Books

from the library.

I just wanted to write about borrowing books. It's not that I don't like borrowing books, it is just that I don't like people telling me, or rules telling me, that there is a time limit that I have to finish a book in.  Read More »

I am currently taking a political science course, Politics through Film and Fiction. I just finished the fiction novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale. It was written in the mid-80's. The book is a strongly feminist dystopia. Atwood's dystopian society is based firmly in a religious patriarchy.  Read More »

These days, following a newly born interest back into the world of science fiction television (I spent some days in junior high days with ST: Next Generation). I have been reflecting, from my feminist podium (see Mere Women 1, 2, and 3) on the portrayal of women in this genre.  Read More »

In September, sports writer Dave Zirin released A People's History of Sports in the United States an examination of the history of the link between sports and (among other things) politics. The book -which derives its name from revisionist historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States- is equally as challenging to the established view of its subject matter.  Read More »

A few weeks ago, in honor of Banned Books week, I read several Judy Blume Books. One of her books for an older audience is called "Forever." For those of you who do not know, as I did not until I read the book, it is about a high school senior, Katherine, and her first sexual experiences.  Read More »

The Lovely Bones is a novel with strong emotions that will knock you off your feet. Author Alice Sebold crosses the line most authors don’t. Writing about death and rape from the dead girl Susie Salmon’s point of view. The Lovely Bones is a novel filled with tragedy yet hopes that things will eventually get better.  Read More »

There is a genre of books and movies that I love called period pieces. I’m thinking about it right now because I watched Becoming Jane last night. There are so many things to appreciate about that picture – the costumes, the photography, an odd orchestral phrase, and James McAvoy.  Read More »

George Orwell shows, in 1984, that a perfect conformed communistic society is impossible to reach, because of human nature. Original thought separates us from the conformed society in Orwell’s novel. 1984 is a piece of literature driven by the fears of 1949’s views of communism and a utopian society gone horribly wrong.  Read More »