Pride Themed TBR!

I had made a list of books that I wanted to read in June based on what I had out from the library and what's on my top-priority shelf of books I own, and I realized that I had unintentionally created a great Pride themed TBR for June, which was so perfect, I just had to pop-in and tell you about it. I'm hoping to write a few reviews for books I've read while I've been gone, but I'm not sure if I will or not. The second half of the year will (hopefully) be extremely busy for me as I am hoping to start my first year of teaching, so I don't know if I will be back to posting or not, but for the meantime, here's what I'm hoping to read this month.

To see what I've been reading lately and a few quick thoughts, you can check out my Goodreads.

Ace Representation

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

I've heard lots of great things about this YA contemporary, and I'm really interested to read it as the main character identifies as Ace, which is not often represented in novels. I'm not sure if this is own voices or not, but I'll be checking into that after I read it. 

Bisexual Representation

Hunger by Roxane Gay

I'm currently listening to this one on audiobook and loving it. This is my first Gay, though she is an author I have been wanting to read for a very long time. So far this memoir is so honest and well written that I am captivated and just want to hear everything that Gay has to say. Gay identifies as bisexual.

Lesbian Representation 

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

I read and loved Water's Fingersmith last year, and I have been wanting to read another of her books. I'm in the mood for romance novels this month (summer does that to me) but I tend to get tired of the typical YA contemporary romance if I read more than one or two in a month, so I thought a Water's historical romance would be great to throw in this month. 

Gay Representation 

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

I'm also currently reading this one. I have been wanting to read this one for a very long time and have almost picked it up many times over the past two-or-so years and I finally decided now is the time! I'm really in the mood for a consuming and intense romance story, and I think this one will deliver. Baldwin himself was either gay or bisexual, and one of the only black authors to be open about it during the Harlem Renaissance, and I'm really eager to read his works.  

Have you read any of these? What are you reading this month? Any intense and slightly tragic romances to recommend to me? 

March Book Haul! (And a cry for science fiction recommendations)

The end of February was my birthday, and my parents bought me a few books, and I received some bookstore gift-cards as a gift, so March was a good month for new books! Here's a quick look at what's new to my shelves this month.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee 

Bygone Badass Broads by Mackenzi Lee

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Poems by Maya Angelou

I've been craving science fiction and fantasy reads lately, and science fiction is not a genre that I have a lot of experience with. I decided to use my gift-cards to buy Chambers' novel since I have been hearing really great things about that series, and I LOVED the movie version of Vandermeer's Annihilation so I thought those two would be an okay place to start with science fiction. If you have any recommendations for me, please let me know!  

Women's History Month: Nonfiction Recommendations

It's no surprise that most of the nonfiction I read is women's history or feminist related. Here's a look at some of my favorite in honor of women's history month. 

Half of the Sky, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

This book is full of so much information about what it is like to be a woman around the world. This book is not an easy read, it's quite heavy and emotional, but it contains enough stories of successful and brave women to carry you through to the end. It also has a great collection of resources for further information and to help you get involved. 

My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem

This is my first Steinem piece, and I loved it! I loved her writing and her ability to listen. She is truly inspiring and so smart. She's an author I want to read more from ASAP. 

West With the Night, Beryl Markham

I really enjoyed this memoir from female pilot Beryl Markham. She lead such an interesting and barrier breaking life, and I really enjoyed reading this book and reading about this book. After they divorced, her ex-husband claimed to have written the book for his wife, but it is now widely accepted that she did indeed write her own memoir. A great fictional novel about Markham's life is Paula McClain's Circling the Sun.  

I am Malala, Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai

 This is another great and moving memoir. I really loved listening to this one on audiobook, and I really want to reread it soon. Malala has such a strong narrative voice and her determination is inspiring. If you haven't read this one yet, you need to pick it up!

The Astronaut Wives Club, Lilly Kopple

I found this read really interesting, as I knew almost nothing about the space program in the 60s. I found myself constantly stopping to look up more information and pictures of the people in the book. I do think this could have been a little more in-depth, but I thought it was a really interesting look at the women behind the most famous men in the Space Race. 

Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit

This essay collection is very well researched and Solnit is extremely eloquent. Quite a few of the essays in this collection are shocking and hard-hitting. I really want to read more feminist essays, and I think this was a great place to start. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR

Right now, I'm in a HUGE science fiction and fantasy mood, which you will see reflected in this list of books I really want to get to this spring. I've been craving to sit down with a long and super involved fantasy: problem is, work is taking up all my reading time and energy. Hopefully I'll find some time to dive into a few of the selections from this list during the season. Let me know where I should start! All titles link to Goodreads! 

Hosted by:That Artsy Girl Reader

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi 

And I Darken, Kiersten White

Queen of Shadows, Sarah J. Maas

(Need to reread Heir of Fire before diving into this one)

Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

(Loved the movie, now I want to read the series)

Binti, Nnedi Okorafor

(Will be reading this one very soon)

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, Shaun David Huthinson

Undead Girl Gang, Lily Anderson

(High hopes for this one) 

Alice and the Fly, James Rice

I will be a happy camper if I manage to make it through some of these reads this spring! What are you looking forward to reading this spring? Any good sci-fi or fantasy recommendations? 

Recently Read Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls

Author: Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
Genre: Nonfiction/ Illustrated
Publication Date: 2017
Page Count: 212
Rating:  2.5/5

Add on Goodreads

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Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers who Changed the World

Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls in an anthology in the style of bed-time stories about one hundred women from history. Each story is accompanied by an illustration. 

These anthologies of forgotten or overlooked women of history are becoming quite popular, and I love it! I have been reading as many as I can get my hands on because I love using them to discover new-to-me women from history. You may know I majored in English and minored in history, and my area of interest was always gender in both subjects, so these books were made for me! This is the most popular of these anthologies as it is already getting a sequel and has had quite a bit of buzz. However, I heard some critiques of the book I found interesting (mainly this video from Jean Bookish Thoughts on Youtube) so I was really interested in checking it out from the library before purchasing it for myself, and I'm glad I did because I have some mixed thoughts.

Obviously, I love the premise behind this one. I love the idea of a book funded by kickstarter about forgotten women of history all around the world accompanied by portraits of said women done by tons of different women artists, but this sounds better than it was. I found my main problem with this book was the writing of the actual stories. The stories were so vague and watered down that they hardly contained any information about the women themselves or their work. I also found that some of the women's stories focused on strange aspects of their lives other than their work. Virginia Woolf's page, for example, was all about her depression; two short sentences on the page mention that she was a writer. I found myself wanting to learn more about these women than these short summaries offered. There is also the question of the inclusion of a few of the women, as Jean mentions in the video above. There are ancient female leaders who conquered other nations in here, as well as Margaret Thatcher, who was anti-equal rights for many groups of individuals. This brings to light the idea that having power should not automatically earn someone admiration. 

One thing I did love about this book was the full-page color illustration of each woman. I loved that the authors worked with sixty different female artists and that the portraits were of all different styles. Some of the art I loved, and some I didn't, but I appreciated the variation more than I thought I would at the beginning. I also loved that this book included women from around the world as well as  throughout time. This collection was one of the most diverse I have seen. It spans ancient Chinese rulers to current athletes and activists. I also appreciated that current women were represented in this book, and a lot of them are very young. 

If more time and detail had been put into the writing in this book, I would have loved it. I came away with a long list of women I want to research and read about, which is exactly what I'm looking for in these anthologies. I will continue to read every one of these types of anthologies that come out because I love supporting books and ideas like this. Although I think there are probably better anthologies out there, (I'll let you know when I find one) I do recommend you pick this one up.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for me of similar books. Oh, and Happy National Women's History Month :)

February Wrap-Up: T.V, Movies, Books, and More

Life

February has been busy for me. The long-term substitute job I had lined up started about five weeks earlier than I had expected it too, so I have been a bit scrambled. That also means that my February reading plans did not happen, as I found myself without a lot of reading time. However, I did manage to read and watch a few things this month, that I wanted to tell you about. I'm going to to try to stick to two posts a week during this new teaching job, but we will see what I can get done. 

