Shrewed
Elizabeth Renzetti
Aw dudes, I suck so much at keeping my 2018 reading list up to date, mostly because it’s all food books and cookbooks (not all of them good, either!), but I want to mention this book somewhere that people see it (because while I seldom update here, this blog still gets a pile o’ hits every day… who are you people?!).
Anyway, Shrewed by Elizabeth Renzetti is a delightful collection of thoughtful, provocative essays on feminism that addresses real issues without wandering into the realm of self-pity or “social justice warrior” territory. “You’ll Pay For Those Breasts, or The Cost of Being a Lady” lays out the financial burden women face trying to meet the expectations of what society deems “attractive” and how it fucks with our heads. In an essay in the form of a letter to her daughter, Renzetti casts (warranted) aspersions on weddings and the whole wedding industry, and “Four Lions” recounts interviews Renzetti did with Germaine Greer, P. D. James, Hilary Mantel, and Setsuko Thurlow.
This is a great collection that speaks to women’s fear, frustration and anxiety. Recommended.
Does the “bumbumbum” of Bing Crosby send shivers of fear down your spine? Do you secretly hope that when the little girl pulls Santa’s beard that it will come off and expose him as a fake? Maybe you even hope that Ralphie really will shoot his eye out with that BB gun. You, my friend, have Christmas movie fatigue. What hides under the guise of tradition mostly means getting stuck watching the same five movies every single holiday season, year after year after year. Apparently some people find comfort in this, but few movies are good enough to warrant such reverence – or repeated viewings. So here are a few truly alternative alternatives, most of which can be ordered from Amazon, or found online for download if you’re into that sort of thing.