Book Review Catch Up Part 3: The Second Half of July 2018

Last of the review catch up posts, I promise. Here are all the things I read in the second half of July.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding Book 1 by Alexandra Bracken
Category: Middle-Grade
Published: September 2017
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Enjoyable read, as usual, from Alexandra Bracken. Turns out this is going to be made into a movie, so I read it just in time.
Rating: Four out of Five snarky demons

Another Country by James Baldwin
Category: Adult
Published: 1962
Genre: Contemporary
Read mostly because it was on the Great American Read list. I'm kind of slowly going through the ones I haven't read. Not all of them, because there are some I'm just not interested in, at all (Atlas Shrugged, for instance). But most of them I will be reading....at some point.

Robots VS Fairies anthology by various authors
Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Published: January 9th, 2018
Fun short story anthology that had stories featuring either robots or fairies.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five short stories that I wanted to be whole books

Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang
Category: Non-Fiction
Genre: Social Commentary/Feminism
Published: February 6th, 2018
A deep look into the sexism of the tech industry. How bad it is, how we got there, why it persists, and how we can change the culture. The book is good and interesting...it's just draining, hearing about all these incidents and seeing all the indifference from some of the people in the industry.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five informative, but sad books

Kat Holloway Book 1: Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley
Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Published: January 2nd, 2018
Okay historical mystery. Didn't really impress me, but didn't really fail me either. It's good for if you just want some Downton Abbey-esque feelings with a dash of mystery.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five nosy maids getting shit done

Veronica Speedwell Book 3: A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn
Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Published: January 16th, 2018
This series continues to be delightful. If you like slow burn romances, heroines who don't give a fuck about society's expectations, and snark, seriously pick this series up.
Rating: Four out of Five awesome snarky heroines

The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Category: Play
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 1953
I started to read this one, and it turns out I actually already have read it...way back in school. I just apparently forgot that. Oh well. If nothing else, it was a good refresher.

Comics read:
Captain America original 1940s series on Marvel Unlimited
Heavy Vinyl vol. 1

Reading Through the Classics (Play version): Waiting for Godot

TITLE: Waiting for Godot
AUTHOR: Samuel Beckett
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Um...Magical realism...I guess?
PUBLISHED: 1952
PREMISE: Two old men wait for a man they call Godot every day. Here are just some of the things that happen to them while they wait...
MY THOUGHTS: This is a weird play. Like, of all the plays I've read so far I think the weirdest is either this one or Angels in America. But like Angels in America....this works for me.
A large part of it is the banter. I love me some good banter, and this play has that in spades. It just makes you laugh, even as you have no idea what's going on sometimes.
I enjoyed this. It is a weird ass play. But apparently, weird ass plays are my thing. What can you do?
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the play, Angels in America fans, philosophy fans

Book Review: Angels in America

TITLE: Angels in America
AUTHOR: Tony Kushner
CATEGORY: Play
PUBLISHED: 1993
GENRE: Contemporary/magical realism
PREMISE: In 1980s America, characters dealing with AIDS and various other personal dramas try to figure out things.
MY REVIEW: So the Tonys are upon us again. Which means me reading some of the revival plays. This particular play has gotten all sorts of nominations this year. After reading it, I absolutely understand why.
It's a very odd play, with lots of things going on and topics being discussed. If you liked Rent, this might be of interest to you. It deals with the same sort of ideas of mortality and how that effects people and AIDS and its influence in the 80s. I personally, really liked it. Its got a sense of humor that really speaks to me (Prior is everything). However, the odd way this play is told...I have a feeling it's one of those things that will be an acquired taste. You either will really like it...or you won't.
For those curious about the other plays that are on Broadway that I'll hopefully be reading soon: Three Tall Women by Edward Albee (I'm going to try and read Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? first though), The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill, and Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of Rent, Theater nerds
MY RATING: Four out of Five interesting stories

