Morehouse, Lyda - Fallen Host

Sequel to Archangel Protocol and spoils the ending for it, though both books can be read independently.

I found this book to be more interesting than Archangel Protocol, probably because one of the viewpoint characters is Morningstar (yes, as in Lucifer). Wow, I'm so predictable! Anyway, apparently the end of the world is coming, and various people are looking for the Antichrist. Then there's Emmaline, the Inquisitor sent out by the Vatican to determine if AIs have souls. Then there's Page, the AI from the previous book, who is trying to figure out if he's the Antichrist.

Unfortunately, I kept gritting my teeth any time the characters were in Japan, particularly by how the Dragon (another AI) kept talking about herself as "This one" and whatnot. Just.. lots of minor stuff, like a phrase in which the narrative said something was in "Kanji, Mandarin and English" and I went, "Graaaaah! Kanji is not a language!"

Aside from that, I did like this one better than the first, though they're still a bit fluffy for me, even though I can't quite pinpoint why.

Vaught, Susan - Stormwitch

Won the Carl Brandon Kindred award this year, given out for YA works of speculative fiction that deal with issues of race and ethnicity.

I loved this book. Ruba has just lost her Grandmother Ba and moved from Haiti to Mississippi to live with her Grandmother Jones, who thinks Ruba's magic is witchery. Mississippi in 1969 is still reacting to Freedom Summer, and Ruba has a difficult time adjusting to a world in which she is a colored and a second-class citizen, despite the laws being changed. She doesn't understand Grandmother Jones and why she won't fight more, and to top it all off, an ancestral enemy is on its way to attack her new home.

I loved this book, and even though the narrative is your normal coming-of-age story, complete with the guardian who is more than what she seems, it feels fresh and new because of the Haitian background and because it's set in 1969 Mississippi. Also.... I am biased because the Civil Rights Movement is something that has embodied bravery and courage and doing what's right for me for so long that reading about the aftermath, reading about people's reactions to it... there's no way I couldn't not love it. (I feel rather odd claiming the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr., given that I learned about them in Taiwan, and again... everything is more complicated) But I loved Grandmother Jones, who does have courage of a sort that Ruba has to learn to understand, and I loved Ruba, who is a warrior through and through.

And I loved learning about the Dahomey Fon of Africa and Ruba's ancestors, and I am sad that reading fantasy and sf that draws from the Civil Rights Movement and African folklore is still so rare for me that it's a delightful surprise. I need to read more of it.

Also, I had a little frisson of delight when I noticed that the book, which I got via inter-library loan, is from the new San Jose Martin Luther King, Jr. library.

Links:
- minnow1212's review

Levy, Ariel - Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

Levy is basically arguing that the recent rise in "raunch culture" is fuelled by women proclaiming that they are post-feminist and have the freedom to be raunchy, but that in reality, they are more conforming to men's ideas of sexiness than anything else. Levy points to the prevalence of porn stars in the best-sellers list, the popularity of Paris Hilton and etc. as evidence of raunch culture.

I do see why the book is controversial, but I liked that Levy isn't saying that women shouldn't be getting implants or pole-dancing or whatnot. She's instead saying that while many of the women who are doing these things say that they are post-feminist and have the freedom to do so, many aren't necessarily thinking about what post-feminist means and why, if they are free to be raunchy, the expressions of raunchiness fit so well into what has typically been termed as "tools of the patriarchy" (drink!).

I do think that it may just be another form of anti-feminism to point fingers back at the women, and I wish Levy would examine more why women feel like they need to fit in as "one of the guys" to get ahead, and how that is culturally dictated as well. If women are only hearing the message that the only way to be in power is to decry feminism and be "one of the guys," or if women are only hearing the message that the only type of sexiness that is appreciated is that of raunch culture's, then... is that really the women's fault? There are incidents in the book in which guys are yelling at girls to flash the camera in "Girls Gone Wild" that make me cringe, and I wish Levy would point even more fingers.

I suspect the book is a read only for people who already partially agree with Levy. I liked certain parts, particularly the examination of why women felt like they had to denigrate femininity (lesbian "bois" and female TV executives alike). I think she's a little too attached to her generation of feminism, though of course, I am biased in that respect because I am distinctly not of her generation of feminism. But it's very clear from her book that we aren't post-feminism yet.

I think I need a longer post on feminism and me and my generation, because I do notice a difference in my attitudes vs. other people's on LJ, which I find interesting.

oursin has some commentary on an interview with Levy.

Weekend

Note to self: stop buying yarn.

I was too lazy to go to the farmers' market today, even though I woke up in time, so no peas for me =(. Thankfully, I still have enough fruit from last week for all of this week, even though I'm sad that I'll miss next week's market as well. But! I will miss it because I will be visiting rachelmanija in LA, which is extremely exciting!

Other than that, not much was done. I sat in bookstores and read manga, nearly caught up on all my book-blogging, and started a new knitting project. I'm not techinically done with my other one yet (my current rule is three at a time), but I'm done with most fo the knitting stuff. I have to seam before I can pick up stitches for the collar and the sleeves, so really... it's obviously not going to be done for quite some time!

In other news, one more month till my birthday! Aka, one more month until I finally have the excuse and the money to buy myself my much-beloved, much-longed-for pink KitchenAid stand mixer! Whoo!

Sadly, despite making three separate bookstore trips over the weekend, no one seems to have Naruto 9 or Bleach 8. Grrrrr. I want my fix, damnit. But I did manage to get my hands on Death Note 6 and Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden 4. Amazingly, Watase is not putting in the standard female rival that I hate so much, although there have already been two gratuitous nude scenes. Ahhhh, such crack.

My allergies continue to torment, and my cold thankfully seems to have retreated, though I can still feel it somewhat in the back of my throat.