"We let giant ferocious beasts lead our way."

[lizbee]

This morning at the train station I was given a free recyclable shopping bag.  It is black with a pink high-heeled sparkly shoe on it, and is allegedly to raise awareness of breast cancer. 

Breast cancer: it exists.  Let's all take a moment to think about that.

Entirely unrelated except in that it made me discontent with the universe, I finished the first Sano Ichiro mystery by Laura Joh Rowland, and I was heartily disappointed.  A series about a samurai in Edo Japan who FIGHTS CRIME?  SIGN ME UP! 

I was kind of secretly hoping for something like the Benjamin January mysteries, with rich characters and setting that opens a window into a culture I don't know much about, while also being a jolly good whodunnit.  Unfortunately, this book was kind of badly written, with lots of simplistic telling not showing, and a lead character who is frankly too stupid to live.  And, to be honest, a lot of dead, imprisoned or demoted-from-courtesan-into-common-prostitute ladies. 

The worst bit is that I'll probably keep reading the books in those times when I have nothing better, just because the setting does seem well-researched and interesting.  BUT I WON'T BE HAPPY ABOUT IT.  Unless they improve, which would be pretty great, especially as this first one was Rowland's first published novel and she's written about a bazillion since then.

Comments

[deird1]

Oh, is that what those bags were for? I was wondering. I get rather sick of people trying to hand me free stuff every time I get off the train...

[lizbee]

Well, the girl mumbled, "Raise awareness for breast cancer" as she pushed it into my hand, so I'm assuming. It certainly doesn't say anything about it anywhere on the actual product.

I miss the days when they gave out free cans of Red Bull.

[melwil]

I'm starting to think that people have a problem with talking about breast cancer outright and must find some oblique way to kind of refer to it and possibly raise some sort of awareness for something.

It's like selling lipstick to raise awareness of mental illness in women . . . (or according to that one Myer ad I saw once)

[lizbee]

That makes a lot of sense. Along with, I think, discomfort that breasts can become diseased. That's not sexy! But breasts are supposed to be sexy! COGNITIVE DISSONANCE! So breast cancer-related material becomes really hyper-femme, all pink and sparkles and high heels, to compensate.

A couple of survivors on my flist have talked a lot about the pressure they face to have reconstructive surgery after their masectomies, and the confusion and hostility when they don't immediately turn around for more surgery or padding or whatever.

[melwil]

I feel that we've made some sort of thought breakthrough, which is amazing because I took kids on an excursion today and I'm exhausted.

The 'breasts must be sexy' thing has such wide ramifications like the insistence that small breasted women must be wanting push up bras (no) and how hard it is to find simple bras that aren't sports bras. It's like people are showing off how enlightened they are by appreciating breasts as a sexual thing, without remembering that they're actually a part of a women with many other aspects to her.

[lizbee]

Any breakthrough was entirely accidental on my part.

"Breasts must be sexy" -- see also hostility to breast feeding, including claims it's a form of paedophilia.

[tree_and_leaf]

I was really disturbed to discover a while back (can't find the link, but it was in the Guardian) that the NHS only reconstructs breasts to a C-cup or above; so if you had A- or B-cup breasts and wanted reconstructive surgery, you'd also have to have your other breast enlarged. With the justification that (a) it wasn't economically justifiable to buy A or B cups and (b) every women with small breasts wants to be bigger, right?

*stabbity*

[lizbee]

WHAT?

I mean, I'm a G cup, but if I had to have a masectomy I'd go for the reconstruction (...my boobs are a big part of me!), and if there was an arbitrary rule that I couldn't go back to my original size, I'd be really, really upset.

[tree_and_leaf]

I know, it's appalling. (Of course, policies may have changed, and I certainly hope so). But the whole thing is traumatic enough without having further changes to your body (not to mention totally unnecessary further procedures) effectively forced on you....

[melwil]

That's absolutely awful. It's pretty much saying that breasts aren't breasts unless they're a C cup. I might have small breasts, but they're very definitely there.

[drakyndra]

I was kind of secretly hoping for something like the Benjamin January mysteries, with rich characters and setting that opens a window into a culture I don't know much about, while also being a jolly good whodunnit.

That is actually a really interesting idea, and definitely something I'd want to read more of. Got anything more than these Benjamin January books, which are also new to me?

[lizbee]

Well, the January novels are by Barbara Hambly, and they're about a free man of colour in 1830s New Orleans. As the series opens, he's just returned to the city after a long spell in Europe, so he's experiencing his native culture through somewhat fresh eyes. And he's accused of a crime he didn't commit, and the white authorities aren't all that concerned with the fate of one black man, so he begins investigating himself. This leads to ZANY ADVENTURES, or at least, ten books and a vast supporting cast of mostly people of colour.

[drakyndra]

Well, I do like my some detective stories and it's not an era or place that I know a huge amount about, so if they have your recommendation I may check them out. ...After I get done with the current To Read list, which is still several books long.

Where do you get this series? eBooks, your average chain bookstore, have to hunt them down?

[lizbee]

Chain stores don't have them, but there are ebooks, and also the paperbacks are only about $7 from BookDepository. And most libraries seem to have them.

[drakyndra]

I always forget about BookDepository. Which is probably bad for my bank balance.

[kerravonsen]

The worst bit is that I'll probably keep reading the books in those times when I have nothing better, just because the setting does seem well-researched and interesting.

Have you read "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series? No, not a historical mystery, but they're set in Botswana, with a delightful cast of characters.

[fyrdrakken]

Also made into a series, I think on HBO, that appears to have only gotten one season but was worth seeing.

[kerravonsen]

HBO or the BBC? I know the BBC did a pilot...

[lizbee]

It was in fact a collaboration between the BBC and HBO!

[lizbee]

I tried to read the first one, but couldn't finish it. I found the narrative's tone really condescending, and wasn't at all shocked to learn that the series is controversial among African bloggers and reviewers.

[kerravonsen]

Oh dear.
Does that mean I'm supposed to feel guilty for liking them?

[lizbee]

...no? I don't know? That's not a question I can answer for you?

[yukinoomoni]

How do shiny pumps raise awareness of breast cancer? That's confusing.

[phosfate]

I'm not quite sure when Breast Cancer Awareness turned into a super sparkly designer brand, but it has. I look forward to the campaign for the male counterpart, when we are given swag emblazoned with BALLS in large aggressive letters.