Jules of Nature
Love Begins
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
todays bird
tannertan36
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
Andulka
Janaina Medeiros
DEAR READER
Show & Tell
blake kathryn
ojovivo
Sade Olutola
pixel skylines
art blog(derogatory)
JVL
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oozey mess
will byers stan first human second
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@twobsinabblog
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, Tolstoy wrote. Same goes for couples. That is, the bad ones may be very bad, but they sure make for some great stories—p…
Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!
I, too, wish I could read To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before for the first time again. But more than that, I wish I could be in a book club with Marley Dias!
Source: http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3180#m39295
"War and Peace" = "Pretend You Have Read This Book To Impress Your Friends."
Cheezburger.com - Crafted from the finest Internets.
“What about Ron magic?” offered Ron.
Book Club 2017
1. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead – 3 stars
2. The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak – 3 stars
3. The Wonder by Emma Donoghue – 2.5 stars
4. The Idiot by Elif Batuman – 2 stars
5. Hunger by Roxane Gay – 4 stars
6. Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman – 4 stars
7. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – 4.5 stars
8. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – 5 stars
9. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – 4 stars
10. Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart – 2.5 stars
In writing you can always change the ending or delete a chapter that isn't working. Life is uncooperative, impartial, incontestable.
Ariel Levy, The Rules Do Not Apply
Threats are the last resort of a man with no vocabulary.
Tamora Pierce
Accept what people offer. Drink their milkshakes. Take their love.
I read Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone this summer, right before our book club pick Hunger by Roxane Gay, and in my mind they’ll always be companions. I saw so much of Dolores Price in Roxane--so much sadness, and torture, and loneliness, but thankfully overshadowed by resolve, and strength, and wisdom.
I had no idea what She’s Come Undone was about when we selected the title for our list. I assumed it was pretty Judy Blume-esque because a few of my friends from high school just adored it and claimed it as their own; read it in times of need and looked to it like a handbook. So I jumped in expecting fluff, but found myself hitting solid ground and embarking on a wild, winding epic of a ride.
From childhood, through adolescence, on to college, and through adulthood, Dolores’ tale covers a little bit of everything: Pure horror you see coming a mile away that you wish you could save her from; palpable sadness and depression that practically seep through the pages; laugh-out-loud shenanigans with biting wit and cleverness. She’s a girl I won’t soon forget. 4.5 stars.
g
Has there ever been a more self-centered character than Rabbit Angstrom? I’m not going to lie--this tale of a teenage-sports-star-has-been really struck a nerve with me. I understand that when someone is selfish, and immature, and feels entitled to things based on perceived injustices, they can rationalize just about anything, including leaving their pregnant wife and toddler in the middle of the night and not coming back for months. But God, the wreckage that’s left behind? Inexcusable. Inconceivable. Straight-up heart-wrenching.
This classic by John Updike has so many layers, with the most unlikable characters and frustrating foreshadowing that left me reeling. For most of the book, Rabbit’s actions felt beyond irredeemable--until in the blink of an eye, Updike reminded me that things could always get worse. So. Much. Worse.
Rabbit, Run gave me morality whiplash, and I’m still kind of dizzy. The storytelling was superb--albeit a little too detail-heavy that my attention snagged and frayed--but it really left an impression. 3.5 stars.
g
Emma Cline at Barnes & Noble UWS, 6/27/16
Congratulations, Mr. Ishiguro! A well-deserved honor.
(New York Times)
Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is probably the book I most associate with “required high school reading.” Out of all of the books on the list, this is the one whose plot I knew best in advance: After surviving a plane crash, a group of English schoolboys are stranded on a deserted island and all hell breaks loose. This pithy description is accurate, but did not adequately prepare me for how much I would enjoy this book.
On the surface, the characters may seem stereotypical and the central themes overt, but the many layers in the novel prevent it from being simplistic. You may think Ralph is the level-headed and nobel leader, but he excitedly stabs a pig and plays a part in Simon’s violent death. And though some may claim a central theme is the loss of innocence, it in facts shatters the myth that children are inherently innocent. Additionally, Golding’s writing is extremely effective at putting the reader in the center of the story. Along with the vivid imagery of the island (and horrific vision of the titular character), there is a great sense of uneasiness that crescendoes throughout the book. You can feel the sense of urgency as the primary conflict comes to a head and are just as shocked as Ralph when he runs into the Naval officer who is there to rescue them.
