I hadn’t expected to LIKE this book as much as I did, but let me say that I found it to be a very good way to spend a Friday night! Ideally, of course, the night would have been colder with a fierce thunderstorm, as this book just begs for the reader to be ensconced somewhere warm sipping a cuppa ! I simulated these conditions with my AC, crawled in bed with my whippet, and entered the world of Senjan, Seressa, and Dubrava. Kay provides interesting characters, intrigue worthy of the Borgias, and a dog! (My whippet thought the dog was a very nice touch!) I was a fantasy reader when younger but fell out of the habit. Guy Gavriel Kay might persuade me to begin again, starting with his novels!
Category: poems
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White Trash: The 400-Year Old Untold History Of Class In America By Nancy Isenberg-A Review
In White Trash Isenberg firmly puts to rest the notion that America is a classless society. She sets forth the foundations of the class system from its roots in colonial times then traces them through the settlement of the West. Her work detailing the influence of the eugenic movement and class is illuminating; as are the chapters comparing the rise of the African Americans following the Civil War and the poor whites from the Southern states. Nota bene: the white trash that she mentions in her book is composed of Anglo-Saxons, originally from the Appalachians or the South. This is a matter of history, not judgment. Americans need to read this book, to dispel their illusions that theirs is a society founded upon equality. Readers need to read this book because it will stretch their mind!
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The Natural Way Of Things By Charlotte Wood-A Review
This book is a dark and disturbing dystopian tale, joining others such as 1984 (Orwell), A Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood), and 1Q84 (Murakami). The tone of the book is unremittingly bleak, and the underlying cautionary message of the book is that for women to dare to speak out about the truth of their sexual life, particularly if it implicates a man or men in wrongdoing such as rape will destroy them. Women’s bodies are seen as the cause of men’s actions; women are shamed, vilified, and portrayed as sluts, whores, and asking for whatever happened to them at the hands of men, the media, and, eventually, the events in this book. The women who are taken to the camp share similar stories. They’ve all spoken out in the media about being raped, with the exception of one woman who had her affair with a married politician exposed. Don’t look for any magical sisterhood or admirable character-forming to take place at this camp, despite their shared misery and deprivation. Though two women do grow and develop in interesting ways, forming a bond of sorts, the women by and large function maladaptively. The two women that the book focuses upon are fierce, brave, and survivors in a place that offers little hope. Warning: If you like your endings clean and your resolutions tidy, this is not the book for you.
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The Natural Way Of Things By Charlotte Wood-A Review
This book is a dark and disturbing dystopian tale, joining others such as 1984 (Orwell), A Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood), and 1Q84 (Murakami). The tone of the book is unremittingly bleak, and the underlying cautionary message of the book is that for women to dare to speak out about the truth of their sexual life, particularly if it implicates a man or men in wrongdoing such as rape will destroy them. Women’s bodies are seen as the cause of men’s actions; women are shamed, vilified, and portrayed as sluts, whores, and asking for whatever happened to them at the hands of men, the media, and, eventually, the events in this book. The women who are taken to the camp share similar stories. They’ve all spoken out in the media about being raped, with the exception of one woman who had her affair with a married politician exposed. Don’t look for any magical sisterhood or admirable character-forming to take place at this camp, despite their shared misery and deprivation. Though two women do grow and develop in interesting ways, forming a bond of sorts, the women by and large function maladaptively. The two women that the book focuses upon are fierce, brave, and survivors in a place that offers little hope. Warning: If you like your endings clean and your resolutions tidy, this is not the book for you.
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Underground Airlines By Ben H. Winters-A Review
No, I was not reading this simultaneously with Atkins book. I read it last week. But it has been on my mind. It seemed particularly relevant and timely, given all the racial tension in the country. Two more shootings-one by police in Milwaukee, one of a police officer in Georgia. SMH. Anyway, the book is in the genre of alt or speculative fiction, set in a modern America very much like our own…except that the Civil War never happened. Slavery is still legal in four states, and the book tells story of a man who, though African American and one who escaped from slavery himself, is used by the U.S. Marshall Services to hunt down others who are aided and abetted in such escapes by an entity known as the Underground Airlines. The conflict suffered by Victor, who dons many names in the pursuit of his work and doesn’t even whisper his true name to himself, reflects but one of the layers of this ingenious multi-faceted book, where you learn that nothing is ever as it seems. Both a first class story and an indictment of the system that thrives off the efforts of Persons Bound To Labor while repudiating responsibility for their welfare, this is a definite must read! Stay tuned for a comparison with Colin Whitehead’s Underground Railroad!
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The Innocents By Ace Atkins-A Review
Welcome back to Tibbehah County, Mississippi !. If your view of humankind runs cynical, dark, and depraved, this is the book for you. The latest to feature Quinn Colson and Lillie Virgil, it paints a truly grim picture of life in small-town Mississippi. Corruption and misery seem as endemic to this place as the cicadas and heat; Lillie Virgil fights a hard battle against the tide as acting sheriff with Quinn as Deputy. There’s mayhem, murder, race, drugs, a titty bar, moonshine, bikers, Jesus, dirty politicians, guns, rednecks, and football involved. Whew!
