Girl in a Band: A Memoir by Kim Gordon
I have to confess I have never been a particular fan of Sonic Youth. I would read about them in Sassy, but I didn’t really hear much of their music other than when the Kool Thing video played on Much Music, and I just didn’t really love it. The band had an aura of cool (New York, friends with Chloe Sevigny, etc) that felt really beyond me because I just did not get it. However, I was in a used record store this spring and […]
John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie
Cbr17bingo Arts Like millions around the world, I am a Beatles fan. An obsession developed when I was about 12 years old and lasted through my high school years. I spent all my money on Beatles records. They were my first real music love. Many decades have passed since then but my love was renewed when I saw Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary on Disney+ a few years ago. And thanks to Facebook’s algorithm, my feed has been flooded with Beatles-related posts ever since. As […]
Gen: Perjalanan Menuju Pusat Kehidupan by Siddharta Mukherjee; Damaring Tyas W Palar
Another (daft) reading challenge! A few years back I took the best part of 8 months to read through an Indonesian translation of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (Kanker Biografi Suatu Penyakit.) I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue with the rest of the translations of Mukherjee’s books. But Google Play was nothing but persistent. So there we have it; it was a little less laborious this time, but I have managed to make my way though the translation […]
Muhammad Najem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria by Muhammad Najem
cbr17bingo Diaspora (this could be culture, but he upheaval of the Syrian people unfortunately fits.) Sadly, this book, Muhammad Najem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria, is nonfiction. I say sadly as nobody, let alone children and teenagers should have to go through what he did. Muhammad Najem, Nora Neus and Julie Robine gathered their talents and told the story of Muhammad as he risked not only his life, but the lives of his family, friends and neighbors. He wanted to be […]
Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer by Dylan Mulvaney
cbr17bingo TBR A while back, I texted a friend about a book I was going to read. It was out of my usual read because it was not a graphic novel, it was nonfiction and it was for physically and mentally adults. It was Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer by Dylan Mulvaney. My friend told me to let her know how it turned out. My first comment was, “Well, it didn’t stink.” And I said that with love. I expected something preachy and […]
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
CBR 17 BINGO: Culture, because the culture of the pre-American Civil War South is prominent in this book Erik Larson is one of my favorite non-fiction writers, and if American history is your jam, this is a must-read. Folks like myself who are less war-curious might still find it interesting; however, I felt it sometimes got bogged down in the logistics of pre-war strategy. I found the sections dedicated to the personalities involved and the beliefs of the times more interesting, and also more rage-inducing. […]
