Bad Feminist
by Roxane Gay
★★★★
I might be the last person to read this collection of
essays but I got to say, all the reviews I read about it did not make it sound
appealing. I got the impression that it was a head-shaking,
staring-down-your-nose-at-someone book about what we were all doing wrong as
feminist. I was so far off! Now that’s not to say that the book is all
humorous. Gay tackles some incredibly tough issues. She talks about racism in
pop culture, birth control, gang rape, etc., but she does so in a very
accessible way.
The author’s essays cover everything from her love of
Sweet Valley High books to her scrabble tournament skills. She's funny and
witty and she is brutally honest about herself. This is not a book about what
everyone else is doing wrong as a feminist. It's a book about her, what she
likes and doesn't like and the issues she feels passionate about. I really
enjoyed it.
BOTTOM LINE: A wonderful collection of essays! I’m
looking forward to trying her novel “An Untamed State” though I’ve heard it’s
much darker.
Five Days in London, May 1940
by John Lukacs
★★★
The title pretty much tells you what you’re getting with
this one. Lukacs drilled into a short time frame after Winston Churchill became
prime minister and some of his cabinet members wanted avoid war with Hitler at
all costs. The subject matter is interesting, but his writing style is a bit
stale. It feels a lot like he’s defending his dissertation instead of just
writing a book. He keeps circling back on a point and explaining why he made
it, which was distracting. The actually history was interesting, but the
writing style didn’t work for me.
He would cite a letter or speech word-for-word as if he’s
trying to prove that the point he was making was based on fact. If I’m reading
nonfiction books on a historical event I tend to trust that the author has done
their research. There’s also usually a biography full of the cited works at the
end of the book that people can check if they want to.
BOTTOM LINE: I won’t be searching out any more work by
this author, but I enjoyed learning more about this short window in history. It
was interesting to see how much can hinge upon what seems like a small
decision.
The Ghost Map
The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How
It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by Steven Johnson
★★☆
Johnson tells the story of the massive Cholera outbreak
in England in the 1850s. He traces its impact on society and the lasting
impacts that still resonate today. He discusses the contaminated water sources
that caused so many problems and made frequent reference to Dickens novels that
were written around the same time.
One point the author made that I did find fascinating was
his conclusion about modern day society’s alcohol tolerance. He says our
population went through a “genetic bottleneck” and many of us are descended
from people who can tolerate alcohol, because those are the people who survived
the bad plague outbreaks in Europe. Native Americans and Aborigines’
descendants in Australia on the other hand were never forced to go through that
form of survival and tend to have a higher tendency towards alcoholism. It’s
something I never considered, but it’s an interesting conclusion.
BOTTOM LINE: The book is impeccably well researched, but
not too readable. It had a hard time keeping my attention. Skip it unless
disease outbreak, medical research, etc. are of particular interest to you.
