Books!

[Sunflower]

This may not be a nice cultured, fiction novel that set the genre, but I've been reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. It is a non-fiction novel about the life of Henrietta Lacks and the immortal cell line which has become a bedrock for the medical advances since WWII. The novel raises important questions about class and race ethics in science and medicine.

I liked that too!  (My book club read it a couple of years back.)  It was made into a TV movie earlier this year; I missed it, but if it's out on DVD I'll try to track it down. 

[Sunflower]

Finished Dracula . Nothing particularly unexpected, but I'm making this book the bare minimum standard that I expect modern-day writers to live up to when it comes to the treatment of the female characters. Dated or not, if a nineteenth-century Victorian horror novel manages to 1) have better female-female friendships than your "progressive feminist" story, and 2) gives its Designated Victim a more active role in the plot than your "strong female character", you are doing it wrong and need to go back to Writing Female Characters 101.

(...I might've read a few Really Bad Things lately. My bar is kinda low right now.)

Now, on to working my way through The Turn of the Screw!

I loved Dracula  I first read it as a teenager visiting relatives in Europe (which is a great setting to read a story like that, sitting up late in a 19th-century sleigh bed) and found it madly gripping.

Are you familiar with the cartoonist Kate Beaton?  She had some hot takes on Dracula:
http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=285

And here's her spin on Strong Female Characters.  [Warning for mildly inappropriate art and vulgar language.]

[Lazy8]

I loved Dracula  I first read it as a teenager visiting relatives in Europe (which is a great setting to read a story like that, sitting up late in a 19th-century sleigh bed) and found it madly gripping.

Are you familiar with the cartoonist Kate Beaton?  She had some hot takes on Dracula:
http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=285

And here's her spin on Strong Female Characters.  [Warning for mildly inappropriate art and vulgar language.]

...yeah. That.

Warning! Rant incoming! Rant incoming!

Spoiler: rant • show

And it's a total shame what I've seen so many writers doing and calling it "feminist", because I actually really do like my Warrior Women and the fighter types who are not at all feminine and not at all ashamed of that. But, so many writers just do not understand that it's possible to do that without making out more feminine types of women to be somehow ~inferior~, and then can't even follow through on the whole "badass" part that I came there for in the first place! Oftentimes it's just telling us and telling us and telling us that she's "strong", without a single demonstration of how or why, then as soon as the chips are down and the actual action is at hand she suddenly can't seem to fight her way out of a wet paper bag. Or the whole Strong Female Character (TM) = "treats everyone horribly for absolutely no reason", which also needs to go die in a fire.

Sigrun (along with Korra) is one of the examples I usually give of how to do a strong female character right - they both kick legitimate ass, but they're also seriously flawed characters and the narrative does not shy away from acknowledging that. And I absolutely love these types of characters, but unfortunately they're becoming verboten, because thanks to a whole lot of bad authors all too many people are starting to associate the strong female character with... well, with that comic you linked.

[Róisín]

WARNING FOR RANT - sorry, can't do spoilers:
I've never seen quite how gender/sexuality/style of expression of femininity or masculinity and degree of badassery are even supposed to be related, possibly because I have broad experience of women being badass in all kinds of ways. Men also. I get heartily sick of the kinds of feminist-separatists and Dianics who rant at me about betraying my gender (which is female) by daring to want, and to have children, when they think I could be so much more if I just narrowed my life down to fit their ideals. Grrrr! They annoy me nearly as much as the men who think I've betrayed my gender (that seems to be a favourite phrase with obsessed fanatics, for some reason) by daring to do 'men's jobs', or practise heavy-duty martial arts, or be alone in wild dangerous places.... also grrrrr!

And as for the expectation that because I am a tough and competent woman I will of course be rude, abrasive and discourteous, that's if I am not meek, quiet and submissive just because I am female...I don't have the words.

I just try not to worry about what people expect. If I want to work alone in the desert I'll do so, and wear the consequences. If I want to cook an exotic dinner for my husband, and wear perfume and take my hair down and write sonnets for him then I'll do that too. END OF RANT.

I don't know the character of Korra, but totally agree with you about Sigrun.

