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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I'm not sure that I have much to say about this other than advising that everyone read it. The essays are short and readable, and they talk about issues that are incredibly important to everyone. If, like me, you're not deeply rooted in social justice issues, then you will learn something, and you will probably enjoy yourself in the process.
Okay so I have never read a collection of essays up until now, but for Kameron Hurley, a woman with an extraordinary imagination when it comes to fiction, I had to try it. I'm so very glad that I did pick this up (I'll admit that the wonderful cover played a big part in that decision too) as I had been reading a fair few mediocre books, and this was a really great one in the midst of the no-so-great.
I have been told that a lot of these essays appear on Hurley's blog so if you've followed her there for a while you may not get as much out of this becuase it's not all new. However, if like me, you haven't seen much of the blog or have only recently taken a look then this is probably a fabulous start point for you.
Hurley comes across incredibly well in her writing, especially surrounding the topics of feminism, online abuse, weight harassment and ideas of gender stereotypes. I think that the background in Marketing which she often references is probably a big part of how well she creates pieces, and her essays did often ring very true for me.
One thing I will say about this is that I found myself agreeing A LOT with some of the intent and messages in her essays. Hurley is a character that I found myself relating to in all sorts of ways, and I think this is a major part of why I connected and liked so many of these. I think of the whole collection there was only one essay which I didn't really like as much, and yet every other one I found a few quotable sections and points I agreed with.
Fantastic collection and I hope we see another one in the future filled with more new content. 4*s overall, and recommended :)
I have been told that a lot of these essays appear on Hurley's blog so if you've followed her there for a while you may not get as much out of this becuase it's not all new. However, if like me, you haven't seen much of the blog or have only recently taken a look then this is probably a fabulous start point for you.
Hurley comes across incredibly well in her writing, especially surrounding the topics of feminism, online abuse, weight harassment and ideas of gender stereotypes. I think that the background in Marketing which she often references is probably a big part of how well she creates pieces, and her essays did often ring very true for me.
One thing I will say about this is that I found myself agreeing A LOT with some of the intent and messages in her essays. Hurley is a character that I found myself relating to in all sorts of ways, and I think this is a major part of why I connected and liked so many of these. I think of the whole collection there was only one essay which I didn't really like as much, and yet every other one I found a few quotable sections and points I agreed with.
Fantastic collection and I hope we see another one in the future filled with more new content. 4*s overall, and recommended :)
A lot of the essays were better than the others (some deserve 5/5). Overall, such a good book.
This should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in a) writing b) feminism c) being awesome.
For Women's History Month, I decided to read/listen to this one that I kept running into at the library. While the topic itself was interesting, it wasn't as cohesive as it could have been. There were essays that didn't relate to the overarching topic, and others which just seemed to repeat previous essays.
These are fantastic and yet angry set of essays that ought to be read no matter what your sex is, no matter what your geek quotient is. There is a flow of righteous anger that permeates throughout and its extremely well justified
Disclaimer time: I think it took me a long time to read a genre fiction book written by a woman featuring a woman protagonist. Like the arch typical geek, my reading consisted of primarily white, hetero hereos, the quite loner types or the charming women-would-swoon around types. I think I am primarily indebted to 3 women writers for showing me the glorious world that existed beyond my narrow myopic view.
First & foremost, Robin Hobb through the Farseer trilogy. Forever grateful and indebted for having Fitz as character who was way different than any character I had read by that time (circa 2005) and proving epic fantasy could be written as beautifully and as emotionally as any piece of literature.
Tamora Pierce, whose books on Alanna, Daine and Kel (3 different series) rank among my favorite re-reads (even if I find now a bit of complexity lacking but hidden meaning in some interpretations that I had missed before). Tamora's women characters arent the damsels in distress. They are kick-ass characters, strong in their own rights without simply being dudes with boobs
Lastly, Janny Wurts.Her collaboration with Raymond Feist to produce the Empire Trilogy is pure gold. It features a remarkable female character growing up in the shadow of war, taking on the empire itself as she takes revenge for the death of her family. A work, that outshines most of Feist's other works apart from the Magician series (the 1st 3 books pretty much).
What Hurley's work here does is in a way force you to take a look at some of the biases that you have within you and kind of work her way through how women do have it worse than others. Peppered with incidents from her own life, be it a struggle to get published, her brush with death, her fight with weight or the Gamergate, the Sad Puppy incidents, she has a very clear lucid ang;e and frankly a view point that makes so much sense.
Disclaimer time: I think it took me a long time to read a genre fiction book written by a woman featuring a woman protagonist. Like the arch typical geek, my reading consisted of primarily white, hetero hereos, the quite loner types or the charming women-would-swoon around types. I think I am primarily indebted to 3 women writers for showing me the glorious world that existed beyond my narrow myopic view.
