BOOK: Female Chauvinist Pigs - Ariel Levy

Title: Female Chauvinist Pigs
Author: Ariel Levy
Genre: non-fiction, feminism
Publisher: Pocketbooks (2005)
Pages: Paperback, 214
Language: English
Rating: 7/10
Summary: Women and the rise of Raunch Culture; why do young women feel the need to look and act like porn stars? Is this the final stop of feminism? Ariel Levy explores this strange phenomenon of female empowerment.

Review
Acting sexy is not the same as embrasing your sexuality. I know this, you know this, but apparently a lot of girls confuse the two.
Levy shows that pornography has become part of the mainstream of American culture. One of the examples she uses is the nude photoshoot for Playboy by Olympic athletes. Apparently they find that looking good naked gives more prestige than their athletic performance. American gyms offer courses in 'cardio-striptease'. Between 1992 and 2004, the number of breast enlargements in the U.S. increased from 32,607 to 264,041 per year.
Levy concludes "This is our establishment, these are our role models, this is haute couture and low culture, this is sport and politics, this is television, this is publishing and pop music and medicine , and -good news!- if you play the game you are a strong and powerful woman. Because we have decided that an emancipated woman openly proclaims her sexuality. As the only sign of sexuality we recognize is a direct reference to red light entertainment, we have the rancid aesthetics of a titty-bar or a photo shoot for Penthouse woven through our entire culture."
Levy here does not so much protest the fact that men sometimes enjoy porn or prostitution, but she (and I) object the fact that women copy this world and base their sense of self and self-esteem upon it.

I liked this book and finished it fast, because I was fascinated by the subject. I felt Levy could have dug a little deeper, but it sure is a good effort to poke all those women who can't tell the difference between having real power and simply getting attention.

BOOKs: Death Note - Tsugumi Ohba (writer) & Takeshi Obata (artist)

Title: Death Note
Author: Tsugumi Ohba (writer) & Takeshi Obata (artist)
Genre: Manga
Publisher: Dark Kana (2007 translation, original 2003)
Pages: 12 parts, about 200 pages each
Language: Dutch (original Japanese)
Rating: 7/10
Summary: University student Light Yagami finds a supernatural notebook dropped on Earth by a shinigami - a death god. Light discovers the book is a Death Note; when someone's name is written in the book, that person will die. He decides to use the book to cleanse the world of evil and starts to kill off criminals. This does not go unnoticed and the public nicknames the anonymous vigilante Kira ("killer" in Japanese english). A detective known only by the initial L. is put on the case to find out who's taking the law in his own hands.

Spoilerfree review
My first manga! I noticed part 1 because it looked cool; it had a black cover with Light holding a scythe and behind him the shinigami on a mountain of skulls. I like skulls. I leafed through the book and liked the drawings, so I decided to give it a try.
I wasn't dissapointed; the story was intriguing and the characters were complicated enough to entertain. I ordered the bookstore to save me a copy every month. (The shopgirl was excited to meet a fellow fan; she gave me a big promotional banner and additional goodies.)

The plot offers a good subject for discussion; can you make the world a better place by eliminating the apparent bad people? Light doesn't seem to have a conscious and doesn't feel guilty about killing people, but he creates a society where suspicion and paranoia rule; Kira decides whether people deserve to live or die. Curious detective L. represents reason -even though he himself is a little detached from the real world-, but he realizes soon enough Kira leaves no room for negotiation; the power of the Death Note makes Light feel like a god.

Unfortunately after book 7 the story kind of drags on; I had the feeling Tsugumi Ohba never meant the story to go beyond a showdown between Light and L. I was very dissapointed it continued after that. In the first half of the series every possible outcome is already handled and apart from the addition of new characters the second half simply feels like a repeat of the original plot.
That gave me the opportunity to find more flaws in the story; such as the horribly shallow depiction of women, who act like puppets as soon as they meet a man. What's also annoying is how the rules of the DeathNote keep piling up to a point where no-one even knows what the book does anymore.
The series is turned into animes and a couple of actual movies. I'm only interested in the first ones, since I understand they are about the initital cat and mouse play between Light and L. That was definitely a good story. Too bad it didn't end there.
Unless I find a manga with strong women and a completed plot, I'm very hesitant to give the genre another go.

BOOK: The Emperor's Children - Claire Messud

Title: The Emperor's Children
Author: Claire Messud
Genre: novel
Publisher: Picador (2006)
Pages: 581
Language: English
Rating: 7/10
Summary: Three thirty year old friends who have gotten used to hang with each other, find themselves in new relationships that take them all in different directions. They are forced to confront their desires and expectations, because getting involved with other people not only affects their own lives, it also changes their friendships.

