September 2018 Wrap Up

1. Catwoman: Soulstealer, Sarah J. Maas (DC Icons #3) 5/5

“She was a ghost. A wraith.”

Two years after escaping Gotham City's slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Batwing is left to hold back the tide of notorious criminals. Gotham City is ripe for the taking. Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove he has what it takes to help people in his role as Batwing. He targets a new thief on the prowl who seems cleverer than most. She has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, and together they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman may be Batwing's undoing.

This is probably my favorite book out of the whole series. I think I'm slightly biased because I love Sarah J. Maas. I think she had the most difficult character to write. She took a character that was over sexualized character and made her human. Not only with Catwoman but with characters like Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. It was so refreshing to read about these characters with realistic depth. Sarah J. Maas does a perfect job of character building and story development.

2. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Anonymous 2/5

I had to read this book for my history class. I clearly wasn't that impressed. I didn't expect to like this book. This book read like the Odyssey. Need I say more?

3. Boy Erased, Garrard Conley 5/5

“What my mother didn’t yet know about being gay in the South was that you never ran out of material, that being secretly gay your whole life, averting your eyes every time you saw a handsome man, praying on your knees every time a sexual thought entered your mind or every time you’d acted even remotely feminine—this gave you an embarrassment of sins for which you constantly felt the need to apologize, repent, beg forgiveness.” 

The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality. When Garrard was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to “cure” him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. Through an institutionalized Twelve-Step Program heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness. By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community. At times heart-breaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds.

The main reason I picked up this book is because it is being turned into a movie. I don't think that I could have watched the movie without reading the book. Conversion Therapy is something that isn't talked about enough. This is one of the most important books I've ever read. I'm fortunate enough to have not experienced conversion therapy. This book perfectly describes what it is like to be gay in a conservative/Christian community. It also shows how dangerous conversion therapy is. The fact that it still prevalent in southern states. I hope that the popularity of this book and movie make people, especially parents, think.  

DFTBA
-AB