All posts filed under: The Authors

Yes, We SHOULD All Be Feminists.

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As I read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TEDx talk and then Katherine C.’s review, one word just kept repeating in my head: “yes.” Yes to being unapologetic in our femininity – you can enjoy being feminine and still be a feminist. Yes to raising our daughters and our sons differently so they may enjoy a world where men and women are equal. Yes to equal pay and all the other benefits that go along with women having the same rights as men. Yes to embracing feminism and recognizing that being a feminist simply means supporting the basic principle that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men have. Yes to all of it. All that being said, I do feel lucky that in the United States we have at least come far enough that some of the issues Adichie describes in Nigeria do not exist. But what kind of praise is that? “Well, at least when I tip someone the tipped thanks me and not my husband” is not quite a glowing recommendation for …

Feminism: I know you are but what am I?

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I agree with Katherine C.  I’m bored of this conversation.  That is not necessarily a critique of Adichie’s writing or thoughts. It just that it is just that – writing and thoughts.  Frankly, you have to be the most isolated naïve person (male or female) to not appreciate the glaring discrepancies in gender equality.  I am not just speaking to places in the world, like Nigeria, where these social constraints are newly being addressed.  I am talking about here at home.  We all see it and live it every day.  I get called “nurse,” “honey,” “blue eyes” on the daily at work.  But, you know what, it doesn’t bother me all that much because 1. I have bigger fish to fry and 2. I can’t let it. As much as the concept of feminism is marred with a negative societal connotation of a movement of the brashy broad juiced up on hormones and self-rightoutsness, the real problem is simple.  The real problem is that feminism is not anything.  It isn’t an action.  It isn’t change. Feminism …

Why aren’t we all feminists already?

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This was an interesting read. It made me think a lot about how I define feminism. Author, or speaker rather, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had a beautiful way of articulating complex issues and crystallizing her point for a diverse audience. I definitely enjoyed the read, but I think she only skimmed the surface. Which is unfortunately the current status of feminism in our county. In my opinion, the conversation she provokes in We Should All Be Feminists is the same one we’ve been having for 30 years. Yadda, yadda. Personally, I’m done with this broken record. Take it out of rotation. Let’s get on board with the issues already and elevate the conversation. Don’t get me wrong, I liked all of Adichie’s points… It’s time the word feminism retained less of a negative connotation. In fact, it should have a positive connotation. And we should raise our daughters to a higher standard, instead of asking them to shrink themselves into smaller, more feminine, role. And all this change is within our control, “culture does not make people. People make people.” But …

Eager for the End

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After reading (and loving) Ready Player One I was excited to give Ender’s Game a try. I’d heard from many trusted fellow book nerds what a great book it was but had shied away because I thought it wasn’t “my kind of book.” I should have trusted my gut. This book tested my patience as I struggled through the first third, finding nothing that captured me or held my interest. After setting it down for a few days (instead I read Wonder, which I would highly recommend, and The Good Girl), I picked it back up, determined to chug through. Plus, I was told the ending would change my mind. Eager to get to said ending, I admittedly skimmed a large part of the middle half. So as not to give anything away, all I’ll say about the ending is I appreciated what they were trying to do. And I certainly enjoyed the last quarter of the book much more than the rest, I just wish I didn’t have to slog through the other three-quarters just to …

Sooner rather than later

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Hello, all. Long time no talk to. I have to say, it was a good thing we decided to combine May and June and to just read one book over two months… phew! Life’s been busy! Anyway… I did finish Ender’s Game a few weeks ago. And I have mixed feelings. Overall, I liked it. But I feel like my impression suffered a little from high expectations. I know this is a favorite for a lot of readers in my generation, and I can see why. But it didn’t quite hook me as strongly. Mostly because I didn’t love the pacing. It felt to me a lot like the third book in the Hunger Game series… 200 pages were dedicated to some very slow-paced events, and then the remaining pages had years worth of action. It felt a little rushed. But the sprint to the finish line aside, there were some really interesting themes that pulled me in… The difference between the male and female persona. Although I’m not entirely sure this book depicted those differences …

