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June Books
Jul. 11th, 2018 08:27 pmHey, now I am only 5 books behind schedule, so... progress? Slight progress? And June was a good month for reading, because I actually enjoyed all of them!
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser: I was a huge Little House fan as a child, not only the books, but also the TV series. I knew that it wasn't completely autobiographical, but I was super disillusioned when I learned that both Laura and her daughter Rose (her primary editor, who was so opinionated and overbearing she was practically a co-author at times) were strident libertarians, and the changes made to the story were to make it align with their political views. So I really enjoyed reading a biography that reframed the story in the historical context and pointed out the ways that it was manipulated into being libertarian propaganda. I was also a little surprised when Laura's childhood only took up a third of the book - for some reason I expected it to only (or at least primarily) cover the Little House years, but it continues all through her adulthood, death, and legacy. Since they were so close, it's also practically a biography of Rose, as well - who, by the way, was kind of a sociopath? Like, for real. Compulsive liar, manipulative, complete lack of empathy and ability to comprehend emotions. This concerns me even more than the libertarianism, frankly.
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas: Everyone was talking about this book a year ago, so I don't need to describe the plot, right? I am only a little behind the times (yay!), and now I can see why it's so popular. (It's actually kind of hilarious going through the Goodreads reviews - almost all of them are overwhelmingly positive, and the few that are not all start off, "I'm probably going to be called racist for not liking this book, but I'm totally not!" and then attempt to justify why they didn't like it by talking about "reverse racism" and revealing how totally racist they are. I could not find a single negative review that wasn't about how unfair the book is to white people.) So I am going to go out on a limb and say if you're tempted to start sentences with, "I'm not racist, but..." you will probably not like this book, but you should read it anyway because maybe you will learn something? It personalizes the Black Lives Matter movement and creates characters you care about that maybe will help convince people who aren't swayed by hashtags and protests.
The Power, Naomi Alderman: This is a fascinating examination of gender and power dynamics. Its premise - in which teenage girls suddenly develop the ability to electrocute people - explores the question of what would happen if women suddenly had the power to systematically oppress men through physical violence and threats, how that changes society and relationships and gender stereotypes. It's got kind of an odd framing device in which Alderman lives in a universe where women have ALWAYS had this power. She receives the manuscript from a male author and is intrigued by this alternate reality in which men were the dominant gender until this sudden shift, but thinks it would be better received if it were published under a woman's name. Because obviously women are more respected as writers and if a man publishes it, it'll be considered "men's fiction." :D And as much as I enjoyed the book as is, I also kind of want to read more from this world where women run everything and always have, and how THAT might impact the development of society.
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman: Apparently, this is a "sci-fi classic" that I'd never heard of until recently? Some things - most notably the sexual politics - have not aged well AT ALL, but the premise is intriguing: Earth is engaged in an interstellar war with aliens from a distant galaxy, and due to time dilation from near-lightspeed travel, the war drags on for a thousand years and soldiers come back having aged only a few years to find that the entire civilization has changed. Technology, social norms, money, food, education - everything evolves, and although it's primarily a metaphor for the displacement vets feel when they come home from war, the ways in which the author envisions society shifting over the centuries is maybe the most interesting aspect of the book to me. None of the characters are particularly well-developed, and the war itself is too pointless to have real stakes, so the plot is not especially compelling, but I did enjoy it. There are two other books in the series, not sure if I'll read them or not.
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser: I was a huge Little House fan as a child, not only the books, but also the TV series. I knew that it wasn't completely autobiographical, but I was super disillusioned when I learned that both Laura and her daughter Rose (her primary editor, who was so opinionated and overbearing she was practically a co-author at times) were strident libertarians, and the changes made to the story were to make it align with their political views. So I really enjoyed reading a biography that reframed the story in the historical context and pointed out the ways that it was manipulated into being libertarian propaganda. I was also a little surprised when Laura's childhood only took up a third of the book - for some reason I expected it to only (or at least primarily) cover the Little House years, but it continues all through her adulthood, death, and legacy. Since they were so close, it's also practically a biography of Rose, as well - who, by the way, was kind of a sociopath? Like, for real. Compulsive liar, manipulative, complete lack of empathy and ability to comprehend emotions. This concerns me even more than the libertarianism, frankly.
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas: Everyone was talking about this book a year ago, so I don't need to describe the plot, right? I am only a little behind the times (yay!), and now I can see why it's so popular. (It's actually kind of hilarious going through the Goodreads reviews - almost all of them are overwhelmingly positive, and the few that are not all start off, "I'm probably going to be called racist for not liking this book, but I'm totally not!" and then attempt to justify why they didn't like it by talking about "reverse racism" and revealing how totally racist they are. I could not find a single negative review that wasn't about how unfair the book is to white people.) So I am going to go out on a limb and say if you're tempted to start sentences with, "I'm not racist, but..." you will probably not like this book, but you should read it anyway because maybe you will learn something? It personalizes the Black Lives Matter movement and creates characters you care about that maybe will help convince people who aren't swayed by hashtags and protests.
The Power, Naomi Alderman: This is a fascinating examination of gender and power dynamics. Its premise - in which teenage girls suddenly develop the ability to electrocute people - explores the question of what would happen if women suddenly had the power to systematically oppress men through physical violence and threats, how that changes society and relationships and gender stereotypes. It's got kind of an odd framing device in which Alderman lives in a universe where women have ALWAYS had this power. She receives the manuscript from a male author and is intrigued by this alternate reality in which men were the dominant gender until this sudden shift, but thinks it would be better received if it were published under a woman's name. Because obviously women are more respected as writers and if a man publishes it, it'll be considered "men's fiction." :D And as much as I enjoyed the book as is, I also kind of want to read more from this world where women run everything and always have, and how THAT might impact the development of society.
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman: Apparently, this is a "sci-fi classic" that I'd never heard of until recently? Some things - most notably the sexual politics - have not aged well AT ALL, but the premise is intriguing: Earth is engaged in an interstellar war with aliens from a distant galaxy, and due to time dilation from near-lightspeed travel, the war drags on for a thousand years and soldiers come back having aged only a few years to find that the entire civilization has changed. Technology, social norms, money, food, education - everything evolves, and although it's primarily a metaphor for the displacement vets feel when they come home from war, the ways in which the author envisions society shifting over the centuries is maybe the most interesting aspect of the book to me. None of the characters are particularly well-developed, and the war itself is too pointless to have real stakes, so the plot is not especially compelling, but I did enjoy it. There are two other books in the series, not sure if I'll read them or not.
