Last Night in Paradise

 Last Night in Paradise by Katie Rophie

1997

Weight: 9.7 oz

Method of Disposal: Donating

Do I love everything that Rophie has put out in the world? No.  Do I love most of it?  No.  Did I buy this before I knew much about Rophie?  Yes!  Was I disappointed when I found out more?  Definitely.  Did I still read it?  Absolutely!  Did I hate it?  I did not!  It took me too long to read it for sure but, when I did, I felt transported to a time when AIDS had been around long enough that people realized it was not a "gay disease"  but not so long that people were not still terrified.  I really enjoyed Katie's voice and perspective, and I did not feel like I was holding a mirror up to my own feelings, memories, and opinions, which can be a real positive experience. I do not read to find out what I already think.  I do think it was even better to have read it so many years after it was written.  Living in the moment but being so young and getting bits and bobs of the news and pop culture, buying into some of the fear tactics, and then later living during Covid and looking backwards and then looking to where we are now, it brought some pieces together and made for good retrospection.

That being said, I do think it is possible to cross a line into not being helpful and into being proactively hurtful.  I could live the rest of my life without needing to read anymore of her thoughts on date rape, sexual harassment, and #metoo.  

Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism

 Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism by Mark Hawthorne

2010

Weight: 12.8 oz

Method of Disposal: Donating

To think, I have been carrying this book around all this time, and it is essentially PETA propaganda.  I cannot think of an animal rights group that has less of my support, despite our common disdain for factory farms, research with live animals, and other animal abuse.  Their tactics have made them a laughing stock and made animal rights activist everywhere look bad.  Not to mention, their open disdain for no-kill shelters, which goes directly against the work I have been doing the last 14 years.  They could not be more wrong about what no-kill looks like to me.  In addition to that, Best Friends is well on the road to proving them wrong on a large scale.  Given, they will never see it that way, because they would rather see an animal euthanized than to be adopted out as a companion animal to most people.  Always out for the shock value and getting news coverage, they will do all sorts, like boycott Jimmy Carter for fishing, send naked women to protest in the streets, petition to change "ham lake" to "yam lake," and show you graphic, brutal pictures to scare you into doing the right thing.  

A lot of people seem to like this book and, if I could manage to step back from hating how often PETA is used as an example and/or cited, I guess I could see that some of it might be useful for a completely green, young person, who has not yet done any activism or been to any protests.  Within this book, there is an incredibly basic introduction to civil disobedience.  In that way, it is a touch useful.

Either way, to each their own.  I am donating it because everyone has the right to choose how and who they want to engage with and, God knows, we do need more animal rights' activists.  The things we do to animals in our society (and in almost every society) are deplorable and overwhelmingly sad.  We are brutal and, with factory farms in particular, we are worse than heartless.  We are cruel and inhumane torturers.  I know THAT sentence makes me sound like PETA but, in that case, it is true.  The people at those facilities are also treated terribly so it is should be no surprise that the animals are.

Women and Aids

 Women and Aids by Jane Richardson
1988
Weight: 7 ounces
Method of Disposal: Donating

This book is extremely dated at this point, but it was interesting to read for so many reasons.  Living through the start of AIDS and the start of COVID would have been wildly different for so many reasons, but, having lived as an adult during the time of a pandemic, there are certain things I feel like I was more attuned to or attentive to now.  Not just the fear and the unknown, but the attempt and the struggle to manage people's reactions and to preserve a sense of humanity.  The constant reassurance that we can all still care for each other and that our fear should not make us react with hatred.  It should not make us ostracize sick people.  

Another thing I found interesting was reading this and knowing the strides we have made sense AIDS blew up on the scene in the 80's.  I could fill in some of the missing gaps in information and answer some questions.  Some things I had to Google, and I learned that way.  In other areas, I was sad to know that there were still so many things happening then that are still happening now.  The author was seemingly a compassionate person who recognized homophobia, racism, ethnocentrism, when possible, and that was much appreciated.

All in all, this was a quality book.  It was clearly more useful when it was written than it is now, but it is an excellent layout for how to write a sensitive, helpful guide on a virus that people do not know much about.

Lincoln in the Bardo

 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Sanders

2018

Weight: 14 oz

Method of Disposal: Donating

I always love reading a unique, experimental novel.  It is not always easy, but sometimes you just have to let go and let George Sanders.  I struggled at first to understand what was happening, but I ultimately decided to blindly trust the author and believe.  I was not disappointed.  I loved that the characters this book revolved around were the Lincolns.  It was so intriguing to see Lincoln in this new, fictionalized way, grieving his son, Willie, who the real Lincoln did lose in real life.  It made me think differently of the actual Lincoln, the Civil War, and his personal crises.  What a thing to go through and what a terrible time to go through it.

This author's imaginings of the afterlife were so different to anything I had or have ever thought up.  It was bleak, humorous, and often depressing, but I appreciated all of it.

All My Puny Sorrows

 All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

2019

Weight: 12 oz

Method of Disposal: Donating

I had heard amazing things about this book, and I understand why.  I found it to be challenging and difficult, like dealing with mental illness is.  It was not unskilled, and the author had clearly put her heart into it.  It is a book about a sister who spends her life trying to stop her own successful sister's death by suicide.  It was heavy, dark, and frustrating.  I cannot say I enjoyed it as much as others did, but I see the value in it.  

I am glad there was no reason given for the sister's desire to die, though I see that many reviewers craved that.  But, that is the problem with mental illness, isn't it?  There is not always a reason or a clear reason other than it is something that resides inside a person and takes over their life.  It IS frustrating.  There is no easy fix.  If there was, so many people could be saved and this book would not likely exist.