When Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was a girl and arguing with a male friend of hers, he called her a feminist in a derisive tone. She had never heard the word before but assumed it must be something bad. However, unlike many people who deny their connection with feminism because of ignorance and social pressure, Adichie went home and looked it up. Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Really, not a bad thing after all. I became […]
The hottest love has the coldest end
Like most of the books I read these days, I discovered It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History (2015) through a Cannonball Review. It sounded like a fascinating, fun read, and it was immediately available at my library. That’s really all I needed, but knowing that one of the break-up stories was about Edith Wharton was probably what had me picking up this book so quickly. I love Wharton’s writing, and I wondered if I would be able to see any of her […]
What a Pleasant Surprise!
I picked up The Year We Fell Down (2014) ages ago, when it was either really cheap or free on Amazon, but I never got around to reading it. Months later, a day came when my options were few and my urge for some light reading was strong. I vaguely remember not being too excited about college kids, hockey, and wheelchairs, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Corey Callahan is nervous because she’s just starting her first year at a college that seems remarkably like Yale. […]
Girl Power!
I first heard of Caroline Paul because she was one of the first women firefighters on the San Francisco Fire Department, and she wrote a book about it (Fighting Fire, 1998). I bought the book, planning on reading it, but haven’t gotten to it yet. Once I went through my own fire department academy, I wasn’t too keen on going through the experience again–even through the eyes of another. But then I heard of another book by Caroline Paul, and I was curious enough to […]
It’s all about willpower
I’m so far from an elite athlete, even the comparison is comical. Yet I’ve pushed myself often enough and hard enough while running, rowing, or cycling, that I have some understanding of the pain of pushing past your limits. So, I was intrigued when I heard about this new book, How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind Over Muscle (2015) by Matt Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s main thesis (supported by lots of science) is that your mind is the limiting factor in athletic endurance performance. […]
A Little Shakespearean Cross Dressing
I would occasionally roll my eyes at this book, thinking, oh my god, this plot or this character is ridiculous. But then I would remember the name of the book and know that I couldn’t really complain about a book being ridiculous when its called Ridiculous! (2012). Really, what did I expect? I have never read anything by D.L. Carter before, but this one was fun and interesting, so I’d be willing to read another. Millicent Boarder, her two sisters, and her mother have lived under […]
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