Did you know that Iran has the second-highest number of sexual reassignment surgeries done in the world? They do more per year than anywhere else, with the exception of Thailand. It can even be subsidized by the government. This really did kind of floor me. You think Iran, you think very old-world religious, especially when it comes to things like sexuality. It turns out, though, they consider a person being born into the wrong body a very serious medical condition that should be corrected as […]
Le Droit de Choisir
As a rule, I’m not a fan of film adaptations of books. There are of course exceptions, but it’s rare that I finish a book and go, “Wow, this would make a great movie!” After finishing The Perfume Collector, however, I have to say that this would make an excellent HBO miniseries. The story takes place in 1955 Paris and then 1920’s and 30’s New York, Monte Carlo, England, and France. The lush costumes, the glamours sets, the sprawling story of two women who are both trying […]
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
The thing about sequels, or any book that comes after the first in a series, is that you’re never quite sure how they’re going to stack up to the first. Obviously, the first was good enough to get you to come back for more, but will it be as you remembered? Will the characters and story not only hold up, but progress? That’s the tricky part, I think. Sequels have to be better, have to push the story further along and really get you invested. […]
Sex, Drugs, and…Big Band Music?
I always like to do a little research on the authors before I start writing my reviews. In this case, it actually helped make a lot od sense: Petersen is a professor and part-time writer for sites like Buzzfeed and The Hairpin, which is probably why her book reads a little like a dissertation and a little like an article you’d find in Slate. I’m not going so far as to say that’s a bad thing, but for a topic with such promise of dirt […]