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grayola's reviews
71 reviews
Here by Richard McGuire
5.0
Though a little vanilla at times, the scope and breadth of this is made for the pages of a book. Cinema and photos can at times offer these visual ideas, but the world made and the world reflected here are an accomplishment of vision worth recognizing and telling people to read.
Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman (Verso Classics) by Wallace, Michele Wallace
3.0
What’s great about reading even remotely controversial texts are the active ways we as readers have to juggle our own subjectivities along with the author’s. The fiery Goodreads reviews seem to expect the book to flawlessly fulfill its place among the intersectional feminist canon and disqualify it of any merciful critical examination—though I agree, it’s aged a bit. On the other hand, there’s plenty of “I’m white, so I’m here to learn” in fear of saying anything bigoted. It’s a flawed text! And it’s important that even if it is flawed, we read it, analyze its flaws, and in turn, understand our own politics in a meaningful way.
Relationships by The School of Life
5.0
These books and this media conglomerate are simply a force for good. Everyone—and I don’t say this lightly—should read their teachings if for nothing else, the fantastic and grounded ways in which their delivered to the reader, viewer, and student.
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
3.0
Rife with all of the dystopian clichés that inspire “Orwellian” pull-quotes on the book’s jacket, this premise is actually pretty unique. The payoff seemed like it would never come but when it did, I was deeply satisfied. Throughout the book, character’s decisions—particularly the primary inciting incident and a trip to the story’s Ministry of Truth—made little sense, but there’s enough poetry in the three central relationships and the strange thrill of each new disappearance that motivated me to keep picking it up.
From Reverence to Rape by Molly Haskell
3.0
"It is one of properties of perspective that from a distance of time or space everyone, like the Chinese, looks alike." (p. 49)
Yikes. This a flawed feminist text. Haskell spends much of her time in the first chunk of the book separating herself from "feminism" by asserting her identity as a film critic before her identity as a feminist—perhaps catering to skeptical readers? Ironically, the rest of book more or less upends this idea as she goes on to mention feminism in name thoroughly throughout the book and of course use its principles to analyze the mythologies of American masculinity and {white} women's role in film up into the 70s. Her analysis of American masculinity and European filmmaking towards the latter half of the book are in my opinion, her biggest contributions from this book. I kept imagining what the cultural landscape and film-loving community would have felt like at this moment in time. The name, after all, is in total panic over where movies are headed at this point in history.
Yikes. This a flawed feminist text. Haskell spends much of her time in the first chunk of the book separating herself from "feminism" by asserting her identity as a film critic before her identity as a feminist—perhaps catering to skeptical readers? Ironically, the rest of book more or less upends this idea as she goes on to mention feminism in name thoroughly throughout the book and of course use its principles to analyze the mythologies of American masculinity and {white} women's role in film up into the 70s. Her analysis of American masculinity and European filmmaking towards the latter half of the book are in my opinion, her biggest contributions from this book. I kept imagining what the cultural landscape and film-loving community would have felt like at this moment in time. The name, after all, is in total panic over where movies are headed at this point in history.
The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking
4.0
Books like these aren't usually something I'd gravitate towards—I find them a little kitschy. But this, as an audiobook, was perfectly structured, concise, entertaining, and a reminder to breathe in the simple pleasures of life, especially now that we're all at home and turning to more domestic forms of everyday living. Also, hygge (hoo-guh) is super, super fun to say.
Wake Up and Cook: Kitchen Buddhism in Words and Recipes by Tricycle Magazine
3.0
The smaller anecdotes and parables packed much more of what the collection of entries was aiming to do than the long-winded, jargon-heavy entries that might require a reader already familiar with Buddhist concepts and vocabulary. In the end, it makes for a great book to cap a year where I found so much peace and comfort in food and cooking. I’d recommend skimming through, however.