Book Thoughts: Equal Rites

Title: Equal Rites
Author: Terry Pratchett
Series: Discworld #3
*Imported from tumblr.*

Eskarina wants to be a wizard. The problem? She’s a girl, and women can’t be wizards — it’s against the lore. But good luck convincing Esk to be anything other than exactly what she wants to be.

This is the third Discworld book I’ve read and I loved it. Terry Pratchett has a knack for satire that I can’t quite put words to. It had me laughing out loud and reading passages to whoever was in hearing range. It’s a feminist book that doesn’t feel like a feminist book, and it’s a bundle of hilarity that manages to hit close to home.

Also, I want Granny Weatherwax to be my granny. It’s worth reading just for her sass and steeliness.

tl;dr if you’ve never read Terry Pratchett, you should.

Book Thoughts: The Handmaid's Tale

Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood

Holy cow. This book is so good, but so creepy. I felt things I have never felt before. The story was so engaging and I am just in love with the way this story was told. Also, wow, the feminist in me is just raring to go after this one, but so is the voice of conservatism: 'hold your horses, nothing too crazy now, y'hear?' Stylistically, The Handmaid's Tale is simply beautiful, and in terms of the story... let's just say this: I read it for class, and I was really really bad at not reading ahead. Also also, I simultaneously loved and hated the ending. I don't want to say anything else because of spoilers, but when you read this one (and I say when, not if, because you really ought to read it), do make sure you read the "historical notes" at the end.

And if you want to have a chat after you read it, hit me up. Because I could talk about this for ages.

(P.S. I wrote this back in April when I finished reading the book for class, but it's not from tumblr or an old blog or anything really and I loved it so I'm putting it in with new stuff.)

Book Thoughts: Crewel

Title: Crewel
Author: Gennifer Albin
Series: Crewel World #1

Adelice has spent her whole life training to hide her talent from the Guild, but they come for her anyway. She is to be a Spinster: someone who can weave the strands of time and space to regulate the entire world. But Adelice has an even deeper secret, and the Guild will do anything they can to make sure Adelice uses it for their will -- something she will do anything to stop.

This is seriously one of the coolest fictional worlds I've ever encountered. I'm a huge geek about world-building, and so this was like a gift from the story gods, because world-building is tied up in the plot. And as a lover of dystopian fiction as well, this was doubly right up my alley. Plus, feminism!

If I have to compare this to something else, I'd say it's The Handmaid's Tale meets The Matrix and the star is a female computer programmer. There's a bit of a love triangle that felt really unnecessary, but that was really the only weak point in the book for me. I love the characters, I LOVE the world and the premise, and I cannot wait to learn more about Arras when the second book is released.

Book Thoughts: Eve

Title: Eve
Author: Anna Carey
Series: Eve #1

Eve is the valedictorian of her class and a golden girl of the post-plague society -- that is, until she finds out what awaits her and her classmates upon graduation. The night before her graduation, Eve escapes from School and strikes out on her own into the dangerous world of soldiers, wild animals, and worst of all: men. But the outside world and the people it holds may not be the terrible evil she's always been taught...

I was initially reminded of The Handmaid's Tale when I read this, except these girls have no "before" to compare their life to. Carey has created a terrifying dystopia that does not shy away from the hard truths of a forager's life but also embraces the chance for hope in even the darkest situations. I think it was the protagonist that really won this one for me, though. Eve has a lot of book smarts and not so much in the way of common sense -- but she has a fierce faith in human goodness and an overpowering determination to take care of others, and as much as those traits may hurt her, they just might be enough to get her through.

Recommended for fans of dystopia, feminism, cute love stories, and fun YA books.

Book Thoughts: The World According to Garp

Title: The World According to Garp
Author: John Irving

The world according to Garp apparently consists of nothing but gratuitous sex and death. So, the jacket-flap said it was a comedic novel about the son of a famous feminist struggling to become a writer in the post-WWII era. And I guess it was about that, so the jacket-flap didn't really lie...

Still, I wish I'd had a warning of some sort. At one point in the novel, Garp's editor, John Wolf, describes some of Garp's work as "an X-rated soap opera." I'd pretty much apply that to the novel as a whole. The plot in a nutshell (spoiler warning): Jenny Fields rapes a dying soldier so she can have a kid without having to deal with a man in her life. Then she gets a job at a boarding school where her son, named Garp after his father, eventually goes to school. Beginning in his senior year of high school, Garp starts having sex with practically every other girl he meets. He eventually gets married and has children, but still has several affairs. People die. There's a lot of sex. More people die. His life sucks. There's some more affairs. Then he realizes that he still loves his wife, and instead of having sex with everyone he meets, he (spoiler).

That said, I didn't hate the book. I thought there was entirely too much unnecessary sex, and I disliked that it was always "f*** this" and "f*** that" when there was really no need for it, but on the whole it was okay. It was just...really tragic, and really X-rated. Not something I would have chosen to read, personally, but I know people who would probably like it if they picked it up on their own. I also think I'd've enjoyed it a lot more if it hadn't been keeping me from the books I really wanted to read. School requirements do not often do much to endear books to me.

Not my kind of book, perhaps, and not, in my humble opinion, one of the best books out there, but there were certainly parts that were laugh-out-loud funny and parts that were undeniably true. I'm going to put it out there as something that you might pick up if you don't have anything else to read and don't mind a tragedy - and I'm going to put a huge huge huge "X-RATED CONTENT" label on it.

Book Thoughts: The Purity Myth

Title: The Purity Myth
Author: Jessica Valenti

I don't read nonfiction very often. Frequently I find it kind of dry and dull. The Purity Myth, however, is an exception.

Written with passion, snark, and extensive research, Jessica Valenti writes about "how America's obsession with virginity is hurting young women." She discusses much of the existing literature about women's sexuality and describes in alarming detail the state of sex ed across the nation.

Kids are being taught that condoms don't work to scare them out of having sex? Seriously? All that's going to do is stop them from being safe when they have sex. It's not going to prevent teen sexuality.

Valenti has a very obvious feminist bias, but not the kind of feminism that makes people roll their eyes and say "oh, one of those." She's feminist in the sense that she truly wants social equality for everyone regardless of gender, and this book is a very compelling argument as to why.

If you're looking for a well-written nonfiction book about something that is directly relevant to your life, definitely give this one a shot.

Book Thoughts: Leviathan

Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Leviathan #1

Would you rather oil your machines... or feed them?

This is the big question in this alternate-universe steampunk World War I. Leviathan follows Alek, son of the assassinated Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, and Deryn - aka Dylan - a girl disguised as a boy in the British air force.

The Germans, Austrians, Russians, etc. are referred to as "Clankers," because they rely on machinery - think the walkers from Star Wars. The British and French are the Darwinists, relying on the science of evolution to generate war machines that are actually alive. The Clankers and the Darwinists don't trust each other, never have, and war has long been brewing. This is the story of how it finally starts - and how Alek and Deryn are thrown together because of the enormous Darwinist airship Leviathan.

I really enjoyed the alternate history presented in this book. I'm a fan of steampunk, and the way the political history and world parallel ours but with different science is totally cool. And the characters are a lot of fun - even if I had hated the story (which I didn't), I would read the next book just for another couple hundred pages with Alek and Deryn.

Also, despite the fact that it's set against a backdrop of war, Leviathan really isn't a war book. The focus is a lot more on the characters and their small story than it is about the war they're caught up in.

I definitely plan to read book 2. Check this one out if you haven't :)