Tag: NonFiction

Books, NonFiction

Raygun Humble Brags in The Midwest: God’s Gift to Planet Earth

RaeAnna
Posing with The Midwest: God’s Gift to Planet Earth in front of Raygun in Des Moines’ East Village.

Worth A Read Yes
Length 256
Quick Review If you’re not from the Midwest, you probably know it exists somewhere but the where and the what it is is probably a little foggy. This book will walk you through the important yet forgotten region.

Raygun started out as a tshirt store in Des Moines. It quickly grew a cult following because the t-shirts are hilarious and just about the only ones in my closet. Over the years, they have expanded from t-shirts to art to book publishing. 

This will be a short book review because I can sum it up in: This is hilarious and educational! Two of my favorite things. 

An Iowan by birth, I want people to know my state exists. I would also like for it to not be confused with Ohio or Idaho. Iowa does not share a border with Pennsylvania nor is it known as the Potato State. It does have a border with Illinois and Minnesota and is known as the Hawkeye state. The Midwest is a great book for laughs and learning. Whether you want to know facts about the state, history, or people, Raygun delivers the information in a relatable and very Midwestern way. 

With lines like, “Adam and Eve are prime examples of how not to behave if you want to stay in the Midwest.” followed by “Those who remained and prospered in Eden are today’s Midwesterners.”

There are so many wonderful qualities The Midwest goes over in detail, but one of the most common is “After our good looks, this niceness is what we’re known most for.” As an Iowan, I can say I hear “Oh you’re from Iowa, that’s why you’re so nice.” It gets tiring being stereotyped, but if my home state has to be stereotyped, this is not a bad one. 

The Midwest is so attention starved, this book takes advantage of every single opportunity to point out a famous, important, or any person of note real or fictional that hails from the greatest region in the “galaxy.” Out of the forty-five presidents of the United States, Raygun wants you to know “The Midwest has produced fifteen U.S. presidents. Three were killed, four other survived serious assassination attempts, and two died early. Our current Midwestern president, Barack Obama, may be in a dire situation. After all, just being a Midwestern president gives him a 70% chance of being killed, being shot at, or dying early.” Positive: Obama made it! 

Raygun never misses a chance to make fun of literally anything, including the Midwest. We have a very self-deprecating sense of humor if nothing else. The Midwest is full of information, laughs, illustrations, cartoons, and more; all of which comprise one of the most overlooked yet completely awesome regions in the world. We’re humble, but we will self promote when the occasion arises… Mostly because we want to come and enjoy the under appreciated beauty 67 million people call home!

Memorable Quotes
“Hollywood can’t get enough of us! With character attributes that range from extremely good looking and intelligent to kind and brave, Midwesterners can fill just about any role.” Clark Kent is from Kansas!

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Buy from Raygun

Title: The Midwest: God’s Gift to Planet Earth!; An Illustrated Guide to the History and Culture of the Galaxy’s Most Important Region
Author: Raygun
Publisher: Raygun
Copyright: 2012
ISBN: 9780578116198

Books, NonFiction

Dear Girls by Ali Wong

RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 224
Quick Review Ali Wong writes a series of hilarious and wise-ish letters to her daughters so they can avoid her mistakes, have fun, and live their best life. 

Dear Girls by Ali Wong | Skirt | Sweater | Earrings
Dear Girls by Ali Wong

I instantly fell in love with Ali Wong when she walked onto the screen of my TV with her pregnant belly, dirty mouth, and satire in Baby Cobra. I have definitely paid for an afternoon of her childcare having watched it so many times to make sure other people experience her brilliance. I will consume anything Ali Wong – take that as you will –so obviously I read Dear Girls. I might be biased, but it was great. 

Wong’s voice sings with her unique humor, perspective, story, and more in her first book. The mother of two opens up to the world through letters to her daughters about life, love, sex, marriage, motherhood, traveling, grief, finding oneself, and general human things. It’s a dichotomy of emotions ranging from deep emotional exploration to stupid shit she did as a kid. Wong opens up her life in Dear Girls in a familiar yet fresh way compared to her stand up while remaining true to her voice.  