Spoilerfree review
This book was introduced to me with "It's about two women and a gay guy", to which I replied "And what about the sexual preference of the women? Is it relevant that the guy is gay?". In case you were wondering: the women are straight and as I suspected, it is irrelevant to the story.
It's a book about friendships and love and what you are willing to give up to settle in a 'romantic' relationship. I don't think it matters what gender you are when it comes to struggling with those human issues.

Socialite Marina is desperate to step out of the shadow of her father, who is a well known journalist, but she doesn't seem to understand the concept of work. Her best friend Danielle has a job that takes up all her time and finds it hard to step beyond her comfort-zone. Julius pretends to be more succesful than he really is and never tells either of his friends he has to take on temp-jobs to pay the rent.

For those of you who know me, it's obvious I identified with Danielle, since her profile seems a lot like mine. For a while I did go along with her and I could indeed relate to her point of view of the world. I recognized how she had decorated her home and life.
But apparently growing up means eventually you will have the need to find a mate and you are willing to do whatever it takes to hold on to whomever you catch, no matter your personality. Huh.
There are no really big dramas or adventures here and although it was interesting to follow the thoughtprocess of all these different people I didn't really understand the point of the book.
Maybe that's because I have the emotional content of a teaspoon. I did enjoy the book and its colourful language, but the story left me feeling disappointed in people all over again. Why would I want to be with one of those creatures?

BOOK: The Late Hector Kipling - David Thewlis

Title: The Late Hector Kipling*
Author: David Thewlis
Genre: Novel
Publisher: Picador (2007)
*Advanced reading copy from uncorrected proofs
Pages: 342
Language: English
Rating: 8/10
Summary: Life is pretty good for Hector Kipling; his paintings are appreciated, he has his health, loving parents and a beautiful girlfriend. There is the occassional discussion with his friends Kirk and Lenny about who is the most talented (obviously he is, even if Lenny gets more recognition), but all in all: the future is bright. Until a couple of seemingly insignificant incidents cause him to stop and reconsider and his life starts to unravel with alarming speed.

Spoilerfree review
I loved the ease with which main character Hector paints the scenes; he is very to the point even in the most extreme situations. I could not relate to the massive amount of drinking and other substance abuse and often was quite disgusted by Hector's behavior. But despite not being familiar with the environment he lives in and my disdain of the 'artists' he associates with, the stupid conversations he has with his friends and colleagues sound oddly familiar to me.
(I quoted some scenes in my lj while I was reading the book: any material quoted from the book should be checked against a finished copy or with the publisher.)

This is not a book for the faint-hearted as it is filled with grime and it has a massive gross-out factor -especially at the end the depravity in both art and life reach a high-, but I relished the language and found the way things turn out very satisfying.

BOOK: Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Title: Good Omens
Author: Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: The Random House (1990)
Pages: Paperback, 402
Language: English
Rating: 6/10
Summary: According to the Prophecies of Agnes Nutter the "End Of Times" is nigh. The angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley have become accustomed to their comfortable situations in the human world and join together to try and stop The Son Of Satan from reaching his full potential. Will they be able to prevent the four horsemen of the Apocalypse from reaching their goal?

Spoilerfree review
The beginning of this book made me grin thanks to its tongue-in-cheek depiction of the events in the Garden Of Eden, but only ten pages in it managed to rub me the wrong way and I never recovered to fully enjoy the rest of the story. (I got very grumpy when I read the line: "He should of been here hours ago."). Which is too bad, because the book is a potentially awesome parody of religion and its doom-scenarios, including loop holes in all the dogmas.
I'm not so petty to base my low opinion about this book solely on the use of hair-raisingly bad grammar, I understand it was only used in dialogue to represent a big part of the english-speaking community. But it was a symptom of the biggest bug I had with this book which is the over-awareness of the basic joke. The authors get carried away with the overload of options to poke fun at and there are so many nudge-nudge-wink-wink moments it's exhausting. You can almost hear them giggling in between the lines.
I loved the encounters between Aziraphale and Crowley and I would have loved the book if it had been only about their relationship. Sadly in the end there was simply too much going on and the story turns into a big slapstick chase. I like my humour a little less in-my-face.

