#mybookshelf

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I thought I knew the story, but this peppers in so much more detail that I didn’t even know I wanted. I definitely found myself throughout the original four books wondering Edward’s thoughts and perspective on things and this was a satisfying delivery. In the sixth installment in the Twilight Saga, Meyer takes the reader through the events of the first novel, Twilight, through the eyes of Edward. For the first time the reader is able to hear Edward’s thoughts, experience the events that Bella was not present for, and hear the conversations among the Cullen coven. Additionally, the reader is given a behind the scenes view of Edward’s mind reading ability in live action throughout the novel. Via his gift of mind reading, Edward offers the reader new insight on familiar characters from the mundane school drama of Mike and Jessica to the sinister thoughts of James and Laurent. Though Edward and his family’s backstories are told to Bella in the original book, the reader is treated to a much more thorough account of that past and a deeper dive into the early days of Carlisle’s coven.

I was a big fan of the Twilight series (books and movies, though a lot of the movies didn’t live up to my expectations) at the height of the Twihard fever days. I’ve never thought that the books were particularly well written but also not so poorly written that it really affected my ability to enjoy the events of the books. As I’ve grown older I do have to agree that the story is predatory and more than a little icky. A one-hundred-year old man in a seventeen-year old’s body is able to overcome his overwhelming bloodlust for a seventeen-year-old girl and they become obsessed with one another and fall in love? I mean its problematic. We can analyze and say that. But as in most fantasy novels I read, I do not find it so problematic that I am not able to see it for the fiction that it is and fall into step with enjoying the story.

I found the change of perspective refreshing. I enjoyed the new insight into Alice, Jasper, and Edward’s gifts and the history of Carlisle’s life. After reading this I am now craving more story that gives the proper time and attention to Esme. I feel like she is such a powerful character who shaped so much of Edward and the others in his coven but is not given nearly enough of the spotlight. I’d also very much like to see more of the Edward perspective during parts of Breaking Dawn and maybe even a little beyond. Overall, I very much enjoyed this book and would undoubtedly read more in the Twilight series should Meyer indulge us.

★★★★☆

The Dark Phoenix saga by Chris Claremont and John Byrne

 overall rating: 5/5

The Dark Pheonix Saga collects issues #129 to #138 of Chris Claremont's uncanny Xmen. 

As it claims in it’s title, the saga mainly follows the origin story of The Dark Phoenix, which I was keen to read after Fox did a god awful job with the film adaptation.

Emma frost, queen of the Hell Fire Club, is on a mission to track down and capture members of the Xmen. Meanwhile, manipulated by Mastermind, Jean Grey begins to slip away from reality. As her phoenix powers grow stronger it can only end badly.

I’ve only ever really dipped in and out of the Xmen but it’s clear when I compare Chris Claremont’s run to the more recent ones that this really was the golden age of comics. Despite the tropes and cliché’s of the time it was written in, this series still holds up really well. The characters are very well established within a compelling plot which is well paced, with each sub-plot fitting neatly into the story. When people think of writing superhero comics they tend to go straight for the constant fights but what I like about these ones is that there is so much to it than that and so much more focus on the individual story of each character, allowing you to really connect with them. Not only was Claremont’s era a turning point for the X-men in general but he also did a fantastic job of breaking the mold of female superhero stereotypes. Both Storm and Marvel Girl/Phoenix are strong, key figures within the team. Jean Grey especially went from love interest who fainted a lot to one of the most complex and layered characters.

Feminism / Gender Equality:

Men Explain Things to Me — Rebecca Solnit

The Feminine Mystique — Betty Friedan

Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women — Kate Manne

The Second Sex — Simone de Beauvoir

The Handmaid’s Tale — Margaret Atwood

Gender Trouble — Judith Butler

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Toxic Masculinity:

The Man They Wanted Me to Be — Jared Sexton

Boys Will Be Boys — Clementine Ford

The Will to Change — Bell Hooks

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Communism:

The Communist Manifesto — Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

New Class: Analysis Of Communist System — Milovan Djilas

Introduction to Marxist Economics — Ernest Mandel

Blackshirts & Reds — Michael Parenti

First as Tragedy, then as Farce — Slavoj Zizek

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Philosophy:

The Philosophy of Aristotle — A. E. Wardman, Signet Classics

Stoicism — Mark P. Smith

Great Dialogues of Plato by Plato — W. H. D. Rouse, Signet Classics

The Problems of Philosophy — Bertrand Russell

Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge — Robert Audi

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Racism:

The New Jim Crow — Michelle Alexander

White Fragility — Robin Diangelo

Race & Racisms — Tanya Golash Boza

The Hollywood Jim Crow — Maryann Erigha

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Decolonization:

Two Old Women — Velma Wallis

Original Local — Heid E. Erdrich

Colonize Me — Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley

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Classics / Novels:

Pride and Prejudice — Jane Austen

To Kill a Mocking Bird — Harper Lee

Little Women — Louisa May Alcott

Jane Eyre — Charlotte Bronte

Reading this today. I struggle to keep up with non fiction that isn't self help.

This is a great history and general knowledge book helping me learn more about fatphobia.

I'm only on the third chapter but I'm slowly getting through it.

小林聡美

小林聡美を最初に観たのは映画『転校生』（大林宣彦監督 1982)だった。子供ながらにすごくおもしろかったのを覚えている。次は『やっぱり猫が好き』（1988-1990)で、もたいまさこ、室井滋と3姉妹を演じたこのシチュエーションドラマは人気を博し、私も大好きだった。のちにDVD-BOXを買いそろえるくらい大好きであった。 それから図書館でエッセイを見つけ、その面白さに驚き、『凛々乙女』『東京100発ガール』と続けて読んだ。『やっぱり猫が好き』の脚本家であった三谷幸喜と1995年に結婚。エッセイも『マダム小林の優雅な生活』(1998)『マダムだもの』(2002)と風変わりな夫との生活を描いたものになり、これがまた最高に面白かった。 しかし5年ぶりのエッセイとなった『ワタシは最高にツイている』（2007)を読んだ時、なんとなく、あまり幸せじゃないのかな、と思った。この間に初主演ドラマである『すいか』(2003)、大ヒットとなった『かもめ食堂』(2006)と女優業では大活躍。 2011年に三谷幸喜との離婚を発表し「これといったはっきりした理由があるわけではないが小さな違いが積み重なってしまった」という内容のコメントが出されたが、マスコミは三谷幸喜の浮気疑惑などを書き立てた。 それから数年後、三谷幸喜脚本、演出の舞台『グッドナイトスリイプタイト』(2008)をDVDで観た。二人暮らしの夫婦の10年間を描いたストーリーで、劇中では作曲家の夫を中井貴一、妻を戸田恵子が演じているが、中井貴一が「この役は三谷さんそのもの」と語っていたように、三谷幸喜、小林聡美夫妻の物語であることは明白であった。なるほど、こういうふうに別れたのか、と観た後あまりに落ち込んでしまい、いつもなら楽しみにしているコメンタリーもいまだに観れていない。ただ離婚の際のコメントに嘘はないと思った。 その後大学に入ったり俳句を作ったり楽しそうにしている小林聡美を見るとうれしいし、女優としていろんな作品に出るのを楽しみにしている。