The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The autobiography of a woman written at the end of her life, encompassing her girlhood as the familial wealth faded; her strange, ethereal sister; her marriage. And running through that, excerpts from her sister’s posthumously published science fiction cult classic.

Strange, beautiful, and just ever so slightly not quite. The genre-crossing here isn’t a gimmick. It’s done so well, it feels like the sort of expensive, avant-garde meal where the fish is sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and the martini is topped with a dash of habanero juice (mmm, that was tasty). Unexpected compliments.

And even though I didn’t think this quite came together into something coherent, it’s Margaret freaking Atwood, you know? She writes like – okay. You know how a lot of professional book reviewers toss the word “luminous” around when they don’t know what to say about a bit of contemporary fiction? Well, Margaret Atwood’s writing is luminous, and I mean that very specifically. I mean that when I read one of her books, I feel like there’s light coming off each page and illuminating me. (We’re pretending, for this exercise, that I actually read a printed copy of this book, which I in fact did not.) Just, her writing makes me think of all those words we use for qualities and textures of light – lucid, liquid, cool. So I honestly don’t care what she’s writing about, when you come right down to it.




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Stars & Stripes by Abigail Roux

Stars & Stripes by Abigail Roux

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Somethingth book in this series about the FBI partners who do the things FBI partners do – solve crime and bang a lot. I seem to read this series when I’m traveling, and I’ve gotta say, on a long transatlantic red-eye with no sleep in sight? Nothing better.

I’m really ridiculously fond of these guys, but above and beyond that, here’s something you don’t see every day. And by “every day” I mean in most of the lgbt fiction out there. See, these guys, they have lots of sex, right? But somehow – get ready for this, it’s crazy – somehow their entire relationship dynamic doesn’t turn on who is getting penetrated. I know! I mean, what they want in bed changes over time with the changes in their relationship and circumstances and their moods. And who is sticking it to whom at any given moment has nothing to do with who is holding the upper hand emotionally, or who is calling the shots on important relationship questions.

In fact, it’s more like who is calling the shots also changes with the circumstances, and with need. Almost like these are two guys who think of each other as equals, and who pass the lead back and forth as needed and pick up each other’s slack and have a dynamic, healthy partnership! Just as if who is getting penetrated isn’t, like, the definitional framework by which they construct their personalities!

It’s weird.




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