Maybe it’s the nostalgia, but life was a little less complicated with all of the bullshit that unfortunately comes with this ubiquitous technology. As cliche as it sounds, entertainment came from playing outside with friends. Not staring at a phone for hours upon hours.
Language is more than the formation of words and sentences. It speaks of the culture, and how certain people/ concepts are viewed.
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, by Amanda Montell, was published in 2020. Montell explores a subject that is often unexplored: how language is used to demean women and keep us in a position that is considered to be appropriately “female”. Using history, science, and pop culture, the author uses this as a springboard to effect real change for the better.
I liked this book. It is a sub-narrative within feminism that should be explored more, but is often pushed aside for more obvious goals. But without changing our words, we cannot alter hearts, minds, or laws.
Do I recommend it? Yes.
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language is available wherever books are sold.
In the West, when we think of or write WWII narratives, we focus on certain perspectives. What we forget is that our allies in the East also went through the trauma of battle.
Your Presence Is Mandatory: A Novel, by Sasha Vasilyuk, was published in April. In 2007, beloved World War II Ukranian Jewish veteran, father, and grandfather Yefim Shulman breathed his last. Shortly after his passing, Yefim’s widow, Nina finds a letter from the KGB in her husband’s personal effects.
The book then takes the reader back to 1941. Yefim is a young Jewish soldier who is fighting to defend his country and his family against the German onslaught. But to survive, he must make choices that must be kept secret.
Taking place between the 1940s and the current conflict with Russia, the book reveals the result of Yefim’s secret and the family’s survival over the decades.
It’s a good read. The author tells a tale of choices that are made and the reverberations of those decisions decades/generations later. While it is not the best tale I have read of this region and the period, it is certainly a fascinating one.
Do I recommend it? Yes.
Your Presence Is Mandatory: A Novel is available wherever books are sold.
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