Campusland

Campusland by Scott Johnston, 323 pages

There is perhaps no more comfortable place than an elite American university.  This is certainly true of Devon, where English professor Ephraim Russell's biggest worry is beating out a rival for tenure and freshman Lulu Harris frets over being on the cover of a magazine and finding bedmates who meet at least some of her standards.  It is a fragile idyll, however, and it is about to be turned upside down by the ambitions of an activist grifter and an imperious diversity commissar.  

Campusland reads like a combination of an artless Bonfire of the Vanities and a version of the movie PCU where the wacky band of misfits has been pushed to the periphery.  The result, while entertaining, is unsatisfying, as the novel makes a dramatic tonal shift as the climax approaches and Kafka is suddenly swapped with National Lampoon.

The Witches are Coming

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West         272 pages

She starts off saying, "This is a witch hunt.   We're witches."   This is political and the witches are on their way to the 2020 election.   She discusses global warming,  LBGTQ, Black Lives Matter.   She talks about being a fat blonde feminist and activist.   Sometimes she is funny and sometimes the topics are so serious they require their due.   She cites statistics and other people's experiences as well as her own and she calls bullsh*t where she sees it.   She says the truth can transform us there is witchcraft in it.   I enjoyed this book very much.    She calls it like she sees it and she sees it all.  I would highly recommend this book to the open minded and I would not recommend it to the close minded.   A very good and often funny read.    Be aware she does espouse her political views

Good and Mad

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister     320 pages

From Goodreads

From Rebecca Traister, the New York Times bestselling author of All the Single Ladies comes a vital, incisive exploration into the transformative power of female anger and its ability to transcend into a political movement. 

Review:

This is an exceptional look at gender inequality in the US, with focus on breaking down the politics of gender inequality, women of color, and other disadvantages faced by women. Traister leaves no stone unturned, covering several woman's rights movements, including the #metoo movement, and especially focuses on woman's rights/activism in the wake of the 2016 presidential election.

The main message is this: women, it is okay to be mad, in fact, it's good to be mad because a) no one should tell you what to feel, especially if it's justified, b) anger can be a tool that leads to change, and c) anger keeps us (women) from complacency and settling for less than equal rights.

I loved the coverage of this book, I loved Traister's inclusiveness, and I loved reading something that spoke to the anger I have felt and still feel after the 45 became president. This is a very important read and I would recommend it to all women, every woman, and then all men.

A Spark of Light

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult     352 pages

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

This was a fascinating story, and well crafted, as it weaves together the stories of several lives as they intersect on one particular day at a woman's reproductive health clinic.

Some are there to get an abortion, some are there to get the pill, some are there because they work there, they are the abortion doctor, or that is where they receive they're gynecological exams. Whatever the reason, on this fateful day all their lives are thrown together when an anti-abortion activist starts shooting.

This story was a bit difficult to follow, at first, as it traces the story backwards. Immediately you're thrust into the story, amongst the hostages, the negotiator, and the gunman. It's always difficult for me when a story jumps back and forth between perspec

tives, and this story followed ten different people, and it jumped rather frequently.

The thing that Picoult is so skilled at is revealing the story, bit by bit, until all the pieces begin to come together, finally, into a whole, at the very end. And when you finally get a major reveal you've been waiting for the whole time you've been reading, often you end up making some audible sound, like a gasp, because you just didn't see it coming. At least, that's how it was for me, though not as strongly this time, as I predicted the sort-of big reveal before it happened, though not until I was at least half-way done.

The parts I loved about this story were the different character's stories and how they all fit together to tell this overarching story about abortion from all sides. Going into this story, you might just think it's a pro-live vs. pro-choice struggle. But there are so many facets that make up the abortion discussion, that aren't as often brought up. Picoult makes sure to touch them all. I learned so much just reading this book - and I highly recommend reading Picoult's "Author's Note," as well, where she speaks personally about her thoughts on abortion.

That being said, what kept this from being higher rated for me were the numerous times that this story felt less like a story and more like a "covering all the bases" blanket statement about abortion. As much as I appreciated all the information about abortion, sometimes the story element was lacking and a character became a mouth-piece to tell me a specific fact or point of view about abortion rather than me feeling link this was something heart-felt by that character. This story is definitely coming in at a time where these kinds of discussions are raging and abortion is painting a wide swath in a political landscape. This notion unfortunately colors my enjoyment of the story, a bit, as it feels like a PSA rather than a story.

But otherwise, I really felt like this was well done and is definitely up there in my list of favorite Picoult books. I would definitely recommend it to anyone because perspective is necessary when it comes to topics like these. Empathy is an amazing eye-opener, and getting an idea of what someone facing such a choice might be thinking or feeling or even knowing what their life is like is important and humanizing, a point that Picoult is emphasizing, underlining, and exclaiming with every word. So read it.

The Hate U Give

The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas     444 pages

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

This is a read that reflects the troubles of our modern times, including racial profiling, injustice, and police brutality. It was a hard read, but I am glad I did read this book. It's important to understand and to reflect on the words of those closest to these troubles, to listen and to think of ways to be a part of the solution, not the problem.

I think teens will get the most out of this novel - it speaks with a teen voice and the characters people-ing it are mostly teens. This is there story and it is a powerful one.

