Kylie's Book Log

Book: 38
Title: The Abortionist's Daughter
Author: Elisabeth Hyde
Genre: Fiction, women's fiction, mystery
One-sentence summary: When the outspoken doctor at an abortion clinic is murdered, the investigation into her death is complicated by the complex dynamics within her family and by her controversial position within the community.
Why did you get this book? The title grabbed my interest, and I picked it up and was utterly hooked by the first sentence: "The problem was, Megan had just taken the second half of the ecstasy when her father called with the news." First sentence: A+
Do you like the cover? It's fine - a sweater crumpled by the edge of a pool - but I'm irked because there was a lovely little bit of a description at the beginning of the book where they talked about the sweater crumpled by the pool and how the character's purple flipflops were lying near it, their heels darkened with sweat. I am very annoyed that they didn't put the flipflops on the cover.
Did you enjoy the book? I did. At first I was *really* enjoying it: her writing was fresh and sparkling and her characterization was great and her plot was gripping and I was thrilled because I thought I'd discovered another mystery novelist to love - I like really good mystery-genre fiction, but thus far Dennis Lehane is the only novelist who consistently grabs me, with Sarah Dunant coming in second and Ruth Rendell dragging behind in the rear. There's no one else I've read that I find to be worth bothering with at all, so I was excited about Elisabeth Hyde. But then the book kind of fell apart as it went on - her writing went from sparkling to flat, her characterization became inconsistent, and she threw in a truly heinous plot twist that ruined a lot of the last half of the book for me. I wound up enjoying it, but not loving it.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yeah, she was new to me. I may or may not read something else by her; I did like this, and yet it's hard to like a book so much at the beginning and find yourself so disappointed by the end.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Another library book. I might pick this up if I see it being sold used and for cheap somewhere.
Anything else? Not really.
Number of pages: 304
Total pages for the year: 11321
Scale of 1 to 10: 7/8

Book: 37
Title: Purple Hibiscus
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Genre: Fiction
One-sentence summary: In the frightening political chaos of modern-day Nigeria, fifteen-year-old Kambili finds herself torn between the need to please her abusive and religiously fanatical father and her growing desire to find her own voice, encouraged by her independent-minded aunt and a magnetic young parish priest.
Why did you get this book? I'd read a short story by Adichie in This Is Not Chick Lit and decided I had to read more by her.
Do you like the cover? Yeah, it draws the eye.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, although it picked up steam as it went on. At first I thought the portrayal of the dynamics of an abusive home seemed a little facile, but it stopped seeming so as I went on. I do think that "facile" is a good word for a few things she did in the book - at the beginning of the book Kambili was so utterly controlled by her father, but she started to be able to abandon those thought patterns in something like a week spent with her aunt, which I found to be unrealistic given how abusive her father was. That would have been easily fixed by expanding the time frame a bit, though, and the characterization and the family dynamics were well handled. It also got me interested in learning more about the current political situation in Nigeria, and anything that gets me interested in learning something new is a good thing in my book.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? The only thing I'd read before was the short story. Half of a Yellow Sun looks really good and I will almost certainly get it from the library soon.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Another library book, and another one I may get my own copy of.
Anything else? Not really, except that I bet I'll recommend this book to a lot of people.
Number of pages: 320
Total pages for the year: 11017
Scale of 1 to 10: 8/9

