A charming, witty, sarcastic look at Alison Bechdel's life. About her parents, her coming out, dealing with skeletons and closets, aI loved Fun Home.
A charming, witty, sarcastic look at Alison Bechdel's life. About her parents, her coming out, dealing with skeletons and closets, and just plain life. And Bechdel doesn't pull any punches.
Bechdel? Why does that name sound familiar? Yes, because it was in Alison's comics that originated the famed Bechdel Test which you may have heard of if you read much about comics and feminism.
God Believes in Love is a wonderful delving into the subject of gay marriage.
It's a short book, and an easy read - but it covers all the bases.
Why tGod Believes in Love is a wonderful delving into the subject of gay marriage.
It's a short book, and an easy read - but it covers all the bases.
Why talk about this now? Why should I care about it if I'm not gay? What does the Bible really say about it? Isn't this really more about validating immoral behavior than equal rights?
This is a major issue facing Christians today. To put our head in the sand and try to ignore it is almost as bad as taking an anti-gay stance without any understanding of what it is to be gay or any reading of the what the Bible really means when it seems to be talking about it.
If, in our society today, we think we don't know anyone who is gay, we better think again. And if we want to truly show the love of God to the world, then we better be working harder to understand those of this world that are being oppressed. As the title of the book suggests, this is an issue of love. Spend some time with it if you want to broaden your understanding. ...more
I can see why Jacqueline Carey has such a huge following. Her writing is comfortable and smooth, like a good whiskeAfter you, it's all cheap tequila.
I can see why Jacqueline Carey has such a huge following. Her writing is comfortable and smooth, like a good whiskey.
I've avoided her most popular book (at least from what I've seen on-line) because of the extreme nature of what appears to be in it. (It's called Kushiel's Dart, if you're interested.)
But I really enjoyed this one - not just because it has a superhero flavor! And not just because it's some great diversity in a superhero book.
The characters feel real and it's easy to get sucked into the story.
I'm glad I had the foresight to pick up the sequel at the same time.
Sometimes the best books are the most difficult to review.
The longer it takes to get through a book, the more thoughts you have about it. And the morSometimes the best books are the most difficult to review.
The longer it takes to get through a book, the more thoughts you have about it. And the more flaws you find in a book, the more you have to say about it.
But when a book is so good, you fly through it in a couple if days, and it makes you happy that you already checked the sequel out of the library, it's hard to figure out what to say about it.
When I read Malindo Lo, it doesn't even feel like I'm reading. It's like the words enter directly into my brain, and I'm just along for the ride.
(Note: I've already started the sequel, and have already finished the novella that went between the two. I finished Adaptation yesterday.)...more
If you enjoyed the first 5 installments of this story, you'll enjoy this one, too. I thought it was a good ending to the 6-book series.
Now, I usuallyIf you enjoyed the first 5 installments of this story, you'll enjoy this one, too. I thought it was a good ending to the 6-book series.
Now, I usually don't comment on audio unless it's very, very good (see through a mirror darkly) or very, very bad (see eldest).
There were two narrators in this book - one male and one female. The male narrator left a lot to be desired. I don't know why they couldn't use previous narrators, or just have the female narrator narrate the whole book. Somebody must have lost a bet. I realize he's had some acting jobs, including a regular TV show, but he sucks as a narrator. He didn't really emote as he did the voices, and often, I couldn't distinguish between when he was narrating and doing dialogue. I may be armchair quarterbacking, but I know I could have done much better. Sometimes you couldn't even tell where the sentences end - it was like he ignored commas and periods. Many of the free audiobooks I've listened to - that have volunteer narrators - are much better.
You know it's bad when you can't tell the difference between a statement and a question. Isn't that acting 101? He must've come in and read this cold.
When I hear him say "A lone eye", he was really saying "Alone, I…".
And I had to go back and re-listen to this to figure out what it was: "A pon-shont for peddly annoying mundanes."
Oh! "A penchant for pettily annoying mundanes." Who uses the French pronunciation of penchant, anyway?
It got a little better toward the end. It was like he started cold, and as he went through the book he got (slightly) better.
Speaking of the end - when the climax came there were still a few disks left. I thought - wow a nice, long denouement. (It seems like we forego the denouement in so many movies and books today.) But then I realized that half of it was really just a setup for Clare's next series (because it was this book that most of the characters from the next series were introduced). Which is ok I guess. Just a little annoying. But the part that related to the current characters was a nice tidying up of this series. ...more
In a Gays-vs.-Christians world, admitting you're gay makes you the enemy of Christians.