{Ender’s Game} Cover Redesign

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I thought the hyper-scifi, ultra-nerd Ender’s Game cover could use an update. No offense to those scifi covers, they definitely serve their purpose. But I thought it’d be fun to rethink the look for Ender’s Game (it’s been a long time coming). Since the book was first published in early eighties, I thought something colorful and slightly retro was fitting. And if you’re a fan, you’ll notice I used the colors of the Dragon Army color code… it seemed appropriate 🙂 Ultimately, as I was reading Ender’s Game I just had this image in my head of a young boy overwhelmed and surrounded by different pressures, looking so child-like and alone…        

The Bookly Bulletin: June 2015

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A few months ago, I announced a new post titled “The Bookly Bulletin” where I’d be sharing book-related tidbits from around the web… And then I didn’t do anything. Life, as it does, had me a bit distracted. BUT, I’m back and with the very first Bookly Bulletin installment. So let’s not wait any longer and get right to it! If you’re like me (ahem, a book hoarder), you might be running out of shelf space. Thankfully, The Everygirl provided some ideas to use them as home decor. Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth and On Beauty, wrote a piece on Oprah.com about what it means to be addicted to reading. I can’t get enough of these two Instagram accounts. Did you know All the Light We Cannot See won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction? Have you read it? It can be hit or miss (depending on your taste in pop culture), but The New York Times’ “By the Book” column is one of my favorites. As an Aziz Ansari fan, I’m intrigued by his new book …

Humility, Humor, and Hyperbole

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Right around the time this book was coming out, I heard an interview with Allie Brosh on NPR. Not being familiar with her blog or her story at the time, I was intrigued and enjoyed the personality she conveyed in the interview. I intended to pick up her book, but never got around to it. So when we picked this book as our April read, I was eager to get my hands on a copy, especially because the format she chose is a new one for me. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I found her sense of humor both endearing and relatable, often laughing out loud or reading certain snippets to my husband. My favorite stories were by far “The God of Cake” and “Motivation,” mostly because I found myself nodding my head in solidarity. My two weakness: sweets and my tendency to procrastinate. “I had tasted the cake and there was no going back” and “Most people can motivate themselves to do things simply by knowing that those things need to be done. But …

A Girl I Can Relate to…

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I’ve been reading Allie’s blog since June 2010. A friend sent her post, “This Is Why I’ll Never Be an Adult” to me and I think I snorted water out of my nose and exclaimed, “THIS IS SO TRUE!” I followed her blog regularly after that and was disappointed when it seemed to stop. When she returned with the post on depression, I was so taken with how honest and how self-aware she was. Needless to say, I was excited to read Hyperbole and a Half and wasn’t entirely sure why I didn’t already own it. It was great to revisit some of my favorite stories and wonderful to read some of the new ones. I continue to be impressed with how self-aware Allie is and how well she can describe her life, feelings, and situations. These stories are all so relatable. Even if you haven’t lived through what she’s describing, you understand where she’s coming from. She makes her life accessible and that’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. Of course, her illustrations are …

The Joys of Exploring Your Inner Nerd

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We are an exhausting generation full of instagrams, facebook posts, and selfies (don’t you dare tell me that I’m too old for selfies…I would like to reserve the opportunity to “selfie” should I fancy…but I digress).  There is a brilliant article by Tim Urban from a while back entitled “Why Generation Yuppies are Unhappy.”  It basically describes how our delusional expectations are on a crash course with far less awesome reality. The net effect is that we are an entire generation of bummed out, woulda, coulda-ers with a serious case of FOMO.  Now, while this is somewhat drastic, a lot of the article rings true. The people who truly succeed in this always plugged-in and turned-on generation, or at least so says I, are those who can look above the haze and proudly proclaim “holy cow, I’m a nerd.”  Do not fall into the rabbit hole – the bottom of which is littered with people with selfie sticks who have lost track of themselves. Self awareness is a characteristic lost on far too many these days. …