Reading Matter

What am I reading now? Well, I’ll tell ya. I’m almost finished with When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill and I don’t want it to end.

This tale supposes an alt 1950s where women, who are fed up with patriarchal suppression, abuse, and general horseshittery, break free by transforming into dragons. Sometimes it happens spontaneously when the much put-upon woman has just had ENOUGH. Sometimes it happens when the woman is overcome with joy, like the pilot who was beyond thrilled by the ecstasy of flight. (considerate soul that she was, she ejected so her metamorphoses wouldn’t damage the plane AND then carried it safely back to the landing field) Sometimes, for unknown reasons, thousands of women all transformed at the same time.

After an episode of “Mass Dragoning” there were a lot of vanished husbands (devoured by their pissed off and fed up, now in dragon form, wives) and burned out houses. Apparently these were fire breathing, meat eating dragons.

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden. (source)

This may sound like a comedy but it’s not—not entirely. There are some amusing scenes but, so far, the book’s more about dealing with existence in the tiny-dicked, exploitive, degrading, and presumptuous world of men. Barnhill also hits on why it helps no one to keep all your thoughts and feelings locked inside.

Oh and, did you know? Dragons can talk, knit, and some of them wear lipstick.

I’m LOVING this story!
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I just finished an Alexander McCall Smith book. I’d read a few in his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and thought I’d give his Detective Varg series a try.

In the Swedish criminal justice system, certain cases are considered especially strange and difficult—cases for the Department of Sensitive Crimes and Detective Ulf Varg. (source)

The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf was a bit of a disappointment. Based on the Ladies' Detective Agency stories, I wasn’t expecting an edge-of-the-seat murder mystery but I also hadn’t anticipated being annoyed.

Annoyed? Warum? Varg’s girlfriend wants him to get his deaf dog a cochlear implant. Yes…a cochlear implant for a dog. In real life, there are scientists exploring whether this is possible. If it is, do you, as Spot or Fido’s parent, really want to put them through it? Cochlear implanting means opening up the brain cavity. There’s a month-long wait before it can be turned on and success (or lack thereof) can be determined. And that’s just for starters. Does it make sense to spend ultra mega bucks and put them through this level of trauma when Spike may be perfectly content without hearing?

I was stunned when the inspector agreed to the pricey, experimental surgery. Yes, yezzzz, I know this is fiction but it struck me as shortsighted, unfeeling, human-centric, and just plain stupid.

Maybe I’ll try his 44 Scotland Street series next. There are times when McCall Smith’s calm, soothing mysteries, where not a lot happens, is just what the doctor ordered.