoyce: No, I have not heard of Atypical, but I don't really watch anything but MSM news and a little sports these days.

When thinking of fictional rebellious daughters, I thought immediately of Little Fires Everywhere. Sometimes a parent's good intentions feel like oppression to the child.

>60 vwinsloe: Right. And I'm just sick of daughters who interpret their parents' good intentions as oppression. There's so much real oppression and good people are wasting their energy and even harming themselves fighting imagined oppression. I'm thinking of the anti-vaxers here. I once read a science fiction book in which there were guides of some sort who would transport into a world that was advancing too well and make sure to throw a wrench into the progress. I think that's happening now to us all, and the rebellious daughters exemplify that disaster for me. Plus they're good fodder for misogynists who assert that you just can't make women happy whatever you do.

>61 Citizenjoyce:. But you are asking teenagers to be more self-aware and mature than adults? In Little Fires Everywhere, the mother's good intentions were formed out of overprotectiveness that came out of her own personal history, and of which she herself was unaware. I don't think that it is uncommon that parents bring some personal baggage into their childrearing, and without any real communication with their children (Because I'm the mother that's why!), and without awareness by the parent of their own deep-seated issues, I'm afraid that you are simply asking too much of a young person.

I agree that there is all kinds of imagined oppression these days (Freedumb!), but in the parent/child dynamic, I expect more of parents than of kids.

>62 vwinsloe: I guess I'm just asking for more love and the benefit of the doubt.

I finished The Dreamers which I picked up because of my increasing enjoyment of the the author's previous book The Age of Miracles. Where The Age of Miracles was notable for the atmosphere that the author created, rather than the characters or the plot, The Dreamers had strong characterizations and an almost thriller like plot for most of the book. At the end, The Dreamers also took up the dream-like atmosphere that impressed me in The Age of Miracles.

I didn't really understand that the book was about an epidemic when I started reading it, and although it was published in 2019, there were uncomfortable parallels to our present situation. There is a lot to think about with this book. I gave it three stars as I did with The Age of Miracles, but I thought about that book so often after I read it that I went back and gave it four. The same thing may happen here.

I'm trying to decide what to read next. I recently scored so many books at library sales that I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

>64 vwinsloe: Looks good. Now is certainly the time to read about epidemics.
I just finished Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke which brings me back to terrible daughters. Burke's mother encouraged learning and taught her to be strong but showed her little love and an abundance of shame while she was growing up. Burke felt unloved, though she always respected her mother. While fictional mothers who do their best to show love to their daughters they are shown to raise really disrespectful and unlikeable daughters. I think fiction writers, even women, for some reason want to show daughters in a bad light while the real people who write about their family are not usually so horrible to their mothers.
Aside from my new obsession, Burke brings up the topic of how to handle a sexual predator who is also not only respected and honored but also actually benefits his community. Linda Kay Klein in Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free and Rachael Denhollander in What Is a Girl Worth? My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics do the same thing. Yes the predator is exposed and may or may not be brought to justice, but the woman is disdained by the men and women who support all the good deeds done by the predator.

Just finished my first Rose Tremain: The Gustav Sonata

A very melancholic story. It reminds me of something I read or heard a while ago...that one of the most difficult things to do is to be a good person living an ordinary life (is there such a thing as an ordinary life??). The novel's titular character's answer is to "master one's self". It's very quiet, but very intense.

I started My Dark Vanessa with some trepidation and was skeptical almost all the way through. In the end I was impressed with it though. There was a lot to think about, and some interesting questions were raised.

Finished a few enjoyable reads:
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker - I thought the epidemic and the conspiracy theories surrounding it were handled well. I liked the philosophical discussion of whether or not personal love is ethical, though I continue to think the stance that it is not is inhumane. The only thing I didn't like was the magical treatment of time. That silliness not only didn't work for me, I thought it was unnecessary.
The Women's March: A Novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession by Jennifer Chiaverini handled the race issue very well. I could see both sides. Of course, all women should have been welcome at all levels of the suffragette movement, and Ida B. Wells was a true star. I've read that politics is the art of compromise, and Alice Paul bought that idea. From the beginning of our country, the voices of reason have found it necessary to compromise with the South which always stands against equality and support of those in need. I don't know what you do about that fact.
A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson - I liked it very much in spite of some of the annoying female characters. The daughter, what a waste, but I know cities are full of children who rebel for the sake of rebelling and end up getting very damaged. The characterization was done very well. Often the precocious child is too difficult to write, but the little girl wasn't really precocious, just knew how to go toward the people who could help her. The parents who can't stop lying in order to protect their children, unfortunately, seem realistic to me.
The Woman behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey. You know the saying, "If you like 40 hour work weeks, no child labor, and weekends thank the unions? Actually, we should be thanking Frances Perkins. She was behind all of Rosevelt's best accomplishments (and tried for universal health care), but he got the credit. In politics charisma is everything, and evidently, he had it and had enough sense to be guided by Perkins who faced all the misogyny and labels of socialism that one could fear.
And lastly, you can't go wrong with Ann Patchett. Once again she has a winner with The Magician's Assistant about a woman grieving her dead husband and interacting with his hidden family. Patchett always comes up with strange perspectives on strange situations, and the combination of magic with both a dysfunctional and a functioning but irregular family really works. I felt let down by the ending, but I think she said exactly what she wanted to say, it just didn't resonate with me.

