Let's Get Literate! Ladies Being Rad Edition

[renay]

It was a slow week because I was sick several days (ugh, bodies) and also have entered every book blogger’s dreaded state: New Year Book Indecision. I am surrounded by so many great books and I can’t decide what to choose. I want to jam everything new in my eyes and also want to reread a bunch of things. Everyone’s so prolific. So I have kind of flopped around uselessly and fallen behind on my reading goal.

CHALLENGE: 100 Unique Women Writers

Week 4: almost complete! I’m finishing the last story in Ghost Summer: Stories by Tananarive Due today (current assessment: I still don’t like prose horror much as I am an Anxious Person and Worry Too Much About The Dark, Serial Killers, and Slime Monsters). For Week 5, my next title selected from The Jar and presented by Doreen, is Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh:



My free choice book last week was Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes. Not sure what my next free choice will be. Planetfall? Illuminae? Maybe I should give Barrayar another shot? I also have some nonfiction by a few new to me authors on my shelf...too many things!

Since January is over, I looked back to see what my month looked like for authors that were new to me. Per my rules, I did well! 9/100! :D

• Marguerite Bennett (A-Force Volume 0: Warzones)
• Rosemary Kirstein (The Steerswoman)
• Sarah Knight (The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck)
• Nnedi Okorafor (Binti)
• Carolyn Ives Gilman (Dark Orbit)
• Charlie Jane Anders (All the Birds in the Sky)
• bell hooks (Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood)
• Shonda Rhimes (Year of Yes)
• Tananarive Due (Ghost Summer: Stories) — counting here since I only have one story left

Onward to my reading for the week!

• Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
• Ms. Marvel #3 by G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa, & Ian Herring
• Captain Marvel #1 by Michelle Fazekas, Tara Butters, Kris Anka, & Matthew Wilson
• Lumberjanes #18 by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Carolyn Nowak, Maarta Laiho

Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes — I’m not sure what I expected from this book, but what I found was wonderful. Shonda Rhimes is a funny, thoughtful, insightful writer, and the book reads more like a conversation she’s having with you. It’s very chatty and open and honest, and I laughed out loud so many times. I really enjoyed seeing how she saw a problem with her life and just made the decision to change it, stuck to her choice, and saw it through to the end. And the way she writes about herself and her experiences with physical and mental health is real and frank in a way I really needed right now. The bonus of this book is getting to read some speeches she gave and see her reactions to being asked to give those speeches; see how her writing changed her life and how she folds it into her day to day experiences; and watch a woman learn to be kind to herself and how that ends up changing how she engages with the world. This is a pretty great inspirational read and also a really nice portrait of a pop culture creator finding her way. I’m glad I read it. ♥

Other things I read:

• Ms. Marvel #3 by G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa, & Ian Herring — This was a great issue that digs into what Kamala is going to do when the villains not only target her home, but her friends. Plus, we get a cool girl power team up, complete with science! (Well, Marvel science, but the scientific method is there in spirit). I’m really enjoying the comic so far, and since the current arc seems to have wrapped up (this was part 3/3) hopefully we’ll be on to new adventures and exciting new friendships for Kamala. :D


• Captain Marvel #1 by Michelle Fazekas, Tara Butters, Kris Anka, & Matthew Wilson — This didn’t quite gel for me until a key revelation changed how I was looking at Carol’s relationship with one of her subordinates. There’s some political stuff being foreshadowed that could be interesting. But I’m curious if there’s going to be time travel based on events at the end of the comic. Pretty good start and the art is excellent. :D


• Lumberjanes #18 by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Carolyn Nowak, Maarta Laiho — I waited to pick Lumberjanes back up after #17 (Stevenson’s last issue) because I didn’t want to be unfair to the people staying on. I’m a few issues behind so figured it had been long enough and then immediately disliked the line art. :( It’s an excellent comedic style, but it doesn’t carry the emotional weight of serious scenes for me at all, which is sad. I’ve been used to art I really loved for this series. Added to that, the new arc is about mermaids. Two blows in one issue! I really, really don’t care about mermaids. /o\ I liked the story enough, though, and I’m hoping the art will grow on me once I get used to the new artist. But I have to say, I’m curious if anything, even Lumberjanes, can make me care about mermaids.

Comments

[bookgazing]

The Year of Yes was fab. It made me less afeared of celeb books (at least when they're by certain celebs).