Book: 36
Title: Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement
Author: Tanya Erzen
Genre: Sociology, anthropology, ethnology, queer studies, religion. Etc.
One-sentence summary: Tanya Erzen spent close to a year studying New Hope, an all-male residential "ex-gay" program based on the premise that homosexuality is inherently antithetical to living a Christian life and that homosexuality can be "cured" with the help of their program. This book, which was originally her dissertation, puts forth what she learned there with the sensitive but dispassionate attitude of a good social scientist.
Why did you get this book? I read about it on salon.com ages ago and was really struck by the tone of the Salon article: I was so used to liberals having nothing but knee-jerk scorn for the ex-gay movement, and yet the Salon article really took the trouble to explore the nuances of the issue. Since Salon is often not given to terribly nuanced or original analysis when left to its own devices, I was really interested in reading the book that had spurred that review.
Do you like the cover? It's fine - a bride and groom walking into a church. It's a photo from gettyimages.com, so maybe I'm reading into it too much, but there seemed to be a subtle tension in the posture of the bride and groom as they stand side by side that's in keeping with the content of the book.
Did you enjoy the book? Tremendously. This is a really, really interesting piece of sociological research, guys. What I loved most about it was that Erzen didn't go in to prove a point. She had enough theoretical grounding in sociology/anthropology in general and in queer studies in particular that she knew what she was doing, but she went in to learn, rather than to find evidence to support an already-developed viewpoint. As such, this isn't a book about how the ex-gay movement is horrible and it lies to people and it damages people's psyches irreversibly and it should be shut down immediately, like some of the books on the subject. Nor is it a piece of propaganda for the ex-gay movement; it's not politically motivated at all. It's a thoughtful exploration of an issue that's much more complex than most people see it as being. The question, of course, is whether gays can change; the program answers "yes," while most contemporary gay activist programs say "no". I will insert my own viewpoint here and say that queer theory would give a pretty unequivocal "yes" as well: if we assume that sexuality and gender are both fluid and exist on a continuum, why *wouldn't* people be able to change? Erzen looks at the scientific background of the ex-gay movement and explains that the treatment at New Hope, the specific program where she did her fieldwork, is based in the idea that homosexuality exists as the result of "gender deficits" - i.e., that the men in the program were raised with insufficient models of masculinity and that they need healthy male-male relationships and retraining in masculine behavior in order to exist as straight. That, to me, is where the program falls down - the assumption that homosexuality is the result of a deficit of masculinity (or femininity, in women) has been pretty well disproven (the person who developed the theory hadn't actually done any direct research - it was all strictly theoretical). It seemed to be focused on teaching men not to be attracted to other men, rather than on teaching men to be attracted to women, and to me that's backwards. But what I loved about the book was that Erzen was able to divorce her analysis of the inadequacies in the "science" behind the ex-gay movement from her perception of the people in the program. She was able to accept that the men in the program had made a choice to abandon their previous lifestyles because they felt their faith was more important. She made it clear to the men that she wanted to learn from them, and as they warmed to her and came to understand that she wasn't there to judge them, they opened up to her. In the end, she doesn't give you any predetermined conclusions, except for a strong final chapter in which she demonstrates how the ex-gay movement has been hijacked by hardcore fundamentalists like James Dobson and how much that upset a lot of the men in the program, who felt their personal struggles were being misinterpreted and twisted into propaganda for an anti-gay movement that they didn't necessarily support: many of them were not interested in trying to convert other people, they were just trying to live their own lives as best they knew how. I don't mean to imply that she whitewashes the fact that many of these men grew up in stern fundamentalist homes/atmospheres that colored their thinking about the issues, because that's in the book too. The thing is that in the end, Erzen leaves it up to the reader to decide what they think of the movement and of the choice these men are making. What she's doing is providing us with a really complex and well-researched portrayal of what the ex-gay movement looks like from the inside, and I found it incredibly valuable and thought-provoking.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yes. She hasn't written anything else yet, but I'd be interested to see what else she publishes. If it's on a subject I'm interested in, I'm there.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? It's a library book, but I may get my own copy at some point.
Anything else? The only thing that I wished Erzen had done more of in this book would have been to put direct transcriptions of interviews with program members in the narrative. I don't know if it really would have fit, but I would have liked to get to know each of the men in the program a little better. We got to know them somewhat, of course, but I would have liked to read case studies on each of them, honestly. I got to wondering if I should work on something like that.
Number of pages: 293
Total pages for the year: 10697
Scale of 1 to 10: 9

I'm back! I'm going to pick up my book count where I left off because, although I did read some new books between March 10th and now, of course, I was doing a lot of rereading, because I was feeling yucky, mood-wise, and when I am feeling yucky I default to a lot of rereading. I don't remember what-all I read, so I'm just going to start at 35.

Book: 35
Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (obv.)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Juvie fiction, fantasy
One-sentence summary: Harry Potter has to defeat Lord Voldemort while struggling to deal with the fact that as a character and even as a protagonist, Snape is way cooler than Harry is.
Why did you get this book? It's the end of the Harry Potter series. I find myself rolling my eyes at the template here.
Do you like the cover? Yeah. I sort of wonder whether Mary Grand-Pre drew it entirely alone; the covers on the first three or so weren't that impressive, and then as the furor over the series began to heat up the covers started getting better, and this final one is much more skillfully done than the first one. Maybe they paid her more to have her give more of a shit, I dunno.
Did you enjoy the book? It's a complicated question, given that it's the last book in this series, especially as the expectations were so high. I read it all and kept turning the pages, and there were parts that were really great (the scene in the Ministry springs to mind). And then there were parts that were really not great at all (the scene in Gringotts springs to mind). Her characterization is on-again-off-again, and in terms of plot, I had some major objections to certain parts of it and was quite happy with the way she resolved other parts. It wasn't perfect, but it was fun, and I liked it fine. (For the purposes of this review, by the way, we are ignoring the existence of the epilogue. I think the world will be an immeasurably better place if we just pretend that epilogue never existed.) Long, disjointed, and spoilery review here.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? I will get that encyclopedia thing she says she will be writing, whenever she chooses to write it.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? Not that can't be seen in the long spoilery review.
Number of pages: 760
Total pages for the year: 10404
Scale of 1 to 10: 7/8

