Saturday, January 27, 2018

We're All Spinsters Here




The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror 
by Mallory Ortberg
To Be Published: March 2018

Thanks to Disney's whimsical remakes of capital "R" Romantic folklore, my only childhood exposure to fairytales was cheerful princesses singing their way to happy endings surrounded by industrious animal friends. But we're all adults here. I think by now, we all know these are just sugar-coated versions of some pretty gnarly source material.

The Merry Spinster meets us somewhere in the middle with 11 twisted versions of well known fables and fairy tales that are somehow as playful as they are sinister. The shorts are adapted from Mallory Ortberg's series Children's Stories Made Horrific from the now defunct  temporarily offline The-Toast.net1. It's certainly not required that you know the OG classical versions of the stories to understand what's going on, but it can't hurt (so here they are!) As with any sort of parody, the better the grasp you have on what is being referenced, the more you'll get to wryly smirk to yourself as you read along.

"The danger of silence is that someone who wishes to hear a yes will not go out of his way to listen for a no.
- "The Six Boy-Coffins", The Merry Spinster 2
If scary stories aren't really your jam, just know that these aren't necessarily as gruesome as fairy tales of yore (...okay, maybe some are). Rather, they're well-crafted and sly in their horror-- the truly chilling undercurrents are the social mores, the patriarchy, and what we endure in the name of love. This is where Ortberg's particular brand of dry dark comedy really shines through. Much like her debut book, Texts from Jane Eyre, the language and style remain faithful to originals, a truly gritty homage.

Reading through past interviews, I feel like Ortberg's love for the title might be what willed the rest of the book into existence. It's super fitting too: the Merry Spinster archetype may be the only uplifting motif running through these bleak pages. So on that note, here's a quote from the author explaining the concept beautifully:
"I would always love for my next book to be a light comic novella called The Merry Spinster and to explore those themes of glorious female solitude. I think female solitude is a mental condition as well as a physical state. You can be married and a spinster. I think spinster is an identity every woman can claim, if she will. … I feel like a lot of women, or a lot of feminists, joke about taking to the sea or living alone in a cottage as this kind of fun freedom."

// I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes are taken from an advanced readers copy and may not be final. Please refer to a finished copy.

// Footnotes
1The Toast is dead, long live The Toast...You'd better believe as soon as it's back online I'm linking the shit out of it.
2. This is a random art card from the Smith-Waite tarot deck and has nothing to do with the book, but I tweaked it a teensy bit and now it's just PERFECT you'll see.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Making the Monster, or Happy 200th Birthday Frankenstein!

Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
by: Kathryn Harkup
To be Published: Feb 2018

2018 marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece-- Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. Widely recognized as one of the first (if not the first) work of science fiction, this revolutionary novel has truly withstood the test of time (and continues to haunt middle school literary criticism to this day). Some may already know the broad strokes of how this story came to life: on a dark and stormy night (of course), 18 year old Mary joins her friends in a competitive game to see who can write the best horror story. Inspired by the rational ideals of the Enlightenment and recent advances in electricity research, Mary writes the short story that she will later develop into the novel we know and love.

Making the Monster dives quite bit deeper into the historical context of this work, piecing together not only Mary's biography but those of her family, friends and any intellectual or "natural philosopher" she may have been influenced by. This is interwoven with the upheavals in politics and the sciences leading up to her education and journey away from home. Though the narrative unravels into countless tangents and side-histories, it is well-organized and cohesive. This is a book for anyone who enjoys reading about the history of scientific progress-- the controversies, the blunders, and the experiments that got us where we are today1. Whether or not you enjoyed (or even read) Frankenstein, if you appreciate its significance in history and are ready to fall down the rabbit-hole of alchemy, galvanism, and medical experimentation (oh my!), check it out.

// I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
*blows dust off drawing pad* 2018 resolutions here we go!
1. If weird medical history is your thing and you're not already listening to the Maximum Fun podcast "Sawbones" Run, don't walk.




Thursday, January 4, 2018

The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)
by Liu Cixin (translated by Ken Liu)
Published: Nov 2014 (first published 2007)

THIS is the hard sci fi I've been craving: chock full of physics thought-experiments, tedious descriptions of nanoparticle research and multi-dimensional folding, with a hefty dose of cult environmentalism. Plus it's written and set in China -- starting with the Cultural Revolution and spanning the decades leading up to present day-- so there's also heavy focus on the persecution of scientists and intellectuals by the Communist Party. So if you enjoy your dystopian fiction a little too real, look no further.

