A-Z Challenge: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "R"

Throughout the A-Z Challenge I'll be blogging through the alphabet using each letter to create a list of Random Acts of Kindness. I've been collecting RAK ideas for some time now as I gear up to the 2016 launch of a project dear to my heart: B(e) Kind 366. I'll be performing an act of kindness every day of the leap year starting January 1st, 2016 while raising funds for World University Service of Canada (WUSC), an organisation that changed my life.

I'm starting each post with a synonym (of sorts) for kindness. I added this part to my posts because of an amazing movement I am a part of 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion. We link up monthly and blog about changing the world for the better. It's magical really. We're even on Twitter! @1000Speak

R is for Respect

Random - Pick a name from the phone book and mail surprise note/gift  

Re - shelve misplaced groceries, -hang clothes that have fallen off store hangers, -use plastic and canvas grocery bags.

Read - to a child, to a senior, something you normally wouldn’t, something from a banned book list, something written by someone from a marginalized group, a book that someone recommends, to participate in a reading challenge or a read-a-thon. Read something and pass it along to someone else or leave it in a public place for a stranger. I recommend: Citizens of Nowhere

Recycle

Review – a book, a film, a restaurant, someone’s customer service, BUT make sure it’s all positive!

Run – 1km, 5km, 10km, a half marathon, a full marathon. Run to raise funds or run just to run! (I’ll be running a half marathon in December of 2016.)

Ride for Refuge (I'll be biking 25km in October of 2016.)

That's it for my "R" list! I am always looking for more RAK ideas so if any come to mind please do post them in the comments!

Since I keep urging you to check out my super fun "If Jane Austen Blogged A-Z" post to win some Jane Austen swag, it's only fitting that I give you an "R is for Reading" recommendation from Jane Austen's novels as well. If you have read two or more Austen novels, I highly recommend Northanger Abbey. It is, by far, my favourite. If you have never read Austen or have only read Pride and Prejudice, then I recommend Sense and Sensibility! It's hilarious and you'll love it! If you enter my giveaway, you'll have a VERY good chance of winning some read-worthy Austen books!

Restrictive Pronouns: Reading and Writing Ungendered

After reading Book Riot Contributor Rah Carter's article, "Missed LGBT History Month? There's a Book For That," I immediately ordered Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Denis Rodman by Leslie Feinberg. I wanted to read it primarily for my own interest and lack of knowledge on the subject matter and secondly because it would fit two categories of The Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge: Challenge 5 - A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ and Challenge 10 – a microhistory. Actually, come to think of, it would also fit Challenge 6: A book by a person whose gender is different from your own.

I haven't learned this much from a book in a long time and that's saying a lot considering I'm a Master's of Arts student in English Literature. It's only fitting to quote Feinberg in explaining what Transgender Warriors is about: "It is a fresh look at sex and gender in history and the interrelationships of class, nationality, race, and sexuality." Feinberg explains the difference between transgender and transsexual and lists a whole host of terms that fit within the definition of "transgender." As Feinberg struggles to come to terms with identity and treatment by society in general, readers go on a historical journey through an often hidden, but highly non-heteronormatively sexualized past. My heart hurt many times over as the microhistory moved into the more recent realms of patriarchy and capitalism that lead to the disgusting treatment of transgender people that sadly still occurs today. Don't get me wrong, as a society we have come a very long way, but we still have a very long way to go.

As I read personal statements like, "People stare at me wherever I so. Some who gawk at me shift between seeing me as a very feminine man and extremely masculine woman. I unnerve them because they can't determine my sex," it really hit me how much a person's gender is simply irrelevant. Feinberg includes a quote from Craig Hickman, poet and performance artist, that says "I often am seen by people as a 'What's that?' to which I usually respond 'Isn't beautiful enough?' We are attracted to people, to personalities, and even though physical attraction is very important, why - really - is the gender associated with any one characteristic important at all?

If I had to choose only one thing that had the most impact on me from this book, it would be the realization that language is so very restrictive. "Language can't be ordered individually, as if from a Sears catalog," writes Feinberg. I have a number of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances that could be labelled under one or more of the LGBTQ category. I have a best friend who is currently doing graduate studies research on bisexual female youth in sport and one of the most difficult parts of the research is finding people who are willing to label themselves. And really, who can blame them?

You may have noticed that I avoided using any gendered pronouns in this post, or maybe you didn't. Either way, the point is that writing ungendered can be done! After all, why should we define ourselves by a pronoun?!

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I haven't been able to get the ideas of writing ungendered and reading about ungendered characters out of my mind since I read Feinberg's book. I did a quick internet search for books that contain gender-neutral characters and was pleasantly surprised at the results. Here are just a few I plan to add to my TBR list:

Lock In by John Scalzi

This is a Sci-Fi novel that follows the story of two police agents, Chris Shane and Leslie Vann (two obviously gender-neutral names), twenty-five years after the outbreak of a contagious virus that causes one percent of its victims to become "Hadens" - fully alert humans who are unable to respond to stimuli or move. Main character, Chris Shane - whose gender is never revealed - is a Haden investigating the murder of a fellow Haden. An "Integrator" is someone who can allow a Haden to use their body which is how agent Shane functions. I actually think I'm going to check out one of the two audio-versions of Lock In, either the one narrated by Wil Wheaton (pretty cool, right?!) or the one by Amber Benson (also cool).