Sadly, with this single sentence, Justin Lee sums up one
In a Gays-vs.-Christians world, admitting you're gay makes you the enemy of Christians.
Sadly, with this single sentence, Justin Lee sums up one of the biggest issues in Western Christianity today. Or maybe the biggest. It's extremely unfortunate (or maybe criminal is a better word), that we've allowed two or three misread passages to completely overshadow God's message of love in the Bible.
Torn is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand better what's holding back the love and compassion of Christians for the LGBT world. It's a good read for anyone: Christian, non-Christian, gay, straight. (Caveat: I say this as a straight Christian, but I'm trusting Lee's experience to overcome that, since this book is about him and his experiences.) I would recommend this to anyone not wanting to keep their head in the sand from such an important discussion.
This is something the whole Christian community needs to be thinking about. If you don't personally know anyone who's gay, you're probably wrong in that assumption. You just don't realize it. This is something that will impact each and every one of us, probably sooner than we expect. There is a lot of history to overcome - a lot of hate, a lot of misunderstanding. The sooner that we begin to understand, the sooner we can begin reconciliation.
In a Venn diagram, Gays and Christians aren't mutually exclusive - in fact, there's much more overlap than most people would imagine. Justin Lee enlightens us to that fact, and helps us understand how we need more compassion, more dialogue. This book is a simple read - it's accessible to anyone, and I think important for Christians, simply because his statement is so true:
I believe our goal should be truth, not ideology, and that we must have the humility to admit that we still don't have all the answers.
We would be better Christians in all aspects of our lives if we could admit this.
Justin Lee does a great job in discussing ex-gay movements and explaining how they might be able to help you change behavior (if that's what you want) but they cannot change the fact that you're gay. In fact, he cites many of the founders of the movement (and ex-gay poster children) and describes how they've returned to previous gay lifestyles. Reparative therapy doesn't work. Focus on the Family lied to you. His words are better than mine:
Focus [on the Family] then sent me a pack of resources promoting the same ex-gay groups I already knew didn't work, featuring testimonies from many of the same people I already knew weren't really straight.
Of course, this book is going to be controversial to conservative Christians because it's not anti-gay. Lifeway won't even carry it (I guess I shouldn't be surprised). On the other side, it may also be controversial to some on the LGBT side, because Justin Lee is tolerant of those gay Christians who believe the Bible teaches that they need to remain celibate (even though he does not subscribe to that). He wants more than anything for everyone to come together with a discussion of love, so that we can all understand each other - and replace the long-standing hate with compassion.
Read this book. If you're a Christian, read it to overcome your LGBT prejudices. If you're LGBT, read it to understand that the truth is that Christians shouldn't be fighting this war they have been fighting, and to understand the love and compassion we should be having.
Side note: I "won" a prize in our local library's 2012 reading contest. I got to pick one book to be added to to the library. I felt like this was important enough to add. So if you live in the Huntsville area, you can literally "check this out" at the Huntsville library. ...more
Overall, I thought this was a bit disappointing. The first half of the book was too slow. There were too many people to keep track of. Plus, it moved Overall, I thought this was a bit disappointing. The first half of the book was too slow. There were too many people to keep track of. Plus, it moved back and forth between the past and present so much, you almost lose track of when you are. It didn't really pick up until halfway through the book.
And even then - I really remember the movie being a fascinating look at truth and reality. But the book doesn't strike me that way. I guess it just wasn't as good as I expected. Could it be that this is a case where the movie is better than the book? But maybe that's because the book is supposed to be non-fiction - based on true events. (If you look at the Library of Congress information at the front, it's listed under History.) Did they just take more liberties with the story than the original author? ...more
It's over. What a beautiful story. Malindo Lo is the second writer I've come across who weaves such a wonderful tale, that you don't want it to be oveIt's over. What a beautiful story. Malindo Lo is the second writer I've come across who weaves such a wonderful tale, that you don't want it to be over (the first, of course, being Laini Taylor). Huntress is a prequel to Ash (another wonderful book), and I enjoyed it even more than that book. A gorgeous fantasy, with a sweet love story. If you like getting lost in a story, this is a great book for it. ...more
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