A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess: This is an intense—as in, intensely violent—book. But the language Burgess creates is so whimsical that it tempers what physically happens. I thought it was a fascinating read.
Sick in the Head - Judd Apatow: This is sort of like a book version of the “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” series, except on one side of the conversation you have Judd Apatow talking over and over again about his parents’ divorce instead of having Jerry Seinfeld’s untempered cockiness (no shade on Jerry, I love Jerry). It’s pretty inside baseball—fans of comedy history and particularly comedy film will find a lot more of interest here—but even as a me, who only understood maybe 40% of the references, I thought it was really good. As with “Comedians in Cars”, the interviews with the women, from Amy Schumer to Sarah Silverman, were my favorites; that’s not a consciously feminist choice, I just found them to be more interesting and insightful.
Animal Farm - George Orwell: I’m trying to read a bunch of books I probably should have read in high school, this being one of that lot. I really enjoyed it. Snowball forever.
Year of Yes - Shonda Rhimes: I have mixed feelings for Shonda (who has been in my living room enough that I think we’re on a first-name basis here)—I love her shows, but they suck me in so much that I end up wasting way too much time watching. I binge-watched two seasons of “Scandal” one week before I woke up from my daze on a Saturday night, thinking “WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE???” I mean, I guess that’s to her credit. She’s the queen of Thursday nights for a reason. Anyway, I ended up really liking this book. Rhimes likes writing in sentence fragments. Like this. For emphasis. A. Lot. Of. Emphasis.
Seriously.
The whole book is like this.
Short paragraphs everywhere.
So it’s a fast read.
The premise is that Rhimes’ sister accused her one fateful day of never saying “yes” to anything, Rhimes realized her sister was right and that her fear was causing her to miss out on great social opportunities, so she decided to start saying yes to everything she was invited to do, from Jimmy Kimmel Live to commencement speeches to being late for work so she could play with her daughters. It was actually really inspiring, and reminded me of Stephen Colbert’s interview for Esquire in which he talks about being a volunteer for your own life (that interview is my FAVORITE.) Also, Rhimes is a bad-A feminist and has awesome things to say about women.
One great (and long—sorry) example:
“I don’t think it ever occurred to me before how much and how often women are praised for displaying traits that basically render them invisible. When I really think about it, I realize the culprit is the language generally used to praise women. Especially mothers. ‘She sacrificed everything for her children . . . She never thought about herself . . . She gave up everything for us . . . She worked tirelessly to make sure we had what we needed. She stood in the shadows, she was the wind beneath our wings.’ Greeting card companies are built on that idea. ‘Tell her how much all the little things she does all year long that seem to go unnoticed really mean to you.’ . . . This is good, we’re told. It’s good how Mom diminishes and martyrs herself. The message is: mothers, you are such wonderful and good people because you make yourselves smaller, because you deny your own needs, because you toil tirelessly in the shadows and no one ever thanks or notices you. This all makes you AMAZING . . . I’m not saying MOTHERHOOD shouldn’t be praised. Motherhood should be praised. Motherhood is wonderful. I’m doing it. I think it’s great. There are all kinds of ways and reasons that mothers can and should be praised. But for cultivating a sense of invisibility, matyrdom and tirelessly working unnoticed and unsung? Those are not reasons.”
Men Explain Things to Me - Rebecca Solnit: I have long LOVED the title essay of this book, so I was excited to see this collection of some of Solnit’s other writing, including a great treatise about Virginia Woolf that discusses the need for hope, and a bunch of awesome feminist essays. Loved it; please read it. It’s short and wonderful.
Notorious RBG - Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is QUEEN. I love this woman, and I love her even more after reading this very entertaining, very wonderful biography. She is a feminist pioneer and has done such incredibly important work. An excellent read.
White Girls - Hilton Als: Good heavens, this is an extraordinary book. Junot Diaz called it “the read of the year” in 2013, and who am I to argue with Junot Diaz? A mesmerizing, breathtaking collection of pieces that examine race, gender, art, and relationships in sometimes uncomfortable, always brilliant ways. The first piece (which reads as memoir) is worth the price of admission alone, but then it’s followed by essays on fascinating figures from Truman Capote to Michael Jackson to Eminem to Richard Pryor to Andre Leon Talley, all of whom Als categorizes in various ways as “white girls”—a phrase that builds in meaning throughout the book until it comes to signify a sort of complex and insecure relationship with privilege. I should insert a caveat here that one of the themes of the book is sexuality, and the language around that topic can be pretty strong. But if that doesn’t make you uncomfortable, I would really recommend reading this.
A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin: This book is delicious. I love short stories and these were exceptional. They remind me very much of Amy Hempel, which is basically the highest praise I can give. Funny, heart-wrenching, deep, precise, crisp, flawless.
On Immunity - Eula Biss: I don’t know how Eula Biss does it, but her stuff just knocks the wind straight out of me. In trying to tell David about it, I ended up reading half the book out loud to him, because everything in it is so flawless and necessary. It’s a small book (I LOVE small books), and it’s spare and gorgeous and I want EVERYONE EVERYONE EVERYONE to read it. I think one of the marks of great writing is that it not only presents you with epiphanies, but leads you to an entirely new set of your own epiphanies. This book did that. Totally knocked my socks off. Read it.
H is for Hawk - Helen MacDonald: Beautiful memoir about MacDonald’s training of a goshawk while dealing with her father’s death. I now know things about hawking. The threads of this book are woven together so exquisitely, and the reflections come so gracefully, that this was a tremendously lovely read. Also, it was widely considered one of the best books of 2015, so there’s that. I’m not alone in my love.
Operating Instructions - Anne Lamott: This book is Lamott’s journal from the year her son was born. It’s hilarious and refreshingly honest—if the purpose of memoir is to make us feel a little less alone in the world, then this book does its job perfectly. It’s also really beautifully written, and a quick read. If you’re a parent, read it and laugh and weep and remember you’re not the only one who is convinced your kids have died in their sleep and then curses them as soon as they wake up ;). (Or maybe that’s just me and Lamott? Oh well, reasonable company.)
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