This was so entirely up my alley, I am big into essays that blend medicine and history and social science. I am PARTICULARLY interested in essays thatThis was so entirely up my alley, I am big into essays that blend medicine and history and social science. I am PARTICULARLY interested in essays that do this around AIDS, and then add trying that all into the current COVID pandemic and of course I was going to need to read this.
This essay collection goes a lot of different paces. If you just want something that is going to discuss COVID in relation to other viral pandemics, this book may stress you out. But if you want something to also think about how communities gather and define themselves, how activism works (and sometimes doesn't) in fighting a pandemic, about the function of writing, both private and public, when going through extraordinary times, about personal relationships, about sex, about employment, about risk, then this might be the book for you.
I read this more or less an essay at a time, taking breaks in between. Certainly some essays worked better for me than others, but I was always interested in what Osmundson had to say....more
The strength of this book was definitely its diversity, so while the first handful of stories are all white and in the UK, there are also stories fromThe strength of this book was definitely its diversity, so while the first handful of stories are all white and in the UK, there are also stories from all over the world, both inside and outside of Christian contexts, and with wildly differing views on gender. There are authors who seem entirely wedded to the gender binary and authors on a mission to queer all of it they can. Very "beginner friendly" in that you don't have to have much or any familiarity with trans issues or terminology in order to follow right along. Somehow there ended up being a lot more dysphoria and trauma than I expected, as each essay put their euphoric moment in context of all that went before. My favorite essay was definitely "The Radical Vulnerability of Trans Sex," as I loved the way the author, Katherine Cross, writes. I will have to seek out more of her writing after this!...more
While I picked this up at this moment due to a library reading challenge prompt to read a book with Winter or Cold in the title, I do also like to reaWhile I picked this up at this moment due to a library reading challenge prompt to read a book with Winter or Cold in the title, I do also like to read a new (to me) Mary Oliver collection each year, so this seemed an obvious choice.
Of course I loved it. And there was a wonderful moment of serendipity in discovering an essay on Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass among Oliver's essay here, so soon after I had just read Leaves of Grass for the first time. I wouldn't necessarily say that Oliver's essays are as good as her poems, but I would say they provide some fascinating glimpses and insights that will enrich my appreciation of her going forward. (Except, perhaps, the essay on eating snapping turtle eggs, which I had a visceral knee-jerk reaction against, that I have not yet attempted to talk myself round from.)...more
This essay collection covers such a diverse spread of topics that I don’t know where to start! Savala Nolan has such an incredibly unique viewpoint — This essay collection covers such a diverse spread of topics that I don’t know where to start! Savala Nolan has such an incredibly unique viewpoint — as a woman with Black, Mexican, and white ancestry (who identifies mostly as Black), she has ancestors who owned slaves as well as an ancestor murdered by white supremacist vigilantes in Texas. Her Black and Mexican father spent decades in and out of the prison system, and she also spent a year studying abroad in Italy in college. The pastiche of her life leaves her with few places she feels she can truly belong. Most memorably in one essay where she discusses her experiences as a nanny for rich families while in college, while she aligns herself primarily with the mostly Black staff, she often identifies more with the cultural references of her employers. She picks up Italian easily during her study abroad, but finds it replaces most of the Spanish in her head, making it that much harder for her to identify with her Mexican heritage. Honoring and reckoning with all the parts of her ancestry is important to her, especially when she becomes a parent.
Some days I would be able to sit down and binge read several essays in a row, nodding emphatically in empathy/recognition, and sometimes I would finish an essay so painful that I needed to take a break for a while.
A very worthwhile addition to the conversation on identity in America....more
I LOVED this book when I was reading it. Shortly after finishing it I posted on Instagram "amazing! so necessary and authoritative and ferocious!" I tI LOVED this book when I was reading it. Shortly after finishing it I posted on Instagram "amazing! so necessary and authoritative and ferocious!" I then saw a criticism of this book that it was not written for Black women, or even for women well-versed in intersectional feminism, but for Well Meaning White Women, and I immediately began questioning everything about my experience of reading this book.
But picking it up again, reading the cover copy, the blurbs, flipping through and reading snippets of the essays, I think that this is exactly what the book sets out to be. It is a reminder of who mainstream feminism does and does not serve. A reminder that looking out for the most marginalized ALWAYS benefits us all. A reminder about intersections — particularly those dealing with skin color. If those aren't reminders you need, there might not be much new in this book for you. But some of us need those reminders periodically, and I found this effective on that front....more
I have a tradition. Whenever I publish a new book and I get to drive over to the printer (right here in Michigan!) and pick up my paperbacks, afterwarI have a tradition. Whenever I publish a new book and I get to drive over to the printer (right here in Michigan!) and pick up my paperbacks, afterwards I go into Ann Arbor, buy myself a book at Literati, and go out to to lunch. The rule is, it has to be a book I have never heard of before walking in, I have to fall in love with it just based on store curation. Last time around it was Tentacle, which I have screamed about how much I love for ages. This time I was already 99% sold on this book before I realized that the author is from Guam, which I definitely do not have yet on my Read the World challenge.
I really loved this! It is a collection of essays and poems and speeches, all united in themes of indigenous activism, anti-colonialism, grief, environmentalism, the power of words... and it is dripping with footnotes that are absolutely delightful, often educational, and usually made of love -- citing a source for an idea or a turn of phrase. Making connections with other authors and activists for further reading, nesting itself in a community of writers fighting for the world.
Listen. This spring when everyone is buying the fifty billionth copy of Oh, the Places You'll Go! for the grads in their lives, BUY THIS INSTEAD....more
Given the title, I expect this book to be more focused on the experience of being a doctor during the beginning of the pandemic. Rather, this is a memGiven the title, I expect this book to be more focused on the experience of being a doctor during the beginning of the pandemic. Rather, this is a memoir of a woman who happens to be a doctor during the beginning of the pandemic. Many of her other musings are interesting, but they were just not what I was expecting from this book. ...more
Kind of an impulse selection at the library for the Feminist Book Club Readathon, because I have read the odd Lindy West essay here and there and loveKind of an impulse selection at the library for the Feminist Book Club Readathon, because I have read the odd Lindy West essay here and there and loved them, but I hadn't gotten around to reading more yet.
I chose this book to start my second day of the readathon and it was SUCH a good choice. This had me not just cackling, but crying so hard from laughing so hard I literally couldn't read. I had to read a few choice excerpts out loud to my husband, and now I have a whole list of movies I need to rewatch.
Not going to lie, I am more than a little tempted to go out and buy my own copy just to keep on hand. ...more