Author Review: Rebecca Solnit

TITLES OF BOOKS: Hope in the Dark
Men Explain Things To Me
The Mother of All Questions
AUTHOR: Rebecca Solnit
PUBLISHED: 2004, 2014, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays, Articles, Feminism
PREMISE: In three of her books, Solnit discusses various issues surrounding politics, feminism, and activism.
MY REVIEW: Over the past few months I've been reading through these three books by Rebecca Solnit. For those who have no idea who Solnit is, you probably know or have used a term she coined: Mansplaining. That term is credited to her essay Men Explain Things to Me. She's also a frequent columnist on many websites, including LitHub.
I specifically want to talk about Men Explain Things to Me though, because mansplaining has been a thing getting a lot of flack lately around the internet. Mostly from men, but not always. First, I'd like to point out, Solnit herself is not altogether pleased by how much the term has been overused. She says as much in some endnotes after the Men Explain Things to Me essay. So maybe put your misandry claims away, okay? Second, I think people frankly deliberately misunderstand what the term means. No, it does not mean men can't explain stuff ever. If a woman actually asks for your opinion and you are actually educated and know a thing or two about the subject, go ahead and talk about it! We won't care. Because that's not mansplaining.
Mansplaining is a man making the assumption that a woman can't possibly know this one brilliant thing they know and so proceed to condescendingly explain the thing to us. Yes, sometimes females do this to people too (geeks of all shapes and forms tend to do this to new fans I've discovered and guys, seriously, cut it out). But it is not quite at the same rate as men do it to women. I see you men going "well wait, then how do I know if I'm mansplaining or not?" It's very simple: did the woman ask for your opinion and do you actually know a thing or two about the subject? No to both or one of those questions? You are probably mansplaining. Stop.
Men Explain Things to Me is probably the best of all the essays. But there are a whole lot of really good ones. Hope in the Dark is also incredibly interesting to read at times because it features essays written during the Bush years and it's like a peek back in time to what was going on then. I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that it's been over a decade since some of the early Bush years.
WHO SHOULD READ: feminists, those interested in social justice issues or politics
MY RATING FOR ALL OF THE BOOKS: Four out of Five satisfied nods

DNF Club: February/March 2017

I have a confession: DNF things. A lot. Look, I have a large TBR list. I do not have time to go around forcing myself to read books I hate. I got my fill of hate reading back during the Twilight days. But, sometimes a book that isn't for me, might be for someone else. We all have our things. So, here are some of the books from the past two months that I DNFed. Note, not all of them are on here. I'm not counting books like The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner which I read one chapter of and could tell within that chapter that I was just not going to get on well with the book. These are books that I read more then at least ten percent of.

Wintersong by S. Jae Jones

Sigh. I was so looking forward to this one. But I'm sorry, I'm over Labyrinth fanfic retellings that keep trying to romanticize the Goblin King. Give me one where there's no romance angle between the Sarah character and the Jareth character and then we'll talk.

Plus the writing was very weak and world building paper-thin. I've read better Labyrinth fanfic online for free. That didn't have the slut shaming lines in it either. Yes, I know: it's historical! You can do historical fiction without slut shaming.

Beast by Brie Spangler

Another one I really wanted to like. The idea of Beauty being a trans girl was great and she really was the one small delight in this book. Unfortunately I got about halfway before I realized something: she deserved better then this particular version of the beast. When I don't want beauty to get together with the beast...you made a bad Beauty and the Beast retelling.

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

This one suffered from just being dull. The writing is gorgeous. I love the atmosphere but I got over forty percent and still nothing major really happened beyond drama between friends. I'm sure something happens at the end and it's one of those slow burn type thrillers. But I just don't really have the patience for slow burn thrillers if I'm not interested in any of characters which was sadly the case here.

Internet Girls 1: ttyl by Lauren Myracle

I don't know why I tried this. But it was on Hoopla so I gave it a shot and ...oy is all I have to say. I can deal with instant message writing. That was not my annoyance (but it apparently was a big deal to someone who tried to get it banned for that reason...) My issue was all the judgement towards women going on. Good lord, every other IM conversation here was flinging judgement towards any woman who was not apart of the friend group (and honestly, there was some judgement there too...). I have zero patience for that nowadays. 

Book Review: Case Histories

Title: Case Histories
Book 1 in the Jackson Brodie series
Author: Kate Atkinson
Published: 2004
Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Premise: A PI investigates three old cases that are seemingly unrelated.
My Review: Okay, confession: I tried Life After Life, the book this author is mostly known for, and...I couldn't get into it. I think it was mostly me. I may try to get back to it in audiobook format. I liked the writing style, so I picked this one instead because I figured hey, mystery. Definitely more my thing.
I was right, I got into this a whole lot better then Life After Life. It is your basic literaryish PI novel. PI is down on his luck, gets a few cases and those cases help make his luck a little better. My only issue with this one is that I wish it hadn't been in multiple POVs. I think it would have been better to just stick to Brodie's POV. But that's a thing in literature/thriller writing so, what can you do?
So if you're a fan of the Cuckoo's Calling or Phillip Marlowe or any some such types of series, this one is definitely for you.
Who Should Read: Mystery fans, Cormoran Strike fans, PI detective series fans
My Rating: Four out of Five cold cases