2016 books

Books Read 2016 (Goal: 50) : 50
Meat: 24
Candy: 26
If You're An Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich?--G.A. Cohen
Anarchy, State, and Utopia--Robert Nozick
Plato's Bedroom: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Love--Dave k. O'Connor
Captive Prince--C.S. Pacat
The Goblin Emperor--Katherine Addison
The Reluctant Fundamentalist--Mohsin Hamid
A Midsummer Night's Dream--William Shakespeare
The Song of Achilles--Madeline Miller
After Virtue--Alisdair Macintyre
Healing the Adult Child's Grieving Heart: 100 practical ideas after your parent dies--Alan D. Wolfelt
Pride and Prejudice--Jane Austen
As You Like It--William Shakespeare
Finding Oneself In the Other--G.A. Cohen
Dependent Rational Animals--Alisdair MacIntyre
Prince's Gambit--C.S. Pacat
The Black Jewels Trilogy--Anne Bishop
Tomcat In Love--Tim O'Brien
Three Challenges to Ethics: Environmentalism, Feminism, and Multiculturalism--James P. Sterba
On The Edge of Anarchy--A. John Simmons
Ideal Code, Real World--Brad Hooker
Justice, Gender, And Equality--Susan Okin
The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies)--KJ Charles
The Girl in the Train--Paula Hawkins
The Good Lord Bird--James McBride
Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer 1)--Robin Hobb
Royal Assassin (Farseer 2)--Robin Hobb
Sex and Social Justice--Martha Nussbaum
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels 1)--Ilona Andrews
The Tropic Of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent--Marie Brennan
The Queen of the Tearling (1)--Erika Johansen
Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders 1)--Robin Hobb
Drown--Junot Diaz
Hounded--Kevin Hearne
Invasion of the Tearling (2)--Erika Johansen
Bonk--Mary Roach
League of Dragons--Naomi Novik
Fire Touched--Patricia Briggs
The Labyrinth of Drakes--Marie Brennan
Rightness as Fairness:A Moral and Political Theory--Marcus Arvan
The Joy Luck Club--Amy Tan
Age of Empathy--Frans De Waal
Hamilton: A Revolution--Lin Manuel Miranda
Primates and Philosophers--Frans De Waal
Americanah--Ngozi Chimamande
Packing For Mars--Mary Roach
Sword of Honor--David Kirk
Santa Olivia--Jacqueline Carey
Written in red--Anne Bishop

Books Read 2015

Books Read 2015 (Goal: 45) So far: 50
Shadows--Robin McKinley
Why Not Socialism?--G.A. Cohen
Men Explain Things to Me--Rebecca Solnit
Cinder (Lunar Chronicles 1)--Marissa Meyer
The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and other incendiary acts--Hanne Blank
The Son of Neptune--Rick Riordan
How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing--Paul Silvia
The Elite (Selection 2)--Kiera Cass
Plato's Democratic Entanglements: Athenian Politics and the Practice of Philosophy--S. Sara Monoson
Truth, Error, and Criminal Law: An Essay in Legal Epistemology--Lary Laudan
Timaeus--Plato
Yes, Please!--Amy Poehler
Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me--Mindy Kaling
Silver Screen Fiend--Patton Oswalt
Basic Concepts of Criminal Law--George P. Fletcher
Branded Ann--Merry Shannon
The Law of Life and Death--Elizabeth Price Foley
The Bloodletter's Daughter--Linda Lafferty
The Miseducation of Cameron Post--Emily M. Danforth
The Witch's Daughter--Paula Brackston
The Magician King--Lev Grossman
Grave Mercy--Robin Lafevers
Living Asatru--Greg Shetler
Scarlet (Cinder Chronicles 2)--Marissa Meyer
Heat--Bill Buford
Demonglass (Hex Hall 2)--Rachel Dawkins
The 5th Wave--Rick Yancey
Red Queen--Victoria Aveyard
Dark Triumph--Robin Lafevers
The Strange Library--Haruki Murakami
The Secret History--Donna Tartt
Defy--Sara B. Larson
The Mermaid's Sister--Carrie Ann Noble
Modern Romance--Aziz Ansari
Uprooted--Naomi Novik
Otherbound--Corinne Duvvis
Why Political Liberalism?--Paul Weithman
Rules of Prey--John Sandford
The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology--Ed. Faubion Bowers
Luckiest Girl Alive--Jessica Knoll
Kiss of Deception--Mary E. Pearson
Burned--Karen Marie Moning
Throne of Glass--Sarah J. Maas
The Goldfinch--Donna Tartt
Cat Nip--Gem Sivald
Veil of Ascension--Brandon Sanderson
New Game + --Harris O'Malley
Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland 1)--Chloe O'Neill
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children--Ransom Riggs
The Hero of Ages--Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn 3)

