Lately it seems like the subject keeps coming up to me. A chance Rape culture article, an awful book. Speak calling to me from the huge To-Be-Read pile, (now over 700 books, more than I can read in a lifetime) and popping repeatedly in my Goodreads feed.
I had a free afternoon (not so much, but I was tired from work and didn't feel like spending it building a scale model for the uni).
The books was all I could want about the issue and more. If the movie and the media hadn't spoiled me, it would have been so much better. Because it starts oh so softly. With a very closeted, lonely character. And teen snarky commentary about high-school life that actually made me smile and outright laugh.
Short chapters paint the picture fast and from the side. Like a sketch, or a kid telling you something important trying not to let it be noticed that it's important. It's real and a little bit heartbreaking. The issue is foreshadowed for a while but not quite mentioned. Until it is. But everything is connected, because you realize it's always there in her mind. And things keep coming back to it.
It's... Really, it's perfect for the subject, and the audience that should be recommended to. It's tasteful. No gain from shock value here. It's well written in it's simplicity's glory. It's honest. It's hopeful.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Uxorious and Gone Girl
Uxorious: A man dominated by his wife. Dominado, sometido.
Nick , journalist, male main character of Gone Girl, thinks this little word. So like him, all specific and pedantic. So far, I hadn't found any that stumped me. This one did. No surprise.
If you want a little puzzle to twist you mind and make your soul shiver a bit, and maybe even release some demented, adrenaline drunken laughs, go for this one. Depending on your level of reading, it could rate as a cerebral beach book. A noxious, really, really good one.
Nick , journalist, male main character of Gone Girl, thinks this little word. So like him, all specific and pedantic. So far, I hadn't found any that stumped me. This one did. No surprise.
If you want a little puzzle to twist you mind and make your soul shiver a bit, and maybe even release some demented, adrenaline drunken laughs, go for this one. Depending on your level of reading, it could rate as a cerebral beach book. A noxious, really, really good one.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Deleterious and rape culture
Deleterious: Noxious, harmful, pernicious.
What the book I just finished is. It doesn't even deserve naming. I don't want to give even the morbid curiosity factor of publicity.
It passed as a romance. It was a horror story.
Guy with an ax to grind blackmails his ex into a dirty weekend. Serious, lose you job and livelihood blackmail. He's mistaken about the charge, which is actually irrelevant, unless you think it makes it even worse. She accepts. She's scared and stupid. She should have sued his ass for harassment and taken a restraining order. But hey, she enjoyed, so it's not so bad!
Hear that? That is actually an ironic tone, and the whistling is just my ears as my head explodes. I'm that boiling raging mad. This is me going nuclear.
Because THAT, that up there, was rape. And that thing made of paper and ink, that piece of shit with pages that should never be called a book, is a perfect example of the kind of things that build and prop a rape culture.
She takes him back at the end, marry, are happily ever after.
The guy forced her into a dirty weekend. WTF??!!
Me: You think that's swoon worthy? That a guy find you so irresistible he forces you to shack with him?2: Well, he's very handsome and hot, and great in bed, and rich. And she enjoyed it.
Me: *blink* Worths fail me.
If you are a woman as baffled as I feel, then there is still hope for our sex. Right now my respect for it has fallen a few notches. Whether you are or not, check Shannon Hale's article on what is and builds a rape culture. It's pretty enlightening, and the discussion diversified and interesting.
What the book I just finished is. It doesn't even deserve naming. I don't want to give even the morbid curiosity factor of publicity.
It passed as a romance. It was a horror story.
Guy with an ax to grind blackmails his ex into a dirty weekend. Serious, lose you job and livelihood blackmail. He's mistaken about the charge, which is actually irrelevant, unless you think it makes it even worse. She accepts. She's scared and stupid. She should have sued his ass for harassment and taken a restraining order. But hey, she enjoyed, so it's not so bad!
