I originally posted a different review of this book. Two days after finishing it I’m still trying to gather my thoughts into a coherent commentary. This book includes two separate letters – one to Mr. Baldwin’s nephew. That letter is quite short. The second letter takes up the vast majority of the book, and tells stories of Mr. Baldwin’s experiences in Harlem, in the church, and meeting with the leader of the National of Islam. A book I read a couple of weeks ago, “Between […]
Fifteen minutes of fame or tales of a drone mother
I read the Buzzfeed article about Kate Siegel and her Instagram account @Crazyjewishmom last year like a lot of people who live on the Internet. I’ve followed her account on and off (she gets a bit self promoting/ product shilling sometimes) since then; I wasn’t planning to buy her book but it was half off on Barnes & Noble.com, I had a 20% off coupon and get free shipping because I’m a member… I figured it was worth $9. And that’s about right. Kate Siegel’s […]
Educational and Interesting
I picked this book for my office’s Equity and Social Justice book club this month; my husband got it for Christmas and read it in about a day. Given the shit shows we’ve seen in a few state legislatures this year, it’s extremely relevant. This book artfully tells the story of how Wyatt’s family supported him on his journey to become Nicole, a transgender girl. Wyatt and Jonas were identical twins assigned the gender male at birth, adopted as babies by Kelly and Wayne Maines. […]
“Your Mother is a hard act to follow. She will always be the love of your life”
Oh, this book is so sad. It has a happy ending, and a good message, and hopefully will spur some change within the foster system, but it still made me so, so sad. “I journeyed alone for almost ten years before I found home. Adoptions are like very delicate gardening with transplants and grafts. Mine took hold, rooted, and bloomed, even though there were inevitable adjustments to the new soil and climate. Yet I have not forgotten where my roots started.” Ashley Rhodes entered foster care […]
Just when I thought I couldn’t love Helen Mirren more…
I admit that I primarily know Helen Mirren from her work in Hollywood over the last 15 or so years (I remember seeing her for the first time in Teaching Mrs. Tingle, which I watched approximately 400 times in 1999, although I could not tell you why). She also pops up a lot on GoFugYourself, usually wearing something classy and cool. She, herself, seems classy and cool. This book? Classy and cool. “When I read an autobiography, I am always drawn to the pictures. To me, […]
“Was it even fair to expect the person you’re with to be just as happy as you? Furthermore, how could you ever even know for sure?”
I read Augusten Burroughs’s memoir about his extremely messed up childhood, Running With Scissors, sometime when it first came out in 2002. Since then, I’ve read many, many memoirs about messed up childhoods, but for some reason, his really stuck with me. I’ve read most of what he’s written since — Dry, Magical Thinking, Side Effects, and now, Lust & Wonder. None of them have really measured up to Running With Scissors for me, but Lust & Wonder comes the closest. “I know now: what is is all that matters. Not the thing you […]
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