Book: 34
Title: A Child's Book of True Crime
Author: Chloe Hooper
Genre: General fiction, mystery
One-sentence summary: An elementary school teacher is having an affair with the father of one of her students, whose wife has just completed a true-crime novel about a young girl who was murdered after she had an affair with a married man. As the narrator begins to fancy more and more similarities between her life and that of the murdered girl, she becomes obsessed with the past murder, and writes her varying theories on the murder into a dark, fanciful children's book populated by talking animals.
Why did you get this book? I found it at a used book sale in New York. I'd heard good things about it, and it's cover-blurbed by Jennifer Egan, whom I like.
Do you like the cover? It's all right, but it kind of drives me crazy because near the bottom there's this tiny little square that I think is supposed to be the cover of the narrator's children's book, and then on the spine there's this random stripe that is patterned with the very edge of that picture. It's hard to explain, but it's really weird.
Did you enjoy the book? Meeeeeh. You know, I feel like I should have... and I sort of did... but I mostly didn't. It was well-written, and there are certain aspects that are great. The book is full of insightful/witty asides, and the chapters from the "child's book of true crime" are good, and there's a wonderful running theme where the narration is interspersed with bits of classroom dialogue. The voices of the elementary school children are very real, very well done. But the overall theme... you know... I don't know, the plot as a whole struck me as a low-rent version of Suzanne Moore's In the Cut, and I didn't like In the Cut. Blah blah blah, sexual obsession with danger, blah blah blah spiraling out of control, blah blah inevitable climax blah. Sorry. It just doesn't really do much for me.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yes, and I'm not really sure. I think the book was a bit disorganized for me, and I know that was the point, but meh.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? There are wombats in this book.
Scale of 1 to 10: 7
Number of pages: 230
Total pages for the year: 9644

Book: 33
Title: Cheaper By the Dozen
Author: Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Genre: Memoir
One-sentence summary: The Gilbreth family has twelve children, a father who is an expert in motion study and time conservation and who rules the family as any good patriarch ought, and a sweet mother who defers to the father in all things and comforts the kids when they get hit! Ain't it sweet?
Why did you get this book? I'd read bits of it in stores and thought it seemed funny, and it was on PaperbackSwap.
Do you like the cover? Eh, whatever, kind of a faux-Norman Rockwell thing.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, despite my rather disdainful summary above. It's very much a memoir of a turn-of-the-century family (I guess it stretches from shortly after 1900 to 1920 or so, IIRC), and despite my ragging on the dad who hits the kids and the mom who tends to their bruises, I recognize that times were different then and that what would read as abusive and creepy now was kind of expected of parents then. I do kind of wonder what might be behind the Pleasantville nostalgia here, but I don't really think it's anything too sinister. (I mean, anything sinister in this particular family. The patriarchal societal structures that created this particular family are sinister enough.) The writing is good, and I love a lot of the anecdotes. This book reminds me a lot of my grandparents; the kinds of stories they love to tell, the yearning for a simpler world. It was a very enjoyable read.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yes, but have they written anything else?
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? Basically, when you strip away all my pseudosociological musings, this is just a cute, funny, easy read. I liked it.
Scale of 1 to 10: 9, just because it's so good at being what it's trying to be.
Number of pages: 207
Total pages for the year: 9414

Book: 32
Title: On Michael Jackson
Author: Margo Jefferson
Genre: Social science, cultural studies, biography
One-sentence summary: This is at once a biography of Michael Jackson, though not at all a comprehensive or chronological one, and an analysis of his impact on society, society's perception of him, and the social and personal roots of both his talents and his pathologies.
Why did you get this book? I find Michael Jackson to be a fascinating cultural phenomenon, honestly: both who/what he is, and what society wants him to be/has made him into.
Do you like the cover? Silver text on a white background? Sure, whatever. I guess it's a nice little link between Jackson's shiny larger-than-life persona and the this-is-a-serious-cultural-analysis-not-some-pop-biography tone the book is going for.
Did you enjoy the book? I did. Jefferson's a great writer and her observations are astute. I wish she would have delved more deeply into them, though - the book is short and I felt like though everything she said was true and insightful, there was a lot more to be said, a lot deeper she could have gone. But it was quite good.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yes, and yes, if she wrote something else I was interested in.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping it. No idea where to shelve it though. Cultural studies? Biography? I have no idea.
Anything else? I actually do feel like I understand Michael Jackson a little better, having read this book. And I consider that no small feat. Nice job, Margo Jefferson.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8/9
Number of pages: 146
Total pages for the year: 9207

