"Girl" Books, I might need a break

From my own shelf:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Gone Girl
The Girl on the Train
The Good Girl
The House Girl
Luckiest Girl Alive

I was browsing through titles on NetGalley and, you guys, I think I need to take a break from books with "girl" or "girls' in the title. Because there are so many out there. Goodreads has a list of almost 800. And a lot of them deal with actual grown women and not girls.

Emily St. John-Mandel looked into this, in a piece titled "This Is Why So Many Books Have 'Girl' In The Title" by Lena Grossman. St. John-Mandel actually put together a list with over 800 titles (eliminated children's books, and books with less than 250 ratings) and found that more than half of the titles dealt with "girls" that were in fact women.

Now there isn't actually much to actually answer the question of why, despite what the title might tell you. There's the suggestion that saying "girl" suggests a vulnerability that wouldn't be there if it was woman.

Having "girl" in the title doesn't make a book bad. It doesn't really say much about the book. Really, it says more about the marketing. An NPR story says it's not just about marketing, though the interview seems to suggest that yeah, it is about marketing. Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train did well so "girl" in the title becomes sort of a shorthand, telling you if you liked X then you'll definitely like Y.  Though of course it's not to say no books had "girl" in the title before Gone Girl. Three of the books I listed at the top of this post were published pre-Gone Girl.

The point is, this is a trend I'm not crazy about. When there's a few, it didn't bother me. I didn't think twice about it. Then I started noticing it everywhere. Obviously I'm not the only one (hence those links above). This is like the "Wife" trend (as was pointed out by others as well, so well-trod ground here), where it seemed that ever other book was the "something-something Wife". And just like with the "girls" trend, the title doesn't necessarily reflect on the quality of the book, nor does a few instances mean much. But once you start seeing it over and over, it started to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm not crazy about the infantilization of women being referred to as "girls". I'm not crazy about the stories about women being framed in their relation to a man.

So I dunno. Maybe it something really great comes out that people are raving about, I'll pick up another "girl" book. But otherwise, I'm thinking twice about going for these books.

All Our Wrong Todays: You don't need time travel to smash apart a world. But it helps

I managed to snag a copy of All Our Wrong Todays from NetGalley which was exciting. I didn't know too much about it but from basic summary (time travel!) and a couple positive reviews from others, I figured it was a good gamble.

What if the world we're living in was an alternate timeline from what the "real" present should be? And that everything we know is actually just a primitive and backwards society compared to what we're supposed to have? I mean, look, the way things are going, doesn't the idea that this timeline is a mistake seem like a comforting thought?

The world Tom Barren knows is this technological marvel, where there's unlimited clean energy, no wars, no hunger. Everything is basically perfect. Even waking up in the morning is pleasant. Sure, not everyone is perfectly happy, because people are still people but society pretty much has things worked out. Basically it's what the 1950's figured 2016 would be like, though with a bit more social progress.

Tom's dad is a genius, working on a time machine that can take people back to the exact moment our timelines shifted (not that anyone knows about this other timeline). It's the moment when the Goettreider's Machine was invented, the machine that generates unlimited clean energy and makes the entire future possible. But you know what happens with time travel: you change one thing and the entire future is changed. So of course that's what happens and Tom finds himself in the timeline we know (because Tom's sort of a fuck up), trying to make sense of what has happened, how it happened, and how he can fix things.

Overall, it was a fun story. There's a lot of ridiculous stuff happening, but it's time travel so the more you're willing to just go with things, the better.

That said, there were problems with it. The female characters aren't great. And a fairly big part of the plot is an insta-romance, which is not my thing. I can suspend disbelief involving time travel, but people falling deeply, madly, truly in love in two weeks? I can't.

There are also some bits that I won't get into cos it's a bit spoilery but there's stuff where characters do things a bit TOO perfectly and you can give whatever excuse you want, but it still made me eye roll hard.

I also, looking over my notes now, realize I made a number of snarky comments not just about insta-romance but a few different points, which I typically do if I'm not enjoying a book. I did enjoy this, but it's not perfect

Gif rating:

Title quote from location 3164

Mastai, Elan. All Our Wrong Todays. Penguin Group Dutton, 2017. NetGalley

What'd Red Do This Week

A bit late but it's cool, I still got this

Citizening

• Reached out to local reps to call for bipartisan and independent investigations into the Russia link, especially given the nonsense this weekend around wiretapping.
• Reached out to local reps to call for an investigation into the Yemen Raid that led to the death of around 25 people, including the Navy Seal William "Ryan" Owens.
• Reached out to senators per ACLU about the second Muslim Ban
• Reached out to local reps about the garbage AHCA proposed. I believe the ACA has room for improvement but this nonsense is not it.

I need to reach out to my local rep Leonard Lance because at his town hall he explicitly opened it saying he didn't believe anyone there was a paid protester and that is ridiculous and blah. THEN he sends out a fund raising letter claiming that liberal groups are sending paid protesters to his events and WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE? And I know, politicians are full of shit, but I can still get pissed and voice said displeasure.

Reading

Still reading Sing, Unburied, Sing, which I sort of paused to read Feminist Fight Club cos I wanted something light and quick. 

Watching

I will be watching The Force Awakens (finally) in a bit with my bro, who lent it to me a while ago but I never actually watched. Whoops. Oh and more stand up on Netflix (Jen Kirkman, please make more standup specials, kthxbai) and I thought instead of watching anything new I would just rewatch Futurama for the billionth time. #goodchoices

Just a Few of My Fav Book Covers

It's been a busy week/I am quite lazy so instead of a review, why don't we look at some of my favorite book covers?