I think for her first novel, Thomas did very well. The story is compelling, its characters are well-rounded people who feel like they could be out in the world, living there lives right now. I appreciate that the story ends on a hopeful note, even as it challenges the reader to continue to fight: your voice is your weapon - use your weapon.

I listened to the audiobook of this story and it is read well. I very much enjoyed listening to it.

DIY Rules for a WTF World

DIY Rules for a WTF World: How to Speak Up, Get Creative, and Change the World by Krista Suh       Audio Book: 4 hours, 52 mins     Hardback Book:  256 pages         

Krista Suh has a very likeable style of writing.   She really brings the reader in as she discusses her life in Hollywood as a screenwriter, growing up as a Chinese-Korean-American, how she became a political activist and her position as a feminist fighting for women world-wide to have a voice.    A staunch Hillary Clinton supporter and devastated when Hillary lost the election, Krista Suh decided to use her other passion – performance art -to start a movement of women marching on Washington.    After remarks made by Donald Trump stating how being a celebrity he could do anything he wanted to a woman and get away with it even grabbing her…I think you know the missing word here.   Krista Suh wanted something big and dramatic to scream womens’ solidarity in a social movement to raise awareness of womens’ issues and advancing human rights by promoting dialogue in an innovative, in your face kind of way through political resistance via performance art – her specialty.    So, Krista started the Pussyhat Project.   She envisioned a sea of pink - a million women from all over the world – marching together on Washington all wearing pink had knitted, woven, crocheted, sewn – however any woman wanted to create it but for all of them to be wearing a shade of pink hand-made hat with pussy cat ears or as some women and some LBTGQ, etc.  chose to go full-on pink vajayjay hats but Krista got her dream come-true.   Overhead visuals did show a sea of pink in the crowd in the D.C. mall.    What started as an idea shared went viral and participants arrived from all parts of the globe to protest the Donald’s derogatory statements regardimg women turning to a protest of his election.    She brings to light the many ways in life people can make things happen by starting with a desire to do something then allow it to be don’t shut yourself down because what you want might seem impossible – believe and make it happen.   She talks about being shy but finding her voice and offers many exercises throughout the book on how to find not just your voice by learning to speak up, learning to say no when you want to instead of beating yourself up for saying yes to everything because you think it is expected, how to find your many creative skills and how to learn what they are even if you don’t already know and how to use them to be the change you want to see in the world.    Good book, I really enjoyed hearing her views and the things she has done in her life so far.   The exercises she offers are not only fun but thought provoking and you might find some new realizations about yourself and the skillset you have you might not even know about.   Well done, Krista Suh.

I am Malala

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb    (Paperback, 3 stars, 327 pages)


Malala Yousefzai, a young education activist, tells her story. She is an amazing person who has been put into some really tough situations and responded well to the pressure. Being shot in the head and surviving to continue her education activism is a great headline. Unfortunately, it seems like this book was made largely to capitalize on that headline. She says she doesn’t want to be known as the girl who was shot by the Taliban, but the book’s very subtitle undermines her. I think the creative control of this book got away from her, and it’s this disjointed message that my rating reflects.

I think Malala’s personal recollections are fascinating to delve into, especially when she justifies her perspective, and her response to would-be assassins is simply breathtaking:

“Like my father I've always been a daydreamer, and sometimes I'd imagine that on the way home a terrorist might jump out and shoot me on those steps. I wondered what I would do. Maybe I'd take off my shoes and hit him, but then I'd think if I did that there would be no difference between me and a terrorist. It would be better to plead, "OK, shoot me, but first listen to me. What you are doing is wrong. I'm not against you personally, I just want every girl to go to school.”

The background of Pakistani and Taliban conflicts is very helpful in the context of the book, and I didn’t find it to be too distracting. I see criticisms that she paints Islam and Pakistan in unfavorable light. I feel like her love for her religion and country is on full display. Ultimately, I just was not excited by the book. Malala’s life perspective is excellent, but the book is only alright. Also, her father seems legit crazy - but if that’s the demeanor one needs to take to raise strong women who stand up for their beliefs, maybe we could all learn from him.

Crash Override

Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoe Quinn (Hardback, 5 stars, 256 pages)

This important book is part memoir, and part instruction manual for the digital age. Zoe Quinn tells a story of harassment by an ex that went way off the deep end, ultimately sparking an insane reaction from internet scumbags in a controversy known as “Gamergate”. Many people who spoke up, whether for Quinn or for reason itself, became targets of a vicious online hate campaign with real-life effects. But you likely know all this by now, as a denizen of the internet.

What I like most about this book is that Quinn uses her experience to educate, and not to entertain. She makes clear the terrible consequences of harassment, but does not dwell on the details. Quinn provides steps to take if you are the target of such a campaign, as well as actionable solutions to move forward as a culture. She started a nonprofit, Crash Override, dedicated to helping victims of online harassment. She describes how we need to work to change the norms in government, law enforcement, and technology to ensure what happened to her does not happen to other people. This is not my usual reading material, but was very worthwhile. It has something to help everybody - including, I suspect, the many people willing to rate this one star without even looking at it.

Quinn also has a great Twitter account, well worth following. That’s where I heard about the book.