Books read in August 2018

[nou]

As per last month, by default I’m just stating whether I’d recommend the book (yes/maybe/no), whether I decided not to finish it (DNF), whether it’s a re-read, and whether I can remember there being any content that needs to be warned for (cw). I’m happy to expand on the reasons for my opinions if anyone is interested though — just comment and ask.

Recommend: Nothing for a “definitely recommend” this month!

Maybe recommend:

• The Armor Of Light, Melissa Scott and Lisa A Barnett (possession, discussion of paedophilia)
• Eat Up, Ruby Tandoh
• All Systems Red, Martha Wells
• So You Want To Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo (DNF)
• Semiosis, Sue Burke (cw: violence, murder, rape)
• Senlin Ascends, Josiah Bancroft (cw: murder, violence, slavery)
• Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell (re-read) (cw: classism, racism, torture, slavery)
• A Burglar's Guide to the City, Geoff Manaugh
• Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr (cw: child abuse, violence, incest, slavery, possession, whorephobia, possibly femmephobia)

Wouldn’t recommend:

• Free Food For Millionaires, Min Jin Lee (cw: dieting, domestic abuse including violence, sexual coercion, ablist slurs) (DNF)
• Resistance, BR Sanders (DNF)
• Unidentified Funny Objects 2, edited by Alex Shvartsman
• The Boy Who Loved Too Much, Jennifer Latson (cw: ablism, own-voice-erasure, fatphobia, Simon Baron-Cohen)
• New York 2140, Kim Stanley Robinson (DNF)

What have you recently read and enjoyed? (Feel free to point towards posts on your own journal.) Do you have any opinions (good or bad) on the books above?

Comments

[nou]

What does "own voice erasure" mean?

“Own voices” (or #ownvoices) refers to books written by authors who speak from their own experiences. So a book about autism written by an autistic author; or a novel with a bisexual protagonist written by a bisexual author, etc. By “own voice erasure” I mean a book written about a person or group of people that doesn’t bother to include the voices of that person/people.

The Boy Who Loved Too Much was written by an outside observer focusing on the perspective of the parent of a person with Williams Syndrome. There was nothing from people with Williams Syndrome themselves, unless you count the parent’s perceptions of those people’s thoughts and opinions (which I don’t).

Is there a particular reason you would only maybe recommend Eat Up - problematic or just a bit dull or...?

It was decent enough but didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. It would be a great read for someone still immersed in dieting culture, but it didn’t do anything for me. Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

[mrs_leroy_brown]

Thanks for the definition, it's made me think quite a bit about how that would work within the confines of a close third person POV.

I've not read Eat Up but had a look at some reviews on Good Reads and was just curious to pick yr brain for further thoughts :)