My Most Recent Reads - November 2016
Despite it being a busy month with classes and work, I impressed myself with reading two physical books this month, on top of the usual audiobooks and graphic novels. I won't ramble too much about my reading since my time is short and I'd rather talk about some of the great books this month.
I openly admit that I am biased in reviewing this book because I am close with the actual author (spoiler alert—Tiggy Upland is a pseudonym!). Regardless, I found this book to be a fantastic dialogue on the subject of understanding bisexuality (my own, and others). Upland pulls together the best questions from her advice column to provide a panoramic view of what it means to be a bisexual in the United States in the 21st century. She’s great at taking on personal questions and drawing out the nuance issues present and parsing out specific advice to the person while also connecting the question to the larger tapestry of navigating bisexuality in a culture that still doesn’t appreciate or provide much room for it. What’s more is that Upland’s tone is bemusing, sagely, and engaging. She’s capable of calling out self-deceit in a way that doesn’t turn the reader away but rather endears them to her and to the letter-writer. Beyond the question and answer format that permeates much of the book, Upland includes various asides, resources, and even photo-comics that add more nuggets of wisdom. For those looking to understand the complexity of bisexuality for personal or professional reasons, this book is a great resource.
Monthly reads for 2016 (and you can always look at all of my books that I've read on GoodReads)
What about you reader? What book recommendations do you have for me?
By Any Other Nerd Blog by Lance Eaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Advice from a Wild Deuce: The Best of Ask Tiggy by Tiggy Upland
I openly admit that I am biased in reviewing this book because I am close with the actual author (spoiler alert—Tiggy Upland is a pseudonym!). Regardless, I found this book to be a fantastic dialogue on the subject of understanding bisexuality (my own, and others). Upland pulls together the best questions from her advice column to provide a panoramic view of what it means to be a bisexual in the United States in the 21st century. She’s great at taking on personal questions and drawing out the nuance issues present and parsing out specific advice to the person while also connecting the question to the larger tapestry of navigating bisexuality in a culture that still doesn’t appreciate or provide much room for it. What’s more is that Upland’s tone is bemusing, sagely, and engaging. She’s capable of calling out self-deceit in a way that doesn’t turn the reader away but rather endears them to her and to the letter-writer. Beyond the question and answer format that permeates much of the book, Upland includes various asides, resources, and even photo-comics that add more nuggets of wisdom. For those looking to understand the complexity of bisexuality for personal or professional reasons, this book is a great resource. American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good by Colin Woodard
Woodard provides a fascinating framework for understanding the differences in the United States between those who lean towards more collectivist approaches to society and those that believe in more individualistic approaches. Building off his previous work, rather than provide a simple divide of socialist vs. libertarians, he articulates the presence of eleven "nations" within the United States that represent different historical-cultural origins and occupy different geographical spaces in the country. From there, he delves into the history of the country and illustrates how different alignments of the nations resulted in the swaying of the country between its more collectivist and individualistic modes of governmental involvement. It's a fascinating book that highlights the often-complex ways in which different people align and dissent from the different political groups in the country (and why so many people identify as "independent"). It will be interesting to see how much this work is used to better understand and address current politics.Monthly reads for 2016 (and you can always look at all of my books that I've read on GoodReads)
BOOKS
- Advice from a Wild Deuce: The Best of Ask Tiggy by Tiggy Upland
- Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock
AUDIOBOOKS
- The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World by Abigail Tucker
- Daredevil: The Man Without Fear Prose Novel by Paul Crilley
- A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston
- Light Falls: Space, Time, and an Obsession of Einstein by Brian Greene
- American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good by Colin Woodard
- Filthy Rich by James Patterson
- The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost
- The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being by Daniel Siegel
GRAPHIC NOVELS
- Angel Catbird, Volume 1 by Margaret Atwood
- Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCoola
- Deep Dark Fears by Fran Krause
- Rackham's Color Illustrations for Wagner's "Ring" by Arthur Rackham
- The Arthur Rackham Treasury: 86 Full-Color Illustrations by Arthur Rackham
What about you reader? What book recommendations do you have for me?
By Any Other Nerd Blog by Lance Eaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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