I did read some criticism that this book is deeply racist, and I don’t want to discount that observation. It’s clear that Golding wrote this book from a deeply Eurocentric viewpoint, espousing the belief that anything “other” than British society is “savagery”. Not to mention the negative connotations applied to any tribal imagery (e.g., war paint, dancing around the fires) and the unfortunate use of the “n” word. These are legitimate concerns. (Not that I, as a white person, have any right to legitimize these concerns.) I hope that, had I read this in school, my teachers would have used it to open up a discussion about colonialism and the framing of indigenous people in contrast to the “civilized” white people. I hope that’s how it’s being taught now.
4.5 stars, b
(Also, this may seem like a shameless plug since by day I am a Penguin, but the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Lord of the Flies has a great Foreword by Lois Lowry and Introduction by Stephen King, as well as a fantastic cover. If you’re in the market for a copy, I recommend this one.)
Our Top Five Banned Books: TBR Edition
The best part about Banned Books Week is discovering all of the fantastic literature that has gotten so many people into a tizzy. Here are five banned/challenged books we now can’t WAIT to read:
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Reasons: violence and other “graphic images”
b saw the musical version of Fun Home and found it incredibly intelligent and moving. Plus, Alison Bechdel is the creater of the Bechdel Test, something we can all get behind.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language
How, how, HOW haven’t we read this?
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint.
Persepolis appeared on so many lists we referenced for our Banned Books Week recommendations that it must be good. It’s a graphic novel memoir that recounts the author’s experience growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.
Ulysses by James Joyce. Reason: obscene language and sexual imagery
We plan for this to be our last bblog book, mainly because we’re terrified, but knowing it’s been challenged for obscenity makes us a bit more intrigued.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Reasons: profanity, violence, explicit references to sex, references to suicide.
g has read this, but b shamefully has not. Though it may feel too real to read this in 2017, fuck it: Illegitimi non carborundum.
Our Top Five Banned Books: Fiction Edition
Lists of banned and/or challenged books are heavily populated with classic literature, but the top 10 books challenged in 2016 were all published more recently. Below is a list of our top five favorite banned/challenged fiction books that were published in the last ~25 years. Please enjoy the criticism of The Things They Carried, one of the most important works ever written about the Vietnam War. Way harsh, Tai (and incredibly hilarious).
1. The Kite Runner. Reasons: sexually explicit content, offensive language, and age inappropriateness.
2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Reasons: explicit content and reasons.
3. Speak. Reasons: graphic depictions of rape, bullying, depression, and family dysfunction.
4. The Things They Carried. Reasons: vulgarity, sexual content and profanity, “complete garbage trash”
5. The Giver. Reasons: unsuited to age group, violence.
Our Top Five Fave Banned Books: Classic Lit Edition
Classic Lit is essentially the theme of the bblog, born out of a disbelief and shame that we had gone this far in life without reading some of the most heralded works of our time. Though we are not the most prodigious bbloggers, reading these classics has been a fun challenge. Sure, Mark Twain’s assessment of classics – “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” – has often rang true throughout this experience, but some of these books are truly a marvel to behold.
Here are our top five fave classic lit books that have been challenged and/or banned, three of which we both read as a result of The List:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird. Reasons: vulgar language, sexual and racial content
2. Animal Farm. Reasons: anti-Stalinist and totalitarianistic views that could inspire new communist rebellions
3. The Great Gatsby. Reason: language and sexual references
4. Lolita. Reason: obscene content
5. The Color Purple. Reasons: sexual and social explicitness, rough language, troubling ideas about race relations, man’s relationship to God, African history and human sexuality
Our Top Five Fave Banned Books: Non-Fiction Edition
We don’t read as much non-fiction as we do fiction, but there are some spectacular non-fiction books out there that everyone should read. Here are our top five favorite non-fiction books that have been banned for the usual asinine reasons.
1. The Diary of a Young Girl. Reasons: Rebellion of parental authority, explicit language.
2. In Cold Blood. Reasons: violence, sex, profanity.
3. I Am Malala. Reasons: Banned in some Pakistani schools for “not showing enough respect for Islam” and the erroneous claim that Malala is a “tool of the west” who faked her shooting.
4. The Glass Castle. Reasons: Racist, sexually explicitly, questions Christianity.
5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Reasons: Pornography, graphic content/descriptions.