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

You guys, I dunno what it is but I luuurve this cover. Like to the point where I've seen other covers and my first thought is "WHY would you do that? Why would you 'fix' what isn't broken?"



Gulp by Mary Roach

This cover just makes me laugh. So simple. So effective.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The font, the design, is so perfect for Coraline. This is the correct atmosphere for the book. Some of the others are a little cartoony for me and this book is seriously creepy, children's book or not.

Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

Maybe it's because I love this book so much, but I am a fan of this cover. Simple, bold colors. This one stands out.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

I feel like this cover is a combination of the ones above. It has simple, geometric shapes, a lot of red and black (which I guess I really like, although I wouldn't have guessed it before), large font.

The Kings and Queens of Roam by Daniel Wallace

Now for something a little different. It's colorful, the shapes are mre organic, sure it's still text heavy but it feels different than the others.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Very much not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey, this cover sort of bridges the gap between the ones up top and The Kings and Queens of Roam. It's busy, colorful but still a lot of red and black (and grey, of course), and text makes up a large share of the design.

Alright, that's what I got. What have I missed?

Anne of Green Gables: Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?

This was a good book to start the new year. Something sweet and simple and innocent. I hadn't read this book as a kid, but it was a pick for book club and hey, better late than never. I don't know if young me would have been a big fan of Anne because Anne has a lot of things she doesn't like and top of that list is her red hair and HEY, we do not give into that kind of self-hate, and also red hair kicks ass and "carrots" is a totally innocuous nickname, so chill.

Is everyone else familiar with Anne of Green Gables? I feel like it's one of those books that most people did read as a child so not entirely sure how I missed it (especially with the red hair bit. I guess my family was more a Pippi Longstockings kind of place.) So anyway, story of Anne.

Siblings Marilla and Matthew decide they want to buy an orphan boy to help out around the house, cos this was 1900 or whatever, and that was a thing you could do. Not only could you do it, but you could do it and NOT be the villain of the story. #WhatIsWrongWithYouHistory When Matthew gets to the train station to get the boy, he finds this scrawny girl instead and what the hell, that's not what he ordered. But since he's super shy and doesn't want to cause a scene, he decides to let his sister deal with it, so he takes Anne home.

During the ride back to Green Gables Anne will NOT STOP TALKING but since Matthew hates talking, this works out for him and she wins him over. She goes on and on (and on) about her fantasies and how happy she'll be and the homes she lived in before. But Marilla sees this girl and decides nope, back to the orphanage with her. Orphanages have generous return policies.

But Anne manages to win over Marilla too, even though Marilla goes through the hassle of taking her all the way back to the orphanage which must have been terrifying for Anne. Marilla puts her on probation to see if she'll be a pain or if they'll keep her. (I know, different time, but seriously, past, what the hell?)

Surprise, they keep her and then the book is a series of Anne screwing things up cos she keeps daydreaming, getting into fights with people cos they point out she has red hair, making friends, refusing to turn down dares if someone calls her chicken, all kinds of wacky (for 1908) adventures.

Anne is a fun character. She's sweet, obsessed with all things "romantic", really into having puffy sleeves, is super dramatic, super insecure about her appearance which sure, causes her to lash out a few times, but sometimes her reaction was deserved. Mostly not though. I wanted to yell "chill" at Anne pretty much every page. I also wanted to hug her so I guess it balances out but seriously, chill. Also maybe take a breath every once in a while. There'd be full pages with no paragraph breaks that were just Anne talking and talking.

I actually bought the entire Anne set cos the full thing for Kindle (all 12 books or whatever) was under a dollar and it seemed silly to only buy the first book. It's like a Columbia House deal, except without the scam later. We shall see if I get to the others.

It was nice book and one I'm sure I wouldn't have picked up had it not been for book club so #ExpandingReadingHorizons.

Gif rating:

Title quote from location 2261

Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables. Doma Publishing, 2014. Kindle. Originally published 1908.

What'd Red Do This Week

I may be fighting a massive headache now, but that didn't stop me from getting stuff done this week and then posting about it here.

Citizening
I didn't do quite as much as I was hoping but I still got some stuff done.

• Reached out to local rep to support HR 111, the resolution to look into Trump's conflicts of interest (biz & Russia)
• Reached out to local rep to urge him to put actions behind his words that he does not stand for the anti-semitic attacks happening across the country to actually DO something about it, including pushing back against the statement that the attacks are actually being committed by Jewish people and/or democrats to to "make others look bad". 
• Contacted local reps again about Russia, especially after the news that Sessions met with Russian ambassador twice during the campaign AND THEN LIED ABOUT IT. (I reached out pre-recusal and plan to continue to push for resignation and keeping pushing for investigations.)

Reading

I just finished up Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates that a coworker lent me and am working on Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. And I just picked up a copy of Feminist Fight Club on sale, which is exciting.

Watching

Saw Hidden Figures for a work screening, which was pretty swell. The black employee network set it up and yes, while I realize I am not a black employee it was (of course) open to whomever wanted to attend. And they did a panel that my boss was part of after talking about the movie and women in STEM and POC and WOC and that was cool stuff. Coincidentally I was also meeting with my book club this week to discuss the book Hidden Figures so what good timing.

I've also started watching a bunch of standup on Netflix. I used to watch all the standup shows (Comedy Central Presents, Premium Blend, whatever specials) and not sure why it's taken be so long to embrace all of the stand up on Netflix but I am and that's fun.

Listening

Same ol' ALTHOUGH How Did This Get Made just did an episode about Surf Ninjas and since that TERRIBLE movie has a special place in my heart (and I'm sure the taped-off-TV copy we had is in a basement somewhere along with the Three Ninjas saga) I was extra excited, even if June and Jason weren't there for the episode.