Comedians are mostly of the male-persuasion. They’re not funnier than women. I’ll let Ali Wong tell you: “Females are just as funny, if not funnier, and definitely quirkier, than men, especially in everyday life.” Yet we’re bombarded with the male perspective and what it means to be a father…. As a lady who will never be a father, the stories I hear from professional male comics on stage are NEVER as funny as the stories told by a random mom literally anywhere. Motherhood is something else. It’s beautiful. It’s also disgusting. Wong never shies away from the gross, and boy does she dive right into the poo-poo of mommydom. It’s disturbing and does not convince me that I want children. That is the beauty of Ali Wong. She loves her daughters, but she’s not going to blow smoke up your pussy and tell you it’s great or easy or magical. It’s hard work. 

Family is another topic she writes about frequently. From her father’s death to her relationship with her siblings and everything in between. She’s the youngest of four kids, but even as the oldest of two kids, I could still relate to, “They had a set of who I was and it affected me. It was limiting. Everything I said generally had no credence because I was at least ten years younger than every single person in my family, so what did I really know?”

Some of my favorite moments are those she speaks about her husband. Their love story is not a fairy tale romance of sparkles and unicorn farts. It’s beautiful in the depth of their love and respect for each other. He wrote the sweetest afterword that is a testament to the foundation of their marriage. I hope if Wong’s daughters take one thing from Dear Girls, it is to find relationships grounded in respect, support, loyalty, and love because it seems to me Wong has surrounded herself with wonderful people. That says a lot about who she is as a person and what she gives to those around her. 

Memorable Quotes
“”You have suffered enough.” That became my mantra for motherhood from there on out.”
“Babies are often born with fingernails so disturbingly long it made me wonder why nobody told me there had been a raccoon living inside my uterus.”
“The answers to making it, to me, are a lot more universal than anyone’s race or gender, and center on having a tolerance for delayed gratification, a passion for the craft, and a willingness to fail.” “And yes, there have been and are still many times these days when I have to check people for defining me via my race and gender.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Dear Girls; Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life
Author: Ali Wong
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780525508830

Books, NonFiction

Amazing Iowa Women by Katy

RaeAnna
In front of the Iowa Capitol Building with Amazing Women by Katy Salwell, Ph.D. in Des Moines.

Worth A Read Yes
Length 69
Quick Review A beautifully illustrated book about the remarkable women who have called Iowa home. 

I am very proud to be from Iowa. We have produced some really amazing people. Names you’ve heard, but most you will never know. Iowans are good people, for the most part, there’s always a shit stick. Amazing Iowa Women is a collection of mostly unknown names, but each woman has made a contribution to their community and the world.

Katy Swalwell, Ph.D. has created a wonderfully inspiring collection of fabulous females. It is definitely with children in mind, but it’s enjoyable for all ages. Salwell keeps the grammar and syntax simple. Though the message is far from simple: Women can do anything even in the face of great obstacles. 

Not only is Salwell calling attention to incredible women, she’s tearing down the Iowan stereotype. Iowa is more than cornfields and housewives. It’s a diverse tapestry telling the story of women’s roles in state and international history. With each biography, Iowa becomes more and more tangible. The women come from all different backgrounds, educations, ethnicities, and more. They reflect the world we live in, the fights that have been fought, and the wars still being waged. These women show Iowa to be the diverse and inclusive place I grew up knowing and not the stereotypical hick pig farm it’s far too often depicted as. 

Each woman’s name is accompanied by their greatest achievements and an outline of Iowa with a star marking their birthplace or home. The biographies share a short story about who the woman was and what she accomplished in her life. Some names are more well known than others, but women are rarely alone in their field or fight. Salwell includes a list of notable Iowa women working on similar things at the bottom of each biography. 

Each of the Amazing Iowa Women is accompanied by a portrait. They come in different styles, colors, and aesthetic appeal, but they are all beautiful. Each portrait was created by a female Iowa artist. 

