“The Ladies Guide to Petticoats and Piracy” by Mackenzi Lee

This book has been on my list for a while, it’s one that gets circulated a lot if you are interested in reading asexual characters. I had not gotten around to it as it isn’t quite the genre I like the best (aka historical fiction) but it was a fun, easy read to get through.

The book follows Felicity, a young girl in the 1700s who desperately wants to become a physician despite only being rejected by medical schools for being a woman. At the start of the book she is living with Callum, a baker, in Scotland and she has to reject his offer of marriage. She heads to London where her brother Monty and his boyfriend Percy live where she tries again at a London medical school and is similarly rejected. However, she learns that this legendary doctor, Dr. Platt, is about to set off on an expedition and that he is getting married soon, so she wants to intercept him at the wedding to an old friend of hers. However, Monty disagrees with this plan so she ends up joining with a mysterious pirate of color named Sim to head there. Felicity isn’t sure about Sim’s motives, it sounds like Sim wants to steal something, but it’s too convenient for her to pass up.

They get there and Felicity has to try and make up with Johanna, a childhood friend that she had a falling out with. Felicity remembers it as Johanna demeaning her for not being interested in boys and parties, and Johanna remembers it as Felicity looking down on her for being interested in those things. They start to make up, and then Felicity catches Sim robbing Johanna. Then Felicity realizes that Johanna has run away and she teams up with Dr. Platt to find her in Zurich. Once there, Felicity overhears that Dr. Platt wants to kidnap Felicity so she also sneaks away and runs into Johanna. Turns out that she wants to get her mother’s things from a museum storage but they won’t let her since she’s a woman. So Felicity goes to steal it and runs into Sim trying to steal the same stuff.

They scuffle but then end up leaving together when Sim is injured on a broken vial. Felicity treats her, and they learn that Johanna’s mother was studying sea dragons, animals whose scales hold stimulating properties. They make the trip to Africa, where Sim is from. There Felicity and Johanna are separated and captured, but Monty shows up to save them from Dr. Platt. They then all head to where the eggs are and fight the English, but a sea dragon shows up to finish the deed for them and save her eggs. The book ends with Sim and Felicity heading back to Africa so that Felicity can study medicine there, and Johanna returns to England to claim Dr. Platt’s things.

Alright well first the ace representation. I thought Felicity was well written in that she never uses the words “asexual” or “aromantic” but it is very clear that this is what the author is going for. Felicity doesn’t get the “spark” with other people or have any interest in marriage or relationships. Potentially people would criticize this for going too far in the other direction, where Felicity is a tomboy that looks down on feminine women, but I think the subplot of her making up with Johanna and realizing that it is ok to be more feminine is a really nice way to round out her character.

There are times where the book is a little too obvious with what it is doing. Of course Felicity and Johanna make up. Of course Sim ends up not so different from Felicity after all. There was clearly a moment where Felicity basically said “I’m not like other girls” and Sim said she probably never looked for other girls like herself. But it is a young adult historical fiction, so that’s ok. I don’t think criticisms calling female characters “too modern” have much of a basis usually, there have always been women that care about their rights and how other characters are treated and such. Felicity does mention that she had to do some warming up to her brother being gay as well, so it’s not like she had completely modern viewpoints either.

The sea dragons did feel pretty out of place to me. I don’t think those are real creatures or anything, and to plop them into a pretty straight historical setting felt inconsistent to me. The scales in particular, I know that they need to like discover new things or something, but that felt very much as though it was a Deus Ex Machina of medicine for Felicity and Johanna to then study or whatever. And it isn’t totally needed, there’s plenty of natural world in Africa that was ruined by colonialism to talk about.

Anyways, this was a quick and pretty fun read if not completely my cup of tea. The characters are delightful and it’s easy to get through. Just sometimes I think it could use a little more complicating.

This Is Beautiful: Being in a City

 I went on my first trip in a while to a conference last week and WOW I didn't even like where I was but I was so happy to be in a city again! Just being able to walk around, have good food, public transportation, and all that was absolutely mind blowing. I went to multiple museums in a single day! Food was diverse and amazing! It just felt like being back in civilization.

As I start thinking about next steps for my career, this is unfortunately something I should really keep in mind. I so want to be back in a city again. I will have to keep that in mind as I go forward.