BOOK: Now I Know / The Toll Bridge - Aidan Chambers

Title: Now I Know / The Toll Bridge
Author: Aidan Chambers
Genre: Teens
Publisher: Randomhouse (1987/1992)
Pages: Paperback, 229/195 (two books in one)
Language: English
Rating: 6/10 and 8/10

Now I Know - Summary: Nik is researching a film about Jesus when he meets Julie, a girl who passionately believes in a Christian God. While their relationship evolves, young police officer Tom is trying to find out what happened with a body found hanging on a makeshift cross in the scrap yard.

Now I Know - Review
This was a tough read, not only because of the subject matter, but also because of the confusing parallel story of Tom. His report is not told in chronological order and the switch between different points of view on top of seperate timelines was difficult to follow. Nik's use of film-script style in between his personal story was not making it any easier to understand what was going on.
But the hardest thing to comprehend were Julie's beliefs. I'm an atheist myself and even though I grew up with the idea of a Christian God, in the last few years I found it more and more incomprehensible that people still hold on to that. No matter how hard Julie tries, I just can not go along with her. I was annoyed that Nik was willing to forget his own standards because of his romantic feelings for her.
At the end of the book author Aidan Chambers talks about his motives for writing this story, which he admits is his most difficult to date. His explanation made me feel a little better, but I still have a lot of issues with it. I think mostly because all of his other books have characters that seem to be on my wavelenght and I just got used to loving all of them.
The plot of Now I Know is certainly intriguing, but I was too distracted by the excruciating conversations between Nik and Julie to really enjoy this.

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The Toll Bridge - Summary: Jan is not ready to decide what he wants to do after school and takes a job as keeper of a toll bridge. He wants to use this time to make up his mind about his future. He hopes living alone will help him find out who he really is. Then he meets Tess and Adam who also face turning points in their lives.

The Toll Bridge - Review
After reading Now I Know (see above) The Toll Bridge was a welcome return to a more reassuring view of life. As with Aidan Chamber's earlier books Dance On My Grave and Breaktime I immediately felt a connection with the main character. I understood completely when Jan was not thrilled to have company on his journey to self-awareness. And just like him I eventually appreciated having people around who of course turn out to be very important for his development.
Jan is telling the story as a memory and there are in between comments by Tess. On the first page there is a dedication to Adam, so I had a sense of dread for what was going to happen. But whatever theories I came up with about Adam, they all paled in comparison to his real history. Until Adam's past is uncovered, it is fascinating to see Jan handle his own issues of growing up and dealing with people. Even the recognisable struggle with ordinairy life is intense. I love how Jan never questions his own feelings, but takes everything that happens in his stride. Even if he himself doesn't necessarily experience it quite as matter-of-factly as that, you know everything is going to work out in the end. Although maybe not as comfortably as you hope.

BOOK: Breaktime/Dance On My Grave - Aidan Chambers

Title: Breaktime/Dance On My Grave
Author: Aidan Chambers
Genre: Teens
Publisher: Randomhouse (1978/1982)
Pages: Paperback, 133/246 (two books in one)
Language: English
Rating: 8/10

Dance On My Grave - Summary: During the summer of his 16th birthday, Hal takes out a friend's boat for a day's sailing. When he gets in trouble on the water he is rescued by 18 year old Barry Gorman. Their ensuing relationship brings Hal the intense emotions of his first teenage love.
Dance On My Grave was reviewed earlier in june 2008

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Breaktime - Summary: Can real life be captured in literature? Morgan argues what you read in books can never be a true account of experiences, because feelings have to be structured or embellished to be readable. Ditto decides to prove his friend wrong. He sets out to describe everything that happens to him in the next view weeks as honest and incoherent as it occurs. It's for Morgan and us to figure out if his story is real or a game with words after all.

Breaktime - Review
This story is told in different styles depending on the feelings Ditto wants to express. Sometimes it results in poetry, other times in a factual account of events as they unfold. It reminded me of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers; that book is also filled with fragmented thoughts in whatever style feels right for the occasion. But Breaktime is a work of fiction and AHWOSG is said to be an autobiography. Which from the start made me go with Ditto's point of view: I think it is possible to get pretty close to real life in literature. Whether or not Ditto's story is believable to you depends on how far you are willing to accept his adventures.
I felt he sometimes loses himself in form rather than substance, but if I remember correctly it's exactly how a teen brain sidetracks on occasion. In fact it is how my old mind still processes life; which is not usually neat and organized, but more than often scrambled and incomprehensible.
I liked the whirlwind of emotions and in the end I don't even care if it's all true; it was an interesting ride, just like life itself.