This was an unflinchingly honest and very moving book. I used to watch iCarly with my sister sometimes (Jeanette McCurdy played Carly's best friend anThis was an unflinchingly honest and very moving book. I used to watch iCarly with my sister sometimes (Jeanette McCurdy played Carly's best friend and co-star, Sam Puckett). Reading about Jeanette's actual experience of being on the show vs. my perception of her when she was playing Sam is absolutely stark. Jeanette's mother controlled absolutely every single aspect of her life. Not just her career, but also money, education, food intake (which gave her several eating disorders), cleanliness (she showered her daughter right up until adulthood), health (she performed regular breast and vaginal exams to 'check for cancer') and was generally speaking very emotionally and physically abusive.
I listened to the audiobook which is read by Jeanette herself, and it was honestly the best reading experience for me. Who better to imitate family members and colleagues than the author recalling what they sound like? There are also a few moments where Jeanette cries on the recording as well, which in turn made me cry. Her writing is very very good: witty, sharp and biting, and shies away from nothing. Her words are shockingly sad, but told with such a dry, dark, self-depracating sense of humour that makes for very compelling reading. I didn't laugh once and I think blurbs that try and market this book as humorous clearly read a different book to me, because it's not really very funny. The humour is just there to mitigate the effed up nature of what's being said.
Overall I wouldn't say I enjoyed reading this book—because it really is quite horrible subject matter—but I'm really glad I read it and I'm so pleased Jeanette has quit acting and moved into writing now. She is a brilliant writer and a great talent, and I look forward to seeing what she does next.
What a fantastic and thought provoking book. Told in her own words, ‘Man Into Woman: The First Sex Change’ tells the remarkable story of Lili Elbe; thWhat a fantastic and thought provoking book. Told in her own words, ‘Man Into Woman: The First Sex Change’ tells the remarkable story of Lili Elbe; the first trans woman to ever undergo gender affirmation surgery and be fully and legally acknowledged as a gender other than the one assigned to her at birth.
At the time of Lili’s transition, so little was known or even acknowledged by the scientific community about gender dysphoria. Lili had no pre-existing words, context or anything to understand or explain how she felt. The surgeries she underwent were largely experimental and fatally dangerous, but they were also completely pioneering and, despite ultimately costing Lili her life, saved it. The relief, joy and wonder Lili conveys in her new life as a passing woman is truly lovely and wondrous to read. She had little to no psychological support following the culture shock of transition and her prevailing strength and fortitude in the face of such hardship is inspiring. Her death was a tragedy, and the closing pages of this book are desperately bittersweet. What a thing it is that Lili shared her journey with us; that we have this unique and insightful document into a journey so few of us take.
I was also eternally struck during my reading how loving and accepting Lili’s friends and family were of her predicament and how willing they were to help. In present day 2023, trans people in the U.K. (thanks She Who Will Not Be Named) are still so vilified and mistrusted by the media and general public, and face so many obstacles to simply live as themselves. How can pre-Nazi Germany in 1931 have so much to teach us about empathy, love and strength? I wish I could gift this book to every radicalised TERF. It saddens me so much that it’s so hard to get hold of a copy of this book now. I think a friend bought this one for me off of eBay many moons ago.
I should mention that this is very much a book of its time with lots of misgendering and deadnaming by its very design. Several outdated terms are also used, and there are elements of gender essentialism and internalised misogyny in Lili’s thinking. It’s clear Lily was very privileged and wealthy and that is what ultimately enabled her to travel so widely and seek the best care she could get. It’s also worth mentioning that the narrative suggests Lili may have been intersex instead of trans, but this has apparently been disputed. In any case, this is a fascinating and important historical document, and I am so very glad to have read it....more
This was a lovely, cosy, easy little read about Ravenmaster Christopher Skaife and his life with the ravens at the Tower of London.
As Chris himself saThis was a lovely, cosy, easy little read about Ravenmaster Christopher Skaife and his life with the ravens at the Tower of London.
As Chris himself says at the beginning, you won't find an abundance of scientific or naturalistic detail in here, but what you will find is an account of Chris and the ravens' day to day life, their routines, their habits, and a little bit of what goes on in and around the Tower of London.
Christopher Skaife is clearly a bit of a raconteur (to be expected, given the nature of his job); an ex-solider everyman who's had the good fortune to land in a strange and wonderful job. His writing is engaging, upbeat and self-deprecating, full of funny—sometimes sad—anecdotes about both his time as a soldier and Yeoman Warder (aka. the Beefeaters who ceremonially guard the Tower of London, but in practice act more as tour guides).
Despite the disclaimer at the beginning, I did find myself craving additional detail; not just about the ravens and the Tower, but about his time in the army as well. Everything is surface-level, which is fine (Chris even suggests further reading at the end of the book), but it did still leave me wanting more. I found Chris' approach to certain subjects to be a little too upbeat than I was entirely comfortable with, particularly with regards to the keeping of exotic animals in the Tower, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland where he was briefly deployed. I appreciate this book isn't really the kind of place where you delve deep into this sort of stuff, though. It's a memoir and fluff piece, not an autobiography or historical analysis.
