kurtwombat's reviews
883 reviews

 

I will admit that before listening to this book—I too occasionally found myself confused betwixt the Naomi’s. Naomi Klein—feminist, social activist, author, professor known for her  criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, Eco fascism and capitalism. Naomi Wolf—former feminist who famously authored the ground breaking THE BEAUTY MYTH but turned right wing agitator & conspiracist. From those descriptions you can see why Klein wouldn’t want to be social media confused with Wolf. Once they   appeared to have much in common but now are looking glass opposites. I won’t be confusing them again. 

 

I have graded the stories of this collection below and while they average to roughly a B, the stories collectively deserve higher praise for offering new perspectives and reaching for something more. Playing off the trope of black characters being the first to die in most horror genre experiences, this book makes the black girl the hero. This isn’t done by just swapping skin tones like a black Barbie or by having black characters run through white situations. Instead, most of the characters here arrive with the weight, knowledge and experience of being black in America and what they are forced to endure is often a result of that very experience. No coincidence that the stories I liked more exhibited this the most. And these stories aren’t just about survival but overcoming and a modicum of revenge—a payment for historical services rendered. There is also an effort to be inclusive of the LGBTQ community which is always welcome. Read this book and you will step through the horror genre looking glass. 

 

HARVESTERS   B+  Solid teen story with a deftly delivered twist—lean and mean. 

WELCOME BACK TO THE COSMOS   C   Creates a good atmosphere but ultimately just deflates. 

GHOST LIGHT   C-  Okay gimmick wasted with flawed characters. 

THE BRIDES OF DEVIL’S BAYOU   A-  Good character work & myth building—very tense. 

TMI   B  Not bad but disappointed when the gimmick I suspected was the gimmick I got. 

BLACK PRIDE   A-  Loved the central idea of this revenge fantasy enough to just go with it. 

THE SCREAMERS   A+  Easily my favorite of the book—genuinely scary all the way through. 

QUEENIUMS FOR GREENIUM   D  Annoying inconsistent characters in a who cares situation. 

INHERITANCE   C-  Keep forgetting what this story was—for a reason. 

BLACK GIRL NATURE GROUP   A  Good characters in a unique trap well told. 

CEMETARY DANCE PARTY    D+  Some fun moments but how it plays out doesn’t make much sense. 

THE SKITTERING THING   B+  Didn’t like at first but it didn’t let go and had me by the end. 

THE BLACK STRINGS   B-  Kinda interesting but the central idea wears thin and finally makes no sense. 

LOCAL COLOR   C+  I love a treasure hunt but I didn’t care for what I found here. 

FOXHUNT   A-  Kind of a history flash back without the time travel—quite satisfying.  

 I read this memoir by Jessie Conrad about her life with husband Joseph Conrad online. The edition was a rare hardback scanned into The Internet Archive. Had I not stumbled upon it on this site, I likely would never have heard of it let alone read it. Very few editions were printed during the author’s lifetime and it doesn’t appear to have been republished since. The combination of my fondness for Joseph Conrad and the rareness of the material has likely inspired some generosity when rating this book. With that in mind, the material is slight and uncritical and seems to drift—yet this is an intimate view of their lives—a window into history not opened anywhere else. The writing is very accessible and while clearly influenced by years of reading her husband’s work Jessie Conrad remains restrained and avoids parody. She mentions in her preface that she had been wanting to write something for much of their marriage but Joseph had requested she wait. Much of the memoir reflects how involved she was in his work, especially early on, and clearly the thought of finding her own voice surfaced somewhere along the way. And her creation is modestly admirable. As a fan I enjoyed reading as Joseph Conrad’s books were produced with a little bit of context and how their fortunes were affected by them. Also of interest was impact of one of their son’s going off to fight as part of the British forces in WW I. The drama of their long-distance concerns as they awaited any news good or bad about him does hit home. Accounts of the time present the much younger Jessie as an unremarkable and unlikely match for the genius but like most women of her era she was expected to serve her husband—this appears to be the point of the union. She certainly deserves credit for sustaining Joseph’s desire and ability to create but her memoir also shows her engagement in his work and perhaps influence. I suspect it was greater than she references, this being a habit of deference to her husband.   

 

Consistently funny mockery of birds and the human condition. You probably didn't know that birds are constantly swearing and similar to the worst of us.  Great gift book to have around as you can dip in anywhere, read a few naughty bits and be on your way. Delightful use of actual Audubon illustrations. 

The better of the two Fitzgerald collections I have read this year. (TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE being the other which I liked but did have a couple clunkers in it.) His language is often gorgeous.

 "And in front as a great mellow bell boomed the half -hour a swarm of black, human leaves were blown over the checker-board of paths under the courteous trees."

“This is the beauty I want. Beauty has got to be astonishing, astounding-- it's got to burst in on you like a dream, like the exquisite eyes of a girl.”

“This unlikely story begins on a sea that was a blue dream, as colorful as blue-silk stockings, and beneath a sky as blue as the irises of children's eyes. From the western half of the sky the sun was shying little golden disks at the sea--if you gazed intently enough you could see them skip from wave tip to wave tip until they joined a broad collar of golden coin that was collecting half a mile out and would eventually be a dazzling sunset.”

“Resignedly and with difficulty Tom removed the cigar—that is, he removed part of it, and then blew the remainder with a whut sound across the room, where it landed liquidly and limply in Mrs. Ahearn’s lap.”

All moments I loved. Every story a gem. Humor, heart and often with devastating insight. 

 

I listened to the audiobook version of  SOCIOPATH: A MEMOIR.  Aside from Stephen Fry, this was probably the best narration by the author I have heard for an audiobook. Specifically, the author reflecting different aspects of herself with subtle variations of her own voice was quite effective. The voice and writing are all very persuasive—well crafted to have you believe the compelling path you are on.  And you are happy to walk that path—the author has a successful and  interesting life to talk about. Because of her status as a self-professed Sociopath she has a life that could turn at any second—and all come undone. Or at least that’s the plot line. 

 This beautifully crafted art book has the same short-coming most beautifully crafted art books have for me—not enough text for context. Here this is mitigated by the portions of the book dealing with comics but still I would like to know more. There are intros for each body of work but the work itself goes mostly unremarked upon. The art is mostly creative and striking with a singular style and certainly deserves this presentation. Jamie Hewlett is mostly known for visualizing the cartoon fronted band GORILLAZ and his in your face offbeat TANK GIRL comic. I appreciated the career overview (which even includes creating an opera)  but after looking at image after isolated image I  kept wanting to go back to reading  the TANK GIRL comics I was so hungry for words. Where I was most let down by the lack of narrative was the section on Bangladesh. I was very disappointed when this charity connected art project was only represented by about 6  pieces and each one begged to be fleshed out with at least a few words.  To the book’s credit, I wanted more of every section but the Bangladesh portion in particular. For now, just going to figure out how to craftily acquire some TANK GIRL.