Customer Comments

Christin has commented on (76) products.

Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds, and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's "Firefly" by Glenn Yeffeth and Jane Espenson

Christin, October 5, 2012

Another excellent collection of essays from Smart Pop! This collection of essays span a huge range of subjects from hilarious parody to deep philosophical ponderings. Some of these essays explored ideas that I'd had myself (though much more coherently!) and other essays I vehemently disagreed with. Either way, they made me think. And best of all, they reminded me just how much I love this 'verse!

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Savages. Don Winslow by Don Winslow

Christin, October 1, 2012

This is a story about two independent pot growers in SoCal who are being targeted for incorporation by a Mexical cartel, so of course it's 11 kinds of messed up. But I enjoyed it. I loves me a good OT3 anyway, so the relationship between Ben, Chon, and O is interesting to me and I totally understood why the boys would do what they did when she was being threatened. The writing is very SoCal and full of slang and pop culture references, so it's got a sort of breezy feel to it, even when the events it's describing are kind of horrifying. It was a quick, exciting read full of twists and turns. I liked it!

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The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts

Christin, September 14, 2012

This is an excellent biography. It explores not only Harvey Milk's life, but the social landscape that helped create him and that he, in turn, helped re-create. I like that the author doesn't make the mistake of idealizing Harvey. The author doesn't shy away from the silly or excessive aspects of Harvey's personality. But not only does that not detract from his accomplishments, it actually makes Harvey a more inspiring figure. He was a human being with real flaws, but he still managed to galvanize so many people to work together, proving his idealism wasn't unfounded and that a better world is possible.

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Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Christin, August 24, 2012

THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME! I literally could not stop reading it. I started it at about 11 am and finished itat 2 am. I didn’t even stop for meals; I ate while I read.

In Transylvania, there are five sisters raning in age from 16 to 5 years old. The book is told from the POV of the second oldest, Jena. For years, on every Full Moon, the girls have bolted their bedroom door and gone through a portal to the Other Kingdom where they’ve danced the night away with all the amazing creatures that live there. One winter, the girls’ father becomes very ill and has to go far south to a warmer climate because he wouldn’t be able to survive the winter there. He leaves Jena and Tati (the eldest) in charge of the house and his business, but their cousin Cezare has other plans. He wants their father’s business and land for himself. He also wants to destroy the Other Kingdom, which he blames for the death of his brother when they were children. It’s up to Jena to save everything she loves.

This book was so, so good. Really charming. Jena was a great main character. She’s smart and independent, but not infallible. The author does a really great job of making it clear why Jena loves the Other Kingdom so much, even though she’s careful not to make them the happy shiny Victorian-style fairyland. This Kingdom has teeth. But you’re totally rooting for them to survive anyway, and not just because Cezare is so awful.

I especially loved the relationship between Jena and her pet frog, Gogu. Who speaks to her. She’s the only one who can hear him and everyone thinks she’s a little strange because she carries him everywhere she goes and talks to him. But he really can talk to her and it’s a sweet little relationship they have.

I’m a total sucker for stories that incorporate folktale tropes in interesting ways, and this book totally did. The companion novel, 'Cybele's Secret' is excellent as well.

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Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano

Christin, August 24, 2012

This was an excellent book! She very clearly (and using plain language!) lays out the issues and problems faced by trans women in our society and shows how they may seem specific to trans women, but once you scratch the surface they really stem directly from traditional sexism and our societal devaluing of femininity in general. Also, I will love her forever for clearly articulating some of the problems I had with the hardcore pomo deconstructionists when I was in grad school. Back then I could never seem to put everything that was bothering me together and we were never taught any kind of critique of those pomo and/or gender performativity theories AT ALL because pretty much everyone there worships at the Altar Of Butler. Forget that, I’m with Julia!

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