Resolutions 2014-5

Pledged: Read 40 books

Books Read 2014 (Goal: 40) Read: 54

De Anima--Aristotle
American Elsewhere--Robert Jackson Bennett
Marble Season--Gilbert Hernandez
Frost Burned--Patricia Briggs
Fangirl--Rainbow Rowell
The Fault In Our Stars--John Green
Matched--Allie Condie
Warm Bodies--Isaac Marion
Empire of Ivory--Naomi Novik
Slaves of the Passions--Mark Schroeder
Victory of Eagles--Naomi Novik
The Satanic Verses--Salman Rushdie
Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changelings 1)--Nalini Singh
Victory of Eagles--Naomi Novik
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson 1)--Rick Riordan
Storm Front (Dresden Files 1)--Jim Butcher
Crossed--Ally Condie
The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson 2)--Rick Riordan
Crucible of Gold--Naomi Novik
On the Genealogy of Morality--Nietzsche
Shadowfever--Karen Marie Moning
Freedom of the Will--Augustine
Prologemena to a Future Metaphysics--Immanuel Kant
The Cannibal Princess (Psy-Changelings 1.5)--Nalini Singh
Odd Thomas (Odd 1)--Dean Koontz
Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega 1)--Patricia Briggs
The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson 3)--Rick Riordan
Scotus for Dunces: an Introduction to the Subtle Doctor--Mary Beth Ingham
Blood of Tyrants--Naomi Novik\
This is How You Lose Her--Junot Diaz
The battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson 4)--Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson 5)--Rick Riordan
Wither (Chemical Garden 1)--Lauren Destefano
Visions of Heat (Psy Changlings 2)--Nalini Singh
The Knife of Never Letting Go--Patrick Ness
The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice 1)--John Flanagan
Drown--Junot Diaz
The Ocean at the End of the Lane--Neil Gaiman
The Handmaid's Tale--Margaret Atwood
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe--Benjamin Alire Saenz
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao--Junot Diaz
Norwegian Wood--Haruki Murakami
Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School--Adam Ruben
Night Broken--Patricia Briggs
The Buddha in the Attic--Julie Otsuka
Touch the Dark--Karen Chance
Free Will, Agency, and Meaning in Life--Derek Pereboom
Claimed By Shadow--Karen Chance
Mao II--Don Delillo
Omissions: Agency, Metaphysics, and Responsibility--Randolph Clarke
The Lost Hero--Rick Riordan
The Selection (Selection 1)--Kiera Cass
Hex Hall (Hex Hall 1)--Rachel Hawkins
Fever (Chemical Garden 2)--Lauren Destefano
The Vampire Queen's Servant--Joey M. Hill

Resolutions for 2015: Resolution: [1 private thing]

45 books

Present at at least 1 conference

Make 1 new real friend

Books Read: 2013

Books Read 2013 (Goal: 50); So far--50!
The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen--Kwame Anthony Appiah
Wolf Who Rules--Wen Spencer
Trickster's Choice--Tamora Pierce
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest For What Makes Us Human--V.S. Ramachandran
Trickster's Queen--Tamora Pierce
Iced--Karen Marie Moning
The Ph.D. Survival Guide--Eric Jay Dolin
Theaetetus--Plato
Foundations of Ethics: An Anthology--Editted by Shafer-Landau and Cuneo
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic--Alison Bechdel
Defiance--CJ Redwine
Angels' Blood--Nalini Singh
His Majesty's Dragon--Naomi Novik
Knowledge and Politics in Plato's Theaetetus--Paul Stern
Throne of Jade--Naomi Novik
Wanderlust--Anna Aguirre
Mastiff--Tamora Pierce
Shiver--Maggie Stiefvater
Archangel's Kiss--Nalini Singh
Gorgias--Plato
Black Powder War--Naomi Novik
The Pale King--David Foster Wallace
How To Survive Your PhD--Jason Karp
Dreams and Shadows: A Novel--C. Rober Cargill
The Magician King--Lev Grossman
Talulla Rising--Glen Duncan
Moral Perception--Robert Audi
Bitten--Kelley Armstrong
The Demonologist--Andrew Pyper
Bitterblue--Kristin Cashore
Cain--Jose Saramago
Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls--David Sedaris
Rosemary and Rue--Seanan McGuirre
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius--Dave Eggers
A Confederacy of Dunces--John Kennedy Toole
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir By Lady Trent--Marie Brennan
Shadow and Bone (Grisha 1)--Leigh Bordugo
Notes From No-Man's Land--Eula Biss
Protagoras--Plato
Language, Truth, and Logic--Ayer
Shades of Citizenship--Melissa Nobles
Sources of Normativity--Christine Korsgaard
The Golem and the Jinni--Helene Wecker
Beyond the Highland Mist--Karen Marie Moning
Sebastian--Anne Bishop
Be the Pack Leader--Cesar Milan
Snapper--Brian Kimberling
My Dumb, Dirty Eyes--Lisa Hanawalt
Hyperbole and a Half--Allie Brosh
Skinwalker: A Jane Yellowrock Novel (1)--Faith Hunter

Why "Egalitarianism" Doesn't Work

Ineffective and Inefficient: Why this Feminist has an issue with “Egalitarianism." 

