Rest of February books

I read the book The Internet Is a Playground by David Thorne throughout the month of February. It is the perfect bathroom book because it's a bunch of essays and email conversations, so you can pick up and put down the book at any point. You can read the synopsis here. I had heard of the blog/website, and I'm pretty sure my brother sent me some of the greatest hits from it (as well as seeing some on tumblr), so I was somewhat familiar with a few of the chapters. One of David Thorne's viral email conversations is credited with "inventing" NFTs (the spider). It is a very funny book, but the humor is mean and problematic. The tagline includes the blog's name, Evil Online Genius, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I couldn't help laughing anyway, although I did find it less funny than I would have/did ten+ years ago. I consider this a good time capsule of mid-2000s to mid-2010s online humor. 3.5 stars, giving to my brother since I know he'll find it funny. Source: BookOutlet. Trigger warnings for this book: fatphobia, sizeism, ableism, the r*tard slur is used multiple times, sexism, homophobia, homophobic slurs (directed by others towards author), child endangerment jokes, animal death & cruelty jokes, probably other stuff I can't think of

Continuing my TCON reread, I read Prince Caspian on the 27th. I had fewer problems reading this book vis-a-vis thinking of reading it out loud (I'd stick with the original vaguely Spanish accents for the Telmarines. It fits with the names). It's such a good book, and a good continuation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Having the kids go back when they do adds such a fascinating, mysterious element. Memorable characters, wilderness survival, and battle scenes, not to mention magical creatures and happenings. What more do you want? I'd also try to eat the chocolate-looking soil. The copy I read was from my trusty set with the Leo & Diane Dillon cover art, since I don't yet have a full-color illustrations edition of Prince Caspian. 5 stars, permanent collection. Source: gift. Trigger warnings for this book: war, death, murder, threats of the above (including to children), blood, children fighting duels and battles against adults, child soldiers, bear attack, children using weapons, animal death, children shot at with arrows, scary fantastical characters, evil magic, fatphobia, people turned into animals, magic referred to as dark or light when we now know that's racist, suspense (mostly kid-friendly)

Meaty: Essays by Samantha Irby

I was probably pointed to bitches gotta eat by The Toast or maybe Jezebel. It is a hilarious, TMI work of art, blog-wise. I was thinking of buying Samantha Irby's book because I wanted to help her pay for her dental care (detailed in excruciating, horrifying fashion on b.g.e.), but then I came across it at what I'm assuming was the publisher's booth at ALA Annual. I grabbed it and gasped all 'OMG I WAS TOTALLY THINKING OF BUYING THIS!!!' and the nice chatty girl staffing the booth let me have it for free if I would promise to review the book on social media. So here is my review, such as it is.

Meaty is basically bitches gotta eat in book form. If you enjoy her blog and her style of writing (sadly no different colored fonts in the book tho, but plenty of all caps and bolding), then you'll enjoy this book. If you are easily horrified by extremely candid descriptions of bathroom issues and ~personal relationships~, ifyouknowwhatImean, then this book is not for you. The chapters about her parents are heartbreaking. A lot of the stuff about being disgusted with dudes and dating and wanting to forgo all that and just eat snacks while watching TV in a Snuggie really resonated with me (being a social hermit, holla). Here is what I wrote on LibraryThing:

Hilarious and heartbreaking (but mostly hilarious). Profane, gross, TMI, an excellent way to spend the afternoon. If you've read and like her blog than you'll enjoy this book too. I loved the chance to get inside Samantha Irby's head and see how she thinks about things and some of the experiences that made her who she is.

Here is one of my favorite quotes:
"I'm tired of dicking around with stunted adolescents. There can only be one of those in my life and that is me, homie."

4/5 stars

Black Mask

I rediscovered a favorite blog, Inside a Black Apple. I love her art and the general atmosphere of her online presence: comforting, old-fashioned, fairytale-like and just a little bit mysterious. Anyway, I was looking at the prints on her Etsy shop (there are so many that I want) when I came across this one:

It seems I had that print subconsciously in mind when I took the following picture a few months ago.

I actually made the mask in grade school, years before I was a serious peruser of the Internet. I think it was meant to be a black cat mask (like the print above), but it makes me think of the Bat superheroes. Batgirl was a librarian, so I took and like this picture. It was my profile picture for a while.

LA Times Festival of Books 2012

Just got back from it. I had a great time! I got a free mini mocha McFrappe (McDonald's answer to the Frappuccino or however you spell that), a chocolate brownie Clif bar and fruit gummy thing, a sample of avocado-pineapple smoothie (consistency is like applesauce but it tastes like calmer, less acidic pineapple),  a pretty little copy of the Quran, some bookmarks, a purple tote bag, a plastic visor with the USC Keck Medical Center logo, and an I READ button. I wrote what I'm reading on the big canvas poster the LA Times has where you can do that (that's where I got the button), and my nerdy heart was warmed when I saw others had written DFTBA and I BELIEVE IN SHERLOCK HOLMES! :') The only thing I'm sad about is that John Green was only there on Saturday, yesterday, so I wasn't able to see/hear/meet him. I bought a bigger button with the LATFOB logo (this year's has a dinosaur) and saw Julie Andrews (!) from a ways away and heard her read from her children's book. I also went to a panel at the YA stage and heard The Fug Girls and a couple other YA authors read from their books and talk about the writing process. Then I bought Spoiled and had it signed by the Fug Girls themselves! I was so psyched to meet them; I've been reading their blog for years and feel like I know them. They were very nice and just as bubbly as I'd imagined them. Now I have to head back to school, but I'm glad I got a chance to go!