I finished You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories by Gabrielle Union (I had no idea she could write). I won't get into her strong condemnation of white people wearing blackface while saying nothing about female impersonators, but I will mention the joy of reading about the dance-off between Bruno Mars and his buddies and Union and her sisters, including Serena Williams. It makes me happy just to think about it. There's lots of unhappy stuff, including mostly racism and infertility problems, but that dance-off brings a smile to my Saturday.

I really didn't have much on my shelf for this year's Halloween read, but I started Broken Monsters which seems like it will serve the purpose. It may pale in comparison to the nonfiction I just finished entitled, Hidden Valley Road, which was written by a man and was fascinating and horrifying in equal proportions.

>70 vwinsloe: What a tragic family.
Let us know what you think of Broken Monsters. It looks pretty creepy.

>71 Citizenjoyce:. I enjoyed Broken Monsters more than I expected. It had Beukes's feminist approach to horror, which again makes things interesting, but it had some other thought provoking themes as well. The plot had a slow build up during which the various characters were fleshed out and a few subplots explored, but the final third did turn into quite a fast-paced thriller. A bit gruesome in a couple of places, but not gratuitously so. Not great literature, but a fun read and a quite a bit more than average for the horror genre.

>72 vwinsloe: thanks, I’ll give it a try.

I just finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and while I do not like romantic fantasy in general, this book was different enough that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The female protagonist was a free spirit and had multiple lovers for whom she acted as muse rather than dependent. A clever plot and good characters added to the novel's charm.

Am I the only one still posting here? Sigh. I hope not, as this is my favorite group.

At risk of talking to myself, I just finished Such a Fun Age which was left in my little free library, and just happens to be a bookcrossing.com book. At first I thought that it was going to be a light romantic comedy with a few sharp edges. As I read on, although it did have some similarities with romcoms, such as highly improbable coincidences, the novel was more about race and interpersonal relations and personal growth (or not.) I found it to be an exceptionally clever narrative which gets people to think about some issues. It will never be quite a classic because of its topical nature, but it is worth a read.

I am so encouraged by books like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Such a Fun Age that are sort of romances but show women breaking out of tiresome old stereotypes and tropes and who ultimately save themselves.

I loved Such a Fun Age. It's a strange title for a book about race but does fit the way the book is written, which is looking at race and career from several different sides.
I finished an eye-opening little novella Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. I'd never heard of it before. Published in 1938, it's an example of why I dislike the idea that you have to consider the politics of the time before judging what an author writes. In 1938 we in the USA were doing our best, successfully, to ignore the horror Hitler was inflicting on his own people, but kathrine Kressmann Taylor wasn't. We always hope authors have open eyes and can see maybe parts of the world that our blinkered eyes ignore. Taylor, in this little novella, saw it all and told the world about it in, I have to say, a very entertaining way.
I also read Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City by Rosa Brooks who, I found out, is the daughter of Barbara Ehrenreich. Brooks is a law professor at Georgetown University, an international consultant on foreign policy, and a journalist. In her spare time, she decided the best way to understand what is going wrong with policing in America was to join the force, so she became a reserve officer in Washington DC (against her mother's wishes). She talks about the difficulties of police training and the emphasis on officer safety. The emphasis is on the fact that every situation and every person could pose a threat to the officer, so the officer should treat every situation and people they encounter accordingly. We see the results of that training. She talks about the mounds of paperwork for everything they do which results in their often ignoring situations they could help. She talks about the damage done by well-meaning mandatory sentencing. And she emphasizes how many actions have become criminalized and how the overabundance of very detailed laws affect regular people.
I reread Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, another book that shows complex interractions. I'd read it 4 years ago, but forgot almost everything about it, so all the major plot points were new to me again. You know, I'm a rule follower, and one of the characters is an ultimate rule follower. I dislike mean-daughter characters, and one daughter is not only rebellious but downright mean. She's also the only child in that family aware of injustices and eager to address them. The reason I reread the book is that I've heard it mentioned several times recently. It sticks in the public mind because the characters and themes weave everyone together so expertly as they examine topics that, seem to me, can't be resolved.
Right now I'm reading All the Murmuring Bones by A. G. Slatter, a fantasy with fantasy tales sprinkled throughout. There are merpeople and silkies, automatons, a hint of vampires (though I haven't met any yet), and of course, a struggle for power. I love the story, I hate the power struggle.
I also hope the group doesn't grow silent, though I put off posting way too frequently until I have too many books to talk about.

>75 vwinsloe:, >76 Citizenjoyce: I really enjoyed Such a fun age too. On the surface it seemed pretty light and was an easy read, but I found myself thinking about the themes and situations long after I'd finished it.

I've read The once and future witches which is feminist alt-historical fantasy. It's beautifully written and the characters are well developed, but the misogyny is hard to take.

I'm currently working my way very slowly through The letters of Shirley Jackson which I'm finding both interesting and entertaining. I'm so glad that her work is seeing a revival and being given the regard it is due.

