Frankissstein

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson 2019
Use This Book: The Only Book You'll Ever Need! by Melissa Hecksher 2006
Adult Doodle Book
Very Hungry Caterpillar Coloring Book by Eric Carl 2003
Weight: 3.5 lbs
Method of Disposal: Sterilizing/Sending to a friend

I have a compulsive need to read everything that Jeanette Winterson publishes and have ever since I was 16 years old, working at Waldenbooks, and my coworker/dear friend introduced me to Written on the Body.  When I saw it was called Frankissstein in bright pink lettering with a triple x on the cover I did get concerned about if I would enjoy it, but even that title could not put me off reading it.

In true Winterson form, she was fluid about time and gender.  Her characters were extreme representations and the writing would sometimes get extra lyrical.  I ended up enjoying this book much more than I thought I would, and it made me want to revisit the original Frankenstein and read up on Mary Shelly and her crew.  I felt that if I could remember more it might mean more, but I suppose it is possible that it might also take away.  I appreciated frankenstein's many reincarnations.

I was surprised by some reviewers outrage at Winterson for the book being transphobic.  I am not transgendered, unfortunately, and cannot say that this book should not or could not be offensive to someone else.  I am just reading more and grappling with it.  I am about to do that here so please feel free to stop reading if you need to.

The number one reason I saw for it was that being transgendered was represented as a choice the trans character made.  One person was emphatic that it was no more a choice than being a lesbian woman is a choice.  I have always wondered about the choice argument though.  Why should I not choose to be a lesbian?  Why would I not choose to do so?  Isn't it a heightened form of freedom if I could live in a society that allowed me to CHOOSE my sexuality?  Now, that being said, I do not feel like I ever did choose it.  As young as I can remember (and my mother too, for that point), I have been fascinated with women and have never felt drawn to a boy or a man.  I do think many people are "born that way," and I am one of them.  Other women I have dated, though, have fallen on a spectrum of sexuality, and the woman I have loved for the last 7 years only recounts being attracted to boys/men, but she was attracted to me and fell in love with me.  If there is more than one fish in the sea and if "the one" is not just one person then did she not sort of make a choice?  And is that not ok?  Many people are born trans and maybe some "would not choose it."  If given the choice nowadays, where I live, I would absolutely choose to be queer and not heterosexual.

Given that Winterson seems drawn to the middle, the grey, the ever-changing area no matter what her subject area is, makes me feel this was not an offensive representation of someone choosing their gender.  The trans character also describes feeling both masculine and feminine all their life and making different choices at different times given both those gender identities where embodied within them in different capacities.  Winterson writes, "I'm a woman. And I'm a man.  That's how it is for me.  I am in a body that I prefer.  But the past, my past, is not subject to surgery.  I didn't do it to distance myself from myself.  I did it to get nearer to myself."  Now, other characters do react in a transphobic way to them.  That happens and is representative of the transphobia we see in life.

I also read that the transgender character was overly sexualized, but the transgender character did not come across to me that way.  The most hyper-sexualized and potentially offensive character was Ron, the heterosexual male.  There was a lot of graphic description about sex bots, but sex bots are real and often advertised much like they were in the book.  It may be because I am hyper-sexualized myself, but I just did not see that.  There were some seriously grotesque and unappealing descriptions, but they were not geared towards being transgendered.

The sexual assault came out of nowhere, and I was not sure it really added to the book except that it is something that happens and the character it happens to fights there way out with a lot of luck, strength, and fight or flight mode kicking in.  If we are supposed to be making a comparison between humans, monsters, robots, time travellers. emotionally wounded and patched up people then the assault does show that the character is not a monster, nor a robot.  In my life, sexual assault has felt jarring and contrary to my experience, and I am jarred by depictions of it regularly.  I am okay with that.  I do not want it to ever feel normal or ordinary.

What did pull me really far out of the book was one word that I believe was maybe used twice to describe the character, Claire.  She was a "black" woman.  The only character given a racial identity, and I could not find the reason.  I do not think we have to ignore race, but it is problematic to only identify one person and no one else.  Does that mean I just assume everyone else is....white? Why?

