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kellymce's reviews
707 reviews
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Never have I felt so queer-baited by a book that actually seems to be about Catholicism! Waugh is a wonderful writer, tho.
The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg
This book was frustrating to me -- while I recognize the personal anguish, it has some of the awkward-in-public growth of the newly out. (Hey, we've all been there.) I think Wizenberg is trying to walk a wobbly line between sharing personal narrative and speaking more broadly on part of a community -- but without really deeply owning that she is new to that community, whatever her personal orientation is/was/will be. For example, statements like, "The movement has fought for marriage and military service because a majority of gay Americans have wanted it to do so" -- how incredibly naive and misleading! I understand her longing for her personal experience and desires to fit within a broader group -- but surely it already does without any need to minimize the ways that many, many queer folks seek alternatives to monogamous partnership and family? I squirmed at the scorn she used for her not-quite-stone-butch ex regarding their sexual incompatibility -- y i k e s, what a way to treat the person who was your entrypoint to queer relationships! Don't yuck her yum, Molly, geez.
Wizenberg is a good writer, and I hope she continues to learn and grow into her identities, and to share that with us -- I look forward to the next, or maybe the next-next memoir.
Wizenberg is a good writer, and I hope she continues to learn and grow into her identities, and to share that with us -- I look forward to the next, or maybe the next-next memoir.
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Steve Buccellato
3.0
It's remarkable, it took exactly my bus ride to school to read this graphic novel. Like the other three Scott Pilgrim books, I read this in one fell swoop, and enjoyed it quite a lot. In fact, I laughed out loud at least 5 times. Although I sometimes get the characters mixed up, and I'm not rooting for the romance at the heart of the plot, the humor is excellent. Lines like "If your life had a face, I'd punch it" exemplify O'Malley's strengths.
Oh Canada! Oh Quebec!: Requiem for a Divided Country by Mordecai Richler
3.0
It's dated, sure, but Richler also provides a history of the political-cultural climate of Quebec. All of which was basically new to me.
Blindness by José Saramago
4.0
I had to stop reading this book for a few weeks. I needed some emotional space.
I'm very curious to see the film adaptation -- it's playing at VIFF, I hope I can get in to see it.
I'm very curious to see the film adaptation -- it's playing at VIFF, I hope I can get in to see it.
Selected Stories by Ring Lardner
3.0
This collection of short stories made for excellent reading for my summer back in the States. Lardner has quite an ear for spoken language, and even if some of the humor gets a bit hammy, there are hilarious and saucy moments in these stories. The first time I tried to get through it, I got held up by the stories about golf and baseball -- this time, I really enjoyed them.