Book: 31
Title: Fledgling
Author: Octavia Butler
Genre: Sci-fi/fantasy
One-sentence summary: Shori Matthews appears to be a ten-year-old black girl, stricken with amnesia after suffering a head wound during an attack on her home that left the rest of her family dead and her house burned to the ground. Even through her amnesia, Shori knows this is not exactly what she is; in the course of the book she learns the word "vampire", as well as some of the history of the alien race that that word's meaning inadequately represents.
Why did you get this book? I am, as has been noted, an Octavia Butler fan.
Do you like the cover? I do, actually. I can't tell if it was designed specifically for this book or not: an (apparently) young girl's feet walking down some stairs, with tongues of flame licking at the hem of her dress. It could reference the beginning of the book, or it could be just a random picture someone picked out because it looked striking. That said, it is indeed striking.
Did you enjoy the book? Yes, this was excellent. It's a take on vampire mythology, but because it's Butler, the vampires' motivations are all too human, even as they are quite clearly a different race. And, you know, they're a "different race" in the sense that they are an independent civilization that has coexisted alongside humans for thousands of years, and they maintain a symbiotic relationship with humans in a way that both challenges and illuminates conventional standards of morality, and it's all very matter-of-fact and un-sensationalized. Classic Butler, in other words. This is her last book, and though it may not be quite as good as Kindred, the book that really made her name, I think it's close. I still think Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents constitute her best work though.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? I already bought another one of her books. I'm going to run out soon.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? The fact that this woman is dead, and at such a young age, is just not fair.
Scale of 1 to 10: 9
Number of pages: 310
Total pages for the year: 9061

Best Book of the Month: The Camera My Mother Gave Me, by Susanna Kaysen
Runners-Up: Love in the Asylum, Lisa Carey; The Far Side of Evil, Sylvia Engdahl
The Don't Bother Award: Such a Pretty Girl x10
Recommendations of Specific Books to Specific People Who May or May Not Read This Journal: This month was not as good as January as far as my reading material went, and I honestly can't think of any specific recs I want to make to specific people.
Number of Books Read This Month: 13

Book: 30
Title: Such a Pretty Girl
Author: Laura Wiess
Genre: General fiction, YA fiction (maybe? I can't tell if it's meant to be YA or not)
One-sentence summary: Meredith was twelve when her father was sent to prison for raping her, and fifteen when he was let out, six years early and as dangerous as ever. This is the story of how she tries to cope with that danger.
Why did you get this book? The cover is pretty and the subject matter is of interest to me.
Do you like the cover? The cover is the best thing about the book. A wilted pink rose on a stark black background, with the title in feminine, teenagery script below the rose.
Did you enjoy the book? Oh fuck no. This book was such. fucking. BULLSHIT. ( cut for a.) triggers, bluntly expressed in angry language and b.) spoilers. Also c.) length, because this book says a lot about people's misconceptions about sexual abuse, and I am in the mood for a rant )
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yes. No.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? PaperbackSwapping it as soon as I can find someone to take it.
Anything else? This book was back-cover-blurbed by Luanne Rice and Barbara Delinsky. So I knew I was probably being dumb in buying it. But man, I didn't expect it to be that bad. One telling remark, though: Barbara Delinsky says it's "Important with a capital I." That's exactly what this book is. It's a Lifetime Movie, a book on an Important topic that completely fails to get at the heart or soul of the matter, but it sounds good to people who know nothing about it, and they flatter themselves that they have just read something Important. No one would ever call a book by Kathryn Harrison or Heather Lewis "Important", just to pick two authors' names off the top of my head. They have both written stunningly real books on sexual abuse, and they are stunningly real because they delve into the characters, into the buried shit most people would just as soon not look at. They're not Books About Sexual Abuse, they're books about people who have been sexually abused, and, well, that distracts from the message, I guess. I think in the end this writer was trying to rewrite Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, but Speak has already been written, and Laurie Halse Anderson could buy and sell this woman in a heartbeat.
Scale of 1 to 10: 2. I give it that one notch above bottom because the prose wasn't bad.
Number of pages: 212
Total pages for the year: 8751

*I mean I am not trying to say that having been groped is not a traumatic experience, because of course it is, and nothing good ever comes of saying "my trauma is bigger than your trauma"... but... my mind just boggled when she said that.