From Donna Reed to Russell Stover’s Chocolate, Iowa women have been a part of history for as long as the state has existed. Some have gone into the world to do incredible good, and others have stayed close to home creating change in their own communities. Salwell tells the tales of Amazing Iowa Women while supporting local women artists. This is a beautiful book full of history and hope. I loved it, and I would give it to any of my nieces and nephews. 

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Raygun’s Website

Title: Amazing Iowa Women
Author: Katy Swalwell, Ph.D.
Publisher: Raygun
Copyright: 2018

Books, NonFiction

The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off by Gloria Steinem

RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 192
Quick Review Gloria Steinem has been one of the most identifiable women’s rights advocates for over sixty years. She has gathered some of her favorite quotes into this fun and powerful book. 

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My brand of feminism includes not wearing pants whenever possible.

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Spending quarantine reading The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off by Gloria Steinem.

I love quotes. I have a hard time remembering them, but I love them. I think they’re fascinating insights into just about anything, and when they’re really good quotes, they’re insights into everything. Gloria Steinem is quoted often. As a writer, activist, journalist, and all-around bad-ass, she has a lot of great quotes. She took some of her favorites from her career – and a few of her friends’ quotes too – and compiled them into The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off, which is one of her most famous quotes. 

The majority of the book is a collection of quotes. The prologue – like the beginning of every chapter – Steinem talks about moments and experiences in her life, which inspired or informed her work. She also breaks down the statistics, history, political, social, economics behind topics she tackles. The prologue takes the time to explain the title because it’s a quote she wrote many decades ago after being inspired by Vietnam protest signs. The quote went unnoticed for quite awhile until it became a slogan for feminists and others, “In a way, passing on a quote is like putting a note in a bottle and sending it out to sea.” 

Throughout the book some quotes are singled out and decorated with illustrations. The blue lettering used in these illustrations is a fun pop of color. 

The book is centered around women’s rights, but within the feminist realm she speaks to politics, aging, work, family, laughter, power, activism, racism, and more. 

Some might call it arrogant to make a book almost entirely out of your own quotes, but that’s only because she’s a woman. If a man did it, it would be called his greatest hits. I love that she had the lady-balls to say, ‘I like all of these things I’ve written. I like them so much, I want to remind everyone else about these awesome sentences and thoughts.’

A book of quotes is amazing, but it’s kind of hard to review. I highly enjoyed The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off. So I copied down my favoritest quotes, and it was hard to narrow them down because they were all good. It’s a great little book to keep on your coffee table or bookshelf. It’s filled with funny moments, serious topics, and a whole lot of feminism. 

Memorable Quotes
“So many of us are living out the unlived lives of our mothers.”
“A great thing about aging is that all those brain cells that were once devoted to sex are now available for anything else.”
“Democracy begins with owning our bodies. By that measure, women have rarely lived in a democracy.”
“Women can’t have it all if that means doing it all.”
“I hope you find encouragement and company in this lifetime connection of quotes from my speeches, articles, and books, plus some from my friends.”
“The Golden Rule was written by a smart guy for guys, but women need to reverse it: Treat ourselves as well as we treat others.”
“Talent is really enjoying something long enough to get good at it.” Nell Painter

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off
Author: Gloria Steinem
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780593132685

Books, NonFiction

A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar

RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 135
Quick Review It has been Matar’s dream to see Sienese art in person, and he documents that dream in this minute memoir.

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Finding ways to enjoy art while quarantined. | A Month in Siena 

If you have a love for art and a desire to not be trapped inside your own home anymore, A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar is a great little book to read. It’s beautiful, inspiring, and consumable in an afternoon. 

Matar was drawn to Siena because of the art. After his father died, he found himself immersed in the Sienese School of painting in museums around the world. Over the years, it became a comforting obsession for him. He looked for it everywhere and had a burning desire to explore it more in its home city of Siena, Italy. After publishing The Return, he wanted to center himself and relax, so he made his way to Siena for a month, where he dove head first into the art world and focused on eight significant pieces. 