The things that really drew me in were the fluidity of time and humanity repeating and existing in a multitude of forms and environments.  The past foreshadowing the present and the future.  The present fight to know the future.  Broken people being a patchwork piece--regular Frakenstein's monsters.  The obsession with mortality taking away life.  What is it that scares us about Artificial Intelligence and what should scare us?  What does it say about who we are when we say what we really, honestly want about our robots, our relationships with others, our monsters?

I guess there is a lot to think about and unpack here, and I do enjoy thinking and unpacking.

Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere

Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere By Jeanette Winterson
2018
Weight:3.2 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

This is a quick easy read. There’s a short essay on women’s suffrage/feminism, then and now, by Winterson and then a speech by Emmeline Pankhurst—“Freedom or Death.”  It is fun to read and reminds me of other feminist books I read in the 90s that were equally frank, not complicated, very gender focused. There was nothing newly inspiring, but I appreciated the British touch. It is definitely white woman feminism through and through. There was not an examination of intersectional oppression or a clear, laid out call to arms, but that feels like the point. It’s a flashback to the suffragettes and a call to be involved in the fight for social justice and feminism in particular.

My favorite parts?

1. anorexia scholastica
    -What the actual fuck?

2. “When women are respected we don’t need protection.” pg 36
     -Amen. This is one of those quick, political, sound bites that rings true and stirs your inner  
      activist. It’s so simple that you think everyone should understand and get it. 

Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance

Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance By David Howe
2019
Weight: 8 oz
Method of disposal: Lending Library

I purchased this book the last time Harriet and I went to England.  Not only do I find the place where Harriet grew up in beautiful,  but there is also a sort of magic in thinking about us both growing up on either side of the ocean, living such different lives. Learning about the Lakes and Northern England just feels like one more way to help me understand my wife and, if that’s not true, then maybe it will give me a snippet of information to impress her mom with on some random day! So, win win, really.

The author tries to pack a lot in a small book, but I appreciate it. He seems to ultimately be primarily interested in the literature from and about the Lake District, but he also discusses science, geology, conservation, etc. Here are some things I have learned:

-It has some of the highest rainfall of all the UK.

-A mere is, indeed, a lake.

-There are assorted, ancient, stone circles dotted throughout England, including Castlerigg Stone Circle.

-There are 16 recognized lakes in the Lake District and some decent sized tarns (pools).

Ok, I realize that I’m impressing no one right about now. Let me try again.

-The lakes get as deep as 250 feet (Wastwater).

-I have a need to go see Blea Water in the High Street Fells.

-More than I know how to relay here on the authors; Wordsworth, Radcliffe, Ruskin, Coleridge, Potter, Ransome, and Martineau.

-It was only 7,500 years ago that Britons really began to inhabit the coast and lower valleys of the Lake District. 

-The Lake District was particularly important in the Stone Age and beyond for the production of axes due to tbd unique stone found there.  From greenstone to bronze to Iron.

-“many...major invasions of Britain have left very little genetic trace.  We see little genetic evidence of the Roman conquest, nor of the Danish Viking control of large parts of England from the 9th Century...Nor of the Norman Conquest.  These invasions have had a major impact on our history and culture, but not on our gene pool. The inference is clear. In each case there must have been control by a ruling elite, backed by superior military power, but not large-scale settlement...” Professor Peter Donnelly 

-Water flows from the Lakes all the way to Manchester via gravity (no pumps!). It takes a day and a half for water to get from Thirlmere go Manchester around 80 miles away.

-There are two villages now underwater. One of them being Mardale, which is currently emerging. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2766498/Lake-District-s-Atlantis-revealed-A-village-drowned-1930s-reappears-driest-September-half-century.html

Okay, I will stop boring you to death but, the point is, there is a lot of history, art, philosophy, geography I need to catch up on and this was a great starter. Now, it is much to late, and Harriet has been asleep for hours. I guess that it is time for me to go lay beside her and just enjoy the closeness until tomorrow when I bore her, like I have you, with details of her homeland.