T.V. and Movies

I've been in the mood for documentaries lately, so I started the month off with Paris is Burning which is a documentary made in 1990 about the Drag Queen scene in Harlem New York. I found this one really interesting, as I didn't know anything about the 90s drag scene. The documentary interviews various frequenters of the club Paris is Burning, and interviews them about their life inside and out of the nightclub. I found it fascinating to see that a lot of the slang that black drag queens had invented is coming back in style, and that they are responsible for a lot of cultural elements that they are not given credit for. This documentary is both series and funny, and I really enjoyed watching it. 

The second documentary I watched this month was Finding Vivian Maier. This one reminded me of Packed in a Trunk, which I loved, as they both centered around an undiscovered woman artist. This was is about a nanny who was a secret street photographer and took hundreds of thousands of photos in her lifetime. I really loved this one as it was a dynamic look at her art and her life, and was so engrossing. The photos Vivian Maier took are absolutely stunning, and you can see some of them on the website dedicated to her art here.  

My mom and I devoured the Queer Eye for a Straight Guy reboot in a matter of two days this month! I LOVE this show! The new fab five is so sweet and funny, and this show has so much heart. It's so much more than a makeover show. It's about human connection and understanding and doesn't shy away from current social topics. This show had me tearing up from emotion and laughter, and I hope there is a million more seasons! 

I really loved Black Panther and I was glad to see that it lived up to the hype! The Afro-futurism setting was super cool; everyone in this movie is so beautiful; and it had more interesting female characters in it than all of the other marvel movies combined. I'm excited to see where this franchise goes, and I'm hoping that Marvel keeps delivering movies like this with complex and diverse characters. 

Books 

 

A Wrinkle in Time- 4/5 stars- This was a first-time read for me, and I really enjoyed it. I'm really looking forward to this movie!
Mary's Monster-5/5 stars- This book was gorgeous! It's an illustrated biography of Mary Shelley and the art is breathtaking. 

 

My Life on the Road-5/5 stars- This was my first read of Steinem's work, and I really loved it. The writing is great and her experiences and knowledge of our society are so vast and intricate. She has really inspired me to concentrate on listening even more than I was before reading this novel.

This Darkness Mine- 3.5/5 stars- This book was a wild ride in true Mindy McGinnis style. This book was addicting and dark and cemented McGinnis' place on my auto-read list.

Posts to Check Out

Ten Books That Made a Romance Skeptic Swoon (this one goes all

the way back to my teenage reading years)

Poetry Spotlight: Black History Month

Stay tuned for some Women's History Month themed posts in March! 

Recently Read: My Life on the Road

Author: Gloria Steinem
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
Page Count: 280
Publication Date: 2015
Rating: 5/5

Add on Goodreads

Gloria Steinem has done everything. She's an activist, journalist, organizer, magazine editor, traveler, speaker, and listener. In her essay-style memoir, she recounts some of the most important events in her life and what she has learned from her travels and her long activist career. 

This is my first Steinem experience. I was aware of her and her work before reading this, and I knew she was a person that I wanted to read about and from, so I thought her memoir would be a good place to start. I knew I would enjoy this, but I didn't know the writing would be so good. Steinem's writing is so engaging and entertaining, that even when she is discussing complex or distressing concepts, it felt like a casual conversation with a friend. 

This memoir starts with a chapter on her childhood with a focus on her father. This was my favorite chapter of the novel. The way that Steinem writes about her always-traveling father with love, admiration, and introspective-reflection was quite beautiful. Steinem has a great outlook on life, and has accomplished so much in so many areas of life and activism, it's a bit insane. 

