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Old 04-08-2013, 09:22 PM   #3126
Saya
 
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I've spent the last two hours scanning goodreads for a book recommendation but I'm feeling particularly fussy. I got a coupon for an ebook and I don't want to waste it!

Also, what is Girl With The Dragon Tattoo doing in a list of lesbian fiction? Yes, give a book about how men hate women and want to **** them at every opportunity and how the female lead is very strong and brave for ****** her rapist in revenge.
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Old 04-09-2013, 09:07 AM   #3127
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Yeah, not my cup of tea. I thought about borrowing the book but didn't after I read one page with one of the abuses... It wasn't "graphic" but I didn't particularly want to read more.

I also just finished 'Big Girl Small' by Rachael DeWoskin, and the plot was unexpectedly similar to Steubenville. Not quite as awful as the real world version and well written, but still I wish I'd chosen something less heavy

I'm now looking for the next book...

Have you read 'Tipping The Velvet' and 'Fingersmith' by Sarah Waters, Saya? I found those really interesting reads. (Tipping The Velvet does contain one incident of what you could possibly call domestic violence, not sure if should TW or not)
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Old 04-09-2013, 11:52 AM   #3128
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Yeah, not my cup of tea. I thought about borrowing the book but didn't after I read one page with one of the abuses... It wasn't "graphic" but I didn't particularly want to read more.
Yeah I should say I didn't find it bad in the book (I hear the movies are more gratuitous), at least not as bad as everyone hyped it up to be. And I know Lisbeth is bi, but her relationship with the Gary Stu character is central and her relationships with other women aren't mentioned at all until one of the later books. Its just one of those books where the dude doesn't know how to write women or about systems of oppression he never experiences, if that makes sense. Like you ever notice how some men when they write sexism, its always very violent and over the top? Its like the only way they get it. Compare it to a **** scene written by Atwood, which usually isn't detailed at all, but reading it is horrible anyway because the men involved are often pretty ordinary and protected by other men and even women under a system of oppression. Even when the rapist in Year Of the Flood was pretty over the top villainous, he was tolerated and put into power. Or compare to Batwoman: Elegy, where its not her superior's fault that the army at the time did not allow lesbians, he even offers to let her stay if she denies it. Its the homophobic system in which this heterosexual office participates in it that takes away her livelihood. I think part of the reason I like Rucka so much is that he can write women as diverse people who suffer from microaggressions instead of huge disgusting **** scenes.

Add in that Lisbeth was named after a woman Larsson saw gang-*****, and the main character is an obvious Gary Stu stand in for Larsson, and its pretty creepy.

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I also just finished 'Big Girl Small' by Rachael DeWoskin, and the plot was unexpectedly similar to Steubenville. Not quite as awful as the real world version and well written, but still I wish I'd chosen something less heavy

I'm now looking for the next book...

Have you read 'Tipping The Velvet' and 'Fingersmith' by Sarah Waters, Saya? I found those really interesting reads. (Tipping The Velvet does contain one incident of what you could possibly call domestic violence, not sure if should TW or not)
Tipping the Velvet came up on the same list! Thinking about it, though not in the mood for historical fiction right now.
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Old 04-09-2013, 11:38 PM   #3129
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I know, in the book it seemed banal and not graphic but still horrible if that makes sense.

I definitely know what you mean about the way some male authors write women... I've seen where the woman is like an idealised romantic/sexual fantasy, or it's the male authors words coming out of his female characters mouth. (Or a combination of the two.)
I've found YMMV though. I can read confronting scenes without finding them exploitative/gratuitous in every case or male-created female characters without finding them too far off, I've just found those things are done frequently and often badly.

Have you read Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates? (About a girl gang) Still a few stereotypes in it but I enjoyed.
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Old 04-23-2013, 09:31 PM   #3130
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I haven't! I'll check it out, trying to get through the books I bought recently.

Just finished On Beauty by Zadie Smith. I liked it, but I hated one of the characters so much, and while he does get comeuppance in the end, I just felt it wasn't cathartic enough.

I think I'm going to read The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency to wind down from that.
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Old 04-23-2013, 10:39 PM   #3131
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I read a lot on Advaita Vedanta, Jnana Yoga, Kundalini theory, and related texts. I find it funny how Jnana/"Gyana" Yoga is virtually unheard of in the West, and yet, is completely related to samadhi, the traditional goal of yoga. I remember seeing a Yoga 101 late start class my college was offering, and I found it funny that this is another class around something stripped of its goal, pretty much because I've been meditating on and off for five years and I'm probably crazy.
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Old 04-29-2013, 11:45 PM   #3132
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Well, I read my way through Dante's Commedia Divina in the last few days (I particularly liked Purgatorio, it is second only to Inferno in my mind), and I was reading The Name of the Rose just recently too.
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Old 05-06-2013, 01:19 PM   #3133
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I'm reading "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace and but my reading has been interrupted by exams and essays, so I haven't gotten very far. It's not the easiest read to begin with (DFW warding off the casual reader, probably) but weirdly enjoyable.
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Old 05-07-2013, 12:03 PM   #3134
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Just finished lost boy lost girl by Peter Straub. First time reading Straub and it was pretty disappointing. Didn't hate it, but it wasn't scary. Will try another book sometime.

Now reading A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway.
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Old 06-28-2013, 09:36 PM   #3135
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"Wizardry & Wild Romance (A Study of Epic Fantasy)" by Michael Moorcock. Interesting read where he points out the strengths and weaknesses of Fantasy and Science Fiction literature.
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Old 06-29-2013, 03:51 AM   #3136
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The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy. Been meaning to read it for a long time now after first coming to her through her activism, and it's been well worth the wait - beautifully written and totally absorbing.
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Old 07-06-2013, 08:43 PM   #3137
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So, at this big used book sale a few months ago, I ran into an old coworker in the mystery section and asked her for a recommendation, and she gave me a Nora Roberts (Born In Death). Skeptical, I took the book to be polite, and just got around to reading it.

