Carrie Fisher has her photo in the mental diseases book. It's a still of her from when she was in Star Wars. Her response, "See! I'm not crazy! That bitch is!" Ha hahaha!
This was a great book. It was essentially her stand-up routine, so it was fast and amusing, but also weird. It would not have been any good if someone else had read it. I'm glad I got to listen to her talk about her own life.
It took me a bit to get used to her humor, but not long. I love the heavy sarcasm. I would strongly recommend this to anyone who loves a ridiculous, sarcastic, self-depreciating stand-up routine about the shitshow that is Hollywood!
Friday, February 22, 2019
Saturday, February 16, 2019
New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan - Jill Lepore
This book is terrifying. Terrifying in the same way the Salem witch trials were, which, to my great amusement, was a parallel someone made JUST after the concluding events of this book!
In 1741 there were a series of suspicious fires in New York City. At this time, it was a large town of 10k people and made entirely of wood, so fire was a serious fear. After a good number of fires (like 6 -10) were started, all within a few weeks of each other, the New Yorkers started pointing fingers. And what better group to blame than newly enslaved Africans? New York was had slavery at that time and a few years previous there had been significant loss of life from slave revolts in some of the locations these slaves came from in the caribbean. So some slaves get blamed for starting fires, and while there's 0 proof one way or the other, I suspect a small few, maybe 2-4 men did actually start the fires. However, if that's all it amounted to, there would have been no story. As we've seen before, hysteria took hold, and suddenly all 2,000 slaves in the city were in on it!
In a nearly surreal coincidence (maybe not?), one young, powerless, maid girl began the finger pointing, just as in Salem. She was incensed at having to serve food and ale to black men, or so she claimed, and told the court that there was a plot to burn the whole city hatched at this gathering. Some slave men are jailed, then some more, then the white tavern keeper where the gathering was held along with his entire family, some more black people, and MORE black people. Despite having no evidence of any actual arson, nearly everyone was killed for treason. The lucky ones were hanged. This continued until they had killed nearly any slave who even MIGHT have been acquainted with any of the slaves who had been killed for treason and slave owners started to complain that they were having to watch their money burn at the stake.
The really terrifying part about this book is the monumentally dumbass logic employed by the courts in this era. If you are guilty and confess, then we will hang you, or maybe pardon you, but if you maintain your innocence, then we will torture you, assume you're guilty, and burn you instead. Unless, that is, you want to confess, then we won't burn you. And if your confession brings to light a new name, then you'll likely be pardoned. SO DUMB! I mean, I'd be surprised if people WEREN'T tripping over themselves to point fingers.
In 1741 there were a series of suspicious fires in New York City. At this time, it was a large town of 10k people and made entirely of wood, so fire was a serious fear. After a good number of fires (like 6 -10) were started, all within a few weeks of each other, the New Yorkers started pointing fingers. And what better group to blame than newly enslaved Africans? New York was had slavery at that time and a few years previous there had been significant loss of life from slave revolts in some of the locations these slaves came from in the caribbean. So some slaves get blamed for starting fires, and while there's 0 proof one way or the other, I suspect a small few, maybe 2-4 men did actually start the fires. However, if that's all it amounted to, there would have been no story. As we've seen before, hysteria took hold, and suddenly all 2,000 slaves in the city were in on it!
In a nearly surreal coincidence (maybe not?), one young, powerless, maid girl began the finger pointing, just as in Salem. She was incensed at having to serve food and ale to black men, or so she claimed, and told the court that there was a plot to burn the whole city hatched at this gathering. Some slave men are jailed, then some more, then the white tavern keeper where the gathering was held along with his entire family, some more black people, and MORE black people. Despite having no evidence of any actual arson, nearly everyone was killed for treason. The lucky ones were hanged. This continued until they had killed nearly any slave who even MIGHT have been acquainted with any of the slaves who had been killed for treason and slave owners started to complain that they were having to watch their money burn at the stake.
The really terrifying part about this book is the monumentally dumbass logic employed by the courts in this era. If you are guilty and confess, then we will hang you, or maybe pardon you, but if you maintain your innocence, then we will torture you, assume you're guilty, and burn you instead. Unless, that is, you want to confess, then we won't burn you. And if your confession brings to light a new name, then you'll likely be pardoned. SO DUMB! I mean, I'd be surprised if people WEREN'T tripping over themselves to point fingers.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
I've taken a liking to old school gothic horror, perhaps because of Anne Rice, perhaps just evolving taste. I'm sure everyone knows the basic premise of this book, but it is absolutely worth reading fully to appreciate the literature. I find that most of the time classic well-known books like this are much richer than the plays/movies/shows that recreate them, this one is no exception to that rule.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading classics.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading classics.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
A Beautiful, Terrible Thing - Jen Waite
This was a random pick recommended by my library's app: "If you liked this, you may also like this..." But nothing I've read was remotely like this, so I've no idea why it was recommended.
That being said, it was an interesting read, I'll give it that, but I certainly don't plan on reading anything similar ever again. The book is about a woman's relationship that eventually crumbles and only afterwards does she finally recognize the signs of psychopathy in her husband. It is both frightening and fascinating to watch this trainwreck of a relationship. The author does a phenomenal job of detailing the obsessing many of us do when a relationship ends suddenly without it being slow, grating, or boring as I have seen in other relationship centered stories. She also jumps back and forth in time very easily and clearly. I've seen other authors unable to pull this off too.
Frankly, the only bad part of this story is the child. I hate children and do NOT want to continually hear about them. Even the author writing about her cholicy child made me want to punch something! But, it was necessary because when the author began focusing on her child, she was no longer constantly stroking her husband's ego, jumpstarting the destruction of the relationship. So it needed to be in there, and after she moved away from her husband, her child was pretty much her whole world, but ew.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes to watch relationship drama fiction as well as nonfiction unfolding on say facebook or so on.
That being said, it was an interesting read, I'll give it that, but I certainly don't plan on reading anything similar ever again. The book is about a woman's relationship that eventually crumbles and only afterwards does she finally recognize the signs of psychopathy in her husband. It is both frightening and fascinating to watch this trainwreck of a relationship. The author does a phenomenal job of detailing the obsessing many of us do when a relationship ends suddenly without it being slow, grating, or boring as I have seen in other relationship centered stories. She also jumps back and forth in time very easily and clearly. I've seen other authors unable to pull this off too.
Frankly, the only bad part of this story is the child. I hate children and do NOT want to continually hear about them. Even the author writing about her cholicy child made me want to punch something! But, it was necessary because when the author began focusing on her child, she was no longer constantly stroking her husband's ego, jumpstarting the destruction of the relationship. So it needed to be in there, and after she moved away from her husband, her child was pretty much her whole world, but ew.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes to watch relationship drama fiction as well as nonfiction unfolding on say facebook or so on.
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