Archives for March 2018

REVIEW • Women Are Strong As Hell (Bygone Badass Broads by Mackenzi Lee)

March 30, 2018 Comment : 1

Based on Mackenzi Lee’s popular weekly Twitter series of the same name, Bygone Badass Broads features 52 remarkable and forgotten trailblazing women from all over the world.

With tales of heroism and cunning, in-depth bios and witty storytelling, Bygone Badass Broads gives new life to these historic female pioneers. Starting in the fifth century BC and continuing to the present, the book takes a closer look at bold and inspiring women who dared to step outside the traditional gender roles of their time. Coupled with riveting illustrations and Lee’s humorous and conversational storytelling style, this book is an outright celebration of the badass women who paved the way for the rest of us.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from ABRAMS for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “The story of Empress Xi Ling Shi is so wrapped up in legend it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s mythology. “

Attention, it’s the start of the history class you’ve always wanted: what women did throughout history that we should know about.

If you’ve seen Mackenzi Lee’s Twitter threads about different badass and diverse women in history, those threads have been expanded into this book, Bygone Badass Broads. This book introduces readers to 52 inspiring and innovative women who have been forgotten by history—familiar ones like Lorraine Hansberry and Noor Inayat Khan to not-known-ones like Friederike Mandelbaum and Kumander Liwaymay (and when I think about it, all the ladies Mackenzi picked to write about are very unknown to most of us). And let me say, Bygone Badass Broads should be a must-read for every human being and creature on this Earth (and maybe in outer space, who knows).

Comics

FROM PANEL TO PANEL • March 2018 Graphic Novel Releases To Look Out For

March 27, 2018 Comments : 2

from panel to panel

I love comics and graphic novels, so what do I do with that love? Well, I turn it into a new feature!

From Panel to Panel is a new feature where I talk about the awesome (and perhaps not-so awesome) comic books and graphic novels I’ve read. Basically, this will be me pushing them onto your laps. You’re welcome.

I can’t even describe March’s graphic novels because they’re stories of women throughout history, a librarian working at a haunted museum, charming romances, unlikely team-ups, and many more. This month, you need to put these on your TBR list.

Get your shopping carts loaded with all these comics!

Discussion

DISCUSSION • Books I Wanted To Read A Long Time Ago, But Not Anymore

March 25, 2018 Comments : 5

Like many of you, I’ve put many books on my TBR list because I was planning to read them once upon a time ago, but that simply didn’t happen. I’ve looked at my list from Goodreads a couple of days ago, and realized that I had no desire to read some of the books I put on my TBR list because of x-y-z reason (which includes the story no longer pertains to what I enjoy reading about, I’ve heard so much about the book that it has become overhyped, and just because).

The books are the list are ones I put years ago when I started blogging (so that’s like six years ago). It’s time for me to let go of these books because I don’t think I’ll ever get to it.

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW • Join the Revolution! (The Radical Element edited by Jessica Spotswood)

March 23, 2018 Leave a Comment

In an anthology of revolution and resistance, a sisterhood of YA writers shines a light on a century and a half of heroines on the margins and in the intersections.

To respect yourself, to love yourself—should not have to be a radical decision. And yet it remains as challenging for an American girl to make today as it was in 1927 on the steps of the Supreme Court. It’s a decision that must be faced whether you’re balancing on the tightrope of neurodivergence, finding your way as a second-generation immigrant, or facing down American racism even while loving America. And it’s the only decision when you’ve weighed society’s expectations and found them wanting. In The Radical Element, twelve of the most talented writers working in young adult literature today tell the stories of the girls of all colors and creeds standing up for themselves and their beliefs—whether that means secretly learning Hebrew in early Savannah, using the family magic to pass as white in 1920s Hollywood, or singing in a feminist punk band in 1980s Boston. And they’re asking you to join them.. [/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Candlewick Press for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “Rebekah threaded in.”

Twelve girls. Twelve stories about girls from all walks of life in different time periods in the United States who stand up for their beliefs and challenge what is expected of them because of their gender, race, culture, and religion. Twelve authors weaving these beautiful tales.

Reviews

REVIEW • Spells for a Price (The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton)

March 18, 2018 Comments : 3

When Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island more than a century ago, her otherworldly skills might have benefited friendlier neighbors. Guilt and fear instead led the island’s original eight settlers to burn “the witch” out of her home. So Rona cursed them.

Fast-forward one hundred–some years: All Nor Blackburn wants is to live an unremarkable teenage life. She has reason to hope: First, her supernatural powers, if they can be called that, are unexceptional. Second, her love life is nonexistent, which means she might escape the other perverse side effect of the matriarch’s backfiring curse, too. But then a mysterious book comes out, promising to cast any spell for the right price. Nor senses a storm coming and is pretty sure she’ll be smack in the eye of it.

In her second novel, Leslye Walton spins a dark, mesmerizing tale of a girl stumbling along the path toward self-acceptance and first love, even as the Price Guide’s malevolent author — Nor’s own mother — looms and threatens to strangle any hope for happiness.[/note]

myreview

First sentence: “Nor Blackburn wasn’t afraid of blood.”

When you come from a family of cursed witches, you try not to fall into the same patterns as your ancestors. Nor Blackburn tries to avoid the trappings of being a Blackburn, but it’s hard when she’s a teenager, trying to survive while having an unexceptional Burden she can’t do anything with and fearing that her mother will return to Anathema Island and wreck havoc once again on her life.

Reviews

REVIEW • Dress Like a Woman: Working Women and What They Wore

March 16, 2018 Comment : 1

A woman can be a firefighter, surgeon, astronaut, military officer, athlete, judge, and scientist. So what does it mean to dress like a woman?

Dress Like a Woman turns that question on its head by sharing a myriad of interpretations across history. The book includes more than 240 incredible photographs that illustrate how women’s roles have changed over the last century. The women pictured in this book inhabit a fascinating intersection of gender, fashion, politics, culture, class, nationality, and race. You’ll see some familiar faces, including trailblazers Shirley Chisholm, Amelia Earhart, Angela Davis, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Michelle Obama, but the majority of photographs are of ordinary working women from many backgrounds and professions. Pioneering scientists and mathematicians, leading civil rights and feminist activists, factory workers and lumberjacks, stay-at-home moms and domestic workers, and artists and musicians; all express their individual style and dress to get the job done.

With essays by renowned fashion writer Vanessa Friedman and New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay, Dress Like a Woman offers a comprehensive look at the role of gender and clothing in the workplace—and proves that there’s no single way to dress like a woman.[/note]

myreview

Dress Like A Woman asks, “what does it mean to dress like a woman?”

It’s not an easy question to answer. To dress like a woman, it depends on a myriad of things like the time period, the culture, the race, nationality, and social class. Dress Like A Woman isn’t really about to answer that question; it’s a celebration of women in the work place, who kicked ass no matter what they wore.