The year ended and I'm a little late

I know I haven't blogged in a while but that's mostly because I haven't really had much to say. However, I've read a couple of books, seen some telly, and a movie or two. And I plan on telling you all about these things.

So, first things first; the books.

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Herland is a novel about a feminist utopia. Gilman sets a story where there is a land inhabited only by women (located somewhere in South America, I assume from the story). Three inquisitive American men go looking for this no man's land. What they find is something akin to a socialist society where women have learned to reproduce (they only have girl babies) without the aid of men. In Herland, everything is done for the good of society rather than for the individual. Two of the men embrace Herland, while one man cannot fathom how women could get along without men for some 2,000 years. Inevitably the story ends badly with the men having to flee the utopia.

I am not sure I can totally get on board with this book, mostly because the little things like spontaneous reproduction is never really explained in a way that made sense to me. But otherwise, it was an interesting read. Gilman was quite a shit disturber back her day; you go girl.

The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye

The Far Pavilions tells the story of the life of Ashton/Ash/Ashok. Ash is born to two British nobles in India. His mother was an adventurous woman and his father a noted scholar. Both of his parents die before he is 6 years old; leaving him in the company of Sita (his nurse). Since Ash looks more like an Indian than a Brit, Sita passes the boy off as her own. And the tale begins. Ash saves the young future Raj of a provincial area and becomes the boy's body servant for many years. During that time he makes life long friends with the horse master and his family and more importantly, with Anjuli, the sister of the young Raj.

When Ash's life becomes endangered at the palace, he escapes and makes his way to his real family. He gets shipped off to England. But India never really leaves Ash. He becomes a soldier and is returned to India. Ash is involved in many skirmishes throughout the country and is often used as a spy because of his intricate knowledge of a variety of languages. Eventually Ash runs into Anjuli again. Love ensues. Ash also ends up in Afghanistan fighting against the Russians.

This book was huge! It was over 1,000 pages and many times I was like enough already. But M.M. Kaye does describe things in intricate detail. This book was originally published in 1978 and the dead on description of tribal life in Afghanistan could be describing today just as easily as it could 1870 whatever. For that I give Ms. Kaye her props. This was an interesting read but it just took me forever to get through it. Maybe I will netflix the movie version.

Why Moms are Weird by Pamela Ribon

I know that Marissa reviewed this book for her blog but I cannot resist saying something about my beloved Pamie's book.

This time around Pamie focuses on the nuances of that often illusive mother-daughter relationship. When Benny's mother and sister are in a car accident, Benny leaves her life in L.A. to help out back home. While helping out, Benny finds out some things about her mother and sister and herself that she never expected.

It's not a shocker that I loved this book. It was an easy read. I pretty much finished it in a day because I couldn't put it down. I think I related a little too much to Benny. I could see aspects of her personality that reflect my own. Anyway, it's a good read.

And finally,


752 Things We Love to Hate and Hate to Love about TV by Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting

This book is arranged in alphabetical order and contains some pretty funny analysis of people, ideas, and shows on and off (aka no longer on) television. Check out a little preview of the book here.

This is a book I picked up for a couple of reasons. First, Wing and Sars wrote the damn thing. It's going to be funny and possibly annoy me at the same time. Heh. Second, it's a nice addendum to my prep work for the World Series of Pop Culture auditions coming up in a frakkin' month. But mostly, I love this book because it just emphasizes all the reasons why I love and hate TWoP. Plus, an entry on Clone High. Stamos!

Wow, this is going to be a long post.

On the television front, well, it's been Battlestar Galactica all the time. This is not a bad thing. I finished Season One of BSG last night. I have to say that starting things in Season Three (as I did) left me with a shit ton of questions. Often the show would end and I would say well, that was pretty awesome and also, HUH? But now that I have seen season one I have many less questions. Can I just say that I love and hate Starbuck? I mean, sometimes I just want to smack her but then I get to watch her in a girl fight with Three and all I can think is poor Starbuck. Also, Baltar is so evil and funny at the same time. He may just be my favorite character.

I watched all of the extras and such. Jamie Bamber's real accent is awesome. It's a shame he doesn't get to use it on the series. I loved him trying to say bugger American style. Heh.

Right now, I am eagerly awaiting the hotness that is Sam Anders. He must show up in season two.

And now, on to movies.

I finally saw Borat. All I can say about that is I love US and A. Hee. I won't bore you for two long with my thoughts. However, I have to say that I probably would have laughed more had I not heard so many of the jokes ahead of time. That said, I did laugh quite often. Of course, this movie not for the politically correct or the faint of heart. I was disturbed many times but I mean that as a good thing. Also, Pamela Anderson has a much better sense of humor than I ever gave her credit for. Go Pam!

Anyhoodle, I promise to be better about posting in the days and weeks to come.

Happy New Year!