One of my favorite things about reading is the tactility of it. A Month in Siena is a beautiful book with glossy pages and images of some of the notable paintings he mentions within the pages. When talking about art, it’s important to see what is being discussed, and Matar wants the reader to visual immerse themselves in the art as much as he did.  

It is more than a memoir or a book about art, it’s a love letter to Siena, to Sienese art, and art history. Matar writes with the confidence of a seasoned writer but with the excitement of a toddler reaching for a favorite sweet. It is evident, he has found himself in the middle of his own personal heaven in Siena. He speaks about getting lost and falling in love with the tangible city instead of the dream he had built up in his mind throughout his life. He fell in love with the city which inspired his beloved art, but he also fell in love with meeting people and unlocking a deeper part of his soul.

The book is beautiful, but you have to have an appreciation and love for art and art history because that is what A Month in Siena is about: Matar’s love for art and the history of the Sienese School of painting. He has a beautiful way of crafting insightful passages, “With every step I pressed deeper into it and, as though in response, it made room.” The sentences create a picture of who he is as a writer but also as a person. He gives meaning to things and the interconnection of everything, “that cities are there in part to render us more intelligent and more intelligible to each other.”

Matar lets the reader into a part of his soul with this tiny memoir. His reverence for art and history come across in every line. I liked reading A Month in Siena, but it’s definitely for a specific demographic of reader. 

Memorable Quotes
“I remember thinking I did not mind dying – that it would have to come at some point – but that I was not quite ready yet, that dying now would be a waste, given how much time I had s not learning how to live.”
“And it must surely follow that what lies behind our longing and nostalgia is exactly this need to be accounted for.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: A Month in Siena
Author: Hisham Matar
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780593129135  

Books, NonFiction

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 304
Quick Review A heartbreaking look into the formative years of one of America’s greatest poets and humans. 

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Reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou in Houston, Texas | Dress |

Mention Maya Angelou, most people know who she is and the eminence that name conveys. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is one of her most well known works, but I had never read it. Some of these great books, I’ve had a hard time making myself read because I know I’ll never be able to read it for the first time again, but I finally read this one. 

Angelou wrote an incredible memoir about coming of age as a smart black girl in the segregated South, being tossed between family members, surviving trauma, and finding the resilience to keep going. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, speaks to being trapped. Trapped by racism, trapped by circumstance, trapped by trauma, trapped by family, trapped by any number of things. Angelou grew up under vastly different circumstances in a very different time, but I saw myself in her words. Angelou conveys the suffocation of being trapped by people’s perceptions and actions. It’s impossible not to ache for the little girl within the pages. 

The words are incredible moving. Angelou has a way of describing simple, quotidian things in a magnificent way, “fans moved with the detachment of old men.” It’s beautiful in it’s relatability. The writing is incredible. Angelou was a poet, and her ability to play with words and paint pictures is on full display. 

What spoke to me most was the shame and loneliness Angelou dealt with. She was abandoned repeatedly by her family depending on what suited their needs. After being raped as a young girl, she dealt with the shame, guilt, religious sorrow, and gaslighting alone. It’s a sad story, but it’s not a unique one.

She was born Marguerite Johnson. “After Bailey learned definitely that I was his sister, he refused to call me Marguerite, but rather addressed me each time as “Mya Sister,” and in later more articulate years, after the need for brevity had shortened the appellation to “My,” it was elaborated into “Maya.” The love between Bailey and Maya was apparent on every page. She took the name he gave her and wore it publically until the day she died. 

It’s hard to write about iconic works like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings because they are so well known and talked about with so much reverence. I loved this touching memoir. It’s in the American canon for a reason.  

Memorable Quotes
“Excitement is a drug, and people whose lives are filled with violence are always winding where the next “fix” is coming from.”
“The Black woman in the South who raises sons, grandsons and nephews had her heartstrings tied to a hanging noose.”
“It seemed terribly unfair to have a toothache and a headache and have to bear at the same time the heavy burden of Blackness.”
“He told me once that “all knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market.””
“The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Author: Maya Angelou
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 1969
ISBN: 9780812980028