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So! Thing 1 is that, yes, I am one of those annoying people who changes her journal style every so often. ( More on the theme: )
Thing 2 is the Wednesday Reading Update that I'm trying mightily to make a Thing. And so:
What am I currently reading? At the moment there is Financial Accounting for Dummies (which I'm not going to link, because I feel fairly confident that no one else cares to look it up and if they do, it's pretty easy to find). And there is From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism and Feminism by Patricia Hill Collins. It's a collection of essays about racism, African-American feminism, nationalism and motherhood. I'm only on the first essay, but so far, it's interesting.
What have I just finished reading? Just finished is a bit of a misnomer- the temp gig gave me a lot of reading downtime and while I was there I read To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild. This is a book about WWI and the anti-war movement in Great Britain. It's also about the general futility in how WWI was fought, since there had been dramatic technological upgrades in weaponry since the last widespread war but there had not exactly been a dramatic upgrade in strategy. Reading this book made me think of the definition of insanity that goes something like "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result". But, it's a very well written book and the discussion of the anti-war movement is something that has been largely overlooked in the scholarship on the topic, so it's a great addition for someone looking for a fuller picture of WWI.
I also read Feud: Hatfields, McCoys and Social Change in Appalachia, 1860-1900 by Altina L. Waller. This book was a great exploration of the Hatfield-McCoy feud and the social factors that are the likely causes, which are not what popular myth would hold them to be. It's not, however, a book that will probably be interesting to a wide audience. It is definitely an academic history book and while I found it engaging, it is not the book for someone who is not a social history geek and who just wants the story of the feud.
And finally, I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This book has gotten rave reviews from a lot of people, but well, I was less than fond of it. It was engaging- it's a little like a Criminal Minds episode turned inside out, but not exactly at the same time. That's the best description I've managed to come up with without giving away plot points (which, given that it's a mystery/thriller, I don't want to do). So, that's all I'm going to say about it. But if you'd like to know more about why I didn't like it, I'm happy to tell you. I just don't want to spoil it for anyone who'd like to read it.
What is up next on the reading list? Good question. I have a couple books on queer history and a couple of memoirs by transgendered people on the shelf. I also have a bunch of nonprofit/grant writing/program design proposal books. So, probably one topic or the other will pop up next.
Thing 3 is that there is less than a week until the premieres of Hawai'i Five-0, NCIS and NCIS:LA. I am desperate to find out the resolutions of all three cliffhangers, so I cannot tell you how excited I am about this.
Thing 2 is the Wednesday Reading Update that I'm trying mightily to make a Thing. And so:
What am I currently reading? At the moment there is Financial Accounting for Dummies (which I'm not going to link, because I feel fairly confident that no one else cares to look it up and if they do, it's pretty easy to find). And there is From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism and Feminism by Patricia Hill Collins. It's a collection of essays about racism, African-American feminism, nationalism and motherhood. I'm only on the first essay, but so far, it's interesting.
What have I just finished reading? Just finished is a bit of a misnomer- the temp gig gave me a lot of reading downtime and while I was there I read To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild. This is a book about WWI and the anti-war movement in Great Britain. It's also about the general futility in how WWI was fought, since there had been dramatic technological upgrades in weaponry since the last widespread war but there had not exactly been a dramatic upgrade in strategy. Reading this book made me think of the definition of insanity that goes something like "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result". But, it's a very well written book and the discussion of the anti-war movement is something that has been largely overlooked in the scholarship on the topic, so it's a great addition for someone looking for a fuller picture of WWI.
I also read Feud: Hatfields, McCoys and Social Change in Appalachia, 1860-1900 by Altina L. Waller. This book was a great exploration of the Hatfield-McCoy feud and the social factors that are the likely causes, which are not what popular myth would hold them to be. It's not, however, a book that will probably be interesting to a wide audience. It is definitely an academic history book and while I found it engaging, it is not the book for someone who is not a social history geek and who just wants the story of the feud.
And finally, I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This book has gotten rave reviews from a lot of people, but well, I was less than fond of it. It was engaging- it's a little like a Criminal Minds episode turned inside out, but not exactly at the same time. That's the best description I've managed to come up with without giving away plot points (which, given that it's a mystery/thriller, I don't want to do). So, that's all I'm going to say about it. But if you'd like to know more about why I didn't like it, I'm happy to tell you. I just don't want to spoil it for anyone who'd like to read it.
What is up next on the reading list? Good question. I have a couple books on queer history and a couple of memoirs by transgendered people on the shelf. I also have a bunch of nonprofit/grant writing/program design proposal books. So, probably one topic or the other will pop up next.
Thing 3 is that there is less than a week until the premieres of Hawai'i Five-0, NCIS and NCIS:LA. I am desperate to find out the resolutions of all three cliffhangers, so I cannot tell you how excited I am about this.