I also still learned some new things. I had no idea how recently the legend of the ravens came into being, nor that Charles Dickens was such a raven enthusiast and that his work inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write his extremely famous poem. It was also really lovely to read about how much Chris genuinely cares for the ravens, and how little he aims to impede upon their wild and independent nature (except with Merlina, who imprinted at an early age).
Overall, thoroughly recommended for those who love the ravens at the Tower as much as I do, or for those looking to learn a little bit more about them and their day to day lives ♥...more
Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis has been on my To Read list for a very, very long time. The simplistic line-drawings, autobiographical/histMarjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis has been on my To Read list for a very, very long time. The simplistic line-drawings, autobiographical/historical content and an account of a life lived within an oppressive and dangerous regime very much reminded me of my absolute favourite graphic novel, Maus by Art Spiegelman, and so I was keen to give it a try. Unfortunately before now I’ve never been able to find a ‘good’ hard copy of Persepolis i.e. contained in one complete volume, hardback and not with ‘now a major motion picture’ plastered all over the cover. I compromised by purchasing a beautiful deluxe paperback copy with French flaps. Et voila! I have now finally read Persepolis.
So then. My thoughts... Well, Satrapi states in the foreword that one of her main reasons for writing Persepolis was an attempt to dispel connotations of her home country of Iran with corruption, fundamentalism, terrorism and repression: "As an Iranian who has lived more than half her life in Iran, I know that this image is far from the truth... I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists." However, for the next 341 pages, she then seems to go about doing the exact opposite. On the very first page, Marjane (or Marji as she is known in the book) is suddenly made to wear the veil after years of not having to do so. Next, the universities are closed to prevent the spread of dissidence. Following that, all women are made to wear the veil in public and are assaulted and threatened with rape if they do not wear it properly. Then revolutionaries are rounded up. We get graphic accounts of torture and execution and later, a truly chilling tale about the fate of a young Communist woman named Niloufar. When the revolutionaries overthrow the Shah, the repressive regime gets worse, and Marji’s parents fear for their daughter’s life, having raised her to be independent, so they make huge financial sacrifices to send her out of the country. Women have no rights to divorce their husbands. Husbands do not permit their wives to talk. All the non-conformist Iranians in this book seem determined to flee to Europe and the United States because they can't bear to live there any longer. (view spoiler)[ Eventually it gets so bad that Marji up and leaves Iran altogether, never to return. (hide spoiler)] So in terms of Satrapi’s intentions, how does this not serve to paint a picture of a politically corrupt, fundamentalist and repressive country? Unless I have misunderstood what she meant, in this sense, I think Persepolis fails.
However, even if it did ‘fail’, I still found Persepolis a fascinating read. This book gave me new appreciation for how lucky I am to have been born where I am; to not have to live in constant fear of death by missile from above, to be completely ignorant of war, to have the law on my side, that I can travel freely, that I was not barred from education and that I am able to wear what I want, when I want, where I want. Even Marji herself falls victim to stressing about trivial problems during her hiatus in Austria whilst others in the world - her own family in this case - are bombed, tortured and assaulted on a daily basis. Satrapi’s own upbringing and background was highly privileged and non-conformist, so I can only imagine how oppressive and awful it must have been - must be - for less fortunate Iranian men and women. Truly disturbing. At the same time it's very easy to relate to said trivial stresses and the pitfalls of adolescence, that sense of being an outsider, neither one nor the other; in Marji's case a sheltered Iranian in the West, and a decadent Westerner in Iran.
A highly recommended read even if I do not particularly feel like this book altered my perception of the Iranian situation (thus failing on what it promised to deliver, so it's impossible for me to give this a full five star rating). Satrapi's love for her country, her friends and her family, despite her simultaneous palpable disdain for the ideology of her country's government is extremely moving and ultimately, distressingly poignant. Did I enjoy it as much as Maus? Nowhere near as much, but I'm very pleased that I own Persepolis and that I have read it. In the meantime, this book reminded me that I need to get in touch with my pensions advisor and make sure I'm not accidentally contributing to my country's ridiculous warmongering in the Middle East for the sake of oil with my investments. Iran isn't the only country that needs to take a long, hard look at itself....more
The first instalment of Maya Angelou's seven-volume autobiography is a dense and heavy read, beautifully and poetically written -- almost like a work The first instalment of Maya Angelou's seven-volume autobiography is a dense and heavy read, beautifully and poetically written -- almost like a work of fiction -- with some extremely harrowing subject matter including the ever-present, suffocating, violent racism of the Southern States of 1930s America, sexual violence and dysfunctional family relationships. The slow pace, meticulous attention to detail and plodding descriptions of the mundane took me quite a while to get into, but as Maya got older and her capacity to process the strange and terrifying events she was experiencing matured, I whizzed through the second half quite quickly. I'd not heard of Maya Angelou before (I read this as part of my monthly book club) but she seems an absolutely fascinating lady who has led an amazing and inspirational, if not at all pleasant life. I would be very interested in reading the next instalment of the series.
