Lily the Thief by Janne Kukkonen
I once was talking to a coworker about a book I read and liked but the way I described it was that I had never loved and hated a book so much in my life. It was amazing, but I was mentally-physically ill while reading as the emotions were so great. It was not an easy read, to say the least. And while I cannot say I loved and hated Lily the Thief that extremely, it did create an experience that I felt strongly. I […]
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
This wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was pretty good all the same. I think this three star rating is due to two things: 1) I was expecting more of a history of Wonder Woman the character with some stuff about her creator(s) thrown in as well, and what I got was a history of her creator(s) in full, along with a healthy side order of what was actually going on in history at the time, with an emphasis on the history of feminism, […]
Pig City by Andrew Stafford
Pig City chronicles a brief yet transformative period of Brisbane life, from the 70s through to the 90s, but this is no ordinary history book. The story is told mainly through the lens of music and politics and shows how the two influenced each other in a time when Brisbane was still coming of age. The ‘BrisVegas’ tag jokingly likens the country town where there’s not much to do (as Brisbane was up until the late eighties) with Las Vegas. Beginning in the seventies, the […]
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
Listening to Assassination Vacation is like taking a road trip with your strangest friend. Well, Sarah Vowell is on a road trip- and is unabashedly strange- but having her narrate the journey to you is a little cozy, a little crazy, a little creepy- and a LOT of fun. Her morbid fascination with presidential assassins (both would-be and verified) and the zeal for putting friends and relatives into uncomfortable situations is a hoot, and the audio experience feels like gossiping with your own partner-in-crime. She […]
Helloooo CBR 12! Excited to post my first review of the year, and I started with a bit of a bookend. My last read for CBR 11 was my (first ever) read of the Diary of Anne Frank, which was a long time coming, and a great book to read. So, I found it appropriate to start with George Takei’s “They Called Us Enemy” which is George Takei’s graphic novel memoir of growing up in internment in the American concentration camps during World War II. […]