Reading Through the Classics: The Glass Menagerie

TITLE: The Glass Menagerie
AUTHOR: Tennessee Williams
PUBLISHED: 1945
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: A family in St. Louis go through family issues
MY THOUGHTS: Believe it or not, I never read Tennesse Williams in high school. No, not even this play. Which is weird when you consider that my school was in the St. Louis area. But that was my teachers for you. They had weird ideas sometimes about what they thought we needed to read.
This is what I've started calling: a family driven play. Basically: it's about a family at some moment in time in their life. I've started to notice this is a common story element in plays: take a family at some pivotal moment in their life. Study how that moment effected the family and their dynamics. It's interesting and it works. This one was one of the more interesting ones to me because of Williams' use of memory in the play.
Like Raisin in the Sun, this is mostly a character study so there's very little action. But it is definitely memorable. I can see why people have revived it over and over again (including this past year).
WHO SHOULD READ: Tennessee Williams fans, those who like plays

Reading Through the Classics: Four Anton Chekhov Plays

TITLE: The Seagull
Uncle Vanya
Three Sisters
The Cherry Orchard
AUTHOR: Anton Chekhov
PUBLISHED: 1895, 1897, 1900. 1904
CATEGORY: Plays
GENRE: Realistic Fiction/Family Drama
MY THOUGHTS: So I recently took the plunge into plays, and one of my ongoing projects this year is to read through the ones being put on Broadway this season (I'm really excited about the Tonys, FYI). There are two Chekhov plays being done. One of them is The Cherry Orchard. The only copy my library had was a volume that was a bind-up of these four plays. Which is fine, these were also on my TBR list.
Of all four of them...I think Cherry Orchard was the best. Chekhov does a lot of focus on family drama things. There's probably some commentary on Russian things that I'm missing due to not knowing much about Russian history as well.
If you're just getting into Russian lit, I think Chekhov is a great place to start. I say this as someone also very new to it. His writing is easy to understand and quick to get through. You don't have to know everything about Russia to get his plays. So for those of us who may have been say...intimidated by Russian lit in the past (I fully blame Tolstoy. Trying Anna Karenina first, was probably not my wisest choice), Chekhov is a nice gateway into Russian lit.
WHO SHOULD READ: Theater nerds, Russian lit fans

Reading Through The Classics: A Doll's House (note: there are spoilers for the ending)

TITLE: A Doll's House
AUTHOR: Henrik Ibsen
PUBLISHED: 1879
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: A wife's life starts to come down around her and then she realizes she was perhaps trapped all along...
MY THOUGHTS: I continue through my new obsession with plays. This recent one has been on lots of feminism lists and...I suppose in a way it is. If you go by first wave feminism rules. Nowadays...I personally have issues with the way the wife left (she could have at least taken her kids with her...). But I notice everyone has different takes on that ending so...
This is a very slow character piece and honestly the realization Nora goes through seems to come out of no where as the first half and midway through the second half, she seems perfectly fine with how things are. It's not terribly subtle in making you the viewer see that this marriage was not okay though.
Honestly, like most classics, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. At the time it was released, it was probably very gutsy as divorce/leaving your husband was just not seen as an option back then. Nowadays...I feel like the pacing is awkward and there could have been a much better lead up to Nora leaving. I have to say I'm very curious about the new play on Broadway that is apparently a sequel to this about what happens when Nora comes back.
WHO SHOULD READ: those interested in first wave feminist literature (who don't mind how dated said literature can be), theater nerds, feminists

Reading Through the Classics (Play Script Version!): A Raisin in the Sun

TITLE: A Raisin in the Sun
AUTHOR: Lorraine Hansberry
PUBLISHED: 1959
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Realistic Fiction/Family Drama
PREMISE: In Chicago, a family during the forties live out their lives...
MY THOUGHTS: I'm still very new to this reading a play thing. But I am very quickly growing to like it. Play reading is very quick and if the play is damn good, like this one is, it can pack a powerful punch in just under two hundred or so pages. Sometimes even more punch then a novel can. This particular edition I got from the library talked about some of the history of Raisin in the Sun and I wish I could be shocked that apparently there were productions where people white-washed a play that is basically about being black in America, but I've learned to never underestimate people's ability to white-wash something.
One thing that quickly struck me is that despite the fact that this was written over fifty years ago, it's still relevant. In fact, I kind of want them to do a revival of it on Broadway. I have a feeling it would resonate with people like whoa. I bet you could do a modern adaptation of it and not have to lose much because many of the topics are still relevant. Which is both amazing...and sad, especially where the racism part is concerned.
If you're a fan of plays, or are just getting into them, absolutely pick this one up. It's a good beginner play and gives you lots to think about and digest.
WHO SHOULD READ: James Baldwin fans, theater nerds