Far From the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Weight: 16 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

My honey's mother bought me this book on her last visit.  I had read and loved Tess of the D'Urbervilles in college, but I have had lingering concern about being in a classroom of women who did not think Tess was raped.  I guess that later in my college career, I would be judged by my same peers in the same way.  I did not know that at the time.

We had been discussing what books I enjoyed reading, and she was asking me about British authors.  She agreed that Tess was incredibly sad, which is why she did not like it.  A few days later, before she left, she handed my Far From the Madding Crowd because I had not read it before.  She said it was not nearly as sad, and I guess it wasn't maybe.

As I read Thomas Hardy, I find myself believing that Mr. Hardy was a sympathizer of women, and that he saw the unfairness of their situation.  Sometimes, I wonder if he really, truly saw it or if he just wrote it how it was and still, all these years, later the truth shines through and now it is at a time where we can better see it.

Bathsheba was at times a frustrating character and made some dumb decisions that stood in stark contrast of her better ones, but she always just seemed young and not vicious.  I guess we are to be happy that Gabriel and Bathsheba ended up together, but I almost am not sure it was the true ending to this book.  I thought it was misery watching this young woman get pressured and misguided by two persistent men in her life.  I am surprised that by the time she had matured enough to be with a man she still liked a man at all.  And why did she seem like such a good business woman sometimes--she had to be to be a woman in that position--and the worst business woman ever--reacting to everything like a teenage girl? 

Any who, I love my honey's mom, and I love that she thinks of me and gives me such thoughtful gifts.  She is truly an artist.  She will just tell you that she is teaching me about the greatness of the Brits and maybe she is.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid and McSweeneys

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School (#10) by Jeff Kinney 2015
McSweeney's Issue 39 Editor Dave Eggers 2011
Weight: 2 lbs
Method of Disposal: One went to a young boy in Liverpool, England and one was left at Wolfhouse in Silverdale, England

Harriet and I are wrapping up our trip to her hometown of Silverdale, and it is incredibly sad.  We have done so much, but we have so much more that we would like to do.  As it comes to an end, we have noticed that we have an exorbitant amount of luggage and, in a small effort to downsize, I am trying to read all of my books I brought with me and let them go. 

I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid on the plane and, of course, loved it.  As always.  Jeff Kinney is a genius.  Once we got to England Harriet's grandmum found it a home with a 10 year old boy who doesn't like to read.  The perfect home.  I bet he loves it.  This is a great book for kids who do not like to read.

McSweeneys Issue 39 was a bit of an emotional roller coaster.  It was kind of awful, then a little dull, then intriguing, then confusing, then good but made you feel oh so bad, then disturbing, then beautiful, then horrifying but lovely.  I am not sure what to make of it.  I wonder what the locals around here will make of it.  I was a little reluctant to leave it as the only book from America.  I felt like I should leave something else to balance it out, but I did not have anything at the time. 

As for the trip, Silverdale is more beautiful than can be imagined.  At night, the smell of chimney smoke fills the air and will come in through the windows if you open them.  We have been lucky to have beautiful weather and so can see every star in the sky at night.  We are surrounded by pastures of sheep and cows, with your occasional ram and horses.  Even a couple alpacas in one plot.  Pheasants frantically try to cross the road as you drive through the winding country streets and, if you are not careful, wild turkeys will chase you out of grassy "car parks." Ok, it was just one time and a gang of three turkeys.  In true tourist form, I was just trying to get a photo if a beautiful chicken (some would say that is a contradiction) when they came at me.  What I want to know is how did the people park in that grassy field turned car park for Lorraine's 40th birthday without being torn apart by vicious birds?  It must be something you learn to deal with as a Silverdalian. Harriet just laughed at me.  No help from that corner.

Dogs are everywhere, and they are welcome in most restaurants, on the bus, in the fields.  They seem so happy and so well loved.  In this part of town, there are more purebred dogs than anything and there is never a stray.  Just some farm dogs that run free and protect the land in the daytime and then go home at night to be pampered by their doting people.  People know each other's dogs and look out for them if they do slip away from their owners.  They are also much more tolerant and understanding of dog behavior.  Dogs are not expected to lose all their natural instincts.  How different my relationship with my crew could be here? Maybe when and if Harriet and I move here we could go adopt a staffy or two from Battersea or Dog Trust and give them the best life imaginable.

