The House of Hades, by Rick Riordan (Heroes of Olympus #4)

Via.

Genre: Fiction, YA

Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Published: 2013

Publisher: Hyperion Books

Pages: 583

Okay, so I know that I'm like a year late to the House of Hades party (and that The Blood of Olympus just came out), but I told myself that I was going to catch up with my reviews, and anyway I can't help it if I forget to read my books sometimes. (Plus, it was totally spoiled for me on at least two counts, so forgive me if I wasn't super desperate to learn major plot development.)

The House of Hades is the fourth book in Rick Riordan's "Heroes of Olympus" series (the follow-up to the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series), and immediately follows the events of the previous book, The Mark of Athena. Annabeth and Percy are in Tartarus, fighting their way towards the Doors of Death (along with every other monster and titan they've basically ever faced). The rest of the crew (Leo, Nico, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Jason) is on the lookout for the House of Hades, where they expect to close the (aforementioned) Doors of Death. Basically, drama llamas abound as the eight demigods continue on their quest to prevent the giants from raising the awakening Gaea.

I really enjoyed this book, although I do wish that there had been additional characters that had received their own "point of view" chapters (I'm looking at you, Nico and Reyna...). I think that sometimes the action in this book came and went in bursts — which was alternately refreshing and irksome. I think I really appreciated hearing more about the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses, and also really enjoyed glimpses of Camp Half Blood, as well as (my gurl) Reyna. I do expect there to be more of Reyna (and Nico!) in Blood of Olympus, so I'll just have to wait a little while longer...!

I also liked how House of Hades explored Percy and Annabeth's relationship. Percy/Annabeth is obviously R. Riordan's main ship, but it was nice (in my opinion) for the author to explore his reasoning for the couple's coupledom while examining Percy and Annabeth's thoughts about the other. I feel like in a series like Heroes of Olympus (and Percy Jackson & the Olympians) where there are characters with a history that spans several books, it's really useful to sometimes stop and take a breather and question characters' motives and opinions. 

I would definitely recommend House of Hades to those familiar with the series, or anyone who is  interested at all in Greek or Roman mythology. (Honestly, the mythology aspect is probably what interests me most in the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series.) I look forward to reading the next one when I get back home for break, and will hopefully have my fill of Reyna and Nico then. 

The Mayor of Castro Street, by Randy Shilts

Unfortunately, I'm still playing catch-up with my reviews. Stay with me, kids.

Genre: Biography, Non-Fiction

Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Published: 1982

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pages: 348

Last year, I read Randy Shilts's And the Band Played On , which is his account of the early years of AIDS public policy and scientific research. DESPITE it being a little over 600 pages (of small, frequently scientific print), I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to put it on my "favorites" list on the basis that it was infuriating, informative, heartbreaking, and then some. After reading it, I decided that I wanted to check out his other books, so I picked up The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk.

I originally wanted this review to coincide with a few events: Milk's birthday, the issuing of a Harvey Milk stamp , and the release of HBO's The Normal Heart (which is more about AIDS than it is about Harvey Milk). Unfortunately, this review is quite a few months overdue. (Talking about my good intentions is just as good as actually following through, yeah?)

(I guess I'd also like to give a quick disclaimer before this review to say that I identify as straight, and so I might fail to convey some important information in this review.)

The Mayor of Castro Street is a comprehensive biography of Harvey Milk, who became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California when he won a position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. The book begins with his childhood in Long Island and follows him throughout his adulthood in New York City, Texas, his time in the Navy, and his eventual move to the Castro District in San Francisco. 

As Shilts details these personal details, he also assesses the social and cultural events that caused the Castro to emerge as a gay neighborhood. Shilts also spends time detailing San Franciscan politics (as well as "gay" politics) prior to Harvey's arrival, including the activist José Sarria (who was the first only gay candidate for public office in the United States), as well as gay political organizations such as the Alice B. Toklas Memorial Democratic Club.

I found The Mayor of Castro Street to be as inspiring and interesting as it was heartbreaking and infuriating. While the book does focus on the "gay" movement, "gay" in this instance refers to (almost exclusively) as "male," since (asides from Anne Kronenberg, a political aide of Harvey) lesbians receive little mention in this book. Transgender individuals also receive little to no mention. This...lack of political representation made me wonder if the change that Harvey inspired would be been possible if he were lesbian, transgender, or an LGBT+ person of color.

