Scan barcode
floatwiththesticks's review against another edition
5.0
Any book that has an entire chapter on why Fanfic is comparable to Medieval Literature needs 5 stars. Tabitha writes with warmth and wit and I loved every second.
It's a memoir that celebrates the child-like joy we (women especially!) so often bury, and encourages you to completely embrace passions. It also mentions Benedict Cumberbatch like a million times... I'm not a Cumberbitch but it sounds like a fun gang to be in.
(This definitely was a strange choice to read after 'Idol, Burning' but I guess it shows there are healthy and unhealthy levels of celebrity love. One where you lose yourself and another where you find it).
It's a memoir that celebrates the child-like joy we (women especially!) so often bury, and encourages you to completely embrace passions. It also mentions Benedict Cumberbatch like a million times... I'm not a Cumberbitch but it sounds like a fun gang to be in.
(This definitely was a strange choice to read after 'Idol, Burning' but I guess it shows there are healthy and unhealthy levels of celebrity love. One where you lose yourself and another where you find it).
srlakshmi's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
maybe a bit too much about benedict cumberbatch, but it did manage to get the point across.
Here's to shamelessly loving what you love!
Here's to shamelessly loving what you love!
akiikomori's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 out of 5
I liked the second half more than the first, and you know this book affected me more than I thought (again, the second half).
I felt seen.
Heard.
Understood.
As a woman who has taken part in many Fandoms in my adult life (maybe not to this degree), I understand and related to a lot of this. I also bookmarked a lot of pages haha quotes to come.
Never give up what makes you happy.
***SPOILERS***
.
.
.
.
.
.
My Fav Quotes
"You should allow yourself more than a nail appointment. You should indulge in things that refresh your spirit or make you laugh or make you feel something... People deserve indulgences. I wish they could do more. I tell them, 'Go somewhere! Do something! Feel something! Anything!" --- Page 75
"I've got some really, really lovely listeners who I've made friends with, -- And, you know, I think the time has gone when internet friends were something to be sneered at or not taken seriously. You can make really good connections with people you meet on the internet because of a shared enjoyment." -- Page 101
Pages 126-127
"It turns out I had it completely wrong, which is very embarrassing for a literary critic. "The Summer Day" isn't about finding your Big Purpose at all! It's about kneeling down in the grass, and looking very, very closely at a grasshopper, and doing nothing more with your time than strolling through fields being idle."
Page 150-151
"The bottom line is this: Nathan saw that my thing with BC was weirdly important to me; it offered me something that I obviously needed, and most importantly, it had nothing to do with him. He gave me something much better than his permission: an exemption from having to care what he thinks."
"There's no age limit on liking things, ... and there's no age limit on human connection--- for men, or for women, or for anyone." Page 192
I liked the second half more than the first, and you know this book affected me more than I thought (again, the second half).
I felt seen.
Heard.
Understood.
As a woman who has taken part in many Fandoms in my adult life (maybe not to this degree), I understand and related to a lot of this. I also bookmarked a lot of pages haha quotes to come.
Never give up what makes you happy.
***SPOILERS***
.
.
.
.
.
.
My Fav Quotes
"You should allow yourself more than a nail appointment. You should indulge in things that refresh your spirit or make you laugh or make you feel something... People deserve indulgences. I wish they could do more. I tell them, 'Go somewhere! Do something! Feel something! Anything!" --- Page 75
"I've got some really, really lovely listeners who I've made friends with, -- And, you know, I think the time has gone when internet friends were something to be sneered at or not taken seriously. You can make really good connections with people you meet on the internet because of a shared enjoyment." -- Page 101
Pages 126-127
"It turns out I had it completely wrong, which is very embarrassing for a literary critic. "The Summer Day" isn't about finding your Big Purpose at all! It's about kneeling down in the grass, and looking very, very closely at a grasshopper, and doing nothing more with your time than strolling through fields being idle."
Page 150-151
"The bottom line is this: Nathan saw that my thing with BC was weirdly important to me; it offered me something that I obviously needed, and most importantly, it had nothing to do with him. He gave me something much better than his permission: an exemption from having to care what he thinks."
"There's no age limit on liking things, ... and there's no age limit on human connection--- for men, or for women, or for anyone." Page 192
caaleros's review against another edition
5.0
When I picked up “This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something--Anything--Like Your Life Depends on It” I figured it would be a book for me. I am an unashamed nerd who has seen everything in the MCU more than once, and I inherited a love of Star Wars that was passed down from my older brother. Surely this would be a fun book where we just talk about loving things, right?
By the second chapter I was starting to distance myself from the author. I love things, but not like… that. The author’s love was a little too intense for me. But it was a little too intense for her too. And that’s why this is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch, it’s a book feeling empty and the wonderful feeling when something fills that space. It’s about motherhood and womanhood and how women are conditioned to not consider it okay to be passionate about things. Carvan talked about when girls get passionate about something (music, actors, etc.) they are often critiqued by other fans for ruining the fandom. Other fans will look at them and say I love this thing, but I’m not like them. That’s how Carvan felt about the Benedict Cumberbatch fandom until she started seeing the passionate women and creators as people. As she came to terms with her own love of Benedict Cumberbatch, she also convinced me that maybe she--and the hundreds of other women like her--weren't so weird after all.
There is a caveat to this 5 star review. I have been on the internet. I am not a reader who needs fanfiction explained to me. Unlike the author, I do not think every expression of love for a thing is okay. She did address the issue of “othering” another human being, but it was a weak point. She used a quote from Aiden Turner (you are probably familiar with the Poldark scene where he’s shirtless in a field scything grass) where he says that as a man being looked at is not the same as it is for a woman. After that the discussion is dropped. It’s a fine explanation, but I don’t think it is enough.
Despite this difference between the author’s values and my own, I appreciate this book for what it is. It is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch, it is a look at the psychology and sociology of a woman loving something–anything–and how that love can change her life for the better.
By the second chapter I was starting to distance myself from the author. I love things, but not like… that. The author’s love was a little too intense for me. But it was a little too intense for her too. And that’s why this is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch, it’s a book feeling empty and the wonderful feeling when something fills that space. It’s about motherhood and womanhood and how women are conditioned to not consider it okay to be passionate about things. Carvan talked about when girls get passionate about something (music, actors, etc.) they are often critiqued by other fans for ruining the fandom. Other fans will look at them and say I love this thing, but I’m not like them. That’s how Carvan felt about the Benedict Cumberbatch fandom until she started seeing the passionate women and creators as people. As she came to terms with her own love of Benedict Cumberbatch, she also convinced me that maybe she--and the hundreds of other women like her--weren't so weird after all.
There is a caveat to this 5 star review. I have been on the internet. I am not a reader who needs fanfiction explained to me. Unlike the author, I do not think every expression of love for a thing is okay. She did address the issue of “othering” another human being, but it was a weak point. She used a quote from Aiden Turner (you are probably familiar with the Poldark scene where he’s shirtless in a field scything grass) where he says that as a man being looked at is not the same as it is for a woman. After that the discussion is dropped. It’s a fine explanation, but I don’t think it is enough.
Despite this difference between the author’s values and my own, I appreciate this book for what it is. It is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch, it is a look at the psychology and sociology of a woman loving something–anything–and how that love can change her life for the better.
jrmarr's review against another edition
5.0
I have not stopped talking or thinking about this book since I started it. Very funny, surprisingly profound, both validating and challenging, I could see myself in the pages. I’m now wondering what my ‘list of interests’ contains, and what my Benedict Cumberbatch is…