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Women’s History Month P9
Icons: 50 Heroines Who Shaped Contemporary Culture by Monica Ahanonu
This nonfiction book with vivid, distinct illustration by Micaela Heekin features a lot of the usual faces like Serena Williams, Malala Yousafzai, Hillary Clinton etc. The only new faces for me out of the fifty were filmmaker Agnes Varda, performance artist Grace Jones and designer Rei Kawakubo so that was interesting.
But as I knew most of the figures, it didn’t give any new insights to these icons, primarily focusing on the positives and triumphs of their careers like Hillary Clinton which sidesteps her 2016 loss and the attacks waged against her during the campaign. Maya Angelou’s section was pretty powerful though.
While it wouldn’t be my first choice for nonfiction since there are so many other books covering these women, but Icons provides a cool time capsule. Written in 2019, it interesting to see how several of these icons have fallen out of favor or encountered controversies like Adele, Ellen DeGeneres, and J.K. Rowling, showing how these icons can fall out of favor.
Another reason why I find this book a bit forgettable is that Ahanonu doesn’t provide any introduction or running theme to why did she choose these icons? Yes, I can guess, but what did it mean for Monica, why these women specifically?
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Betty and Veronica: Rock and Roll Reviews
This rocking new issue introduces a new band, Rock Candi and new drummer to Riverdale, Jola Kitt.
It’s a simple plot as one can imagine for a 5-page story where Betty and Veronica quit The Archies due to Reggie’s sexist comments dismissing Betty’s songwriting efforts and Archie not standing up for them. So they form their own all-girl band with Jola and proceed to steal the show.
Other than introducing Jola who seems like an awesome cross between Joan Jett and Wendy Weatherbee, and a cute frame of Trev and Betty, I didn’t find the story engaging.
Especially as xoxo, Betty and Veronica: We’re with the Band did this storyline much better.
I know it’s unfair to compare a 150 page novel with a five page comic, obviously the book would be better as it had more time to give characterization and depth to the plot, but the similarities made it hard not to compare.
I mean Betty and Veronica quit The Archies when Reggie calls the girls “frosting,” unnecessary to the band, and Archie doesn’t stand up for them. So they form their own all-female band to prove they can rock too, named the Candy Hearts. It even has Candy in the name too. See the similarities! It includes Nancy on bass and new girl, Tina Starling on drums.
Soon they prove their mettle and Betty shows her songwriter skills but have additional drama as Tina micromanages and overbooks the band and the fame of the Candy Hearts begins to disrupt the girls’ lives. See—interesting!
So basically this review is a go read xoxo, Betty and Veronica! It’s good and underrated and I want it brought back.
However, Jola is cool. I like her design and hope she pops up more. I feel like she’d have such a good friendship with Wendy and Shrill.
The other stories in the issue are fun, I especially enjoyed Labor of Love which combines Archie tunes with a classic slapstick mystery with a funny joke about 70s’ groovy style vs the establishment.
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March Books
Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams
This fun debut brings single life and fairytales into one frothy mash-up. Utter romantic Bella Marble has been a fed a steady diet of Prince Charmings and happily ever afters, partially inspired by her own parents’ fairytale marriage. She just wants one of her own, but life as a singleton in the age of swipe rights and one night stands isn’t easy. It doesn’t help that her professional career isn’t too fulfilling either, then her parents divorce and her best friend is marrying the worst, most bland guy ever. But then, Bella’s best friend suggests she pursue her writing dreams on the B-Reader app and it gives her some satisfaction in life filled with uncertainty and disappointment.
She turns her one night stand with a hairy-selfish-in-bed prick to a hilarious Red Riding Hood and the Wolf retelling and she goes viral. The validation and her friend’s hot, annoying brother’s (that she’s so going to end up with by the end of the book that it’s not even a spoiler) suggestion that she stop looking for”the one” and have some fun inspire her to go out and do just that.
From there, she goes through every princess in fairytale canon from losing her shoe at a bar to living with several crazy men in a flat-share and dating an out-right liar whose nose should grow and grow. Each date is more disasterous than the last which generates clicks but ruins her closest relationships as the bit of fame goes to her head.
Adams clearly has a lot of fun with her fairytale mash-ups, making it plausible yet amusing to read the kinds of men Bella bumps into. Plus all the chapters are 1-3 pages making it a quick read as you speed through the next hijink Bella gets into.
But this is more than just a romance book as the cover boasts as Bella’s character development is gradually built. It’s all about perceptions, and as Bella’s descent into selfishness brings up big epiphanies regarding her point of view of others and how she has foisted her fairytale romanticism on everyone and berated them for not living up to her standards. There’s also a hefty dose of the power of friendship and support in there too. As I mentioned she predictably falls in love with her best friend’s brother who gets on her nerves, but Adams manages to have Bella dance around that realization and screwing it up before they get together.
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Matched Review
Does anyone remember the Matched trilogy? Cuz I remember the big debut of this book way back in third grade, and it was everywhere but it didn’t quite reach the same level of memorability as other dystopians like The Hunger Games or Divergent. Anyway, since I’m on a YA binge, I decided to read this and see how it holds up.
In the Society, everyone is happy. With their advanced technologies, Officials have been able to match everyone and everything for maximum efficiency, durability, etc. It is quite a minimalist world as the Society had come to the conclusion that there was too much choice and too much knowledge cluttering everyone, so they have distilled it to the Hundred Poems, Hundred Paintings, forbade the teaching of writing. Everyone is controlled and dependent on what the Society feeds them, they’re like sheep.