The biggest take away from this memoir for me was the importance of listening. Steinem is a constant listener, and because of this, she is able to learn and experience so much life. She covers so many interesting topics and eras in the novel and recounts the stories of others rather than herself. While feminism is a large focus of this novel, as it is a large focus of Steinem's career, it is not the only focus. Steinem discusses racism, overcoming a fear of public speaking, AIDS activism, the rights of indigenous Americans, and of course travel. Her section on the primary election in 2008 between Obama and Hillary Clinton was fascinating. Her account of listening to democratic women who did not support Clinton was so interesting, and her conclusions were something that I had never thought of before. 

Before this novel, I admired Steinem for her activism and barrier-breaking career. After reading her memoir, I still admire her for those things, but even more than that, I admire her ability to listen and communicate. Her chapter on talking circles and her audience-involvement at her public speaking events has really inspired me to listen more. I have always considered myself a good listener, but I could always do a better job of listening to individuals (particularly ones I disagree with or who think differently than me) and I think that is something that is universally true of humans. I can see myself revisiting chapters in this novel many times, and found myself marking many sections where I learned something new or was introduced to a new approach to a topic. 

I highly recommend checking this out if you have an interest in Steinem, feminism, activism, or just want to learn something new. I want to search out more of her work, particularly her essays in the near future, as well as learn more about some of the activists I was introduced to in this novel. 

Recently Read: Mary's Monster

Author: Lita Judge

Genre: Nonfiction/Illustrated

Publication Date: 2018

Page Count: 320

Rating: 5/5

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Frankenstein Review

Literary Look: The Gothic Novel 

Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley created Frankenstein tells Mary Shelley's life and woes with beautiful illustrations. From her own birth, which brings misfortune, to the death of her beloved, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the creation of her masterpiece and the science fiction genre, Mary Shelley's story is heartbreaking and poetic. 

I read Frankenstein a couple of years ago, and I believe it is one of the best and most important novels ever written, even more impressive, is that Shelley was eighteen years old when she began writing it. I researched the origin of the novel a little bit when I first read it, as I was writing a paper on it, and immediately knew I needed to learn more about Shelley. When I saw this one, I was interested, but upon learning it was completely illustrated, I immediately ran to my library to grab it. 

The story of Shelley's life is told in free-verse and accompanied by absolutely breathtaking illustrations. The back-flap reveals that this books took Judge five years to finish, and I cannot imagine how much work went into this novel. Every illustration is a full-page or double-page charcoal drawing, which captures the mood of Shelley's life perfectly. 

Mary Shelley had a turbulent life and romance with the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her fear of and tragic experiences with pregnancy and birth lead her to explore themes of creation and motherhood in Frankenstein and her involvement with Shelley, Byron, and others in the Romantic circle allowed for her to create and publish her novel. Shelley wrote Frankenstein in nine months, while she was pregnant with her second child; her first had died ten days after birth. It was published anonymously, but after it's great success with the public, Lord Byron published proof that Shelley was the author.

This biography is a great introduction to Shelley's life. It gives the complete story of Shelley and her creation, but it doesn't go too deep. I have plans to read much larger biographies, but I'm glad that I read this one first. The art is what really makes this novel. Shelley was an amazingly brilliant woman who defied society at every turn and created one of the most important and popular novels ever written. I recommend this novel for all levels of interest in Shelley and her work. Even if you are a seasoned-Shelley-scholar, the artwork in this novel is worth seeing alongside her story. 

My Library Holds List

I've been trying to cut down on my book buying this year, as I am running out of shelf space for my physical TBR at the moment. It really stresses me out to see a jam-packed shelf of  books that I have owned for various amounts of time that are still unread, so I've been trying not to add to it. I have of course bought some books this year,  but I have been using the library a ton in the past two months. One thing I like about placing holds on books from the library is that you're on the list to get the book, but if there are people in front of you, you don't get it right away. That means that in the mean time I can read the books I own and it really is the best of both worlds. Here's a look at what I have a hold on at the moment in both physical and ebook format from my library.

Everything I have read by Maureen Johnson has made me crack up, so I really want to read her new release. She's great at mystery and humor, and since this is a mystery, I think I'll really enjoy it. 

This sci-fi novella is a bit different from what I would normally pick up, but I've heard great things about this series, and I have been interested in science fiction lately. I've got a long list of books I want to read in this genre, and I think this will be a good starting place. 