>77 Sakerfalcon: I did love The Lottery but I think I remember not being too fond of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I've recommended your book to Libby, so I'll give it a try if they get it in audio.

>76 Citizenjoyce: Address Unknown sounds interesting. I was driving to Maine yesterday and listening to Maine Public Radio, and there was a professor on talking about how the way that we are taught something- what is left out and what is emphasized - reinforces the cultural and historical biases of the time. That's obvious now with some things, but this professor authored a book entitled A People's History of Classics, and she noted for example, that we may have been taught Aristotle's disparaging view of women's intellect in the classroom, but not that Plato believed in the equality of opportunity between the sexes.

Tangled Up in Blue looks interesting, too. I'll keep my eye out for both books.

I've started to read Because Internet which is a bit drier than I expected, but has some interesting observations.

>79 vwinsloe: Address Unknown is only 96 pages, you'll zip right through it.
It's so hard to know what is true because history is always written from someone's viewpoint. When viewpoints clash the saying is that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but we know from current events that that isn't true. The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones is out. I'm 10th on the waiting list for 1 audiobook which sounds pretty good, but they estimate the waiting time will be 20 weeks because it's 600+ pages long. That will certainly be another perspective.

>80 Citizenjoyce:. And I see that the Introduction to the recent edition of Address Unknown was penned by Margot Livesey whose books I adore. I have her most recent, entitled The Boy in the Field, but I haven't read it yet.

>81 vwinsloe: I hadn't heard of her before, I'll have to check her out.
ETA oops I was wrong, I read The Flight of Gemma Hardy and liked it, so I'll try The Boy In the Field.

Just started the irrepressible Jeanette Winterson's memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. It's painfully honest, rigorously intelligent, and wryly funny - like much of her writing. I'm enjoying it immensely.

I finished the first of the Scholomance trilogy, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, no dragons this time, just lots of magic in a boarding school probably you wouldn't want to send your kids to. I'm on hold for the second in the series, but it will take some time. I hope I don't forget too much in between.

I've just started Native tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin. Having complained about the misogyny in The once and future witches, I've now gone for something even worse on that front! The first chapter, which is all I've read so far, is intriguing though. I've also read 2/3 of Elgin's Ozark trilogy which I love - this is very different in tone though.

I've also been reading Patricia Highsmith, as I found a bunch of her books at a used bookshop recently. I've seen the film of The talented Mr Ripley but otherwise her work is completely new to me. So far I've read The two faces of January and This sweet sickness and enjoyed them a lot. She certainly wasn't afraid of writing unlikeable characters, and I have to admire her for that.

Just started the novella The Impossible Resurrection of Grief, an evocative meditation on extinctions in the natural world and what it means for human emotions, set in the all-too-near future. I love her writing style.

Reading Bille Jean King's autobiography All In.

>87 SChant: I loved it. I had no idea she'd done so much.
I just finished When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky by Margaret Verble which would have been a 5 star read for me if it weren't for the animal deaths. In spite of that, it's a great story about Two Feathers, her stage name, who lives her life in show business of one sort or another. She's an expert shot and rider, but her current gig is diving a horse off a platform into a tub of water. There are characters of several races with friendships between them. Once a coworker of hers refers to her "jigaboo" friend. Two is taken aback. The coworker excuses herself by saying, "well, back home we just called them niggers." And Two, a thoughtful woman of action explains that Crawford is a human, just like her perky coworker. An easy thing to say, but not a concept that occurred to some of the characters in the book. There's a mystery to solve and a well-done piece of magical realism. I think I'll be recommending this book to everyone.

>88 Citizenjoyce:. On my wish list!

>83 SChant:. Have you read anything else by Jeanette Winterson? I read Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal sometime ago and I enjoyed it, but I just don't know where to start with her fiction.

>89 vwinsloe: I've read a lot of Jeanette Winterson's early stuff, but went off her later works - either finding them too intellectual for my tastes, or a LitFic version of science-fiction, which as an avid SF&F reader is a bit of a bugbear (the writers and critics always seem thrilled by a "new" idea that has been a trope for decades in SF&F!)

Having said that I really love Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (her fictionalised version of her strange childhood; Gut Symmetries (passion and physics); and Written On the Body (the pain and pleasure of love).

I may have to have a re-think and pick up some of her later work.

>90 SChant: Thanks. I think that I have Oranges are Not the Only Fruit on my wishlist somewhere. Someone put a copy of Sexing the Cherry in my Little Free Library, but it doesn't seem to have gotten very good reviews.

I loved Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles. I tried Sexing the Cherry and abandoned it so have been reluctant to try anything else by her.

>92 Citizenjoyce:. Good to know, thanks!

I seem to be having a good run of women's autobiographies at the moment - first Jeanette Winterson, then Billie Jean King's All In, which was excellent, and now Lady Hale's Spider Woman.