And its not AMAZING and a few things made me roll my eyes, but it did make me wonder why I thought she would be so bad. Is it because she's a woman? Is it because she also writes romances? Its not high art, but its not trash either. She's at least better than James Patterson, and IMO Dean Koontz and Stieg Larsson, and not quite so infuriating as Stephen King. Hell the mystery itself is way better developed than Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. And the stuff that I rolled my eyes at, I understood why it was there. Like, there's a surprise wedding and babies being born, which made me laugh, but I'm sure she thought "you know what women like? Murder! Babies! Weddings!" Even if it was silly, I understood why.

Now I really wish the English department would get off their asses and offer the Gender and Writing course again so I could write about it D:

Anyway, about to start Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler.
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Old 07-07-2013, 12:08 AM   #3138
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I had never read any of her books until I worked at the resort and I had also thought that she would kind of suck. I found that of the books that ended up on our bookshelf (we had a take a book leave a book kind of thing, also any books in the lost and found for more than a month ended up on our shelves) hers were the ones I liked the best (well other than anthologies of short stories). They were interesting and enjoyable without being all consuming so they were perfect for reading at the desk during the off season and the kind of thing that I would take along on a vacation.
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Old 07-07-2013, 01:24 AM   #3139
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A Red Sun Also Rises. Kind of a steampunk book, a bit weird and slow to get started. Came together at the end but not amazing.
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Old 07-07-2013, 06:24 PM   #3140
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So I kinda read all of Dawn, the first book of Lilith's Brood, today. It was amazing, but really sad, so I'm reading Four And Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest before I read the next one. Octavia Butler gives me too many feels.
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Old 07-08-2013, 07:14 AM   #3141
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I'm now reading fluff because real life gives me too many feels as it is.

Lessee... I have VG Lee 'As You Step Outside', Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson 'The Winds Of Dune', and Gail Carriger 'Timeless'. Will post how they go.
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Old 07-08-2013, 09:01 PM   #3142
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I'm now reading fluff because real life gives me too many feels as it is.

Lessee... I have VG Lee 'As You Step Outside', Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson 'The Winds Of Dune', and Gail Carriger 'Timeless'. Will post how they go.
EEEEEEEEE! I love Gail Carriger! Er, sorry.

Sadly, I found that I loved the main character, Alexia, less as the series went on. I used to watch "Bones" on TV, but quit because it seemed like they had to make Brennan (leading female) more likable and nice, especially as she became domestic, and it killed everything I liked about the character. This book series suffered the same fate, I thought. Still worth reading, just felt like growing apart from a friend, if you know what I mean.
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Old 07-09-2013, 03:54 AM   #3143
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Just finishing reading Cozy Chilling Bedtime Stories by P. Gibey. Bunch of novels there, sci-fi and horror together, along with a little spicy erotic scenes, just lovely reading .
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Old 07-14-2013, 09:59 PM   #3144
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Finished the last book of Lilith's Brood. Some stuff annoyed me, like the silly evo psych (men are naturally promiscuous, aggressive and dangerous, humans naturally hate diversity) and the overwhelming sense that Butler was misanthropic (probably for good reason). Like at the end of it I thought humanity kinda deserved to get assimilated into an alien race. I also wish there had been queer characters, like the aliens had a third sex, the ooloi, who are natural genetic engineers and can create life and impregnate you just by touching you. So why not explore that with queer characters, could a lesbian couple have children with the help of an ooloi? Could an ooloi provide sex transitions? Why does it all have to be so cis and heterosexual?

Besides that though I really loved it and it made me think and I think it might have inspired the Asari in Mass Effect and no one else I know has heard of it so right now I feel like

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Old 07-15-2013, 04:08 AM   #3145
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Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.
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Old 07-15-2013, 04:56 AM   #3146
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"Satan: A Biography" by Henry A. Kelly.
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Old 08-08-2013, 06:46 PM   #3147
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Trying to get through Zorba The Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. I think this might be what it feels like to read Catcher In The Rye as an adult? Like when I was more accepting of misogyny I might have been able to get through this and think it is great but holy shit Zorba just said women love to be rraped and I'm supposed to think he's this great wise old man who knows better than any other character?

So I'm reading The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood to cheer myself up a bit. Her new book comes out this month so I think August will end up being an Atwoodathon.
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Old 08-09-2013, 06:10 AM   #3148
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EEEEEEEEE! I love Gail Carriger! Er, sorry.

Sadly, I found that I loved the main character, Alexia, less as the series went on. I used to watch "Bones" on TV, but quit because it seemed like they had to make Brennan (leading female) more likable and nice, especially as she became domestic, and it killed everything I liked about the character. This book series suffered the same fate, I thought. Still worth reading, just felt like growing apart from a friend, if you know what I mean.
Same here. I didn't mind the first book, but as they went on it kind of got a little twee? Not to mention slow. Would have finished the latest one if it had just got on with it.

I think I've read The Robber Bride Saya - was that where a lying manipulative 'friend' has a destructive influence on the other womens lives?


I just finished reading Dirt. Disturbing for a few reasons.
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Old 08-09-2013, 06:12 AM   #3149
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This is how I feel about Sabriel and the rest of the Abhorsen Trilogy.
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Old 08-09-2013, 06:42 AM   #3150
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I didn't know there was a trilogy until a few years ago BUT I LOVED SABRIEL I did my grade nine book project on it.
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