Book: 29
Title: The Year Without Michael
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre: YA fiction
One-sentence summary: Sixteen-year-old Jody's younger brother disappears on his way to a baseball game one summer afternoon. The book follows his family's disintegration, and hopes of renewal, in the year following his disappearance.
Why did you get this book? I had read it when I was a kid and loved it, but I lost my copy ages and ages ago. This is another PBS find.
Do you like the cover? Nah, not much - it's a rather poorly done portrait of the family, sans Michael.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, almost as much as I did when I originally read it when I was ten. The main character is something of an Everygirl, but her family members are interesting and not terribly typical. Some of the plot developments are predictable, but most aren't, and the book rings very true. This is another book that refuses to cop out and tie everything up in a neat bow at the end.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? I've read Twice Taken, which is another take on a child who goes missing, that one from the kid's perspective (a custody snatch). That I'd rank as a little better than this, mostly because the narrator's voice has a bit of a hard edge to it that I like, and the family in it isn't so perfectly middle-class and "typical". Which is the point of the family in this book, really, but... well, anyway. Both books work, for what they are.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? Not really, just that this is really a very good YA book.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8/9
Number of pages: 164
Total pages for the year: 8539

Book: 28
Title: Love in the Asylum
Author: Lisa Carey
Genre: General fiction
One-sentence summary: The story of a junkie and a manic-depressive who fall in love in a mental hospital is intertwined with the story of a schizophrenic (?) Indian shaman (?) who was committed to the same hospital 70 years before.
Why did you get this book? It was on the bargain table at Brookline Booksmith, and I'm always game for a book about crazy people.
Do you like the cover? Yeah, it's kind of clever, really: a pink pill and a blue pill cozying up in a little paper cup.
Did you enjoy the book? You know, I did. Quite a bit. It was a pretty light, pretty quick read - not light in the sense that the subject matter is light, which it definitely is not, but light in the sense that it's basically meant to be a pageturning story. It's a good one, though. The "love in the psych ward" bit was handled surprisingly well - usually that plotline is terribly unrealistic, but it made sense to me both logistically and in terms of character development - and the story of the maybe-schizophrenic maybe-shaman was well done too, and kept the contemporary love story from getting bogged down or turning dull. I liked the ambiguity as to what her deal was, and the questions this book tosses around about what "mental illness" means. And I liked that it didn't answer those questions, and that the characters' various issues weren't tied up in a neat bow at the end. On the whole, it was very nicely done.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yeah - last I knew she'd only written one book, something about singing mermaids, and I looked at it a few times because it had a pretty aquamarine cover and then decided against getting it because the cover looked like the best thing about it. But who knows, maybe I'll read something more by her now. I don't feel compelled to, but I could be interested. It will probably hinge on what turns up on PaperbackSwap.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? I'd recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the summary, but with a caveat: there are a number of graphic scenes of sexual violence, and anyone who's likely to be triggered by them should not read this book.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8
Number of pages: 290
Total pages for the year: 8375

Book: 27
Title: Flip-Flop Girl
Author: Katherine Paterson
Genre: YA fiction
One-sentence summary: Vinnie Matthews' father has just died, her family has moved to a new town, a new school year's just started, and her younger brother has become mute in response to all the stress. Stressed to the breaking point herself, Vinnie finds solace in a crush on a kind, compassionate teacher and a growing friendship with a compellingly unique classmate (the eponymous flip-flop girl).
Why did you get this book? For the last few years I've been working on and off on a YA novel myself, one of whose central themes is death/grieving. I have little experience with death and grieving myself (I know, I know, you have to write about what you know about, but the grieving theme kind of evolved out of a central theme that I *do* know about, and... well, anyway), so I have had to resort to my usual tactic of reading about things I don't know about. And if you're looking for a YA book about death and grieving, and one by Katherine Paterson turns up, you buy it.
Do you like the cover? Eh - it's fine, a painting from a particular scene in the book. I like the new cover (which I just saw on Amazon) much better: a girl's flip-flop-clad feet standing on playground asphalt in front of a chalked hopscotch square.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, although it was no Bridge to Terabithia, Lyddie, or The Great Gilly Hopkins. Katherine Paterson has written so many amazing books that a good book looks weak in comparison. This book was good, quite good really. I just wouldn't call it amazing.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Oh, gosh, I couldn't even list all the books I've read by Katherine Paterson throughout my life, and I've no doubt I'll read more by her. She's prolific.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? Though from the summary it's clear that this book borrows a lot of themes from Bridge to Terabithia, the atmosphere is really quite different. I'm not saying everyone should read this book, but it shouldn't be discounted on the grounds that if you've read Bridge this would feel like an inferior retread, because it doesn't, really.
Scale of 1 to 10: 7
Number of pages: 120
Total pages for the year: 8085