Didn't someone recommend The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore? I can't find it. What a great book, I just finished and am amazed I've never heard of Elizabeth Packard before now, the woman who spent much of her life trying to get the law to recognize women as legal people within themselves not just possessions of their husbands. I can't imagine the strength and determination it took her to face room fulls of men and convince them that women are people and that people who have been judged to be insane still have the right to be heard. So, whoever posted it, thank you.
I read another 5 star book, this one fiction - Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead about another strong woman who was determined to live her life as she determined. Unlike Elizabeth Packard who spent so many years trying to get to be with her children, the most important people in her life, Marian Graves was determined never to have children, and never to live according to "normal" conventions. More than anything else, she wanted to fly. There are many similarities with Amelia Earheart, but she also mentions the accomplishments of other female pilots of the day, shades of Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O'Brien. I want to recommend the book to everyone, especially my RL book club, but it's 608 pages, so that limits the audience.
This month I plan to read 5 more books that are 500 to 700 pages:
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story - Nikole Hannah-Jones
Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds - Huma Abedin
*The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles
State of Terror- Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber
plus miscellaneous normal sized books, then there's that pesky Christmas holiday to prepare for. Fortunately (at least as far as reading goes) the majority of my extended family is republican, so I don't have to worry about family parties and cooking. Tis not the season to be partying with anti-vaxers.

>95 Citizenjoyce:. Thanks for the two recommendations. I'm putting them on my wish list. I've seen Great Circle at the library and it looks like something I will like.

I've been reading much shorter stuff these days. Just about finished with the novella All Systems Red which is great fun.

>96 vwinsloe: she sucks you into her universe with All Systems Red then you have to read them all.

>97 Citizenjoyce:. I finished All Systems Red and it really was a fun book. Of course, the Tin Man was always my favorite Oz character. I've got Artificial Condition on order already.

In the meantime, I've started Girl, Woman, Other which I had kind of been putting off due to its length.

>98 vwinsloe: I find I gave Girl, Woman, Other 4 stars, but even though I read it only a year ago, I don't remember a thing about it. I hope you find it enjoyable, it might even stick in your mind.

>97 Citizenjoyce: Truth!

>99 Citizenjoyce:. I'm only about 100 pages in to Girl, Woman, Other and I still hope to discover why it won the Booker prize. One thing that caught my attention immediately is the almost total lack of punctuation and uppercase letters. They are apparently used only when necessary to meaning, and the author uses line breaks quite frequently. It is almost as though the entire book was written as a series of text messages. I find this really fascinating after having recently read Because Internet which is about how our language is changing as the result of electronic communications.

If you listened to the audiobook, you may have missed this? I don't know how they could have represented this style orally.

>99 Citizenjoyce: , >101 vwinsloe: I gave it 3 stars - it was OK but not gripping. The author has made various TV appearances on book clubs and general literary events, and I find her much more interesting to listen to than read.

>101 vwinsloe: I did listen to the book, but when I looked up reviews of it I found out about the punctuation. We're all so highly invested in texting these days, I don't imagine I would have found it offputting as long as the intent was clear.

>103 Citizenjoyce:. Yes, it's not offputting at all. In fact, almost more readable, as it just sort of flows along. Not quite stream of consciousness, but less structured and easier to take in. I'm still not far enough along to be invested in the characters or get the point of it though. I'm so slow these days. I never thought that I would miss my daily 2 hour ride on the commuter rail.

Wow, Octavia Butler is really getting some attention.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/12/the-second-coming-of-octavia-e-butl...

>105 Citizenjoyce:. It's about time.

There is so much media now, with the rise of premium cable tv, as well as Netflix and Amazon productions. They need more original content, and I think that it is terrific that they are reaching back and finding some of this older stuff now that the world may be "ready for it."

I note sadly that author Anne Rice has died.

https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-movies-brad-pitt...

>107 vwinsloe: You can certainly say she lived a full and productive life.

>108 Citizenjoyce:. And the struggles with loss that she had along the way: the death of her young child, the loss of her beloved husband, and her final denunciation of Christianity, were all thematically wrestled with in her novels.

>109 vwinsloe: That whole Christianity thing seemed so strange to me, but hurting people help themselves the best way they can.

>110 Citizenjoyce:. I thought so, too. Many of Anne Rice's characters were unabashedly gay, and I could not comprehend her return to Catholicism, albeit for a brief time.

>97 Citizenjoyce:. I've started Artificial Condition and admire the strategy of releasing these as novellas so that people have to keep buying books!

>112 vwinsloe: True, but having read so many long books this month, I appreciate being able to read a short one once in a while.
I just finished a book by a man about a woman Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou about Elizabeth Holmes and her blood testing start up Therenos. She's just as cute as a button and has a surprisingly deep (affected) voice a la Ivanka. Holmes knew from a young age that she wanted to be a billionaire and evidently didn't care how she accomplished that. I wish her company could have lived up to her hype, but she, unfortunately, decided to go into health care without knowing anything about health care. (Somewhat like politicians who go into politics without knowing anything about government.) Her trial highlights the "fake it til you make it" attitude of Silicon Valley, but even if you're a first-class sales person, faking it in health care is pretty dangerous. She has so much charisma, she may just get off. We'll know soon.
Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett is a book about men written by a woman. It concerns two different boats that shipwrecked off the Auckland Islands. One had a good captain who suffered from depression, the other had a mentally sound captain who suffered from vanity. Very interesting.
Which leads me to The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik, the second in the Scholomance series which' just in time for me to read it for Christmas, shows the value of working together.
Oh, and a little bit of affection for Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds by Huma Abedin. Abedin is very religious, which is unfortunate, but she's also a strong, smart woman who knows how to get things done. Of course, the most interesting parts of the book chronicled the rise of Hillary Clinton and what she has gone through working in politics.