But people are living longer, more peaceful lives, so they’re okay with that. Everything is predicted and on Cassia Maria Reyes’ 17th birthday, she has the lucky coincidence of it also being her Matched banquet. A special rite of passage that young people go through where they meet their future mate, calculated to be the right person for you.
Cassia is thrilled to be a rare person who already knows her match, her childhood friend, Xavier. But when she returns home to read her microcard filled with Xavier’s information, another face appears. It is also a boy she knows, Ky Markham.
Cassia’s world is blown apart by this strange new face and her Grandfather’s final words, “You should wonder,” act as an impetus for her to act on this intriguing new option.
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Beautiful Redemption Review
Since the stunning conclusion of the last book where the One who is Two aka Ethan Wate decided to jump off Gatlin’s water tower to save the world, Ethan and his friends are grappling with the consequences.
Oh yeah, Ethan is not dead.
I mean technically his body is. But his soul is in the Otherworld with his beloved mom. A sort of limbo since he and others who occupy the Otherworld have something keeping them there due to unfinished business.
For Ethan, his unfinished business is clear. He may have saved the world but his family and friends, Lena, still need him. He has to go back.
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Book Highlight: Once Series
I read this, what I had thought was a trilogy, over break and while it may be for kids I suggest having an adult nearby so kids can ask questions. I’m not sure if there are answers to “Why are people so heinous?” But they’re going to be asking that after these books.
This is because Morris Gleitzman’s Once series follows ten-year old Felix after he leaves the Christian orphanage his parents placed him in to warn them of the Nazis trying to burn Jewish books.
As he crosses the Polish countryside, getting trapped in ghettos, befriending the stubborn six-year old Zelda, almost committing suicide through human bomb, and numerous close calls, Felix comes to see the full extent of hatred and persecution directed towards Jews just because they’re Jews.
It’s hard book. I mean I know what happens, my mom is very fascinated in reading real life and fictionalized accounts of life during WW2, that’s why she gave this to me. And even though I know what happens, I’m still shocked and saddened with each death Felix contends with. Gleitzman has a delicate touch in moving readers’ emotions to follow with Felix’s, feeling such hope that they can make it before reality crushes in with death and despair.
There is a little hope in here, even in the realistic tragedy Felix is living in, that hope comes from storytelling. Felix is a very imaginative kid, and that imagination helps him and others as it keeps him going and helps him remember. Stories is how Felix, and we as humans, make sense of the world and Gleitzman shows its power throughout the series.
As I said, it is realistic but well-done in keeping it to a child’s view of the world. Felix doesn’t quite get everything that is happening around him, but comes to the realizations and grows, expanding his world for the better and the worse with topics like Jew-Christian friendship, PTSD, and how children are affected by war and fascism.
I’m not saying children shouldn’t read this. They definately should as Gleitzman provides questions at the end of the book that would be quite educational if a teacher wanted to do a WW2 section, but it’s realistic and just sad as you know all the deaths depicted here have their real life counterparts.
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Cinder & Glass Review
This might be the last of my fairytale binge for some time, but what a way to end it. De La Cruz’s retelling of Cinderella is a historical. So no fairy godmother or dress-making mice here, but magic is still present in the air as Cinderellion enters the world of Versailles with its dazzling Hall of Mirrors, unrivaled opulance and swoon-worthy princes.
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The Queen’s Council: Feather and Flame Review
The second book in the Queen’s Council series brings readers back to Imperial China as Mulan takes upon a role she never thought she’d serve, or even deserves.
Set a few years after Mulan saved China, she has created an all-female militia, teaching women how to fight and defend their village from bandits and other criminals. She even leads elite teams to capture warlords when needed as the book reveals in the first action-packed, heart-pounding chapters. She has fully embraced her role of bringing honor to her family while being true to herself. She loves the sisterhood she has created and feels proud of the positive changes she has brought to these women, and their village’s life.
Then Shang comes, which is a treat unto itself although Mulan isn’t quite ready to admit to her feelings. Besides it isn’t important as he hasn’t come to ask for her hand but because the Emperor requests her presence immediately. Mulan initially thinks that he’s trying to press her to joining his cabinant again but his real request is that he’s dying, the people don’t trust his ministers and he has no qualified relatives. But Mulan, the savior of China, he wants her to be his heir to the throne.
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The Queen’s Council: Rebel Rose Review
What happens after happily ever after? That’s what this new series focuses on because while the Disney Princesses line are famous for the latter part, being a Princess, but that’s just a stepping stone. After all, most princesses are expected to promoted to queen by marriage or by their own rule. This series delves into this fascinating task by imagining how each woman would take on the unexpected new role as queen, and first up is my favorite princess-Belle.
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Ranking The Union of the Rakes
This regency romance has a special 80s twist as each novel takes homage from big screen classics like Flashdance, The Breakfast Club, and so on. I’ll confess I did not realize this until I read the Acknowledgement pages, and since the only 80s movies I’ve seen were Flashdance, and The Breakfast Club, I cannot tell you if the stories strictly follow the movie plotlines. But if they do, fans may enjoy the contemporary wink.
But the one I do recognize The Breakfast Club only refers to the prologues where five different boys-a noble duke, a steadfast Scot, a scholary anthropologist, a juvenile delinquent, and a dreamy eccentric- form an unseperable friendship during “detention,” dubbing themselves the Union of the Rakes. It’s a really moving friendship between them that is almost as palpable as the romances. I wish there was more depiction of emotional-trust filled male friendships in regency romance like it does for their female counterparts. Leigh demonstrates that they can have as much importance as familial bonds.
Anyway, on to the rankings!
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 