The Classic: Emma by Jane Austen (1815) “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.” So begins Jane Austen’s comic masterpiece Emma. In Emma, Austen’s prose brilliantly elevates,…… Continue reading Classics Club Review: Emma by Jane Austen
I’d been meaning to read The Refrigerator Monologues for a while, and I finally did. It’s like the Vagina Monologues, but for comic book women who’ve been fridged — killed or maimed to further the main superhero’s story. In this book, versions of Gwen Stacy, Jean Grey, Harley Quinn, Queen Mera, Karen Page, and Alex DeWitt sit…… Continue reading Feminist Friday Review: The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valenti
Winner of a 1989 Lambda Literary Award, this collection of twenty-four entertaining and haunting 19th-and 20th-century tales from the US, Britain, and Latin America reclaims a literary tradition that has long been overlooked. Using such techniques as magic realism, allegory, and surrealism, the authors re-imagine the cliches of supernatural fiction, focusing on female characters and…… Continue reading “What Did Miss Darrington See? An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction” — Is This Feminist?
Every year, I like to keep track of representation in the books I read. This mainly serves to draw diverse books to my attention, although of course I try to get my percentages up every year too, especially for the books by and about women. (I’m more interested in good representation in the other categories, looking for…… Continue reading 2017 Book Diversity and Challenge Recap
Reviewing Wonder Woman comics for feminism is something of a tradition around here, (Grant Morrison, George Perez, the Bombshells version), so I wanted to make sure and talk about the latest trendy rendition, The Legend of Wonder Woman by Renae de Liz. The short version is it’s a cute book but there’s not much to talk about re:…… Continue reading Is This Feminist? The Legend of Wonder Woman by Renae de Liz
It’s a bit of a stretch to judge a whole genre on whether or not it’s feminist, I know, BUT since romance is a women’s genre it’s relevant. And really, instead of the whole genre, I’m just comparing two collections: Marvel Romance, which collects some highlights from Marvel romance comics of the sixties and seventies, and Fresh…… Continue reading Is This Feminist? Romance Comics
We’re finishing up queer picture books week today! I’ve mentioned a lot of books I like and talked about all the kinds of books that don’t really seem to exist yet, so I thought I’d finish up by talking about four exceptions that didn’t really fit into the other categories. Some of them are just…… Continue reading LGBT+ Picture Books: The Exceptions
So far in our week of queer-friendly picture books we’ve talked about inclusive family lists, books explaining same-sex parents, and books about trans or genderqueer toddlers. As discussed yesterday, there are hardly any queer kids depicted in picture books. Gender seems to be easier for authors to address because we have so many gendered objects…… Continue reading LGBT+ Picture Books: Acting Like Animals
On Monday we talked about family list books including same-sex parents. Yesterday we talked about the slightly more sophisticated books for toddlers explaining that same-sex parents are just like other parents and their kids are happy. Some of these books are adorable and great, but they don’t talk about gender, bisexuality, or trans identities for…… Continue reading LGBT+ Picture Books: OMG Dresses!
I don’t think I’ve talked about Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy on this blog before, which is an inexplicable oversight on my part because it’s one of my all-time favorite books! Quite a genre-bender, it walks the line between middle grade and YA, not to mention fantasy and horror. I like to think of it as “The…… Continue reading Skulduggery Pleasant, a Feminist Middle-Grade Goth-Action-Fantasy Genius of a Book
Hannah Reads Books 