Here's hoping for a great new year. As usual, I'll be reading from lists of the best reads of 2021. Here are the lists, if you're interested.
AARP: https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/books/info-2021/authors-pick-top-books.html?i....
Amazon bestsellers: https://a.zipscholar.com/books.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAwqCOBhCdARIsAEPyW9mHPEMqgF0tYb....
The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/12/best-books-2021-assembly-kla....
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/awards/best-books-of-the-year/_/N-29Z8q8Z....
Bookriot:
Business - https://bookriot.com/most-popular-books-in-us-libraries-2021/amp/
Historical Fiction: https://bookriot.com/most-influential-historical-fiction/amp/
Entertainment Weekly: https://ew.com/books/best-books-of-2021/
Glamour: https://www.glamour.com/gallery/best-books-of-2021
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2021/dec/08/the-best-books-of-2....
The Guardian authors: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/dec/05/the-best-books-of-2021-chosen-by-o....
Indigo - https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/best-books-of-2021/
NPR: https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2021
New York Post: https://nypost.com/article/best-books-of-2021-top-must-read-titles/amp/
New York Times:https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/best-books
Publisher's Weekly: https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2021/top-10#book/book-1
SCRIBD: Romance https://www.scribd.com/books/Romance?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=bing&utm_....
Shareable: https://www.shareable.net/21-inspiring-must-read-books-for-2021/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAw....
Slate: https://slate.com/culture/2021/12/best-books-2021-novels-nonfiction.htmlentertai....
Talkdistrict: https://www.talkdistrict.com/10-books-we-recommend-reading-in-2020/?keyword=the%....
Time:
Nonfiction - https://time.com/6125895/best-nonfiction-books-2021/
Voigue: https://www.vogue.com/article/best-books-2021
Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-books-of-2021.html
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-
Yahoo: https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrUiZhT9chhMBYA5wAPxQt.;_ylu=Y29sbwNnc....

and, so far, this is what I'll be reading:
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters
Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch - Rivka Galchen
Intimacies - Katie Kitamura
Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age - Debby Applegate
Milk Blood Heat - Dantiel W. Moniz
*The Personal Librarian - Marie Benedict
The Plot - Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Push - Ashley Audrain
Revival Season - Monica West
The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century - Amia Srinivasan
Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan
Under the Whispering Door - TJ Klune
The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt - Audrey Clare Farley
We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice- Mariame Kaba
We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy - Kliph Nesteroff
Winter Sisters - Robin Oliveira
Yellow Wife - Sadeqa Johnson

>114 Citizenjoyce: Thanks so much! These lists are always helpful to me.

I received The Last Thing He Told Me as a Christmas gift, and I read it right away as I could see that the person who gave it to me wanted to discuss it. The writing in the beginning reminded me a bit of the late Sue Grafton which was okay. But as the mysteries began to resolve, it was really very ho-hum. Two and one half stars from me.

So I started Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House. I loved her short story collection Her Body and Other Parties, and I hope that I will be similarly pleased with this memoir.

Happy new year everyone!

2022 sees me still reading and enjoying The letters of Shirley Jackson.

This year I'll be participating in the Virago Modern Classics group's monthly themed reads, as well as the Asia reading challenge in the 75 books group. This should include lots of books by women, and get a number of titles off my TBR pile.

I've started Women in the wall for the Virago challenge (this month is "Nuns, teachers and governesses") and The silence of Scheherazade for the Asia challenge (Turkey).

>117 Sakerfalcon:. Happy New Year to you as well! It looks like you have some interesting reads ahead of you this year. If only I could be that organized!

I think both those challenges will be big. Enjoy.

I finished The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray which seems to be getting lots of buzz these days. It's about Belle de Costa Greene an African American woman who passed as white and became the very powerful and well-paid personal librarian of J. Pierpoint Morgan. I looked at some of the photos of her and can't believe she passed as white by claiming a Portuguese grandmother, but maybe being African American was considered to be so horrible that people were reluctant to place that designation on such an intelligent, personable woman. Anyway, the story is illuminating but I find it not terribly well written, so I guess all the buzz is about the content. What a pity. But if you're interested in books about books and art history, you might find her life as fascinating as i did.

I guess her charm doesn't go quite as far as I feared it might. I notice she's found not guilty for anything directly connected to patients, which I think were the worst offenses of all. Here's hoping Sunny faces at least the same.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/03/technology/elizabeth-holmes-trial-verdic...