From left to right: Harvey Milk, George Moscone, Dan White. White was convicted of the manslaughter, as opposed to murder, of Milk and Moscone. White served only five years of a seven year sentence.  Via .

The Mayor of Castro Street is at times an infuriating recollection of local, state-wide, and national politics of the 1960s and 1970s. Gay politics then relied almost exclusively on straight, liberal allies. Harvey, Shilts, notes, was regarded as radical by many members of the "old guard" gay political community because he argued that gays should seize power for themselves and not rely on handouts or favors from said "allies." 

I found that it complemented Shilts's And the Band Played On very nicely, as Band discussed the effect that Harvey had nationwide on gay politics and attitudes. I also noticed parallels between Shilts's discussion of gentrification in San Francisco during the 1970s and now.

I do not think Shilts tried to pull many (or any) punches when it came to describing Harvey, and so I would like to think that Mayor enabled me to develop a more complex view of Harvey Milk.

In The Mayor of Castro Street, Shilts has crafts a work that is as suspenseful as it is detailed. Shilts slowly sets the state, introducing characters, their motivations, and their eventual fates. His subtlety is devastating. (I say "devastating" because it feels like a sucker punch to the gut — I had a lot of "oh my god, of course" moments while reading this book.) 

I think The Mayor of Castro Street absolutely deserves a five star rating. This book made ​​me think about my own (straight, cis white) privilege, how that privilege has carried into the current/modern era (especially regarding political representation), and how "radicalism" can be as benign as saying that marginalized peoples and communities should represent themselves in government. It made ​​me consider how much progress we have made ​​(as a society, as well as legally) in the LGBT+ civil rights movement. This book both enthralled me and upset me while providing me with a rich history of San Francisco and the LGBT+ civil rights movement. I would absolutely recommend this book for anyone interested in American history, LGBT+ issues, or civil rights.

Interested in learning more? See Before / After Stonewall , The  Castro , and  The Times of Harvey Milk .

Not My Father's Son: A Memoir, by Alan Cumming

Basically the only decent picture I could get of the book. Via .

Genre: Memoir

Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Published: 2014

Publisher: It Books

Pages: 288

Many like my age (I'm sure), the first time I saw Alan Cumming on the big screen (or any screen, tbh), It Was the first Spy Kids  movie. He played the villian-turn-good guy (spoilers?), Floop, a reclusive toymaker / TV star who lived in a crazy, Gaudi-esque mansion on a remote island. Was he weird? Yes. Was he sympathetic? Oh, totally. Have I seen anything else he's been in since That? No, not really.  (Just kidding. I saw him in the Emma movie too.) 

This past spring, It Books reached out to book bloggers interested in reading and reviewing Cumming's memoir, Not My Father's Son. Interested in learning more about Cumming, I kind of blindly requested a copy. I would say that I'm generally pretty clueless about celebrities' personal lives, and haven't really read celebrity memoirs / autobiographies before (The sole exception being Is Everyone Hanging Out ​​Without Me?  by Mindy Kaling).   I kind of forgot about it, actually, until one day when I got a copy in the mail! (Surprise packages are AWESOME, and doubly so when they're books.)

In Not My Father's Son, Alan Cumming discusses and details the years of abuse he endured at the hands of his father, spanning from his childhood and lasting into his adult life. As Cumming grows up and begins to question his father as well as the reasons for his father's abuse, Cumming also starts to differentiate himself from his father's person and develops an interest in acting.

Cumming's voice caries through the narrative easily, and I was almost surprised at how quickly I fell into the pages of this book. Cumming gives, I think, a very full and detailed account of his childhood as well as more recent events pertaining to the taping of "his" episode on the show Who Do You Think You Are? Because I found Cumming's tone to be conversational, I wasn't entirely surprised when he would digress from the subject at hand (his father, his identity, etc.) in order to talk about his hair, Eurovision, and his fear of losing his Masterpiece! job at PBS to Patti Smith. 

I found Not My Father's Son to be a very engaging book. Cumming's style is at times self-depreciating, but is also very raw and open. He is very open about his life, and rarely (if ever) shies away from "uncomfortable" subjects. I would personally recommend this book depending on whether or not you have an interest in "celebrity" books or are interested in learning more about Alan Cumming. Not My Father's Son has piqued my interest in reading more "celebrity" books and memoirs. By the end of the book, I found myself with a new appreciation for his work. I look forward to his next project(s).