“Man With a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud” by Martin Gayford

This book has been on my list for a while, I thought it was a really interesting premise and a very different perspective on art and the creation of art. It was indeed a very interesting read, although it didn’t totally hit for me for a few reasons that may or may not be fair.

The book essentially is the author’s notes on sitting for a portrait with Lucien Freud (LF). He clearly based it on his journal notes and elaborated as he went, all of the entries are dated from the early 2000s. The vast majority of the book is about sitting for this portrait, and there is a short section at the end about sitting for an engraving.

Gayford talks about how he feels sitting for the portrait, whether that’s bored or self-conscious or so on. And he talks quite a bit about LF’s philosophy and technique behind painting. LF doesn’t want to create art that is pretty or just like the sitter, he focuses more on creating a decent piece of art and subtly alters things in service of that. He also though has been known to exaggerate features that sitters are self-conscious about to make them look less pretty. Apparently one of his previous sitters said that he violated some contract between artist and model, which he then explicitly says that he always wants to do.

I thought this was a really interesting meditation on the process of creating art as well. Gayford talks about how long this all takes and complains about being there for weeks without making much progress. He sometimes asks LF about how things are going and what different colors are for. Evidently Gayford owns two different blue scarves and didn’t realize this until partway through (whoops).

I did really enjoy reading this book, but I just don’t think that LF’s art is for me. There are plenty of examples in the book, and I realized a few pages in that LF seemed to really enjoy making his models look ugly. Even before he said that in the book. And that all of the nudes emphasize the genitals which is just something I don’t particularly care for. I really like his use of color and texture, the portrait that makes the name of the book has these really nice streaks in the model/author’s face, but overall I just feel like he’s painting to an audience that isn’t me. And partially it may be that I don’t particularly care for portraiture, it has never been my favorite type of painting. But I can’t help but feel that I would in fact be more interested in some of these conversations about LF’s methods if I liked his art more.

All that to say, I am still glad that I read this book and was exposed to this art. If anything, I wish that there were more books like this so we can get a sense of how more artists work directly from their models! Could you imagine how our sense of Degas’ dancers (as a recent example of another book I read on models) would change if we knew their perspective?

This Is Beautiful: Second Half of Semester

 So close to the finish line! Just have a few more things to get through and then hopefully my time constraints will be more streamlined. My department has annual student talks so mine is coming up soon, and means that the class I teach is over halfway done. We got this folks!

“The Apology” by Eve Ensler

This book has been on my list for a while, but I was intrigued by the premise and thought it was an interesting exercise to explore and read someone else’s interpretation of. The book is essentially an apology from Ensler’s father to her, detailing the abuse she received throughout her life as well as his thoughts on why or what he was feeling at the time. It also has snippets about apologies, for example that he needs to fully grasp the harm done and try to make amends without making excuses.

Please don’t misunderstand, this is a hard book to get through. The abuse starts when Ensler is five and it really only gets worse from there. That she survived it physically and emotionally is huge. Don’t go into this thinking it is a light read.

I did find myself wondering at times more about the process of writing this book than the book itself. How did she know these things about her father, for example that he was bullied by his older brother? Did she invent that for the sake of the narrative? How much did she worry about injecting her perspective without capturing his? Did this actually help her find closure? I hope it did.

All too often we aren’t given apologies we need, most of the time I would wager to guess. It was nice to read about one woman taking that into her own hands and giving herself what she needed. I hope that it is something others read and take into consideration with their own apologies, but somehow I doubt that the audience of the book is made up of men that need to apologize. Maybe, but unlikely. Still, I think this represents a step towards more goodness and self-awareness in the world.

This is Beautiful: Fake Vacation

 Alright well this week I'm at a conference and while it's definitely supposed to be work, I'm treating it as a vacation. Heehee. I have a few things that I have to do, few that I want to do, and then I really want to just get some sleep, catch up on things, and do some tourist-y things while I'm out of town. Hopefully it'll be a rejuvenating week!

“The King of Attolia” by Megan Whalen Turner

This is the third book about the Thief of Eddis that my partner and I have read together. The first was The Thief and then The Queen of Attolia. This book is quite different from the previous two in a lot of ways, but it was nice to read something a little different.

