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there was a big bookfair at my school a week before the shelter in place and so I'm reading children's books that were going to go into my classroom. Currently reading Malcolm X by Walter Dean Myers and look both ways by Jason Reynolds. I also just finished The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. |
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May 11, 2020 18:12
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 12:30 |
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cda posted:Mixed feelings about this but it takes place roughly where I spent my teenage years and the game store that he talks about was a real place in an actual mall and I used to buy my Magic Cards there and stuff. What did you think of it? It was.. interesting? I also had mixed feelings. I was put off by the changes in point of viewat first because they are so abrupt (when Lola's story started I felt it was just dropped in there) and also because for me they highlighted that I would much rather have seen/heard more about Oscar's family, rather than Oscar himself. I personally just didn't find him that interesting because to me he just feels very stereotypical. Like Oscar himself is basically just a stereotypical nerd up until he reaches Dominica, where he becomes... a different type of stereotypical obsessive loser? I also honestly felt that the book had a weird take on machismo and at times thought it was overwhelming. It felt like it was trying to show off a particular type of machismo as if it is the only type of relationship that Dominican men and women have, but at times the hypersexuality of the women and the obsession with sex by the men in the book was just plain off-putting. Like I'm sorry, but by the end of the story I really didn't want to hear Yunior talk about any women at all. And to be honest (I had a discussion about this with the person who gave me the book), I felt that Oscar's story was told in a way that was attempting to show a Dominican dude who didn't represent the style of machismo Yunior represented, but to me it still felt like Oscar mostly viewed women as objects in a similar way as Yunior, but he was just too fat to get girls (which could just be an attempt to portray Oscar's actions from Yunior's unreliable narration). The writing itself (for me) lent to a very captivating and quick read, because I was constantly wanting more. The descriptions, the use of spanish, the pace were all right in my wheelhouse and definitely had a flair I enjoyed. I liked the incorporation of fuku in the story, especially as a connecting element of the stories of Oscar's family members. It was pretty interesting and I thought well done, and provided an element of consistency in each story that was pretty needed (for me). I liked the book as an analysis of colonialism as well, and how it absolutely crushes families and people. I loved the history of the book, it was definitely an interesting way of learning more about the Trujillo government (really just learning, I knew who Trujillo was but basically nothing beyond that). I'm not sure how much of my criticisms re: misogyny were affected by my knowledge of Junot Diaz's Me Too controversy to be honest. |
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May 13, 2020 01:21
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During these times I am rereading The Black Panthers Speak which is a collection of BPP literature collected by Philip Foner, and I am currently rereading The Watsons go to Birmingham 1963 because I am now in charge of the 6th Grade ELA and SS curriculum at my school and I would like to read this as part of a unit on "coming of age" and perspective in ELA and as part of a mini-unit in SS on critical analysis of how historical fiction and non-fiction accounts of the same events can impact you in different ways. |
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Jun 1, 2020 18:12
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I'm currently reading Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. It's pretty entertaiing so far, I definitely like Cantero's writing style. Not super positive about the lesbian character's portrayal, and I hope it gets better, but am worried it will get worse. I most recently read A Headful of Ghosts, which was pretty good. Another author I just generally like the writing style and voice of in Paul Tremblay. Been on a horror kick lately. |
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Apr 17, 2023 20:21
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I am now on a Stephen graham Jones kick. I really enjoyed The Only Good Indian and am currently enjoying My Heart is a Chainsaw. Horror is very entertaining for me right now. |
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Apr 26, 2023 00:24
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Reading a couple books right now. I'm reading the number of the beast and it's genuinely annoying me rn. It feels like it's purposely bad at times, as an homage to bad elements of science fiction? Idk how else to describe it. It feels like he's leaning so far into the tropes of the genre that it's sometimes genuinely detrimental. It reminds me of when a horror fan writes a meta novel about slashers, where it's clearly a love letter to the genre, but not always in a pleasurable way. Holy poo poo are there a lot of references. Speaking of novels where a fan of slashers writes a slasher book, I'm working on the two books of the Indian lake trilogy that are out. First one got quite busy at the end, but was quite enjoyable for me. I'm working on the second novel, and I'm enjoying it alot
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Sep 21, 2023 22:19
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 12:30 |
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Read the Jakarta method folks
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Dec 27, 2023 08:39
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