![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kmoJuly was a very busy month round these parts. Here are some of the highlights:
I finally made all the required revisions to my dissertation and am now done with PhD school! Woot! On August 16th it will be officially official and then you can really all start addressing me as Dr. Kmo. Well, not really...I'm not one of those people. Or am I? Part of me almost wants to get my credit cards changed....my sense is most academics don't do this because we're "not real doctors." Which leads people to devalue our labor. If i think about this too hard, I'll give myself a headache.
Then I went and presented at a conference in St. Louis. And a big important Dowager Lady Historian came to my panel and really liked my work! *flails* Also St. Louis was awesome and the part of town we were in was super gorgeous, with lots of fancy early 20th c robber baron mansions. My friends and i went to City Museum one night and got drunk. City Museum...like a playground crossed with an art installation inside an old shoe factory, it's one of the most indescribable places I've ever been. Oh yeah and it has a bar in a real log cabin attached. If you visit STL, you gotta go.
About a week ago, V and I moved into our new house! I'm still unpacking boxes and have a metric shit ton of work to do before the semester starts, but it feels great to finally be in a place of our own. Every day we look at each other and say, "It's really ours! We own a house!" It will be a work in progress for the next few months, because we really don't have the money to fix/rehab/decorate all of it right now. But I love the painting and the new furniture we have bought so far. First time I have owned furniture that wasn't A) free or B) something I had to put together with an allen key and a lot of cursing.
In between all of this, I found time to read some books.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne Valente- This was my first time reading something by Valente and I thought it was a very modern take on the standard "child hero goes to fantasyland" story. In some ways, it reminded me of The Magicians in the way it played with YA fantasy tropes and its meta-riffing on Oz, Narnia, Wonderland and the like. In other ways, it felt very much like old school YA, I kept being reminded of The Phantom Tollbooth for some reason. There were oodles and oodles of fantastical detail and clever Neil Gaiman-style prose- almost too much- at some points I almost found Valente's cleverness distracting. But it does have wonderful Bechdel test passing moments between September, the protagonist, and her female antagonist, the "evil" Marquess who rules Fairyland. And you know stories with female antagonists and protagonists that don't involve some ageist 'fairest of them all" crap are completely my jam. Oooh and the villain's backstory is completely heartbreaking.
The heroine, September, can sometimes seem a bit underdeveloped, but overall I think that worked for the story Valente was telling, The part of the story that really sold me was about 3/4 through where it's revealed that September is the heroine not because she is a Chosen One, but because the Chooses to be compassionate and courageous. That struck me as such a feminist and important statement, and a needed corrective to the fantasy genre. Too many stories are about people who are passively chosen, predestined to greatness. Yes, they often must grapple with their destiny or whatever. But give me more stories about ordinary people who choose to do the brave thing, the right thing, the hard thing. In many ways, that aspect of September's story reminded me of the companion's journey from Doctor Who at its best, showing what extraordinary things ordinary people are capable of.
Red Dragon, Thomas Harris- I read this because I am a reluctant member of the Hannibal fandom now. (I say reluctant because although I love the show, I kind of hate to be a part of something that seems to be dominating tumblr solely based on the dom-sub sexual dynamics of its two white dude protagonists. But Hannibal fandom does have a good sense of humor about itself- you kind of have to when your main character is a dapper psychiatrist who eats people) Anywho, it was a thriller. It was okay. Its interesting if you are a Hannibal fan and want to see how much of the dialogue is lifted from the book.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple- I don't often read contemporary literary fiction. This really blew me away. I totally, totally loved it. An Austenian 21st century send up of the NPR and Whole Foods set. It's written in a vaguely epistolary style- teenage Bee compiles emails, police reports, medical bills, school newsletters, etc to try to solve the mystery of why her mother, a famous architect turned shut-in, suddenly disappeared right before a family vacation to Antarctica. Like all the best comedies, there are some moments of real tragedy and heartbreak here, especially as the story of Bernadette, the titular character, is revealed. But it also has a lot of heart and warmth and some laugh out loud funny moments. Highly recommend.
The 19th Wife, David Ebershoff- This is one that had been sitting on my shelf for awhile. I had put off reading it because I just couldn't read anything that had to do with 19th century religion while writing my dissertation. The 19th Wife is really two stories: a historical retelling about the life of Ann Eliza Young, the so called 19th wife of Brigham Young turned anti-polygamy activist, and the story of Jordan, a gay man kicked out of a 21st century fundamentalist Mormon community. Parts of it are also told in an epistolary style, which I don't think worked as well here for some reason. It was confusing to me at parts because Ann Eliza Young really did write a famous book called Wife No. 19 and I wasn't sure whether the author was actually printing excerpts from her story or not- it was the latter, he fictionalized her memoir and aped the 19th century style well enough to almost fool me. Its portrayal of polygamy was a bit one sided at times, but overall I thought it tried to make its characters and the LDS religion three dimensional. It also kind of dragged at bit. Might be fun for you if you need to get your Big Love fix?
I finally made all the required revisions to my dissertation and am now done with PhD school! Woot! On August 16th it will be officially official and then you can really all start addressing me as Dr. Kmo. Well, not really...I'm not one of those people. Or am I? Part of me almost wants to get my credit cards changed....my sense is most academics don't do this because we're "not real doctors." Which leads people to devalue our labor. If i think about this too hard, I'll give myself a headache.
