#BustleReads Challenge

I've been making pretty good progress on my reading challenges so far.  I have read at least one book a month for the Reading New England Challenge and so far have hit 4/20 of the categories for the #BustleReads Challenge.

In college I took an honors literature class titled "Drop out or work out".  Although we discussed both dropping out and working out, most of the literature we read focused on dropping out.  Examples include Huck and Jim floating down the river, and Billy Pilgrim becoming unstuck in time.  Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood would have fit in well in that class.  Although maybe they would have had to change the title to "Drop out, work out, or make your own reality".   In this novel Snowman is one of the last humans alive in a post apocalyptic world.  Gradually we come to understand how he came to be in this predicament and why he seems tied to the intriguing "children of Crake".  In flashbacks we learn about Snowman's life when he was Jim, an adolescent living on a compound with his father and mother and pet rakunk.  As a biologist I was especially intrigued by some of the "advancements" being created by the scientists in the compounds.  Walls that regulate humidity!  Masses of beautiful butterflies!  However most of the ideas are quite disgusting, Chicken with no legs!  Cheese-ish products!  Maybe even more so because that world doesn't seem that far off.

This book qualifies as #15 on the #BustleReads Challenge "Read a feminist sci-fi novel".

I also read Lena Dunham's "Not that kind of Girl".  This qualifies for #3 on the #BustleReads Challenge "Read a book of essays".  It took me a little while to sink into this book.  The first part is mostly Lena doing a lot of drugs and having a lot of sex and not really being satisfied by any of it.  As the books goes on it gets more compelling, however.  The ultimate message is of a young woman breaking gender stereotypes and doing what she loves, no matter what anyone else thinks.

Here are some quotes:

"Respect isn't something you command through intimidation and intellectual bullying.  It's something you build through a long life of treating people how you want to be treated and focusing on your mission"

"It's a special kind of privilege to be born into the body you wanted, to embrace the essence of your gender even as you recognize what you are up against.  Even as you seek to redefine it."

"And I decided then that I will never be jealous.  I will never be vengeful.  I won't be threatened by the old, or by the new.  I'll open wide like a daisy every morning.  I will make my work."

I have not actually seen the TV show "Girls" which Lena created, wrote and stars in. I chose this book because she is young and successful and feminist and I have seen it on multiple to-read lists in the past few months.  Ultimately, I enjoyed this book.  However, if I was going to recommend a similar type of book I enjoyed Caitlyn Moran's "How to be a Woman" a bit more.