[Athena]

I found an absolutely beautiful hand-painted animation of The Old Man And The Sea, which you guys might like.

the whole article

[Prizrachniy_Gek]

I found an absolutely beautiful hand-painted animation of The Old Man And The Sea, which you guys might like.

the whole article

Оооооh, this is Alexander Petrov! His films are very, very beautiful! In addition to "The Old Man and the Sea" he has a few more, they are also wonderful. I really like "My Love" and "Mermaid"

[Athena]

Оооооh, this is Alexander Petrov! His films are very, very beautiful! In addition to "The Old Man and the Sea" he has a few more, they are also wonderful. I really like "My Love" and "Mermaid"

Ooh, that’s very nice!! The way he paints water, especially in movement, is mesmerizing.

I finished Children of Dune a few days ago, and because I’m still waiting on the other Dune books to come in the mail, I started War and Peace. I must say, the Kuragins sure know how to party.

[Prizrachniy_Gek]

Ooh, that’s very nice!! The way he paints water, especially in movement, is mesmerizing.

I finished Children of Dune a few days ago, and because I’m still waiting on the other Dune books to come in the mail, I started War and Peace. I must say, the Kuragins sure know how to party.

And not only Kuragins, mind you! I read War and Peace in school, but we studied it only 5 lessons, which is very small, and I want to read it somehow some day.

I recently finished reading a trilogy of three novels by Ukrainian writers Marina and Sergey Dyachenko. The series was called Metamorphosis and, briefly, all the books were about the fear and victory of the heroes over it. I do not know if there are authors in English, but if they are, then I strongly advise you to read.

I also took yesterday the book of the Swedish author Fredrik Backman - My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, who recently published in Russia. I really liked his previous one A Man called Ove, and I'm already looking forward to the pleasure.

For a long time I want to read the Children of Dunya, but everyone does not reach the hands. How is your opinion about it?

[Lazy8]

So with the year ending I figured I'd make a list of all the books and series I've finished in 2017 (or before, that I can remember) that I've ended up giving 5 stars.

Standalone Novels
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
A Fine & Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
The Lambing Flat by Nerida Newton
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin

Series
The Broken Earth by N. K. Jemisin
Dreamblood by N. K. Jemisin

Nonfiction
Death from the Skies! by Philip Plait
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Anthologies
The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. LeGuin
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. LeGuin
Forbidden Planets (various authors)
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
One Million A.D. (various authors)

Essays
Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex by Larry Niven
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels
Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga
Pet Shop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino
Sunstone by Stjepan Šejić (NSFW!)

[Róisín]

Sounds like an excellent selection of books! What did you think of Swift's essay?

[Lazy8]

Sounds like an excellent selection of books! What did you think of Swift's essay?

Incredibly morbid. Also hilarious.

[Róisín]

Yeah, that about sums it up!

[Iceea]

I also took yesterday the book of the Swedish author Fredrik Backman - My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, who recently published in Russia. I really liked his previous one A Man called Ove, and I'm already looking forward to the pleasure.

I read My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, on the strength of your recommendation. Actually finishing it up this morning around 3:00, so I could take it back to the library, it was due today. But I probably would have done that anyway as it was a "page turner" and I was nearing the end. A real life fairy tale - fantasy about the interaction of a young girl with some rather odd adults. And it had a very interesting mystery deeply embedded in it. To say any more would get into spoiler territory and I don't want do that. I can say it is an excellent book and worthy of consideration by all minnions.
Thank you Prizrachniy_Gek.

[Mélusine]

So with the year ending I figured I'd make a list of all the books and series I've finished in 2017 (or before, that I can remember) that I've ended up giving 5 stars.

Standalone Novels
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
A Fine & Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
The Lambing Flat by Nerida Newton
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin

Anthologies
The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. LeGuin
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. LeGuin
Forbidden Planets (various authors)
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
One Million A.D. (various authors)

The Giver And all the books I used for my work on totalitarianism in science-fiction in high school ! Oho, I see that I'm not the only one loving Bradbury...

[Róisín]

Me too. Huge Bradbury enthusiast here.