Recommended Reads and See's, as of 6/6/08

[retsuko]

Books:

Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things that are Very, Very Bad for Me, by Sarah Katherine Lewis: I know that you shouldn't buy books based on the title alone, but I have to admit that I was completely taken in by this one. Bacon is one of the major obstacles to my flirtation with vegetarianism, and anyone who equates the act of eating it to sexual pleasure has hit the nail right on the head. The book did not disappoint! Lewis is a veteran of the sex industry, having starred in a number of porn films and worked at a strip club. Her observations on the sex industry are particularly interesting, as she talks about how working in it strengthened her self-esteem and simultaneously worried about her about women's general self-worth:

"I'm fully aware of the absurdity of having learned to love my body by working in such a legendarily woman-hating industry. I hate that I had to show my tits in order to learn to love them, that slapping a price tag on my pussy taught me to respect my own physical value, not only as a female, but as a living, breathing human being worthy of nourishing food, loving care, and respect. It's a damn paradox, and I feel like I'm skating dangerously close to the kind of bullshit pro-adult-industry "sex positive" rah-rahism that I despise. So I want to say this again: the sex industry is mostly very, very fucked up. It pushes us apart from each other and teaches us to use each other as objects, instead of seeing each other as real, living, complicated human beings. But it's also got islands of okay-ness in the midst of all its horrible, alienating lies--and one of them is that it's hard to hate your own body when it has become your best friend and strongest ally in your pursuit of a livable wage."

The descriptions of the places Lewis worked, and the customers who paid for the privilege of seeing her engage in a number of acts (many of them having to do with food) are lurid and almost eerie in the sense of loneliness that radiates out from the page. (This work, and Diablo Cody's memoir about stripping, Candy Girl, have both made me very conscious that stripping, even in its milder incarnations, is Something I Could Never Do, because the other people involved would gross me out too much.) But the book blooms into joy when Lewis writes about food, and why she loves to eat. The acts of sex and eating, she explains, are not far apart from one another; both represent the culmination of desire, and at their best, mean more emotionally than the simple physical acts that they are.

Lewis intersperses recipes throughout the her essays--an essay about fried chicken is right after her piece on the weird foods she's eaten: whale, marrow, sweet breads, goat pancreas. It's clear from her writing that Lewis is not into precise measurements and that her style of cooking is of the throw-things-in-and-taste school. But that's OK. Really, it is. If I gained nothing else from this book, I have plans to make a delicious round of chocolate truffles for myself and my sweetie, and I want to make curry again as soon as possible. Lewis captured, in words, what some tastes are really like, how fat spreads across your tongue and down into your belly, and why bacon is so damned good that I can't give it up. Sorry, vegetarianism. I love food too much, and I love reading this too much. Try another time.

Murder with Reservations (A Dead End Jobs Mystery), by Elaine Viets: This is #7 or 8 of the Dead End Jobs series, and I think the writer is starting to realize that her main character's central motivation is wearing thin. Hence, this volume really speeds in the meta-plot along. I'm sincerely hoping that the next book will give some kind of resolution of the admittedly silly premise for the main character's presence at so many terrible jobs. That said, this book was a great diversion, and Viets writes with genuine sympathy for the other workers who are stuck with Dead End Jobs because they can't do any better, while our heroine learns that what's really holding her back is HERSELF. After this book, I will never undertip a hotel maid again. I would also love to see these books crossed over with the Dexter series, as both of them take place in South Florida, but I don't think Viets is into that amount of gore or gravitas.

DVDs:

Hustle (Seasons 1 & 2): If you enjoyed The Sting or any of the Ocean's # movies, you will enjoy this series; if you like heists or complicated scheming with double- and triple-crosses, you will like this; if you want a tightly plotted, well-written TV show about some well-intentioned con artists, you will definitely enjoy this series. I am incredibly impressed at the writers' ability to hold the resolution of the plot off until the last ten minutes of the episode, and not have it feel forced or annoying. Also, if you're not looking to get into a million episode series, each season is just six episodes long! A winner in all circles! I've enjoyed it immensely.

Manga:

Nightmare Inspector: I expected this to be a CLAMP rip-off, to be perfectly honest. With its dreamy cover design, and androgynous main character, it hovers just above the rip-off line. What brought it over the "rip-off level" and into the "decent" level for me was the nightmares themselves, which were remarkably rich and visually detailed. NI is the story of the Hiruko, a baku, dream eater, who sits in a cafe and waits for clients to approach him; when they do arrive, he goes into the dream with them and attempts to fix it in a way that's good for them and him (he gets to "eat" the dream, which turns into a marble-sized ephemeral jelly-like thing at the conclusion). The nightmares themselves are wonderfully illustrated, fully realized spaces that often take up the bulk of the storyline. My favorite was the story of a young man who dreams of a woman who calls him on the phone every night and talks and talks, but never wants to meet with him; in the dream, he is speaking with her in a mirror, but her reflection won't turn around and speak to him. The solution to this story is simple enough, but the major plot wrinkle that results is surprising. I hope this story will pick up a bit in the next few volumes and distinguish itself rather more from its obvious source of inspiration.

Beauty Pop, Volume 8: I've talked about this manga before, but I will simply say that Volume 8 brings a true villain into the midst of the story and contains the most ham-handed attempt at courting a girl that I have ever seen in a manga. Highly readable, wonderfully funny. Most assuredly NOT a guilty pleasure.

In other fannish news: the new X-Files trailer is out. And... and... at the risk of sounding horribly cheesy, I want to believe! But I'm not getting a good vibe from it. But perhaps the problem is that I'm just not getting a good vibe from the X-Files in general, anymore. It's coming out smack in the middle of Comic Con, too, which I suppose the studio thinks is good timing. But the series jumped the shark, then married the shark, and had shark-babies that went on to save Spring Break. So, Chris Carter, you'll pardon me if I'm not feeling more jazzed about the film. I just don't think I'm ready to love conspiracy again.

Comments

[lyras.livejournal.com]

That sex and bacon book sounds great! I have this book (http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11404) in my to read pile, which looks as if it shares certain themes (although possibly not conclusions).

Also, I have now been vegetarian for sixteen years, and when my boyfriend cooks bacon I am still tempted. Still. :)

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

That other book looks very interesting, but I would definitely agree that there are different conclusions to be had. :)

Wow, go you for the vegetarianism! I still can't do it--bacon and sushi are my nemeses. :S

[(Anonymous)]

I must admit, I ate fish in Japan when we were there last year. I'd only given it up about a year previously, and it would have been a real struggle to find food otherwise, given the language barrier. So I can be flexible :).

[lyras.livejournal.com]

And, whoops, that was me logged out, obviously!