Book: 26
Title: Shadow on a Tightrope: Women's Writings on Fat Oppression
Author: Lisa Schoenfielder and Barb Wieser (editors)
Genre: Fat studies, social science, essays, anthology
One-sentence summary: A collection of essays dealing with fat oppression from a medical, social, and personal standpoint.
Why did you get this book? I'm interested in fat studies, and this seems to be one of the seminal books of research/social criticism in that genre.
Do you like the cover? I actually do. It's just a line drawing of a fat woman, but it's a good line drawing, with big bulky shoulders and a double chin... so often when I see representations of fat women that are meant to be seen in a positive light, it's the "thin fat woman" depicted - you know, no double chin, big boobs and hips but smaller waist, well-defined cheekbones, etc. This doesn't follow that model, and I appreciate that.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, although I should warn that it is hella dated (originally published in 1983). Most of the medical chapters are completely worthless these days except as history pieces: the average woman, fat or thin, no longer consumes 1600 calories a day, and intestinal bypasses are a thing of the past. (Not gastric bypasses, but intestinal bypasses - scary and dangerous as gastric bypasses can be, intestinal bypasses were about a hundred times worse.) There's also not the huge market for diet pills (more specifically, amphetamines) that there was in the '80s when this book was written - almost all the personal anecdotes make reference to women having been forced into becoming addicted to amphetamines, because it was considered better to be addicted to speed than to be fat. And I think that as feminism has changed, so has the face of the fat-positivity movement; I think when this book was written, it was considered something of an oxymoron to be straight and a feminist - at any rate, I think that only one of the thirty or forty essays in this book was written by a straight women, and several of the lesbian writers are openly disparaging of the idea that a straight woman could be a feminist or even a feminist ally. Still, for all the things that have changed, there are just as many things that haven't changed. Fat women still take shit on a daily basis for their weight - just carrying this book around and reading it on the train was an interesting experiment for me, seeing people take in the words "fat oppression" on the cover, then seeing them scan me and watching their faces turn cold and angry. One of the women wrote about how she was thin (and unhealthy, and suicidal) for a period of time, and how now, ten years later, her mother still carries around and displays pictures of her from that period to show her friends. My mom does that; the most recent picture of me in her house is from my senior year of high school. And it is still assumed that every fat person is a glutton, and that it is inherently healthier to be skinny than fat, and that surgery with an unacceptably high mortality rate is nevertheless preferable to maintaining obesity, and that although fat people are undoubtedly despised and oppressed in our society, the correct response is for fat people to get skinny, rather than for society to become more accepting. This was a trailblazing book when it came out in '83, and sadly, it still says a lot of things people don't want to hear, have conditioned themselves not to hear.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Well, they edited the book rather than writing it. If they'd collaborated on anything else, or if the editors actually had written any books solo, I might check them out.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? I did like the feminist spirit of this book, even though, as I said, it does seem somewhat dated (who spells woman "womon" anymore? I haven't seen that in like ten years.) It tried very hard to achieve real diversity in its selection of featured writers, and it covers a wide variety of social classes, races, and (dis)abilities. It is not, as I said, at all diverse in terms of sexuality: this is pretty much all lesbians, all the time. Which I certainly relate to, but it would have been nice to see more diversity there. But for all that, I really did appreciate the general diversity of the selected essayists.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8
Number of pages: 243
Total pages for the year: 7965