Then I went and presented at a conference in St. Louis. And a big important Dowager Lady Historian came to my panel and really liked my work! *flails* Also St. Louis was awesome and the part of town we were in was super gorgeous, with lots of fancy early 20th c robber baron mansions. My friends and i went to City Museum one night and got drunk. City Museum...like a playground crossed with an art installation inside an old shoe factory, it's one of the most indescribable places I've ever been. Oh yeah and it has a bar in a real log cabin attached. If you visit STL, you gotta go.
About a week ago, V and I moved into our new house! I'm still unpacking boxes and have a metric shit ton of work to do before the semester starts, but it feels great to finally be in a place of our own. Every day we look at each other and say, "It's really ours! We own a house!" It will be a work in progress for the next few months, because we really don't have the money to fix/rehab/decorate all of it right now. But I love the painting and the new furniture we have bought so far. First time I have owned furniture that wasn't A) free or B) something I had to put together with an allen key and a lot of cursing.
In between all of this, I found time to read some books.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne Valente- This was my first time reading something by Valente and I thought it was a very modern take on the standard "child hero goes to fantasyland" story. In some ways, it reminded me of The Magicians in the way it played with YA fantasy tropes and its meta-riffing on Oz, Narnia, Wonderland and the like. In other ways, it felt very much like old school YA, I kept being reminded of The Phantom Tollbooth for some reason. There were oodles and oodles of fantastical detail and clever Neil Gaiman-style prose- almost too much- at some points I almost found Valente's cleverness distracting. But it does have wonderful Bechdel test passing moments between September, the protagonist, and her female antagonist, the "evil" Marquess who rules Fairyland. And you know stories with female antagonists and protagonists that don't involve some ageist 'fairest of them all" crap are completely my jam. Oooh and the villain's backstory is completely heartbreaking.
The heroine, September, can sometimes seem a bit underdeveloped, but overall I think that worked for the story Valente was telling, The part of the story that really sold me was about 3/4 through where it's revealed that September is the heroine not because she is a Chosen One, but because the Chooses to be compassionate and courageous. That struck me as such a feminist and important statement, and a needed corrective to the fantasy genre. Too many stories are about people who are passively chosen, predestined to greatness. Yes, they often must grapple with their destiny or whatever. But give me more stories about ordinary people who choose to do the brave thing, the right thing, the hard thing. In many ways, that aspect of September's story reminded me of the companion's journey from Doctor Who at its best, showing what extraordinary things ordinary people are capable of.
Red Dragon, Thomas Harris- I read this because I am a reluctant member of the Hannibal fandom now. (I say reluctant because although I love the show, I kind of hate to be a part of something that seems to be dominating tumblr solely based on the dom-sub sexual dynamics of its two white dude protagonists. But Hannibal fandom does have a good sense of humor about itself- you kind of have to when your main character is a dapper psychiatrist who eats people) Anywho, it was a thriller. It was okay. Its interesting if you are a Hannibal fan and want to see how much of the dialogue is lifted from the book.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple- I don't often read contemporary literary fiction. This really blew me away. I totally, totally loved it. An Austenian 21st century send up of the NPR and Whole Foods set. It's written in a vaguely epistolary style- teenage Bee compiles emails, police reports, medical bills, school newsletters, etc to try to solve the mystery of why her mother, a famous architect turned shut-in, suddenly disappeared right before a family vacation to Antarctica. Like all the best comedies, there are some moments of real tragedy and heartbreak here, especially as the story of Bernadette, the titular character, is revealed. But it also has a lot of heart and warmth and some laugh out loud funny moments. Highly recommend.
The 19th Wife, David Ebershoff- This is one that had been sitting on my shelf for awhile. I had put off reading it because I just couldn't read anything that had to do with 19th century religion while writing my dissertation. The 19th Wife is really two stories: a historical retelling about the life of Ann Eliza Young, the so called 19th wife of Brigham Young turned anti-polygamy activist, and the story of Jordan, a gay man kicked out of a 21st century fundamentalist Mormon community. Parts of it are also told in an epistolary style, which I don't think worked as well here for some reason. It was confusing to me at parts because Ann Eliza Young really did write a famous book called Wife No. 19 and I wasn't sure whether the author was actually printing excerpts from her story or not- it was the latter, he fictionalized her memoir and aped the 19th century style well enough to almost fool me. Its portrayal of polygamy was a bit one sided at times, but overall I thought it tried to make its characters and the LDS religion three dimensional. It also kind of dragged at bit. Might be fun for you if you need to get your Big Love fix?
no subject
Date: 2013-08-11 06:29 pm (UTC)Your conference experience sounds great, too.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 04:58 pm (UTC)I was there this past week and there was a 'grilled cheese sandwiches & s'mores' truck and an ice cream truck and also a lot of people talking about their kickball teams??? They had blackberry beer, too, excellent.
Good luck settling in and finding happy places in your new hometown. <3
no subject
Date: 2013-08-11 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-11 07:44 pm (UTC)Good luck with being a scary house-owning real person!
When I went to St. Louis to visit a high school friend and her wife last summer, they highly recommended the City Museum, but I ended up not finding time. Which was perhaps a poor choice, but I was only there for twenty-four hours. At least I did get to ride trains.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 03:49 pm (UTC)it is wonderful and scary to own a house. scary because it's all ours now. :P
it's so hard to fit sight- seeing into conference visits. usually i just end up hanging around the conference. i'm happy we went to City Museum, but disappointed I didn't find time to see the famous St. Louis arch.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-13 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 03:51 pm (UTC)