I just finished We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba and I am way too jaded for this kind of idealism. Plus the author reads it herself and does a very bad and hesitant job of it. Here's my little review: Come on, this would never work for the whole country. First of all, we'd have to give up capitalism and establish an idealized communism. Fat chance. Then we'd have to assume the "bad guys", you know the rapists, torturers, murderers that they want to listen to their community and express concern for their victims, then reform. She specifically mentions Weinstein, Nassar, and R. Kelly and says they shouldn't be in jail but instead should be involved in her kind of transformative justice. That's a lovely thought, as if any of them would be willing to transform. Police who kill and torture civilians also should not be in jail but should be involved in transformative justice. It makes no difference that she doesn't know how all this can be accomplished. It's a process that we have to be willing to work hard to develop. It's a lovely thought and might work in families or even in some communities, but this is the era in which 1/3 of the US thinks we need to destroy democracy and infect our neighbors with a pandemic in the name of freedom. Pie in the sky.

I needed to take the taste of treacle out of my mind by starting An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten, the sequel to An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good, about a sweet little old lady serial killer. I can't think she'd be too eager to be involved in transformative justice herself.

I'm reading and loving Matrix by Lauren Groff. I dislike historical fiction generally, but decided to give it a go because I've enjoyed two previous books by Groff.

While this feels like an accurate depiction of life in a convent in the 1100s, world-building is not the focus. The main character, an imagined version of the mystic Marie de France, is determined, educated and has a matrilineage that enables her to see and use her power. The writing is hitting me almost like the religious visions depicted in the book. There are very few ways to create and explore a world composed nearly entirely of women that feel authentic. Groff has found one of those ways.

>123 nancyewhite: That looks good. I requested it on Libby and should get it in about 3 months.

>123 nancyewhite: I have this on kindle and am really looking forward to getting to it.

I just finished The Push by Ashley Audrain. My daughter has always told me she doesn't want children. I used to think she'd change her mind, but I've accepted that she won't. Here's my little review: A combination of We Need To Talk About Kevin and The Omen combined with 3 generations of bad mothering. If a woman tells you she doesn't want children, believe she's the best judge of her maternal capacities. If a mother tells you her child is evil I think some intense psychological counseling is indicated for the whole family.

Started Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963). Edited by a man but containing stories by women writing for the pulps in that era. A few new names to me.

>126 Citizenjoyce:. As someone who also chose not to have children, I really appreciated Jill Filipovic's blog today https://jill.substack.com/p/actually-maybe-its-selfish-to-have

The Push looks like something that I will like. I'm putting it on my wishlist. Thanks.

I finished In the Dream House, and greatly admire the creative way in which Carmen Maria Machado examined her experience of domestic abuse through the lens of a variety of different folklore and pop cultural references. She also explored the subject of domestic abuse, and specifically abuse in lesbian relationships, from a scholarly point of view, acknowledging the impact that it has on both prejudiced and idealized notions of same sex relationships. She discusses how abuse in lesbian relationships is different, and yet the same, as abuse in straight relationships, and how trite the patterns of abuse are, to those not living through it.

I'm sure that I will be thinking about it for a while, but now off to the 3rd installment of the murderbot series with Rogue Protocol.

>129 vwinsloe: In the Dream House is one of my favorites in recent years, and I still think about it often. I'm glad it has found another thoughtful reader

>129 vwinsloe: I'm just finishing Revival Season by Monica West a novel about religion and domestic abuse that is pretty upsetting. In the Dream House looks good but I'll probably have to recover a while before attempting it. I think the murderbot series is a perfect follow-up.

>131 Citizenjoyce: I put the first Murderbot on hold at the library a few minutes ago. I'm #44 on 1 copy so it's going to be approximately 18 weeks though.

>132 nancyewhite: The good news is that it's a very short book so your wait probably won't be that long. The murderbot would suggest watching some sci-fi tv series as you wait, it does that very frequently.

>133 Citizenjoyce: Sanctuary Moon, lol.

I finished Rogue Protocol last night, and I'm leaning toward starting Hamnet.

Finished Ghost Bird by Lisa Fuller. It was billed as a supernatural thriller but was more a YA melodrama set in an Aboriginal Australian community. A teenage girl, Laney, goes missing when she's out stealing with a group of boys and the family rallies round to search for her. Her twin sister Stacey has dreams that seem to show what her sister is experiencing, and there are hidden stories of similar things happening to women previously.
It's nicely done, building up a picture of strong familial bonds in a harsh environment. The most disturbing aspect is the matter-of-fact assumption by the Aboriginal people of racist treatment by the white townsfolk. I could have done with more exploration of the supernatural elements, but it was a satisfying read.

I finished Hamnet which was lovely. This is my third book by O'Farrell, and I really enjoy her writing style. Although she uses lots of long, descriptive prose (and commas!), she intersperses it with short declarative sentences, that somehow, for me, makes for a flowing, emotive reading experience.

I started The New Jim Crow yesterday. It is the 10th anniversary of the publication of this important book, and while the ideas contained in it are becoming much more understood and accepted in some places, sadly, there has been little change to mass incarceration and its legacy in the USA.

>136 vwinsloe: I've read 2 of her books Hamnet and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and like them both. I'll have to check out some of her others.

>137 Citizenjoyce: The first one was After You'd Gone, and it was so long ago that it was before I'd joined LibraryThing. I was very impressed with it. I also read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.