Book: 25
Title: The New Girls
Author: Beth Gutcheon
Genre: General fiction, women's fiction
One-sentence summary: Several girls attend a ritzy all-girls' boarding school. They drink, smoke, sing with Glee Club, sleep with guys (some of them teachers), rebel against authority. Etc.
Why did you get this book? Since I'm poor these days, a good percentage of my book choices are dictated by what happens to be hanging around on PaperbackSwap. I'd read Beth Gutcheon before and liked her fairly well; Saying Grace was quite good and Still Missing wasn't bad. So I picked this one up, because PBS had it.
Do you like the cover? I got a mass-market edition from like the early eighties or something, and no, it's not very attractive.
Did you enjoy the book? Eh. In places. There were parts that were well done, and then there were parts that just dragged. The whole thing felt really long; I kept reading it doggedly, and kept wondering why I wasn't closer to done yet. The characterizations were... all right; if they'd been stronger they'd have held the book together much better, but although they weren't awful, I expected much better from the author of Saying Grace. The plot wavered between interesting and boring. I don't know.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Not new to me, as I said, but I think I'm probably done on her. Who knows, though. I think I said that last time.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? I'm not sure. I kind of like to keep collections of books by the same author, but I'm fairly sure I won't be rereading this.
Anything else? This author is obsessed with nipples. No, I'm serious. The book has its share of sex scenes, and all of them are about nipples. They start with nipples - usually female, but sometimes male - they focus on nipples being stroked or sucked and hardening for like two pages, and then you get to the actual sex part and it takes like a paragraph. Seriously. Crazy for nipples. Also, Gutcheon is entirely too fond of soprano prodigies with hip-length red hair. They've shown up in two of her books now. Oh, and also? The tender romance between the fifteen-year-old and her 25-year-old teacher was creepy, mainly because Gutcheon seemed to find absolutely nothing wrong with it on the basis of the fact that the teacher was "young". A ten-year age difference at that stage in life matters, dude.
Scale of 1 to 10: 5
Number of pages: 332
Total pages for the year: 7722

Book: 24
Title: Bait and Switch
Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
Genre: Social science/political science
One-sentence summary: In Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich went undercover as a low-wage worker; in this book she goes undercover as a white-collar worker! That'll work just as well... won't it?
Why did you get this book? I loved Nickel and Dimed, and I love Ehrenreich's writing style.
Do you like the cover? Sure, whatever.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, though it was quite flawed. Ehrenreich seemed to think that her falsified resume, which emphasized her PR skills and basically consisted of her having listed a consultancy at any company where she knew someone who was willing to lie for her if they got a call, should work just as well as any real one in getting her a white-collar job. So she determined that she wouldn't take any job that paid less than $50,000 (!) and/or came without benefits. Which struck me as kind of reaching for the moon, especially because, honestly, I suspect she might have done better on the job market if she'd had a solid last *job*, rather than a bunch of consultant work, to give her a reference. So, anyway, she never finds a job, but the book still carries on quite entertainingly as it details the ludicrousness of various "networking events" and "career consultants." Ehrenreich will always have that dry wit and that passion for social change, and that went a very long way towards making the book readable and entertaining. Still, her inability to find a job isolates her from the most central part of white-collar culture. Alternating chapters of personal anecdote with chapters of interviews with people who do or have held white-collar jobs would have done a whole lot to improve the book; as it is, it sort of drifts by its goal. My other complaint about the book is that all these career coaches and networking events cost a truly astonishing amount of money, and that's fine if your publisher is paying for all of it (as I assume hers was, and if not, she has got a substantial tax deduction here), but if not... well, how reflective is this of most "in transition" (read: unemployed) white-collar workers' actual experience? Maybe they do all shell out thousands of dollars to have people tell them that their thought forms are creating negative energy and keeping them from the jobs of their dreams, I don't know. If so, then Ehrenreich has done quite a public service in a.) mocking such programs mercilessly and b.) demonstrating conclusively that they do not work.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No, I'd read Nickel and Dimed, of course, and a fascinating book she co-authored (I think that means the other person did the researching, compiling, and structuring of the book, and Ehrenreich did the writing) called For Her Own Good, which was about the history of the medical profession and the ways it's worked to keep women in a subservient, little-mother role. I'd like to read some more of her stuff.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? It's really, really cold in my apartment right now. Holy shit.
Scale of 1 to 10: 7
Number of pages: 256
Total pages for the year: 7390

Book: 23
Title: The Camera My Mother Gave Me
Author: Susanna Kaysen
Genre: Memoir
One-sentence summary: Susanna Kaysen has a problem with her vagina, and with her asshole sex-obsessed boyfriend.
Why did you get this book? I've read Kaysen before and I love her writing. And this turned up on PaperbackSwap.
Do you like the cover? It's just the title. It's fine.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, mostly, as mentioned, on the strength of her writing. It didn't attempt any Vagina Monologues-style meditation on the meaning of the vagina; basically, her vagina hurts, a lot. To me, the more fully fleshed-out journey of the book was her growing realization of how awful her boyfriend was, and her evolving understanding of the various forms sexual violence can take. Which sounds both dopey and clinical, but anyway. At any rate, I did like the book.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No. There's only one book of hers that I know of that I haven't yet read, which is Far Afield, one of her novels. I may read that at some point, and if she publishes anything else, which is likely, I'll probably check it out.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? I really like the font that's used in both this book and Girl, Interrupted. Ummm... that's all.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8
Number of pages: 158
Total pages for the year: 7134

