Zombie-fighting ninja-librarian: August wrap-up part 2

I have now finished two Brontë sisters. That sounds sinister. But I’ve read both of her books now. This book caused quite a stir when it came out, and I understand why. It is about a woman named Helen Graham who married a man her family didn’t approve of, and when he turned out to be a manipulative, abusive cheater she left him. She moves into Wildfell Hall and causes a stir in the neighborhood. It’s told from the perspective of one of the neighbors, Gilbert Markham, who is infatuated with her, and from her own perspective. I really loved this. It’s so good. It’s so bold and badass. Helen is tough and opinionated and so strong. I loved how pretty much all the men are written as silly, entitled children in the bodies of adults. Gilbert feels entitled to Helen’s affection and he gets angry with her landlord just for talking to her, because he’s an ass. Her husband, Mr. Huntingdon, apart from being downright abusive, is just such an awful human. He’s so: oh woe is me, I’m out in the country and not with my friends, and I feel bad, and won’t you feel bad for me Helen? Oh God. The men are cruel, and silly, and just… gah. It’s so good. Anne Brontë suffers no fools.

The Incomplete Tim Key by Tim Key

Tim Key is an English poet. And this is a collection of about 300 of his poems. They cover a lot of themes, family, friendship, sex, love, fruit, you know, the big things. The poems are very free-form and a lot of them don’t make sense to me. There are also a lot of footnotes, long ones, about seemingly random things only tenuously connected to the poems. It didn’t blow my mind, it was fine. I don’t know if this is the kind of poetry I necessarily like and want to read more of. I feel like I need more flow and rhythm and, order. I’m apparently very puritanical when it comes to the style of poetry I like.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

This is a book I listened to on audiobook. I had also heard a lot of people talking about it, so I had wanted to read it for a while. This is a book about human cadavers, which is something I find weirdly interesting. I can’t tell you why, I just find it sort of fascinating. And until I read this/listened to this, I didn’t really think about all the things that you can do with your body when you die. Well, you can’t do anything, but you can request to have something done with your cadaver. Mary Roach is not a scientist, she’s a journalist, who just happens to be interested in this, and it makes it very easy to read and sort of comprehend, because she’s not into the heaviest of science. She goes through a lot of the different things people need cadavers for. It was really interesting, and weird, and fascinating. And Goodreads now suggests all sorts of weird books, so that’s nice.

Currently reading

Out of Eden by John Steinbeck

I have sort of always wanted to read Steinbeck, for no reason I can remember. Anyways. I really like this right now. I have about 200 pages left, and I can’t imagine it suddenly nosedives. It is about the Trask family, a family that relives the fall of Eve, and the tragedy of Cain and Abel again and again. It’s also about the Hamilton family, who lives close to Adam Trask in California. They are more of a normal family who don’t live out these biblical tragedies, but who still go through the regular tragedies of a family. It’s so beautiful, and it’s so poetic, and… wow. I really love it, and I am going to finish it soon. I love Tom, so much. Tom Hamilton is just such a beautiful, sad person, and oh, sweet Tom.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

I bought this on impulse, because Amazon had a sale where they sold like a bundle of the first seven books for about 2 dollars. Yeah. I was all up on that. So I bought it. It’s about a young woman named Claire Randall, who used to be a combat nurse in World War Two. She has just been reunited with her husband after the war, and they are on a second honeymoon in Scotland. Her husband, Frank, is looking into his family, and a man named Jonathan Randall, a captain from the 18^th century. At an outing looking for a flower Claire touches a stone at a henge, and falls through time to the 18^th Century, and meets a man named Jamie Fraser, a young, captivating Scotsman. A rebel, fighting against the English, and Captain Randall. It’s fascinating, and it’s great. It’s sort of historical fiction mixed with fantasy, and Claire is spunky and funny and Jamie is hot, and sexy, and fun.