I’ve been following this series from the beginning. The books just keep getting better and grittier, if possible. I lived for while in that part of Mississippi (a long, long, long time ago) and, while there is no actual Tibbehah County, Atkins’ description runs fairly accurate. Let it be known that I am not, shall we say, a fan of the state of Mississippi, despite having been born, bred, raised, and schooled there. I escaped after grad school. When people ask me, “Why don’t you go home?” I look at them like they’re crazy. They make laws against people like me there. I think it might be one of the states that still has a law on the books prohibiting an atheist to run for election. Not to mention that I’m Jewish, neutrois, and queer! Oh, yeah, a trifecta for being accepted down in Dixie! But I digress from the review. This is an outstanding book in the series. Read it for the mystery; read it for the grit; read it for the characters. I don’t care-just read it!
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SCOTUS Temporary Hold on TG Case
I’m very disappointed that SCOTUS temporarily put on hold a brief from a lower court that allowed a transgender student to use a bathroom that conformed with his gender. This was the first time that the Supreme Court has ruled on transgender rights. As one would expect, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, the liberal wing of the court, would have upheld the lower court’s ruling and granted the student the right to use the bathroom that conformed to his gender. Justice Stephen Breyer, who usually votes with them, joined with the four conservative members this time, saying in a one-sentence explanation that he was doing so out of courtesy to preserve the status quo until SCOTUS could consider the matter more fully. This is only temporary, of course. The court WILL have to decide the issue, one way or another, since states are suing the federal government over Obama’s directive that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.
Here’s my take on the whole bathroom controversy. Stop gendering bathrooms. Period. Make them all clean, private, safe places with no open urinals and problem solved. I’ve been in places that only provide one restroom for patrons, and this has not been a problem. No children have been molested, nor women accosted. Bathrooms serve a function; work on improving that, and get the public’s mind out of the gutter!
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Rigged Elections?
I want to comment about Trump’s paranoiac remark that upcoming election could very well be rigged. He is clearly setting the stage for a voter revolt, should he lose. Now, Republican talk about rigged elections is standard fare, part and parcel of Conservative lore. But this is putting the process at risk, for I do not think that Trump will do as previous candidates have done in the past, as for example when Gore lost and his supporters booed, he calmed them as he asked that they support his opponent as the elected President. Rather, I have heard his supports warn of more that civil unrest, of actual uprising and violence. The U. S. could potentially face the sort of disturbance seen in Europe after an election, something we have never before seen. This, because of the clever machinations of a slick sociopathic demagogue.
As to the actual content of his remark, yes, the election might well BE rigged! The Federal Courts are doing their best to address that, however! States which have enacted highly discriminatory voter identification laws have been having them stricken-Kansas, North Dakota, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Texas. These laws would have affected those voters most likely to vote AGAINST Trump-the poor, Latinos, African Americans, and other minorities-and it is precisely these voters, along with women, against whom the system has traditionally been rigged. For voters in Trump’s demographic swath not to counted is extremely improbable, despite his delusions. But, then again, Trump has never let reality get in the way of a good story.
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Advice to A Young Feminist
Recently I made the acquaintance of a young feminist/activist. She had read my blog on a different site before I moved here and decided we were kindred spirits. She was despairing of contemporary America and told me that she planned to find an affordable island somewhere and set up a lesbian separatist commune. I was invited to join, and she asked for my thoughts and advice on the subject. After noting that I do not qualify either by gender or sexuality, being neither female nor lesbian (I had to explain I was ace and neutrois), I told her I had experience that historically most lesbian separatist communes failed. (I remember them from the 70s and 80s.) They do so b/c women are still humans and bring with them all the problems that humans have. IMHO if she were serious about wanting to improve the lives of women and work for a more equitable society, she would stay and fight here in the U.S. We live in a time of change, where women have amazing role models before them: Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, etc…Should Clinton win, the glass ceiling of the highest office in the land will have been shattered. But the struggle for equal opportunity will not be over-there will still be those who seek to defund Planned Parenthood, ban abortions, and oppress LGBTQA individuals . Should (shudder) Trump win, those who are feminists/activists will be even more needed. Being the librarian I am, I gave her a reading list.
I do intend to write on the Democrats and Hillary’s nomination. I’m dealing with some health issues, though, and my energy is limited.
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Trump’s New Slogan: Make Russia Great Again!
The FBI is investigating the hack into the DNC which released emails to WikiLeaks from the Clinton campaign about her former rival Sanders. U.S. officials suspect that it was in fact a Russian cyber-attack. The timing and nature of this incident has the Clinton campaign saying that it was done deliberately to help Republican nominee Trump. Trump has been vociferous in his admiration of Russian leader Putin, and Putin has returned that by giving his endorsement to the controversial candidate. Given Trump’s ties to Putin, including substantial Russian monetary ones, this is hardly surprising. But Trump has channeled this politically, pushing the Republican platform to change its stance on the Ukraine and saying that he would not honor the NATO treaty to defend U.S. allies, a move which could potentially benefit Russia in its move towards hegemony in the Middle East and Europe. The question is: will Trump supporters CARE about any of this? They seem to be fueled by faith and willing to give The Donald an innumerable number of passes. Lied? No big deal. Scammed people? He’s a businessman! So maybe it’ll be “What’s a little bit of foreign intrigue/quasi-treasonous activity?”