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Link love (Powered by chores and big books)

nzmuse blog link love

It’s funny how rapidly one’s reading habits can swing from one extreme to another. A couple of years ago I suddenly lost all desire to read YA and cheesy chick lit, and delved deep into literary fiction.

And then I finally got around to reading John Green. And I couldn’t get enough of him. Now I’m back on the YA trail with a vengeance (and since I may soon be getting into mentoring a high school kid, it’s probably good timing). Alas, I think Gus has been miscast in The Fault in Our Stars; he looks nothing like what I expected, and now I’m not so sure I want to see the film.

This week brought some record low temperatures to Auckland; it almost makes me nostalgic for the punishing heat and dust of Cambodia – if it weren’t for the fact that country broke my heart and I could frankly never bear to return.

 Onto the links…

A prime example of the madness that is our housing market (I’m only hard on you because I know you can do better, Auckland!)

I must confess I never knew much about Maya Angelou and I have no time for poetry, but this is a beautiful piece of writing

Trust me, this post about coping in dying industries is not what you expect. (Think … mugging, instead.) Just click the damn link!

An unusually contemplative post over at Get Rich Slowly ponders the different ways that we dream

It’s doubtful I will ever get to this level of investing savvy, but here’s a cautionary read on the risks of investing in different currencies than your own (obviously relevant to us here in NZ)

A poignant take on the drudgery that makes up adult life and living the hell out of it

Lastly, the deadliness of misogyny is hot right now. Here are three of my favourite takes on the topic:

Shamed to death for saying yes to sex, murdered for saying no

If you have sex, you won’t be respected, but if you don’t have sex, you still won’t be respected. It’s an impossible paradox. This week, that paradox became deadly. This week women have died for saying yes to sex. And women have died for saying no.

Your princess is in another castle

Men are taught that women are things to “earn,” to “win.” That if we try hard enough and persist long enough, we’ll get the girl in the end.

Our sexual assault problem is … not easily solved by a hashtag

We want men to be sensitive, but when they are, we make fun of them for being soft and “crying like a girl.” When a man chases us down the street and we’re attracted to him, it’s sweet. When a man chases us down the street and we’re not attracted to him, it’s harassment….

Mothers and fathers put much less of a box around girls. They are encouraged to use their imagination — if they want Legos, their parents are not worried about what it means; they simply give her Legos. God forbid, a little boy wants to play with a Barbie — most parents are not evolved enough to see that just because their boy wants to play with a Barbie does not mean he’s anything except curious and imaginative, as children are wont to be. However, this suppression of natural urges is struck down very early on, from how they should play to how they should act to how they should talk to how they are supposed to present themselves to the world.

(I have a few mixed feelings on this one but overall found it thought provoking.)

 

 

7 thoughts on “Link love (Powered by chores and big books)

  • Reply Sense June 1, 2014 at 23:03

    Ugh, you are so right. THE AUCKLAND HOUSING MARKET CAN BLOW ME.

    Bane of my existence, right there…have found NOTHING decent in my price range after looking for nearly a month, even after lowering my standards (by A LOT).

  • Reply Sense June 1, 2014 at 23:36

    Also I love John Green! Listened to A Fault in Our Stars on tape while doing repetitive stuff at work and it blew me away. Just stunning writing. I wish more adult fiction were to the same standard as YA sometimes.

    Just watching the trailer made me bawl. Can’t wait for the movie. I love Shailene Woodley but she is getting overexposed very quickly…and she is bonkers, eating dirt…

    Who would you have cast as Gus?

    • Reply eemusings June 2, 2014 at 15:12

      No idea, I don’t really keep up with Hollywood and definitely don’t know any younger actors – me bitching without providing any alternatives, I know! Open to suggestions…

  • Reply Sense June 1, 2014 at 23:37

    Have you read Paper Towns?? Loved that one, really loved it.

    Sarah Dessen is also a fave YA writer…

    • Reply eemusings June 2, 2014 at 15:10

      No not yet, might do!

      Read a few Sarah Dessen books back in my teens. Okay, not one of my fave writers though.

  • Reply Lisa June 2, 2014 at 00:12

    Ugh – the misogyny pieces were a hard read! (thanks for sharing them btw – but a hard and depressing read).

  • Reply Revanche June 3, 2014 at 15:57

    “God forbid, a little boy wants to play with a Barbie”
    We were over at a friend’s house and they had a brother/sister pair of friends over and the kids were playing some elaborate keepaway game with a doll. The mom hollered after her son, “You know that you’re a boy, right?” and I just looked at her, a bit astounded. Did she feel like she had to assert some “masculinity perception” in there so we wouldn’t think he wasn’t a boy for “playing with” a doll? It was really strange.

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