Did I mention that the racism detailed in this book is horrific? It's utterly horrific. Deeply uncomfortable reading material. You have been warned......more
ETA 15.07.2019: The year is now 2019 and honest to God, this is the only book I've ever owned that I've actually considered burning. Way back in 2ETA 15.07.2019: The year is now 2019 and honest to God, this is the only book I've ever owned that I've actually considered burning. Way back in 2013, 24-year-old me could have never dreamed of the dystopian nightmare that is Donald Trump in the White House and Ivanka Trump occupying some vanity position within it -- they were just some people I watched on a reality TV show on the tele. The review I wrote below makes me cringe now, to read it, honestly, but I shan't delete it, because it's obviously what I thought at the time.
I bet Ivanka didn't even write this and got some ghostwriter to write it like her dad did.
Original Review:
I confess that I have a little bit of a girl-crush on Ivanka Trump. I am a firm fan of the American version of The Apprentice and over the course of the few series I have watched, I have always been impressed by Ivanka's acute business acumen and obvious talent coupled with her ability to look so effortlessly glamorous, charismatic and compelling all the time -- effectively she is everything I aspire to be in business. On the other hand she is undeniably privileged and lucky enough to be born into an extremely wealthy, well-placed family, so of course she's going to have had a massive leg up somewhere... Ivanka spends much of the book effectively apologising for being born wealthy and stressing how hard she has worked in order to obtain what she has achieved and why she is qualified to give advice, and often this felt unnecessary. If anything it kept drawing my attention to the fact that she works for her father, has been exposed to all his ridiculously influential and wealthy contacts from a young age and has a famous name to band about to get what she wants. As I said before, I have great admiration for Ivanka. If I wasn't interested it what she had to say, I wouldn't have bothered reading this book.
More often than not though Ivanka knuckles down to offering some serious and extremely useful business advice for young women looking to forge their early career path in a desirable direction, such as myself. The chapters that dealt specifically with the business environment, such as interviewing tips, the art of negotiation and keeping your options open when scouting about for your first job definitely rang true with me as a fairly recent graduate currently making her way through the precarious male-dominated world of finance! I also feel like I've definitely taken on some of her advice in terms of the way I present myself at work and how to be assertive without being aggressive in order to get the most out of my job. Since I've read this book I've noticed a real change in my attitude to change at my job as well. Generally a lot of really great stuff has come out of me reading this book.
Other parts however really rubbed me up the wrong way, most notably her advice to go to the office for a couple of hours on a Sunday. Whilst I see the benefits of doing a little bit of prep work for the week ahead at the weekend, I'm sure it must be very easy for Ivanka to do this given that she lives within the very building that she works in and doesn't have to do a one and a half hour commute into the city like myself!! I also disagreed with her views on non-conservative dress within the workplace. Whilst I agree that you should dress professionally at work and make an effort with your appearance, I also believe that there is room for a bit of creativity. My superiors truly do not care that I dye my hair a bit of a too-bright red and wear the odd weird necklace; if anything, coupled with the fact I'm good at my job, it helps me stick out from the crowd and I'm always the one that people remember within my immediate team.
There were a couple of nice family anecdotes in here as well that I could really relate to. Ivanka seems to have a similar relationship with her father as I do with mine, and given that Donald Trump is one of my father's business heroes, the parallels left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside (it was in fact my dad who bought this book for me, and he even asked Ivanka to sign it!).
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't perfect and did whiff a bit of privilege, but Ivanka makes some good points and her words have definitely had an effect on the business side of my life. She's still one of my business heroes and I love her....more
Frank, insightful, oftentimes shocking, and ultimately incredibly powerful, nothing could have prepared me for how incredibly thought-provoking and moFrank, insightful, oftentimes shocking, and ultimately incredibly powerful, nothing could have prepared me for how incredibly thought-provoking and moving this book truly is. Adaptions from Emilie Autumn's diary entries during her time spent in a (supposedly acclaimed) Los Angeles mental institution are punctuated by -- and seamlessly interwoven into -- fictional 'flashbacks' to an insane asylum in 19th century Victorian London. The author writes beautifully, honestly, and with the same compellingly cold clarity of mind one might find in a Sarah Kane play. I particularly enjoyed her little witticisms and one-liners scrawled in the book's margins -- extremely clever black humour.
Whilst I appreciated the symmetry of the experiences of "Emily with a 'y'" with Emilie's own (and the story itself was a good one), it is this book's autobiographical parts that really struck me hard and knocked me flat. The early chapters in particular made for some extremely uncomfortable reading (Exhibit A: Dr Sharpe), and one particular sequence concerning a little girl named Chloe and a bout of ECT genuinely, genuinely upset me; it was the one part of the book in that actually succeeded in moving me to floods of tears.
My only criticism is that the ending was a little too dragged out, and Emily's experiences in the Victorian insane asylum were sometimes a little sketchy on the details. I also struggled a little with the talking rats which I feel detracted from the corpereality of it all. Such criticisms are not so strong that I feel a need to deduct even half a star from my 5 star rating, however. My mind was challenged, as were my emotions, my feelings on certain subjects; I LEARNED something from this book. I feel bettered for having read it. Educated. Changed.
