So. Much. Finance. Talk. I trust that the #HamAlong will experience a sharp upward turn in action in the subsequent chapters, and can only conclude that the schedule for this week allotted a comparatively lowish number of pages to make up for how heavily taxy this section is. One thing I learned that tied into knowledge I already possessed was that Britain had, at this time, something like a monopoly on textile production. A. Ham wanted to diversify American business, rather than continuing to depend on only agriculture, so he spent a lot of time learning about textiles and how…
21 CommentsReading the End Posts
The Hatening commenceth! Spoilers: Whiskey Jenny did an incredible job choosing a book that I would, and did, hate. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go. Episode 54 Books discussed (in order of appearance) Winter Books! Two Years, Eight Months, and Twenty-Eight Nights, Salman Rushdie Winter, Marissa Meyer The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Patrick Ness illustrated Harry Potter! City on Fire, Garth Risk Hallberg The Japanese Lover, Isabel Allende Ripper, Isabel Allende Under the Udala Trees, Chinelo Okparanta Thirteen Ways of Looking,…
Leave a CommentAfter the mesmerizing two-hander episode from last week, AKA Sin Bin is a bit of a letdown. It’s a perfectly serviceable piece of television in that it gets Jessica and Kilgrave from point A (he is captured) to point B (he is freed) without too much of the lagging and lying around that plague this show. (Jessica Jones would have benefited by being ten episodes, rather than thirteen. Discuss.) Compared to last week, which was nothing but beautiful character notes for Jessica and Kilgrave, while also advancing the plot in wonderful and surprising ways, AKA Sin Bin sets character-building to…
14 CommentsHappy Friday, friends! I am trying to get back into the regular swing of blogging now that it is the new year, but some of these links are slightly old. Oh well! Maybe you haven’t seen them yet! In which case, lucky you! What to do if you are white and straight and cis and male and not all the stories are about you anymore (Star Wars spoilers included herein). “More as heroines than damsels”: How Disney gave their Princess dolls business to Hasbro. Nichole Chung on microaggressions and the certainty that you are the only person who can make…
12 CommentsOkay, it’s possible that the first chapters of Alexander Hamilton misled me about how nonstop thrilling Alexander Hamilton’s life was going to be. #HamAlong has now reached the stage at which Chernow dedicates almost thirty pages to describing each and every number of The Federalist Papers. Yo, I already knew the important thing, which is that HAMILTON WROTE! THE OTHER FIFTY-ONE! I do not need an entire chapter on this. In this section, Hamilton helps make a new Constitution, convinces George Washington to become President, and accepts a position as Treasury Secretary. Apparently he wasn’t even Washington’s first choice! Washington…
13 CommentsOld-timer book bloggers may remember the days when the fabulous Amy ran an annual event called Book Blogger Appreciation Week. It had everything: discovering new-to-you bloggers, Twitter squeeing, and an endless supply of internet hugs aimed at the bloggers you already know and love. I have teamed up with the incomparable Andi (of Estella’s Revenge), Heather (of Capricious Reader), and Ana (of Things Mean a Lot) to BRING BACK this glorious occasion. Sign-ups go live today! If you’re interested in, you know, rapturously embracing other bloggers (virtually), head over to the Estella Society and do so today! If you’re not…
13 CommentsThe Jennys return in 2016 to recap our year in reading in 2015, highlight some bests and worsts among our podcast reads, and discuss our past and present New Year’s Resolutions. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go. Episode 53 Books discussed (in order of appearance) (and not counting books we read for podcast) Witches of America, Alex Mar Books We Unexpectedly Loved Moneyball, Michael Lewis (Whiskey Jenny) Barbarian Days, William Finnegan (Whiskey Jenny) Funny Girl, Nick Hornby (Gin Jenny) Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel…
2 Comments“AKA WWJD” is my favorite episode of this series, even though (or maybe because!) it’s mostly just characters chatting. The closest thing to action is a whispered, cautious exchange of punches between Jessica and Simpson, when he’s trying to get in the way of Jessica doing what she wants. After the events of last week, Jessica has given up: She’s going to live with Kilgrave, in his creepy recreation of her childhood home. Though the house is full of servants and bodyguards who will kill themselves if Jessica attempts to harm Kilgrave, Kilgrave still insists that he wants her to…
10 CommentsI might maybe once or twice in the last few months have mentioned how I am super into Alexander Hamilton now? On account of that the cast recording of the musical Hamilton took over my whole life? You may have heard something about that. Anyway, when Alice said “Chernow biography readalong,” I was naturally like: (even though I don’t really read biographies and I find American history, like, pretty boring) Ron Chernow starts by destroying everything I thought I knew about Alexander Hamilton. He was a bastard, but not an orphan (his father was alive for much of his adulthood),…
40 Comments