Introspection and Innocence (69, 78 & 84)

To round out the massive numbers of books I've reviewed, I'm going back to some more of the fabulous adult books I've read this year. I read a lot more YA because A) that's my actual age, not that I've ever stuck to reading just my grade-level books and B) that's what I'm writing. Still, it's nice to break away from the same style of books and read some more nonfiction.

Eat, Pray, Love

I mentioned Eat, Pray, Love when I was reading it and I feel the same way about it as I do know. I realize the whole "journey to find myself" is a very privileged white European/American kind of thing, but this book does make some excellent points about what we should all value in life. I especially love all the diverse people that Gilbert meets in her travels.

Plus, the way she writes is so witty and friendly. The book itself is pretty big but it took me very little time to speed through its three sections. This was made easier due to the fact that she went to three beautiful countries and I'm very jealous of all the things she got to see (although I have been to Italy before, it wasn't for months and months).

Committed

So Elizabeth Gilbert meets a guy at the end of Eat, Pray, Love and due to his foreign citizenship, they have to deal with their negative feelings about getting married so that he can live with her. This book got me thinking even more about my own life and the various goals/dreams that I have. I guess from the various family-oriented classes that I've taken (diversity, relationships, etc.) I have a better understanding than she did of what to expect from a marriage, but I still learned a lot about the institution from her research.

I love when other people do the hard work for me - researching the historical background and looking through statistics. I found her findings (and again, the interactions with people all over the world) endlessly fascinating, especially the idea that a marriage can be revolutionary, in that it's the one place where governments cannot exert total control over individuals.

Room

Man abducts woman. Man rapes woman. Woman has baby boy who grows up thinking everything outside Room is Outer Space. You might think that a book that explores such dark aspects of humanity would be hard to read, but Room was so compelling and honest that it was difficult to put down. I think that's because it's narrated by an innocent 5 year old boy, who doesn't realize that his mother has been kidnapped and imprisoned for seven years in the shed he calls home.

It's all too easy to forget that there are people behind breaking news stories - mothers and children dealing with the fallout of being held captive, raped, sold as slaves, etc. It's so easy to forget that they have permanent scars, physical and mental, that trump our morbid curiosity and deserve more than passing pity.

Because it's Christmas and this is only supposed to be a book review, I'll spare you my whole rant on this subject, but you can expect me to bring it up again.

More Blessed Word Count: will probably not be updated before this automatically posts

Men Who Hate Women (45 & 88)

No, this isn't a feminist rant (at least, I don't think it will be). Yes, that is the most fitting title for these reviews. Let me explain.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

You'd have to be living under a rock to not have heard of Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy. I finished the series this year, as well as seeing the first two movies. (The Swedish version, of course. I could write a whole post on how amazing Noomi Rapace is. Several, actually.) Lisbeth Salander is the most ethical character I think I've ever seen, even if those ethics don't always conform to society's. Hence, the reason for the trial at the center of Hornet's Nest. The size and breadth of these novels may seem intimidating, but they are totally worth it.

I am still horribly upset that Steig Larsson passed away before finishing all his work, writing and otherwise. I feel like he and I would be best friends. We both think giving women equal rights and saving the world from fascist right wing hate groups (among other issues) are incredibly important. That is why the first novel is really titled Men Who Hate Women instead of the more neutral The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

"There Are Thing I Want You to Know" About Steig Larsson and Me

The person most horribly upset by Steig's passing is his widow, Eva Gabrielsson. Because they never married due to concerns for their safety, she got shut out of his estate by his father and brother, who rarely saw him. This is despite Steig's wishes, set down in an unsigned will, and the fact that they were together for 30 YEARS. A very ethical person herself, Eva has always been more concerned about the intellectual/artistic rights and integrity of the series while her in-laws greedily grab up all the money that should have been hers and Steig's.

As a way of coping with this terrible situation, she wrote this fabulous book. She describes their life and activism together, as well as detailing portions of the trilogy that come from their direct experiences and friends. It's a fascinating and heartbreaking look inside Steig's mind. I hope someday she'll be able to finish at least Book 4 because I would love to read it and all the other books Larsson had planned.

I hope I managed this post without sounding too ranty. I admit I felt compelled to cut a few sentences that seemed really angry. I just have really strong feelings about everything tied into the series' content (exposing the ever-present sexism, racism, homophobia, classicism, etc.) and its publication.

More Blessed Word Count: 15,613