You’ve all heard the rhetoric before: “Why be a feminist when you can be an egalitarian! You can’t have REAL equality unless you focus on everyone equally! Like, we’re all people!" Yeah. I’m here today to explain to you why I don’t buy into that.

If you’re just going to scroll past this post to the reblog button so you can yell at me, I’d like to take a moment and tell you to fucking not. Actually read what’s going on here. 

My issues with Egalitarianism boil down into two delightfully alliterative issues: Effectiveness and Efficiency. The practical and the theoretical, if you will. Let me explain. 

So, what IS Egalitarianism? One problem is that the word is VERY VERY broad, and there really isn’t a lot of actual activism happening under this label, so working definitions are hard to come by. The way MOST people seem to describe it through is this: it is a belief that ALL people, regardless of gender or race or anything else, are equal, and we should work on EVERYONES problems to make sure everyone gets to be equal. 

So, why is this NOT effective?

Remember how I said that there isn’t a lot of activism happening under this label? Yeah, that’s our first problem. I’m not gunna sign up for an activism group that doesn’t really appear to be doing much, if any, activism. The tag here on Tumblr is nearly entirely “feminism sucks. Egalitarianism is better!" posts instead of, ya know, actual issues. And as an activist, I actually want to deal with issues.

But why is in not efficient? 

This is the main issue at hand. Even if there WAS LOTS of activism working under this name, Egalitarianism is NOT informed and theoretically sound in the issues it claims to address, and thus is not equipped to actually deal with those issues. 

When we, as intersectional feminists, look at a problem, we have to ask ourselves, what is the ROOT of these issues? We recognize that there are established social scaffoldings of oppression in place that favor male-ness, whiteness, straightness, cisness, thiness, and being able-bodied over everything else. These forces, such as Patriarchy and White Supremacy, influence people in a variety of ways based on their own identities. 

Sometimes, even power groups take backlash from these systems of inequality. We know that the Patriarchy enforces increasingly strict and aggressive ideals of masculinity, which often works to silence male victims of abuse, for example.When we say that “Patriarchy hurts men too!" this is what we mean.  

Because we understand these power relationships, we can work to dismantle the underlying power structures in our culture to help everyone. 

Egalitarianism does not do this. The rhetoric at play here completely IGNORES these underlying causes and treats ALL gender equality problems as though they were unconnected and equally important. It buys into this strange notion that somehow MISANDRY is responsible for hyper-aggressive ideals of masculinity, or the silencing of male victims, or the draft. So they have to fight Misandry too! Or something?

And here’s the thing: If you don’t understand the ROOT of a problem, you’re never going to be able to fix it. 

Egalitarianism sounds decent enough, and safe enough to not offend those in power. But revolutions need revolutionaries, yall. This weak-tea low-cal substitute doesn’t have the teeth to fight the battles it needs to fight. It is a neutered and de-clawed Feminism that can’t get things done, and doesn’t even try. 

I understand the appeal. I do. But THIS is why I will never use that label, and roll my eyes in frustration when people try to paint it as the MORE EQUAL cousin of feminism. It isn’t. It’s Feminism’s daddy’s boy little brother who never gets his shit taken care of while Big Sister starts the revolution. 

Reblogged from Stfu Assholes

Breaking Up

Having abandoned substance dualism in 2009, I am very saddened to announce this break-up between my mind and body. It was instigated by a commercial I watched on Hulu for First Response pregnancy tests. "Your body can tell you're pregnant before you can," the narrator said matter-of-factly. It dawned on me that we might be having some communication problems. Having thought this over very thoroughly (viz. not at all), my body and I have decided that we need some space.

We are still open to reconciling if we decide that spending time apart is a category mistake.

A racist woman is not a feminist; she doesn’t care about helping women, just the women who look like her and can buy the same things she can. A transphobic woman is not a feminist; she is overly concerned with policing the bodies and expressions of others. A woman against reproductive rights — to use bell hook’s own example, and an issue close to your heart — is not a feminist; she prioritizes her dogma or her disgust over the bodies of others. An ableist woman is not a feminist; she holds some Platonic ideal of what a physically or mentally “whole” person should be and tries to force the world to fit inside it.

An Open Letter to Caitlin Moran by Nyux (via ellielamothe)

gosh yes… death to the caitlin moran “if you’re a woman congrats you’re a feminist” quote

(via feministdisney)

(via sleepydumpling)