Book Review: The Vagina Monologues

TITLE: The Vagina Monologues
AUTHOR: Eve Ensler
CATEGORY: Play, Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: 1996 (I had the 10th anniversary edition published in 2006)
GENRE: Essays?
PREMISE: A print version of a play that features women telling stories related to their vagina.
MY REVIEW: So, I recently decided to join Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf. I half-heartedly did it last year because I had so many books on my list last year and I wasn't sure how much I would like what was chosen for the book club (the pitfalls of any book club, lets face it) and while one I will never read (Caitlin Moran is transphobic, I'm not giving her my reading time) I liked the inclusive variety of reads, so I'll be following along this year. Plus, it fits in nicely with my get the feminist reads done goal this year.
So...I heard about the Vagina Monologues. There's probably not a theater nerd or feminist who hasn't. I also knew the basic premise of it. I also get terribly amused watching the general public lose their collective minds every time some theater or stage dares to do this play. Man, people really are scared of the word vagina, aren't they?
If you're one of the people who gets super uncomfortable with that word...well, this probably won't be for you. Not only is it terribly blunt about the word vagina, it is blunt about sex. Sometimes explicitly so. It also is blunt about childbirth, abuse, rape, and a whole lot of other issues surrounding the vagina. Now, I have heard the claims about this play being transphobic. I'm...not sure about that one. I mean, yeah it does talk an awful lot about vaginas, but there is also a monologue in it from trans women so it does try to be inclusive. But I also suspect that was a late edition to this new version I got, because it's the only trans monologue in the bunch. Same with the one monologue from a non-white person. So...it tries to be inclusive...but I'm not so sure it succeeds.
This is one of those reads that I've found gets a lot of different reactions. I've seen some really positive reviews, some really negative reviews, and a lot of reviews that range somewhere in between. I think it's one of those things that whether you like it, will honestly just depend on you as a person. Me, I...like the intent of it. Some monologues were better then others. I suspect it gets more impact when you see it on stage. I'm smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt so the odds of there ever being a production here of it are...slim, to say the least.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, theater nerds
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five feelings about how vagina should not be a dirty word

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

TITLE: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Part of the Harry Potter series
AUTHOR: JK Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne
PUBLISHED: July 2016
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: Harry Potter's son deals with his father's legacy as the past comes back to haunt everyone.
MY REVIEW: I'm a little late to the game in reading this one. I wanted to put off reading it because I've found reading a huge book release such as this tends to come with baggage. It's usually best for me to wait a few months where I don't have everyone's opinion rattling in my head and distorting my opinion of it.
My opinion is this: fandom overreacted as fandom tends to do. By the way I think they overreacted on both sides. It is not the crap pile that I've seen a lot of fans claim. Nor is it the brilliant story I've seen die-hards say it is. Honestly...it's just okay. It really helps if you don't look at this as the eighth Harry Potter book. The publishers kicked themselves in the foot by advertising it that way. To me...this is fanfic, plain and simple. I get the feeling Rowling didn't actually write much of it. I'm sure she gave the basis for it, and there are some sparkling moments of dialogue that I can tell she definitely wrote. But I suspect most of it was written by Tiffany and Thorne. It just doesn't have Rowling's typical flare. I especially think this after seeing Fantastic Beasts, which was great, and very clearly written by her.
With that in mind...I don't really consider this an actual part of the Harry Potter series. So I'm not terribly offended by it. It's just something that's there. If you want to read it you totally can, but if you just want to stick the books, you're honestly not missing much really.
WHO SHOULD READ: Harry Potter fans who don't have strong opinions about character's futures
MY RATING: Three out of Five shrugs