Book Reviews

[quietprofanity]

How to Get More Out of Being Jewish Even If ... by Gil Mann
Basically composite interviews with non-practicing Jews. Had a few really neat insights, but it was pretty unmemorable. I'm slightly more observant and think a bit more about many of the subjects, anyway. So this book wasn't quite for me. I still liked it while reading it, though.

Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart
The first story in the book is absolutely horrible, but the book gets funny, or at least snerk-worthy as it goes on. Don't expect anything like America (The Book), but its fun. Favorite stories included "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold" (nice play on the Carrie fantasy), "The Last Supper, or the Dead Waiter", "Vincent and Theo on AOL" (ah, meeeeemories) and "Lack of Power: The Ford Tapes."

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (I know I said I liked it, but figured I'd say a bit more)
I really prepared to grit my teeth through this book, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I think I'm in a better position to "get" Austen now, although I don't think I'll ever be the "OMG! MUST READ ALL SEQUELS! LIZA/DARCY SEX HURRAH!" (Translation: Shoot me if I ever get like that, please.) I also was surprised that I liked Elinor a lot more than Marianne. Poor thing, she really was trying to keep it together. (Although I felt an odd mixture of sympathy and pity for Marianne while she was pining away over Willoughby -- speaking of which, are there seriously people who wanted them to get together? The guy is a fucking cad; his whole explanation to Elinore just proved he was even more of a cad, too. Total doubletalk bullshit -- I'm willing to bet Austen heard a speech like that at one point). Also really enjoyed the Palmers, wonderfully dysfunctional they are. Mrs. Jennings, too -- a grotesque-type character who also had a heart.

And, like I said before, it was fun to watch the Ang Lee movie with cyberweasel right after and have him get into the story. (Chris: "Aww, cheesy happy ending." "Hah, Willoughby! In your FACE! Go away on your poopy horse!")

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
Oh, man. I know you don't want to hear this, but if you consider yourself any type of crusader for social justice READ. THIS. NOW. It is very important. And Du Bois is pretty amazing -- his essays are great as journalism and as sociology. And he has the ability to really understand his enemies and see their side, as well as criticize his own side, but also never flinch in his call for change. There was one bit in particular where he said that we must do right because it IS right, and not just because it's easy or politically convenient and I'm just thinking, "Damn! Why did I give Dad the book back before writing it down." I've got to find it again one day and do that.

But yeah, the essays are a little thick, but Du Bois' voice is so soothing that once you start reading them you have to get to the end. Well, well worth your time.

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Well, this was fun. It's not totally accessible to the layperson because of all the terms which he never seems to quite explain. Still, you have to admit the guy has a great batch of stories that are worth telling ("Feed the bitch!"). So I enjoyed reading it. And I asked Dad if we could go to his restaurant for my birthday. :-) I might read A Cook's Tour, too.

Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg
Well, I have to admit I didn't like her so much. There was some "I'm not a feminist, buts ..." in there that made me cringe. Also maybe not the best to read after Kitchen Confidential (although it was a nice tonic to all of Bourdain's "Fuck the Waitstaff! RARRGH!"). But I enjoyed it overall, and admire her for how she managed not to become a victim of her situation, particuarly with regards to her out-of-wedlock son. So it was fun. I lent this and Kitchen Confidential to my Mom; I think she'll like this one better.

Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide by Maureen Dowd
I hadn't had any real direct exposure to Maureen Dowd ... I wasn't really interested in Bushworld and don't read the New York Times columns in general. But, I thought "Well, somebody is talking about feminism ... so isn't that good?" and bought it despite horrible reviews. I should have listened.

Maureen Dowd is in a way a lot like Camille Paglia, who I used to like and then one day woke up. Both of them are so determined to see the world in certain terms that they just disregard everything that might come in conflict with it, such as ... oh, others' emotional reality and social justice. For Camille Paglia, it's all wrapped up in some weird "OMG It's okay because it's art/'The Female of the Species is Deadlier than the Male' so all is equal but women still can't, like, make buildings and guitar solos and are actually instigators of their own rape." (OK, I'm oversimplifying a bit, but I think I'm in the general ballpark. She has said many of those things.)