Hear that? That is actually an ironic tone, and the whistling is just my ears as my head explodes. I'm that boiling raging mad. This is me going nuclear.
Because THAT, that up there, was rape. And that thing made of paper and ink, that piece of shit with pages that should never be called a book, is a perfect example of the kind of things that build and prop a rape culture.
She takes him back at the end, marry, are happily ever after.
The guy forced her into a dirty weekend. WTF??!!
Me: You think that's swoon worthy? That a guy find you so irresistible he forces you to shack with him?2: Well, he's very handsome and hot, and great in bed, and rich. And she enjoyed it.
Me: *blink* Worths fail me.
If you are a woman as baffled as I feel, then there is still hope for our sex. Right now my respect for it has fallen a few notches. Whether you are or not, check Shannon Hale's article on what is and builds a rape culture. It's pretty enlightening, and the discussion diversified and interesting.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Disquiting
Disquieting: Inquietante, alarmante, preocupante, perturbador.
The book I'm reading, my economic state, my cat, my mental state.
I'll just gnaw at the book and ignore the rest. If you want something to blame any twisty stray thoughts on, go for Gone Girl. It's proving to be a perfect way to bend my mind.
The book I'm reading, my economic state, my cat, my mental state.
I'll just gnaw at the book and ignore the rest. If you want something to blame any twisty stray thoughts on, go for Gone Girl. It's proving to be a perfect way to bend my mind.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Deface
Oh, sé perfectamente lo que significa
Deface: empequeñecerse.
Palabrita que suele aparecer en textos que toquen instituciones religiosas en cualquier forma.
I hate it today. Because that was what silence felt like, silence that was expedient and probably cheaper. It chaffed because I wished I was brazen and uncaring enough to make the damned word get crammed in all those tribunal crones gullets. I was actually upbraided like a child. And I took it. That's the rub: I choose to take it. Because it was practical, easier and most likely the smart thing. I should feel smug in thinking they bough the meek act, and that I purchased some laxity by way of being a silly girl knowing to keep her mouth shut. Instead, I boil and rage and spoil for a fight.
Poise: Aplomo, desenvoltura, elegancia.
Eso es lo que molesta. Que aún cuando fuere mi elección, se me robó por un segundo. Sell my poise to buy leniency. I made the bargain, but I hated my buyers with the intensity of a summer storm.
Deface: empequeñecerse.
Palabrita que suele aparecer en textos que toquen instituciones religiosas en cualquier forma.
I hate it today. Because that was what silence felt like, silence that was expedient and probably cheaper. It chaffed because I wished I was brazen and uncaring enough to make the damned word get crammed in all those tribunal crones gullets. I was actually upbraided like a child. And I took it. That's the rub: I choose to take it. Because it was practical, easier and most likely the smart thing. I should feel smug in thinking they bough the meek act, and that I purchased some laxity by way of being a silly girl knowing to keep her mouth shut. Instead, I boil and rage and spoil for a fight.
Poise: Aplomo, desenvoltura, elegancia.
Eso es lo que molesta. Que aún cuando fuere mi elección, se me robó por un segundo. Sell my poise to buy leniency. I made the bargain, but I hated my buyers with the intensity of a summer storm.
Murder & Goose Girl
Murder: No sólo significa homicidio, sino también parvada, bandada.
"...she felt as obvious as a goose in a murder of crows"
From The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, another novel in fairy tale style that is delving into many issues gracefully and beautifully. Of the bat, mother-daughter ones. Good coming-of-age story.
"...she felt as obvious as a goose in a murder of crows"
From The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, another novel in fairy tale style that is delving into many issues gracefully and beautifully. Of the bat, mother-daughter ones. Good coming-of-age story.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Canoodling, shaken fairy tales and books worth buying
Canoodle: Kiss and cuddle.
Hey, don't look at me like that. I more or less grasped what it ought to mean, by sound alone, but this was the context:
"It was almost exactly like the caves to the east where my girl cousins met their swains to canoodle."
