a big catchup of reviews
Jul. 12th, 2018 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraFell behind while we were in San Diego, trying to get back on track.
Some grown up books:
In the Labyrinth of Drakes and Within the Sanctuary of Wings, books four and five of Marie Brennan's Lady Trent series. Wow I loved these. (spoilers) She MARRIED SUHAIL and FOUND THE DRAGON PEOPLE and they WEREN'T ALIENS but the ENVIRONMENTAL ACQUISITION OF TRAITS EXPLANATION was PRETTY SATISFYING, I'm soooo glad I read these eeeeeee.
Stories of the Raksura 2, the novellas The Dead City and The Dark Earth Below. I enjoyed these a lot, especially The Dark Earth Below. She does such a good mix of character development and fantasy adventure.
Some picture books:
Leave Me Alone, Vera Brosgol. Adorable story about a woman looking for a quiet place to knit, from the former Pants Press comics writer/artist. Q really liked this one.
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős, by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. So, on the one hand, this is charming and heartwarming in the way that picture book biographies sometimes are, yay Uncle Paul who had friends all over the world and did lots of great math, and on the other hand I can't help but notice how many of those friends were men, and when they talk about how his friends had to do his laundry and cook for him and pay his bills, they show men, but, realistically, were they, or did this inevitably fall to the ubiquitous supportive wives? Like, yes, some people are nonneurotypical and I want to live in the kind of world that supports them in realizing their potential, but I'm pretty done with the trope of the genius man-child who's too special and important for self-responsibility, and a picture-book level take on Erdős can't really tell me how much it was one or the other (or both, or neither, life is complicated). I just can't help but imagine that *women* who woke people up at 4 am to do math were more likely to get sedatives than hundreds of coauthors.
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation, Duncan Tonatiuh. Despite growing up in SoCal I had never even heard of Sylvia Mendez, whose case came seven years before Brown v. Board. Thurgood Marshall wrote friend-of-the-court briefs for the Mendez case, and Earl Warren was the CA governor who signed the desegregation of CA schools into law because of the Mendez case. Anyways, we read this as part of my ongoing effort to make my kids aware of the history of racism in this country. It's always a little nerve-wracking to read a book in which characters express bigoted views, since, like, what if that's what Quentin remembers and takes away, but we talked some about how those were hurtful lies, and it ends on a page celebrating interracial friendships, so, fingers crossed? (Junie read it by herself but I talked to her about it too.) I just really want to try to get some ideas of justice in there before our new white supremacist dictatorship enrolls the kids in the MAGA Youth and starts indoctrinating them, aaaaaaugh.
Some movies:
Won't You Be My Neighbor, the Mr. Rogers documentary. I grew up watching a great deal of Mr. Rogers (although I could never interest my own kids in it) so it was really interesting to look back on it and get this perspective.
Ant-Man and Wasp. I enjoyed the heck out of this - definitely the "lighthearted fun" end of the superhero spectrum, but, you know what, I love that end. Great action, some really fun games with size (love that trope forever), highly attractive people... (spoilers) Wasp and Ghost in intense battle in the car while Paul Rudd was swept back and forth by the windshield wiper was worth the price of admission right there. The one thing I did *not* like was the post-credits business, why the fuck did they have to bring their stupid dark and pointless movie into this awesome one. It was pointed out to me that I was either optimistic or dumb to not realize that they of course were going to do that, but, I don't know, I guess I am both of those things, why can't we just have nice things. Anyways I really enjoyed the 3D and thought it was a great call to see it that way, really enhanced the action.
Some grown up books:
In the Labyrinth of Drakes and Within the Sanctuary of Wings, books four and five of Marie Brennan's Lady Trent series. Wow I loved these. (spoilers) She MARRIED SUHAIL and FOUND THE DRAGON PEOPLE and they WEREN'T ALIENS but the ENVIRONMENTAL ACQUISITION OF TRAITS EXPLANATION was PRETTY SATISFYING, I'm soooo glad I read these eeeeeee.
Stories of the Raksura 2, the novellas The Dead City and The Dark Earth Below. I enjoyed these a lot, especially The Dark Earth Below. She does such a good mix of character development and fantasy adventure.
Some picture books:
Leave Me Alone, Vera Brosgol. Adorable story about a woman looking for a quiet place to knit, from the former Pants Press comics writer/artist. Q really liked this one.
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős, by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. So, on the one hand, this is charming and heartwarming in the way that picture book biographies sometimes are, yay Uncle Paul who had friends all over the world and did lots of great math, and on the other hand I can't help but notice how many of those friends were men, and when they talk about how his friends had to do his laundry and cook for him and pay his bills, they show men, but, realistically, were they, or did this inevitably fall to the ubiquitous supportive wives? Like, yes, some people are nonneurotypical and I want to live in the kind of world that supports them in realizing their potential, but I'm pretty done with the trope of the genius man-child who's too special and important for self-responsibility, and a picture-book level take on Erdős can't really tell me how much it was one or the other (or both, or neither, life is complicated). I just can't help but imagine that *women* who woke people up at 4 am to do math were more likely to get sedatives than hundreds of coauthors.
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation, Duncan Tonatiuh. Despite growing up in SoCal I had never even heard of Sylvia Mendez, whose case came seven years before Brown v. Board. Thurgood Marshall wrote friend-of-the-court briefs for the Mendez case, and Earl Warren was the CA governor who signed the desegregation of CA schools into law because of the Mendez case. Anyways, we read this as part of my ongoing effort to make my kids aware of the history of racism in this country. It's always a little nerve-wracking to read a book in which characters express bigoted views, since, like, what if that's what Quentin remembers and takes away, but we talked some about how those were hurtful lies, and it ends on a page celebrating interracial friendships, so, fingers crossed? (Junie read it by herself but I talked to her about it too.) I just really want to try to get some ideas of justice in there before our new white supremacist dictatorship enrolls the kids in the MAGA Youth and starts indoctrinating them, aaaaaaugh.
Some movies:
Won't You Be My Neighbor, the Mr. Rogers documentary. I grew up watching a great deal of Mr. Rogers (although I could never interest my own kids in it) so it was really interesting to look back on it and get this perspective.
Ant-Man and Wasp. I enjoyed the heck out of this - definitely the "lighthearted fun" end of the superhero spectrum, but, you know what, I love that end. Great action, some really fun games with size (love that trope forever), highly attractive people... (spoilers) Wasp and Ghost in intense battle in the car while Paul Rudd was swept back and forth by the windshield wiper was worth the price of admission right there. The one thing I did *not* like was the post-credits business, why the fuck did they have to bring their stupid dark and pointless movie into this awesome one. It was pointed out to me that I was either optimistic or dumb to not realize that they of course were going to do that, but, I don't know, I guess I am both of those things, why can't we just have nice things. Anyways I really enjoyed the 3D and thought it was a great call to see it that way, really enhanced the action.
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Date: 2018-07-16 03:39 pm (UTC)[there was more here but I deleted it for fear it came off as patronizing]
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Date: 2018-07-18 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-18 04:02 am (UTC)