The book is from the point of view of Costas, a guard in Attolia assigned to the King. Only problem is that he hates the King, the popular belief is that the King is an idiot who doesn’t actually care about the Queen. He is seen as little more than an invasion of a neighboring country. So Costas punches the King before the book opens, and is worrying about his future. Thankfully, the King spares his life and instead makes him one of his personal guards. Costas now has to follow the King around everywhere. In doing so, he learns that the King is funny, smart, and appears to be purposefully hiding these because he doesn’t actually want to be King. He truly just wanted to marry the Queen and now he has so many more responsibilities and is dealing with homesickness.

Much of this comes to light when there’s an assassination attempt on the King. Thankfully, Gen (the King) is able to defend himself, but Costas realizes how adept he is through that. And nearly everyone realizes how much the King and Queen care about each other from their responses to the attack. Afterwards the guards don’t believe that he defended himself, so Costas baits Gen into fighting half the guards to prove himself. By the end, not only have the Attolians accepted Gen as their King, but he has fully embraced his role as head of the state.

Overall, I don’t think I would say that this was the best book in the series. Costas is a completely new narrator, and he takes some getting used to as a lot of it is him talking about his honor or whatever. And nothing much happens for a lot of it, it’s just the routine of being at court and the King’s lessons and whatever. I thought the assassination attempt would be more exciting, but Costas largely misses the action and just stands guard while Gen recovers.

There are some very funny moments though. And Gen manages to prove himself in various ways, including his god telling him to get off of a rooftop when he’s drunk. I also really love the relationship between the King and Queen, I wish it was highlighted earlier on. The Queen had Gen’s hand cut off, an incident that still gives him nightmares, but they deeply love each other now. We got snippets of this interaction, such as the Queen comforting the King after his injury and the King convincing her to pardon someone as she should have pardoned him, but I would have liked more.

All in all, I’m excited to continue with the series. I really like the world and the characters, so I’m happy to hear about what is coming next. There are hints that the series is building to something, and I want to see what that entails for Gen and his kingdom.

This Is Beautiful: Prioritization

 Alright so I'm drowning a little in work with graduating and finding a job and teaching and wrapping things up. But I had a good talk with my therapist earlier this week, and I think just having that conversation made me feel better with letting some things just not have all of my effort anymore. I knew that I had to let some things go, but it still feels weird when those things are, say, your PhD work. But hearing someone else give me permission has helped a lot, for the past few days anyways, so that feels really good.

“On Being Awesome: A Unified Theory of How Not to Suck” by Nick Riggle

Ok that’s it I’m calling it: this is by far my favorite philosophical text that I’ve read. Probably ever. Riggle manages to toe the line of writing so familiarly and colloquially, but also making really nice academic points on how to treat each other. It makes ideas about ethics and community very accessible, and very inclusive.

The main argument that Riggle presents is that being awesome is opening up space for interactions outside of the norm, creating social openings to interact in ways that we usually don’t. Sucking is the opposite of that, you don’t take up an opening when presented with one or actively shut them down. This theory starts with a really concrete example of an awesome guy at a sports game acting out a Bon Jovi music video and a guy who sucks trying to kick him. Riggle then goes through examples of different ways to be awesome or suck, and talks about how we can all create a little more awesome in our lives.

I got such a kick out of this book. Based on the title and the way it is all presented, it seems like a very bro-y topic that might only connect with a small part of the population. Or it might stay very surface level, only talking about what does and does not suck in a non-generalizable way. I was super wrong. Riggle clearly put the work into this, he talks about how biases such as racism or sexism can lead to sucking as being awesome is all about inclusivity. And then there was a whole section on awesome art that leads to new interactions with other people, which I loved as a philosophy of art nerd. Riggle has also published academic philosophy papers, he cites them in the footnotes throughout. I just love that this is a project that an academic philosopher took on!

I really wish there were more books like this, that make philosophical theories accessible to so many people without talking down on them. And if anything, I think this work has only gotten more relevant as so many people do not know how to behave coming out of the pandemic. We should all strive to be more awesome and interact with more awesome art!

This Is Beautiful: Teaching

 I feel like I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel a little bit, but honestly teaching has been keeping me going lately. I have been so super busy, don't feel like I've been getting enough done or have that much time to myself, but I do still really like teaching. I love being with the students and getting them excited about science. And that's beautiful!