The only animals happier than the dogs might be the horses.  They live in beautiful pastures with luscious, green grass and meander so far off that it can take 20 minutes to figure out where in the field they are hiding when you are trying to find them for a ride.  Riding them through town is delightful, though slightly scary if someone from out of town zooms by without a care in the world.  Most people are kind and cautious though, even intrigued or happy to see the horse out for a jaunt.  They move from field to field so the scenery changes.

People live in buildings from the 19th century.  My favorite is just in the middle of a bend in front of the shoreline.  It is the old post office.  There are even older buildings from the 17th and 18th century that are still in use dotted around the villages and cities.  Remains of an old rectory, a castle turned prison, it is all just part of the landscape.  The locals hardly notice until someone comes for a visit.

The village is small and people pay attention to who is out and about, what they are up to.  The concept of privacy is different here, but so is the concept of community.  When Harriet's mom fell sick as a young girl, the doctor made sure to get her to school.  Fair trade or locally produced seems to be the norm.  The food is fresh and simply delicious.  Tea is offered at every house, but the only decent cup of coffee you can get will be found at Wolfhouse.  Once you are done you can go to the gallery at the back and peruse the beautiful and whimsical work of Janice McGloine.  http://www.janicemcgloine.com/  If you are from America, try not to fall in love with the slate rock pieces.  They are heavy, though amazing.

Which brings me to the rocks!  Different areas are known for their different stone, and they build with what they have nearby.  There are miles upon miles of rock walls that must have taken ages to put up and more hard work than could be imagined.  The houses are also made of stone and are absolutely gorgeous.  They look sturdy and strong.  The gardens and plants people keep around them give them a truly striking and unforgettable look.  You cannot come here and not be jealous of them.  Particularly, the ones that have families of hedgehogs living in the garden, like Harriet's mom :)

The sea is just a short walk from Harriet's old house and, if you are patient, you can watch the tide come in rapidly and overtake the shore that was previously just quicksand and puddles for hours.  There is a beautiful cove you can climb into when the tide is out and there is a structure known as the Pepperpot high above Silverdale, overlooking everything.  There are so many beautiful walks, hikes, and climbs here and nearby.  It will take me years of visits to even do half of them.  It is no wonder they keep the Harry Potter train nearby, Beatrix Potter and Mary Gaskill found their inspiration in this beautiful place, and that they filmed the Potter movie here.  It is no wonder that people have developed stories about fairies and mystical creatures.  There is magic in every crack and crevice here. 

It will truly be difficult to get on that plane and leave this place, but I will dream of it each day I am at work and look forward to the next time we can come back.

North and South

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
1996
Weight: 15.2 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating to AKS

This was a gift from Harriet's mother on a recent trip to the states and so I, of course, started reading it the day she left for England.  True to what I have read by other classic British women authors there was a love story between two people who absolutely misunderstood each other, talked past each other, made mistake after mistake, and the tension just grew and grew until you were about to throw the book across the room if they didn't just admit that they loved each other!  It was much more than that though.  There was an examination of class, business, labor struggle, management, strong women, human weakness, compassion, and friendship.  I found myself deeply invested and having empathy to all the characters, even the ones I initially had disdain for.  Also interesting to think about the North and South divide then and now.  I hope someone else enjoys this book as much as I did!  Thank you, Sarah!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowlings
2005
Weight: 3 lbs
Method of Disposal: donating

I love Harry Potter, but I do not understand why my British fiancee cannot get in a fire place and transport herself here or send me packages by way of owl...because the Royal Mail can be a little slow.  Leave it to me to marry a Muggle who does not have the power to rush the USCIS into approving our application or even to make me butter beer so I would know what it tastes like, without having to drive to Orlando to find out.

Goodbye Harry Potter and all my dreams that British people know anything about magic.