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aelfgyfu_mead) wrote2017-09-17 03:33 pm
aelfgyfu_mead) wrote2017-09-17 03:33 pm
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Books: Shetterly, Brosh, Jemisin, and A. Brontë
I'm still trying to catch up on books, and as I've said before, I can no longer remember when I read some or in what order. But I remember that I read them, and I even remember what I think about them, and those are the important things!
Hidden Figures by Margo Lee Shetterley: I read very little non-fiction outside of medieval and literary studies; when I'm reading so much for work, it doesn't usually feel like fun to me to read non-fiction. This book is fun, though trumps are mixed with struggle and pain. If you've seen the movie, great—but be aware that's not the book, because large swaths of the movie are concocted (including basically Kevin Costner's character and everything he does, and Kirsten Dunst's character too). The book has no simple plot of obstacles to overcome and victory. It doesn't focus on only three women, although the three who are in the movie feature most prominently here: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson. So do other women who don't appear in the movie: Christine Darden, whom we see first as a schoolgirl and than as eighteen-year-old junior at Hampton Institute as she joins protests and voter registration drives; Miriam Mann, a computer who steals the Colored Computers sign from the cafeteria every time it reappears until they just stop replacing it; and many others (including some white women, whose story is also more complex than I thought). They have many different, intertwined stories that unfold through a rich book. What made it harder reading for me is that it doesn't have a narrative through-line; it has a lot of episodes that often overlap and build a bigger picture but no central plot. I had some troubles keeping some of the names straight and am grateful for the index. (It's not Shetterly's fault I couldn't keep them straight; I have this problem in real life too and wish that came with an index.)
I highly recommend Hidden Figures for people who enjoy non-fiction and even for those who sometimes don't.
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh: if you have enjoyed the blog Hyperbole and a Half, read the book. The best posts never get old, and there are some in the book that weren't posted.
If you don't know Allie Brosh, let me quote from the cover: "unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened": this appears to be the official subtitle. These are blog posts that are partly text but heavily dependent upon artwork by someone who is clearly not an artist. They aren't particularly ordered (as far as I can tell). Many cover her childhood, but some cover Allie's adulthood, including her depression. And yes, I'm using her first name because I feel as if I know her, even though I know that I really don't. Some are hilarious, some are heart-rending, and many are both, or somewhere in between.
The Dreamblood duology contains The Shadowed Sun and The Killing Moon. Both take place in a world other than our own. Gujaareh is a city-state where religion and society revolve around dreamblood, a substance everyone produces (except Gatherers). Gatherers aid the elderly and dying into the next world by entering their dream world to ensure their souls are saved, not lost forever. They can also actively take lives. There are also healers who can use dreamblood to heal and rejuvenate. They form a powerful priesthood in some tension with the throne of Gujaareh. In The Shadowed Sun, Ehiru, an experienced Gatherer, is going about his rite when it goes horribly wrong, and back in the waking world, he sees something he cannot identify but fears. I think Jemisin wrote this before her other series; it seems not as mature and complex in some ways, but it still shows great imagination and skill in characterization and world building. This isn't our world with a twist; this is a world that works differently, and people really think and act differently, down to little details. Gujaareh is in careful balance with other city-states and some independent factions, and Ehiru finds the whole balance being upset. We meet characters from outside Gujaareh who embrace different beliefs and practices, and I found the novel quite engrossing.
The Killing Moon takes place well after the previous novel; it some secondary characters return from The Shadowed Sun, but the main character, Hanani, is new, and young. She too takes part in a rite gone horribly wrong, but differently, and she goes on quite a different journey than Ehiru. This novel too really drew me in. More theology and religion enter here, and I wasn't entirely satisfied with it, but the characters made it well worth my while.
I recommend Jemisin's Dreamblood trilogy, especially before you read her Broken Earth (if you haven't already), because the latter is just so amazing you might be a little disappointed in this series, when you wouldn't otherwise be.
I remember reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë years ago, probably when I was a teenager, and loving it. I must admit I didn't love it so much the second time. Part of the problem is that I misremembered it or misread it the first time: I remembered it as being really feminist, and so it was for its time. It has now a very disturbing sense that a woman must suffer for her mistakes before she can enjoy anything, where men don't always suffer so but tend to inflict suffering on others instead.
Gilbert Markham narrates a story that starts when he is a young man and becomes intrigued by the rather private new neighbor, Helen Graham, who comes to an isolated manor with a child to earn a living as a painter. He wants to know her story, and he eventually learns it; in a very long section of the book, she becomes the narrator herself when she hands young Gilbert a manuscript of her own story.
I found it gripping the first time, when I didn't know what would happen. Of course, I lost the advantage of suspense the second time: some books, I can forget almost the entire plot, but I remembered most of this one (a bit to my surprise). I also had much stronger urges to dope-slap characters than I had the first time I read it. That said, if you're prepared to deal with attitudes from 1848, it offers real insights into a range of attitudes from the comfortable classes at that time. I also find Anne Brontë the least melodramatic of the sisters.