I had to make sure.
The quote belongs to Jessica Day George's Dragon Slippers and you should know that I LOVE Fairy Tales deconstructions. So far (less than ten pages in) this one already hits "I'll buy", so big kudos there (I'm a poor student, I buy about 1 in 50 books I read, so there, big compliment indeed).
I mean, it starts with bits like this:
"To be blunt, I was no beauty, and as I could not spin straw into gold or cry diamond tears, there was no reason for a wealthy suitor to overlook the fact that I had no dowry whatsoever.
“It will have to be the dragon,” my silly aunt declared as we all sat around the hearth, holding what my uncle called a council of war. “Surely a brave adventuring knight will save her from its clutches,” she continued, “and then we shall all be taken away to live in his castle.” She was also very fond of reading romantic tales."
And later:
"I was no longer as worried about being eaten as I had been. This dragon did not seem that inclined towards munching on human flesh. I was more worried that he would send me away empty-handed, without either a champion or a generous dowry. I didn’t want the champion, but the dowry-money would come in handy. It seemed that I had heard stories of noble creatures such as dragons taking pity on dowryless girls and gifting them with ancient treasures. Hadn’t I? Perhaps it wasn’t dragons. But surely, to avoid having to fight some overzealous knight, this one might make an exception …"
So worth re-reading.
Hey, don't look at me like that. I more or less grasped what it ought to mean, by sound alone, but this was the context:
"It was almost exactly like the caves to the east where my girl cousins met their swains to canoodle."
I had to make sure.
The quote belongs to Jessica Day George's Dragon Slippers and you should know that I LOVE Fairy Tales deconstructions. So far (less than ten pages in) this one already hits "I'll buy", so big kudos there (I'm a poor student, I buy about 1 in 50 books I read, so there, big compliment indeed).
I mean, it starts with bits like this:
"To be blunt, I was no beauty, and as I could not spin straw into gold or cry diamond tears, there was no reason for a wealthy suitor to overlook the fact that I had no dowry whatsoever.
“It will have to be the dragon,” my silly aunt declared as we all sat around the hearth, holding what my uncle called a council of war. “Surely a brave adventuring knight will save her from its clutches,” she continued, “and then we shall all be taken away to live in his castle.” She was also very fond of reading romantic tales."
And later:
"I was no longer as worried about being eaten as I had been. This dragon did not seem that inclined towards munching on human flesh. I was more worried that he would send me away empty-handed, without either a champion or a generous dowry. I didn’t want the champion, but the dowry-money would come in handy. It seemed that I had heard stories of noble creatures such as dragons taking pity on dowryless girls and gifting them with ancient treasures. Hadn’t I? Perhaps it wasn’t dragons. But surely, to avoid having to fight some overzealous knight, this one might make an exception …"
So worth re-reading.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Quinces, Gobling Market and Lips Touch
I drift through books, through the net, through songs, and learn new words for my second language. Today they are:
Tchotchkes: Trinket
Quince: Membrillo
Speaking of fruits, I reckon I'll get a host of new ones after I do a third thrift through Goblin Market (first was for listening to the luscious narration of this excellent audio version, second for clarification on the parts that the haze of pleasure overtook, I'm hoping the third will be the objective nitpicking one)
And speaking of Victorian naughty poems, check one of their spawns: Goblin Fruit, first tale of Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Come on, do it. This is a taste of the artwork inside
You know you want to
Tchotchkes: Trinket
Quince: Membrillo
Speaking of fruits, I reckon I'll get a host of new ones after I do a third thrift through Goblin Market (first was for listening to the luscious narration of this excellent audio version, second for clarification on the parts that the haze of pleasure overtook, I'm hoping the third will be the objective nitpicking one)
And speaking of Victorian naughty poems, check one of their spawns: Goblin Fruit, first tale of Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Come on, do it. This is a taste of the artwork inside
You know you want to
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)