First & foremost, Robin Hobb through the Farseer trilogy. Forever grateful and indebted for having Fitz as character who was way different than any character I had read by that time (circa 2005) and proving epic fantasy could be written as beautifully and as emotionally as any piece of literature.
Tamora Pierce, whose books on Alanna, Daine and Kel (3 different series) rank among my favorite re-reads (even if I find now a bit of complexity lacking but hidden meaning in some interpretations that I had missed before). Tamora's women characters arent the damsels in distress. They are kick-ass characters, strong in their own rights without simply being dudes with boobs
Lastly, Janny Wurts.Her collaboration with Raymond Feist to produce the Empire Trilogy is pure gold. It features a remarkable female character growing up in the shadow of war, taking on the empire itself as she takes revenge for the death of her family. A work, that outshines most of Feist's other works apart from the Magician series (the 1st 3 books pretty much).
What Hurley's work here does is in a way force you to take a look at some of the biases that you have within you and kind of work her way through how women do have it worse than others. Peppered with incidents from her own life, be it a struggle to get published, her brush with death, her fight with weight or the Gamergate, the Sad Puppy incidents, she has a very clear lucid ang;e and frankly a view point that makes so much sense.
This book was released a couple years ago, but it is still timely. Hurley writes of the need to make space in the science fiction and fantasy book world for women, and especially women of color and other diverse voices. Some of her essays focus on feminism in pop culture, others are more personal, and still others focus on specific problems and possible solutions within science fiction/fantasy circles. This book probably isn’t for everyone, but I would recommend it for people who are more interested in those genres and how we can be more inclusive.
Didn't live up to the hype. While I appreciate the author's zeal (of course I do) and honesty, I kept wondering if some of these essays weren't better suited for a blogging platform than a book (ofc the Internet is where many of them started). Kind of repetitive, many topics are begging for more in-depth analysis & time and time again I found myself thinking 'oh, I've read a better piece on this' (like with Diana Wynne Jones' essay about heroes being male by default & how to write a girl hero).
Big plus of this book - it will probably fuel a lot of discussions.
Big plus of this book - it will probably fuel a lot of discussions.
I'm so happy that I'm challenging myself to read more non-fiction this year because it really helps me to feel that I'm educating myself on wider issues around me that I'm passionate about! Feminism is obviously something I strongly advocate and I felt this book would appeal to me because the title suggested it looked at things from a 'geek's' perspective. I'm a self-confessed 'nerd', I definitely wasn't one of the cool kids when I was younger! But for a lot of reasons I didn't end up taking from this book what I had hoped to take.
What I'd say I loved most about this book was Hurley's passion. That raw anger. It was present in every single one of her essays and it was so refreshing. She swore, she screamed, she metaphorically slapped me repeatedly with the need for change. At first it hurt. And then I loved it. This is a great example of angry, needed feminism that still applies logic and reasoning. I loved that Hurley acknowledged her privilege too. She was inclusive, she got that minorities had it WAY harder. She didn't just whine, she stated that we need to do more than that.
So what did I have problems with? Firstly, this book was pretty repetitive. I didn't feel like any of the essays stood out as really special. And they didn't feel cohesively put together. By the time I got halfway through I found myself rolling my eyes a little bit....yeah I get it, you grew up on 80s lone wolf hero movies. If the essays were written to be part of a bigger collection I wouldn't need to be reminded of this in every single one. I also felt that this book wasn't really what I expected. It talked about feminism and being 'geeky' but it's focus was more auto-biographical. It felt a teeny bit self-congratulatory. She mentioned about her other job as a copy-writer and this definitely felt like a collection that heavily pushed her books. I liked that she admitted both her past successes and failures, and the message behind this book was a good read but the way that she went about it still felt a little off.
What I'd say I loved most about this book was Hurley's passion. That raw anger. It was present in every single one of her essays and it was so refreshing. She swore, she screamed, she metaphorically slapped me repeatedly with the need for change. At first it hurt. And then I loved it. This is a great example of angry, needed feminism that still applies logic and reasoning. I loved that Hurley acknowledged her privilege too. She was inclusive, she got that minorities had it WAY harder. She didn't just whine, she stated that we need to do more than that.
So what did I have problems with? Firstly, this book was pretty repetitive. I didn't feel like any of the essays stood out as really special. And they didn't feel cohesively put together. By the time I got halfway through I found myself rolling my eyes a little bit....yeah I get it, you grew up on 80s lone wolf hero movies. If the essays were written to be part of a bigger collection I wouldn't need to be reminded of this in every single one. I also felt that this book wasn't really what I expected. It talked about feminism and being 'geeky' but it's focus was more auto-biographical. It felt a teeny bit self-congratulatory. She mentioned about her other job as a copy-writer and this definitely felt like a collection that heavily pushed her books. I liked that she admitted both her past successes and failures, and the message behind this book was a good read but the way that she went about it still felt a little off.