Boop's Bookshelf: Sex and Bacon by Sarah Katherine Lewis

Sex and Bacon checks off 'A nonfiction book' in my 2015 Reading Challenge. 

The Author

Sarah Katherine Lewis is a previous sex worker, who turned to writing about her experiences, and writes for a sex advice column. She has written two novels - Indecent: how I Make it and Fake it as a Girl for Hire and Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That are Very, Very Bad for Me. In both she writes about her experiences in the sex industry, feminism, and body confidence - interspersed with battles with her demons and favourite recipes.

Synopsis

Similar to a memoir or biography, this book is written by the author looking back on their life. Lewis reminisces about a time when she was working in the sex industry, and moving on from that into writing. There are interwoven themes through the book, most notably body image, depression, and sex.

My Thoughts

When I first started reading this book, I loved it. It was scandalous, candid, and funny. I enjoyed reading about the author's experiences and found her views on the beauty industry really interesting. However, The more of it I read, the more contradictions I noticed...One moment Lewis would say one thing, the next she would say the opposite. Which was irritating after it happened a few times. The writing style is short and choppy - almost like it was thrown together as she thought of things, or it was several short articles put together to form a book. Having said that, I still read it cover to cover and enjoyed it regardless!

My rating....

3 Stars

Entertaining, but a little inconsistent!

Boop's Bookshelf: Close Range by Annie Proulx

Close Range checks off 'A book of short stories' in my 2015 reading challenge 

The Author

Annie Proulx is an American journalist and author. She writes several collections of short stories, and her most well known work would be Brokeback Mountain - which was adapted into a film. (However, many people who have seen the film wouldn't know it was originally a short story). Incidentally, Brokeback Mountain is included in this collection of short stories.

She has won several awards through her career, including a Pulitzer Prize, the Dos Passos Prize and the O. Henry Prize twice - both for stories within the Close Range collection. 

Proulx currently lives in Wyoming, the area in which Close Range is set.

The Synopsis

How does one write a synopsis on a collection of short stories? 

Close Range is a collection of stories all set in the Wyoming - a mountain region in the West of America. The stories are set at different time periods, however there are common themes throughout such as life as a rancher and the open spaces of Wyoming. All of the stories and all of the characters revolve around life in Wyoming.

My Thoughts
It's very rare that I read a book of short stories. In fact, I don't think I have ever read a book of short stories! Annie Proulx was able to create scenes in rich detail, no matter how short the story was. each of her stories were written differently, some very differently which I think is an impressive talent - usually an author has a recognizable style that comes through in their writing, but with Proulx this was not the case. I found that engaging and impressive.

The hardship and moral ambiguity of the characters and their situations really stands out through all of the stories. The immoral situations that they find themselves in are often written in as throwaway comments, and treated as normal or expected - especially the rape of women through the different time periods. It made an impact, and helped to make the reader understand how things were and the character's attitudes to life. It made an impact.

All of the stories really drive home the feeling of an open, sparse area where you don't come across many other people. The characters all seemed to be stuck in Wyoming, or always coming back to it.

My Rating...

3.5 stars

I enjoyed reading it, I admire the authors writing skills and it's a collection I may reread in future.

Boop's Bookshelf: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie checks off 'A book set in high school' in my 2015 reading challenge

The Author

Muriel Spark was a award winning Scottish novelist. She wrote several short stories, plays, poems, novels and biographies. She had several titles and honors awarded to her through her lifetime. She has written pieces for the BBC, and lived in several countries through her life. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is the best known of Spark's works.

Synopsis

This short story centers around a Miss Jean Brodie and her exclusively selected group of students at the school she teaches at. The relationship between her and her students is a special one - though that may not be a good thing. Miss Brodie is in the prime of her life and she shares her experiences with her students, while subtly shaping them into miniature versions of herself. Brodie's teaching methods are looked down on by the school's headmistress, who invariably tries to intervene with Brodies' 'set' and gain a reason to dismiss Miss Brodie. Through a love triangle and increasingly manipulative behaviour, one of the girls eventually betrays Brodie to the headmistress, handing her the tools to bring her down. However, Miss Brodie never finds out who that was.

My Thoughts

While reading this, it was difficult to keep track of which girl was which. This was exacerbated by the chapters jumping around in time through the time that the girls knew Miss Brodie. At the beginning I felt that Miss Brodie was a forward-thinking, liberal teacher who is being stifled by the traditionalist headmistress. However, as the story progressed and the power Brodie holds over the girls is abused, I felt that she was much more ominous and her views more dangerous. I mean...I hate to lay down a spoiler, but at one point she says that she was in Germany and she thinks Hitler's regime is a good thing...

She was more than a little obsessed with fascism and she pushed that onto her 'set'. She more or less turns these girls into her very own fascist group, and they hung from her every word. She specifically chose the girls in her set because their parents were disinterested or too naive to intervene in her relationship with them. All a bit ominous and it made me feel a little uncomfortable.

On the positive side of that, my reaction to the manipulative Miss Brodie is the result of good writing. I felt genuine emotion towards Miss Brodie, even if the feelings weren't all positive. It is a well written novel, however I didn't particularly enjoy the story. Then again that could just be because there was a lot about fascism that I didn't understand...

My Rating:

3 stars

Good writing, didn't like the story quite so much...