As a literary work it's not entirely consistent - there are some gloriously crafted passages with a fair share of dry, struggle-to-get-through moments. But I'm leaving the 5 star rating on Goodreads for the incredible ingenuity packed into the story. There's a lot to unpack here and I felt it all pulled together quite nicely. Though for anyone interested in checking it out, a warning: definitely did myself a disservice listening to this over audiobook. On top of it being a bit more difficult to distinguish between names, there were so many times I wanted to go back and reread an especially technical passage or process described in a previous chapter with absolutely no idea how to scroll back and find it. Will definitely be adding this to my library as a hardcopy.

Monday, January 1, 2018

My Year in Books or: How I Learned To Stop Wasting My Bus Commute


So I started out this year with the goal to read a book a month, alternating fiction and nonfiction and writing up review after each one (in a sincere but futile effort to stall the inevitable fading of my awful, awful memory). This was actually a pretty lofty goal considering my reading habits since grad school had consisted entirely of manga, comics and Song of Ice and Fire rereads. Turns out, I vastly underestimated the amount of reading I could squeeze into a hour long bus commute (and devouring books was the perfect replacement to doing actual work and improving myself in tangible ways!). I ended up rounding out the year closer to 8 books a month coming in at a hot 98 with an almost perfect split of fic/nonfic.

But I didn't write this shit up just to humblebrag all over your beautiful faces, I also wanted to share some things I learned over the span of the year. Apologies if these are already common knowledge, I honestly have been living under a Netflix-shaped rock for the last five years.

HOW REVIEWING GETS YOU FREE BOOKS
Now back in the swing of a full blown book addiction, I'm swimming upstream against the last few years of bestsellers and near constant flow of new releases. To make matters even more complicated I realized there are services that appreciate book reviews so much they send you free Advance Reader Copies just to hear your honest opinion.  Blogging for Books sends you books in exchange for a review (though I actually haven't yet read or reviewed the book they sent me because I'm the worst). Netgalley is a website for authors to receive feedback from booksellers, librarians and reviewers and I've gotten some pretty incredible ARCs from them (here's a handy how-to guide with more information). LibraryThing, a great website for organizing your library and to-reads, offers early reviewers a chance to grab books, again, with the expectation of feedback. Goodreads also has giveaways for free hardcopy or ebooks but I either have terrible luck or the algorithm just hates me-- apparently posting reviews for books you are sent gives you a more favorable chance of receiving another but let's be real, it's all a numbers game.

LIBRARIES ARE ROCKING THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION
Libraries have come so far in the last few years! Getting e-books and audiobooks is super easy with either your phone or e-reader (assuming you have a recent-ish one which I unfortunately do not). Overdrive allows you to log in with your library card and place holds on a surprisingly great selection & Hoopla doesn't even make you wait in line - everything available can be downloaded immediately (though you are limited to 8 borrows per month). Both of these sites/apps are linked to your local public library system, but if you currently live in an area with a limited selection, there are libraries that let nonresidents to gain membership and access.

HOW TO SUPPORT LOCAL IN AN INCREASINGLY ONLINE MARKET
Online behemoths like Amazon will obviously give you the best bang for your buck, but if you're into voting with your dollars, your brick and mortar book purchases make a statement about what you value in your community. Indiebound has a bookstore locator if you're unsure about what is available near you. Why support local? Bookstores give you the chance to become more connected with your community and the reading world at large - either by offering events with authors, reading clubs, or an opportunity to browse expertly curated selections of books. Sometimes you just want to know what's out there and the hivemind over at r/books can get a little circlejerky.

GOING FORWARD: WHO'S UP FOR SOME READING CHALLENGES?
Now that I've proven to myself that I can still read, I think I want to focus less on quantity and more on casting a wider, more diverse net. Popsugar posted a fun reading challenge that may force me out of my comfort zone a bit. I don't plan to do all of them, but I like the idea of reading a "book set in the decade you were born",  a "book by local author" or a "childhood classic you've never read." Bookriot has a Read Harder Challenge with prompts like: "genre fiction in translation", "a book with a female protagonist over the age of 60", "a comic written or illustrated by a person of color".  I've got some work to avoid y'all, LET'S FUCKIN DO THIS.