I just finished Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters. This is my little review: "This book does offer interesting information and perspective, but I can't say I liked it. Then again, I'm sure I'm not the intended audience. I don't know if human brains are capable of sorting through so many choices every day: Do I want to be male or female? Do I want monogamy or polyamory? Do I want to be a slut or a nice girl? Do I want to be humiliated or respected by my partner? Do I want to reproduce or not? Do I want to have a baby or not? Do I still want to think of AIDS as a terrible disease to be avoided at all costs or is it just an inconvenience? There are way too many options presented, I think people need a little more grounding to make it through life in a healthy way. Probably my biggest objection to the book is the sexist idea the M to F characters have about women, that they are delicate and need to be protected or subjugated. It seems to be very superficial, but then, they're NYC people who are different from the rest of us."

>139 Citizenjoyce: I will probably read Detransition Baby out of curiosity if it comes my way. Thanks for your take.

I finished The New Jim Crow. Whew! I can't say that I disagree with it, but her solution seems so impossible that it's depressing. She seems to be calling for a more humanitarian approach to crime and governance (with both special recognition of race and somehow not). So, overall, an excellent exploration of the facts and the issues, but sadly, no realistic remedy.

I've started Exit Strategy, which will be my last murderbot for a while until the used book prices come down.

I was debating about whether non-binary writers belong in Girlybooks for a couple of seconds and decided yes.... hope that's okay.

I just finished One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. Once you suspend disbelief about the absurd time travel aspect, this is a fun romantic queer romp that feels like a direct descendent of the Tales in the City series.

>140 vwinsloe: I'll be reading The New Jim Crow next month. I'm getting quite annoyed with the abolish movement because, as much as I believe in strong social support, I also know a little something about political reality and am afraid some movements are willing to destroy society in order to save it while others just want to destroy society. You put the two together and I don't see how you come up with improvement.
>141 nancyewhite: I guess non-binary writers do belong here. I'll check out One Last Stop because I can't resist a mash-up of the tags NYC, subway and time travel.

>141 nancyewhite: Yup. One Last Stop is going on my wishlist as well. I can't think of a better combination. Sounds like fun. Thanks.

>142 Citizenjoyce:. I took issue with a lot of the practical aspect of Michelle Alexander's thinking. I, too, would like the USA to be a lot more like Scandanavia with an emphasis on taking care of the people-- but I just don't see how we get there. Sadly.

>143 vwinsloe: The answer seems to be: first we give up capitalism. That's a bit like saying "first we learn how to fly." We can barely maintain our democracy so how realistic is it to say we should completely change our economic system. Just trying to make capitalism not quite so bloodthirsty is too much for half the country.

>144 Citizenjoyce:. Agreed.

It seems to me that prison abolition is a utopian concept. However, given the current state of affairs, I think a more likely goal is to continue to work toward rectifying the racial imbalance and making right the long sentences for marijuana convictions. I also think things like charging prisoners for books and "email" that they are forced to use instead of letters can perhaps be addressed especially by ending privatization. Finally, health care horror, mental health treatment and opportunity for meaningful education and engagement may be changeable. My city, Pittsburgh, has a truly horrible record at the county jail level and there seems to be some positive movement through local activism leading to the creation of an oversight board which includes activists and family members of prisoners along with the usual suspects.

Honestly, frankly, I don't think some people can be changed at their core regardless --even in a utopia.

I feel like saying these things would result in accusations of not being a radical. I am one. However, I'm 55 so also practical and think energy must be focused on help for the folks who are suffering now.

>146 nancyewhite: Right. I don't think we can do away with capitalism, but we can limit its control over public institutions. A very necessary step is getting rid of private prisons.

I just finished Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira, kind of a sequel to
My Name Is Mary Sutter. Set in the early 20th century Mary is an established physician now and working with her physician husband. There's a killer blizzard in which 2 little girls are kidnapped and sexually abused. I was worried that the book was going to go into too much detail about that, but it doesn't. However, it does point out the difficulty of convicting a man of rape at that time when, in Albany NY, the age of consent for a girl is 10 years, so a 10-year-old girl faced what adult women face now that she had sex with her paramour then later felt guilty and charged him with rape. There's also the usual sexism directed at women in general. This is the best book I've read in a while.

>146 nancyewhite:. I agree that abolition is not possible, but there certainly should be fewer prisons, and fewer criminal prosecutions, particularly for non-violent crimes. Our prisons could be much more humane, having the true goal of rehabilitation and reintegration. And, of course, providing social programs that get at the root causes of crime. Even these things seem beyond our reach.

>148 Citizenjoyce: do you advise reading My Name is Mary Sutter as well as the sequel?

>149 vwinsloe: Oh yes. It's a wonderful book.

I just finished These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett and loved it which was a surprise since I didn't like it at first. Sometimes our favorite fiction writers aren't all that interesting in nonfiction plus she has great respect for the Catholic religion or for practitioners of it. My Year of No Shopping didn't really apply to most of us since, as Patchett says, she's rich. She has so much accumulated stuff that she doesn't need to shop for more. She doesn't even need to get a new dress for an extra special occasion since she has lots of extra special dresses. But that wasn't the one that got me - The Worthless Servant was. In fact, I came very close to abandoning the book after this nonsense about faith and self-sacrifice. But, it's Ann Patchett, so I continued and loved the rest of the book, and was inspired and uplifted by it. The woman knows how to do friendship.