Dowd, on the other hand, just wishes everything could be like film noir. And she wants women to be strong but also must be PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY! But it's also bad that women feel so pressured to be pretty. If men listened to feminism, they wouldn't have forced women to read Cosmo and get Botox injections. But I didn't want to be an early feminist, because they weren't pretty. It's so wrong that the Middle East hides its women but displays the lingerie Barbie. But why hasn't Barbie changed at all? But OMG! Dentist Barbie is totally wrong because she's not pretty.

[HEADESK!]

Also was kind of nice how she dismissed Condoleezza Rice as a "gamma female", for not standing up to Bush, but also not being PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY. See, because in Dowdworld, there are three women "alpha females", who are mean but PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY, "beta females" who want to be alpha females but aren't special enough and "gamma females" who only work on their brains and (I'm guessing, but this isn't much of a stretch) thus deny their sexuality and fail for not being PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY.

I'm surprised she doesn't quite realize that hey, in this oppressive world where you apparently think every woman is forced to get Botox and read Cosmo that there are some ladies who WOULD RATHER JUST OPT THE EVER LIVING FUCK OUT. God DAMN it.

Oh, and try to talk to people who don't live in New York City or D.C. once in awhile. Or at the very least, women who are not like you. There are, believe it or not, women who think cartoon characters are sexy.

(Although, I did like a few of her essays about female D.C. reporters, also her satiric articles of the Bush administration male members' mood swings. There was a good point in the Monicagate articles every once in awhile, too, but it wasn't enough to stop the overall headdesking feeling.)

And, BTW, if anyone responds to this review saying, "Well, what's wrong with wanting to be pretty?" Don't. Just don't. Because I don't feel like dealing with the reactionary "post-feminist" bullshit today and you obviously miss the whole point of what I'm saying. Although I will give more thoughts on Paglia, because I'm getting sick of her being touted as "the only sane one!"

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
I think Gaston Leroux is one of those writers who isn't actually good, but got struck by the Muses with an awesome idea that other people were able to make more awesome has rocketed him into the classics pantheon. I'm not that surprised that this book has gone out of print because a lot of the writing itself sucks. Some of the fans of the book seem to blame the translation. But I checked the first page of mine (which was uncredited, but after some detective work I'm pretty sure it's Alexander Teixeira de Mattos' translation) against Lowell Blair, who the "Phans" seem to prefer and there really were few differences.

Besides, slightly improved readability aside, I doubt "Mattos" made up the whole, "Let's break the tension of seeing the Phantom by talking about Edwardian plastic surgery!" or the "I'm writing it as a journalist but somehow have omniscient narrator characteristics, yay!" or the taking three chapters of "OMG! Joseph Bouquet is dead! Did you hear he's dead? He's totally dead, oh yeah" or the gratuitous info-dumping in general. And yet ... the whole depiction of the love triangle was really awesome, even if Raoul was a sniveling toad and Christine a bit of a dolt. Also liked some of the suspense, liked the Persian, but ... ugh, really sad case of a decent story ruined by ineffective writing.

It's not too surprising that most of the "Phans" seem to love the story due to another source. I have to admit that despite how uncool it is to admit, I do like the musical ... I loved it once, actually. Once nearly got the chance to play Christine's song to her father on the clarinet as a solo but it didn't work out. I'd like to see the Lon Chaney movie still, too. But I won't be reading Susan Kay's Phantom. I have a sinking suspicion it's written in woobievision and do not think I will like evil!Homosexual rapist who makes us sympathize with the Phantom. Distasteful, IMO.

And, that's it. Later.

ETA: Okay, I lied: I'll do graphic novels, later.