I recommend if you have any taste for the Brontës or mid-nineteenth century fiction. If you have no such taste, you may not enjoy it.
Hidden Figures by Margo Lee Shetterley: I read very little non-fiction outside of medieval and literary studies; when I'm reading so much for work, it doesn't usually feel like fun to me to read non-fiction. This book is fun, though trumps are mixed with struggle and pain. If you've seen the movie, great—but be aware that's not the book, because large swaths of the movie are concocted (including basically Kevin Costner's character and everything he does, and Kirsten Dunst's character too). The book has no simple plot of obstacles to overcome and victory. It doesn't focus on only three women, although the three who are in the movie feature most prominently here: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson. So do other women who don't appear in the movie: Christine Darden, whom we see first as a schoolgirl and than as eighteen-year-old junior at Hampton Institute as she joins protests and voter registration drives; Miriam Mann, a computer who steals the Colored Computers sign from the cafeteria every time it reappears until they just stop replacing it; and many others (including some white women, whose story is also more complex than I thought). They have many different, intertwined stories that unfold through a rich book. What made it harder reading for me is that it doesn't have a narrative through-line; it has a lot of episodes that often overlap and build a bigger picture but no central plot. I had some troubles keeping some of the names straight and am grateful for the index. (It's not Shetterly's fault I couldn't keep them straight; I have this problem in real life too and wish that came with an index.)
I highly recommend Hidden Figures for people who enjoy non-fiction and even for those who sometimes don't.
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh: if you have enjoyed the blog Hyperbole and a Half, read the book. The best posts never get old, and there are some in the book that weren't posted.
If you don't know Allie Brosh, let me quote from the cover: "unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened": this appears to be the official subtitle. These are blog posts that are partly text but heavily dependent upon artwork by someone who is clearly not an artist. They aren't particularly ordered (as far as I can tell). Many cover her childhood, but some cover Allie's adulthood, including her depression. And yes, I'm using her first name because I feel as if I know her, even though I know that I really don't. Some are hilarious, some are heart-rending, and many are both, or somewhere in between.
The Dreamblood duology contains The Shadowed Sun and The Killing Moon. Both take place in a world other than our own. Gujaareh is a city-state where religion and society revolve around dreamblood, a substance everyone produces (except Gatherers). Gatherers aid the elderly and dying into the next world by entering their dream world to ensure their souls are saved, not lost forever. They can also actively take lives. There are also healers who can use dreamblood to heal and rejuvenate. They form a powerful priesthood in some tension with the throne of Gujaareh. In The Shadowed Sun, Ehiru, an experienced Gatherer, is going about his rite when it goes horribly wrong, and back in the waking world, he sees something he cannot identify but fears. I think Jemisin wrote this before her other series; it seems not as mature and complex in some ways, but it still shows great imagination and skill in characterization and world building. This isn't our world with a twist; this is a world that works differently, and people really think and act differently, down to little details. Gujaareh is in careful balance with other city-states and some independent factions, and Ehiru finds the whole balance being upset. We meet characters from outside Gujaareh who embrace different beliefs and practices, and I found the novel quite engrossing.
The Killing Moon takes place well after the previous novel; it some secondary characters return from The Shadowed Sun, but the main character, Hanani, is new, and young. She too takes part in a rite gone horribly wrong, but differently, and she goes on quite a different journey than Ehiru. This novel too really drew me in. More theology and religion enter here, and I wasn't entirely satisfied with it, but the characters made it well worth my while.
I recommend Jemisin's Dreamblood trilogy, especially before you read her Broken Earth (if you haven't already), because the latter is just so amazing you might be a little disappointed in this series, when you wouldn't otherwise be.
I remember reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë years ago, probably when I was a teenager, and loving it. I must admit I didn't love it so much the second time. Part of the problem is that I misremembered it or misread it the first time: I remembered it as being really feminist, and so it was for its time. It has now a very disturbing sense that a woman must suffer for her mistakes before she can enjoy anything, where men don't always suffer so but tend to inflict suffering on others instead.
Gilbert Markham narrates a story that starts when he is a young man and becomes intrigued by the rather private new neighbor, Helen Graham, who comes to an isolated manor with a child to earn a living as a painter. He wants to know her story, and he eventually learns it; in a very long section of the book, she becomes the narrator herself when she hands young Gilbert a manuscript of her own story.
I found it gripping the first time, when I didn't know what would happen. Of course, I lost the advantage of suspense the second time: some books, I can forget almost the entire plot, but I remembered most of this one (a bit to my surprise). I also had much stronger urges to dope-slap characters than I had the first time I read it. That said, if you're prepared to deal with attitudes from 1848, it offers real insights into a range of attitudes from the comfortable classes at that time. I also find Anne Brontë the least melodramatic of the sisters.
I recommend if you have any taste for the Brontës or mid-nineteenth century fiction. If you have no such taste, you may not enjoy it.