>150 Citizenjoyce:. Thanks. On my wishlist.

Reading Daring to Hope, Sheila Rowbotham's lively account of her life as a femininist and socialist activist in 1970's London. Her actions and enthusiasm give me a warm feeling of nostalgia for the early days of "Womens Liberation" as it was known back then, and pride in the work that was done and the gains that were made.

>153 SChant: It's so important to read something that gives hope these days when there seems to be less and less of it.
>140 vwinsloe: I'm about half way through The New Jim Crow. I like the updates in the introduction, but I hope she'll write a new one considering the past 2 years. If nothing else, you can see the validation of BLM.

>154 Citizenjoyce:. Yes, the statistics are overwhelming.

>140 vwinsloe: OK, I finished The New Jim Crow and I remain surprised that neither she nor those in the abolition (of the police force) people have anything good to say about Obama. She does say that they have to be willing to upset their allies in order to accomplish their end goals. I certainly see that in play all the time and have to think it's a bad idea. She's very upset that so much effort is being put into maintaining affirmative action saying that effort should be put into abolishing the Jim Crow prison system instead. Her solutions seem to me to be a bit like shooting yourself in the foot. The one idea I got, and that I have always maintained, is that it would be advantageous to find a way to turn the movement into one of uplifting all people in poverty, not just Black people in poverty thus decreasing the animosity of poor whites and the ability to use that animosity to push white supremacy. I think that's very important, but it looks like trump has figured out he can suck all that animosity into momentum for his "America First" take over. I can't say the problem is unsolvable, but it sure seems to have everyone perplexed. But I agree completely that the War On Drugs is completely misguided and dangerous and has to go.
Now I'm reading Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age by Debby Applegate. Maybe I need a Jewish rags to illegal riches story to settle my nerves.

>156 Citizenjoyce:. I think that the idea of lifting everyone out of poverty will still leave African-Americans as lower class than whites. The racism that was everywhere in our systems resulted in higher rates of generational poverty. The biggest example is the inaccessibility of GI benefits to African-Americans leading to their inability to become homeowners (from which most generational wealth comes) (see e.g., The Color of Law) or go to college (from which higher wages and the means to build wealth are obtained.) So while programs to combat poverty are needed, there needs to be some programs specifically targeted to African-Americans so that they can obtain a level playing field with their white peers. For example, low cost homeownership programs specifically for African-Americans.

I don't think that Obama did much for African-Americans in particular either, although his achievement and visibility was hugely important. But I agree that Michelle Alexander's disparagement of everything and everybody that has not taken on racist prosecutions and punishments works toward real solutions either.

Ugh. Now I feel like I need to immerse myself in an episode or two of Murderbot.

>157 vwinsloe: You're exactly right. I assume you're white. I'm white. As frustrating as the inability to find solutions is to us, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to Black people, so I understand Alexander's anger against her allies who won't work on the same problems in the same way as she. But I can't think that will do her good in the long run.
My new book, Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, is not providing me the same tension relief I thought it might. Yes, these women were making money the best way they knew how, but the men - fun loving, big spending - who had their own proclivities and kept wanting younger, prettier women are pretty disgusting.
I'm going to need something akin to Murderbot when I'm done.

>158 Citizenjoyce: Yes, I am white, and you are right, I can't even truly imagine the frustration nor have a solution of my own.

>29 vwinsloe: I absoutely loved The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Sorry, I am new here and don't know how to put the title in blue....

I was working in health care administration at the time and the story was fascinating. I was impressed by how cultural differences affect healthcare outcomes.

>160 AdrastiaV: it’s an amazing book. The culture was so different from mine I almost related to it as if it were fiction. I was a nurse for 20 years and cared mostly for Hispanics and White people. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d had to deal with that amount of distrust. I’m retired nw so I don’t have to deal with the Covid distrust.

>160 AdrastiaV:. Welcome! It seems that I am reading and enjoying much more nonfiction these days.

>161 Citizenjoyce: With the way that anti-vaxx people are behaving these days, you'd think that they had a strong cultural tradition of non-western medicine like the Hmong. But, nope, they just seem to want to oppose everything and think that their beliefs are the equivalent of expertise. With the abuse being hurled at healthcare workers these days, you are well out of it.

It took me forever to scroll back up to my old post, so I think that I should start a new page. See you all over on page 13!

>21 Citizenjoyce: with all due respect, I don't think Simone Biles had a breakdown at the Tokyo Olympics. Indeed, she showed good faith, courage, and knowledge of herself and her capabilites by making choices on where and when to compete there. sorry I don't mean to criticize you, but it's easy to call it a breakdown, because we think she must have failed, yet I see it as being strong instead.

>163 Whitecat82: I don't think the term breakdown indicates failure. Biles did indeed do what she needed to do to keep herself alive and healthy. Life gets overwhelming at times, that doesn't mean we're weak, it just means that troubles sometimes come for us all at once, and she responded wisely.