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Reading Roundup: Best of 2015
It’s the new year! Otherwise known as the time for “Best Of” lists of everything from “best memes” to “best essays”. It’s not a bad time, because I do love lists. Since I had a rather disappointing December in terms of books, in lieu of a Currently Reading post for the month I’m writing a…
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Take a Little Pill: On Psychiatric Medication
Lately it’s hard to go a day without seeing some think piece about how the United States is an overmedicated country – usually not referring to abuse and misprescription of antibiotics, for example, but rather to psychiatric medications. I’ve heard it all: psychiatric medications are prescribed for the wrong reasons, for the wrong disorders, are dangerous…
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Currently Reading: Best of November 2015
Oh boy, am I getting behind on these. But it’s okay! December hasn’t been a thrilling month book-wise, but at least I get to look back midway through at five fantastic November reads – including on that just might be my book of the year. (Will I be doing a best of 2015 list? Probably…
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All New All Different Reviews
We’re now three months into the newest Marvel relaunch (called All-New All-Different Marvel), with relaunches or reboots of over 40 series already out (and more to come in the new year). I’m not following all the new series (god no, my wallet couldn’t take it) but I am picking up and trying a number of…
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Currently Reading: Best of October 2015
Here we are, almost to the end of November and I’m just getting to this list now. Oh well! Sometimes life happens, I suppose. Better late than never. I’m still reading up a storm, and still reading a lot of very good books. October was definitely a solid month, book-wise – though I’m already looking forward…
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Reviving Ophelia: Not Your Passive Corpse
Today I am angry about Ophelia. More specifically, I am angry about the dominant cultural conception of Ophelia: the one that portrays her as a passive girl, beautifully drowning in a cloud of flowers. Her suicide is the epitome of the beautiful death, and she the image of the mad girl as tragic, doomed heroine.…
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A Short List of Spooky Stories
Tis the season…for Cracked.com’s true urban legends lists, Halloween costume idea lists, and horror recommendations lists. I was thinking recently about how a lot of horror writing leaves me fairly cold, despite my love for the genre in concept. A good scary book thrills me like few other things, but sometimes a good scary book…
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The Beauty of “I Liked It, And”
Okay, internet: I liked Age of Ultron. Saying so feels almost like a confession of wrongdoing. In particular, articles concerning Black Widow tacitly assume that if you call yourself a Black Widow fan, you probably hated the movie and her portrayal in it (hint: I do call myself a Black Widow fan, and I didn’t. This is…
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Currently Reading: Best of September 2015
If August was a less than stellar month when it came to my reading list, September brought a number of excellent reads that I was very excited about. It’s been a good book month. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. The first book in Jemisin’s new series shows that she hasn’t lost any of her talent…
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“Cripple the Bitch”: The Killing Joke and Iconicity
So I work at a bookstore. (Kind of a big one – the one in New York City that rhymes with “grand” if you’re the kind of person who tracks big bookstores, but that’s beside the point.) At the store we have tables laid out to highlight books: bestsellers, new, recommended, classics. Books on these…