What really drew me to this nonfiction account of Mary Shelley's life and her creation of Frankenstein was that it is illustrated. I love Frankenstein; I think it is one of the best novels ever written, and I really want to learn more about Shelley. I have a longer biography of her and her mother on my shelves already (Romantic Outlaws), but I think this shorter one will be a nice introduction. 

Ever since reading Women in Science, I have been wanting to read all of the anthologies about historical women! They are so expensive though, so I am loving getting them from the library and then deciding which ones I want to buy in the future. This one looks like it has beautiful illustrations, which is something on my priority list for books like this. 

This is a similar anthology, but I have heard some mixed things about this one, so I wanted to check it out from the library and get in on the controversy. This one has become very popular, which is why I was surprised to see the controversy around it. I don't think this is the best anthology out there, but I want to check it out.

January Wrap-Up: T.V. Books and Movies

I had a really great month of consuming! Here's a quick look at what I read and watched this month.

T.V and Movies

I watched the first season of Glow on Netflix in two days. It's been in my list since it came out, and I was just craving a new show to binge and started it on a whim. I really, really liked it! It was funny, smart, and full of beautiful 80s leotards. I loved the majority female cast, and the concept of female wrestling. I really liked Alison Brie in Mad Men and loved seeing her in a leading role. I'm really exited for season two. I recommend checking this one out if you're looking for a quick and entertaining watch.

This was my first time watching this 80s cult classic and I loved it! If you've been here before, you know that I LOVE a well-done satire, and that's exactly what this is! This was a super smart and hilarious satire of the typical 'teen-movie.' Winona Ryder is brilliant of course, and I'm already itching to watch this one again! If you have ever watched a typical teen-movie, you'll love how this one pokes fun at them. It also holds up extremely well, as teen-movies haven't changed much in the past thirty years. This one is on Netflix U.S.  

Carol has been on my to-watch list since the Oscars last year, and it finally came to Netflix. This was a quiet but powerful movie, and I have a feeling that the book it is based on is even better; it was immediately added to my TBR after finishing the movie. This movie is beautiful to look at, and both Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett give great performances. This would make a great Valentine's Day watch.  

I LOVE Robert Redford (who doesn't?) so I always pick up his movies when I see them out and about. I love 'classic' and older movies and have a pretty large collection of them. This is one that I bought during the summer last year and then never watched, so I figured it was about time. This movie was a lot more than I expected it to be. Streisand's character was so interesting and the ending was a lot different than I expected. This isn't your typical romance movie, and it has a lot to say about love and compromise. 

Books 

I had a really great reading month in January too! I read six books, and really enjoyed them all. I would love to keep up this pace for February, as I want to concentrate on reading the books on my shelves. In January, 4/6 books I read came from the library, which is great, but doesn't help me reduce my physical TBR. 

Bird Box. Josh Malerman-- 3.5/5 REVIEW

The Miniaturist, Jesse Burton-- 4/5 REVIEW

Weave a Circle Around, Kari Maaren-- 3/5 REVIEW

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers who Changed the World, Rachel Ignotofsky-- 4/5 REVIEW

The Art of the Affair, Catherine Lacey and Forsyth Harmon-- 3/5 Quick thoughts: I don't think I'm going to officially review this one on the blog because I don't have that much to say. This is a small coffee table book that chronicles the connections (romantic and otherwise) between famous people of the 20th century. The layout was a bit confusing at times, and a lot of the information was scattered. I didn't know a lot of the people in this book, which made it less interesting at times, but I loved the art and it introduced me to some new super interesting people. It's worth checking it out from the library or browsing through at the bookstore.  

All the Crooked Saints, Maggie Stiefvater-- 3.5/5 REVIEW: to come

I Also Posted...

Some 2018 Intentions

TBR Spotlight: Books Set in Africa

Under the Radar 2018 Releases

Updated Women Writers List TBR

Hope you had a great January and good luck on your February goals and plans! You can see what I plan to read in February here!