Book: 22
Title: In the Company of the Courtesan
Author: Sarah Dunant
Genre: Historical fiction
One-sentence summary: A courtesan and her pimp dwarf (no, really) flee from the sack of Rome in 1527 and attempt to build a new life for themselves in Venice.
Why did you get this book? I'd read Sarah Dunant before, and rarely been disappointed.
Do you like the cover? It's all right. Pretty standard for historical fiction: a piece of period art, the title in raised gilt lettering with wildly curlicued capitals. Whatever.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, though it was a tiny bit slow for my tastes and I will say that Dunant doesn't really have a flair for historical fiction. She ought to stick with contemporary mysteries, which she excels at. This... I don't know, it didn't make me *feel* 16th-century Venice, you know? In a lot of ways this is like a knockoff Slammerkin, but Donoghue is much, much better at immersing the reader in the sights, sounds, and smells (!) of her chosen time period. Plus, her characterization is better. Anyway, if you're going to read Dunant, pick one of her contemporary mysteries.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No, and yes.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? I don't really think so. This was a pretty good read, but I suspect it will not be a terribly memorable one.
Scale of 1 to 10: 7
Number of pages: 368
Total pages for the year: 6974

Book: 21
Title: Astonishing Splashes of Colo(u)r
Author: Clare Morrall
Genre: General fiction
One-sentence summary: Our synaesthetic narrator attempts to make her way through her teetering piles of issues, including mental illness, a miscarriage that has left her barren, and a host of family secrets.
Why did you get this book? The title rang a bell; it was shortlisted for the Booker, and that's the book award I trust most; it was (of course) on the bargain table at the Brookline Booksmith.
Do you like the cover? It's not bad, but I think given the visual imagery of the title they could have done a lot better.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, mostly because it's a pretty good page-turner and the writing is good. Morrall doesn't seem to know quite where she's going with her plot, or with her character, for that matter; there were several plot threads that I particularly enjoyed, but they kept unraveling and getting lost and then reappearing six chapters later. With a lot of editing and refocusing, this book could be parceled out, expanded and revised into three or four absolutely *killer* novels. But even as it is, it's good. I'm not 100% sure whether it's deserving of the Booker nom - unless the rest of the nominees were all really weak, I can see this deserving to be on the longlist but not the shortlist.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Yes, and yeah, I'll be interested to see where she goes from here. This is her first published novel (though she's written *five* novels that were never published! Lady, you have more perseverance and dedication than I have), and it does feel pretty first-novely. If she tightens things up some, I think her future books could be really great.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? The title is a reference to the main character's synaesthesia, and I was all excited at first, thinking of how much october31st would be likely to enjoy this book - but then that was another one of the plot threads that petered out. I mean, it recurred occasionally, and the first section is very strong in that regard, but I wanted to see it be more of a pervasive theme throughout. It didn't feel like a new/different way the character saw the world, it felt like a thing the author threw in when she wanted to make a point. I wanted to read a book with a synaesthete's perspective. Sadly, this is not that book.
Scale of 1 to 10: 7/8
Number of pages: 322
Total pages for the year: 6606

Book: 20
Title: The Far Side of Evil
Author: Sylvia Louise Engdahl
Genre: Science fiction, YA fiction
One-sentence summary: Elana is an agent for a Federation of highly advanced, utopian societies who is sent to monitor the situation on a planet whose dangerously unstable political situation is threatening to turn nuclear. Of course monitoring turns into saving the planet. Naturally.
Why did you get this book? It's the sequel to a previous book I'd really liked.
Do you like the cover? Ha, it's terrible. I don't know what the hell this edition that I've got is: the back cover is full of typos and the cover looks like someone threw it together in MS Paint without actually knowing how to use MS Paint. And it's Pepto-Bismol pink!
Did you enjoy the book? Yeah, it's really good - the author is slightly complacent in her assertion that she understands every single thing ever about how the world works and what is good and bad for society, but I agree with most of her beliefs, so I don't mind it too much. The characters are very well-drawn and the plot's a hell of a page-turner.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No - I'd read her before this, as stated, but this is actually a reread for me. I agonized a bit over whether it was okay to update about it here, before deciding that a.) it had been so long since I'd read it that it felt like I was reading a new book, b.) I invested as much time and energy reading it as I would a book that was new to me and I felt just as much like sharing when I was done, and c.) this is my journal and I get to make the rules.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? *God*, the cover is horrible. If anyone who reads this decides to get a copy via abebooks or whatever (it is, of course, long out of print), you'll have to tell me what your cover looks like. I can't believe this is the only cover it was ever issued under. It looks like it was born used.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8/9
Number of pages: 292
Total pages for the year: 6284