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brenzenoff

This one is YA Fiction and tells the story of sixteen-year old Kid (clearly gender-neutral). Kid's life on the streets of Brooklyn is full of adventure and love and the gender of the main character nor the lover, Scout, is ever revealed. YA is typically a genre that never really seems to be able to capture my interest, but this novel and its ungendered characters has already peaked mine.

Call Me Tree by Maya Christina Gonzalez

Of all the books that came up during my search, this colourful work of Children's Literature is the most intriguing. I say that because it is a children's book and if we are going to start changing the conversation about gender and its arguable lack of importance, then the best place to start is with our children. Gonzalez' main character obviously goes by the name Tree and the story explores the idea of why someone is called he or she and the assumptions made when calling someone by a gendered pronoun. I may be an adult, but Call Me Tree is definitely a book I want to add to my collection and introduce my own children to (whenever that day comes).

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Before I write anything about this book I have to thank Carolyn from Riedel Fascination for creating the Ethereal 2015 reading challenge. I don't know if I ever would have picked up A Discovery of Witches if it wasn't for the theme of this challenge. The genre is not what I typically spend much time with. The last novel I read for the challenge featured unicorns (a creature I'm fascinated by) and this time I chose witches (another ethereal interest). What I didn't know when I picked up A Discovery of Witches is that I would be reading about not only witches, but vampires, deamons, ghosts, and a house that is more than haunted, but, rather, alive.

In the first book of her All Souls Trilogy, Harkness gives readers a story of forbidden love reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet a.k.a. Diana is a witch descendant from Bridget Bishop, the first person executed in the Salem witch trials. She has suppressed her powers for her entire life and much of her story involves her journey to acceptance and mastery of those powers. Romeo a.k.a. Matthew is a 1500 year-old vampire. Both exist naturally and blend into human society, coming together in Oxford's Bodleian Library over an ancient, bewitched manuscript Ashmole 782 and initially despise each other. After all, vampires and witches are sworn enemies. The mystery behind Ashmole 782 is the driving catalyst for the entire plot, bringing other vampires, witches, and demons into the story as they all seek the manuscript. As the only one able to access the spellbound book, Diana soon becomes the target of each of these dangerous creatures. Matthew's increasing desire to protect Diana is inevitably what brings the two closer. 

A Discovery of Witches is an intelligent collection of history, academic intrigue, and myth. Harkness creates beautiful descriptions such as her explanation of Ashmole 782 as a palimpsest with once washed off ink reappearing under new text as if it were a textual ghost. The palimpsest image then occurs again, 350 pages later, in an image-evoking description of Matthew's body: "its bright surface obscuring the tale of him hinted at by all those scars." The most unique aspect of the novel has to be the house belonging to Diana's Aunt's Sarah and Emily (both also witches). It is not only haunted by a number of deceased relatives that come and go depending on the situation that arises within the walls, but the house has a mind of its very own. It closes, opens, and locks doors; creates new rooms for visiting guests; hides precious objects until they are needed; and any number of other strange and fascinating activities. 

If I am to provide some criticism it would be that A Discovery of Witches is basically Romeo and Juliet meets Twilight meets Fifty Shades of Grey. (In Harkness' defense, though, the last title in that list was published after A Discovery of Witches.) Despite the fact that Diana is a strong and independent female character, Matthew still takes on the protector or knight-in-shining-armour role that is so typical of love stories. It was rather disappointing when it became clear that Diana would inevitably take on the role of damsel-in-distress. Near the end of the novel, there is a subtle jab at Shakespeare that doesn't sit quite right, suggesting that the famous playwright was a magpie collecting other writer's stories. Demeaning the most famous playwright in history is a bit harsh coming from an author who has just written a contemporary version of Romeo and Juliet herself. 

What is wonderful about A Discovery of Witches and places it outside the confines of being labelled "just another forbidden love story" is that it asks for acceptance, but not just acceptance for the two lovers, an all-encompassing acceptance of all species (or races) by all others. The novel is a page-turner no doubt and as Diana and Matthew timewalk back to the 1590s for Harkness' second novel of the trilogy, Shadow of Night, the historical-fiction lover in me is definitely intrigued. I'm also curious to see how Shakespeare will fare through Harkness' eyes during his own time period. 

Overall, A Discovery of Witches is getting 4 stars and a glowing (of the witch variety) recommendation!

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an author that has been on my TBR list since I first saw her TED Talk. She is so beautifully brilliant that I can't help but quote her: "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story." Beautiful and brilliant, right?!

I was just about to leave a used bookstore empty-handed (I know, that's borderline blasphemous) when I happened upon Half of a Yellow Sun. It hasn't been on my shelf for long, only a couple of months, but I've had Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on my author list for years. In any case, I'm including Half of a Yellow Sun as one of the books in My Reader's Block's 2015 Mount TBR Reading Challenge. The Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge lists "a book by an author from Africa" as one of its challenges so Half of a Yellow Sun also allows me check that one off the list! Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria.

The synopsis on the back of the novel explains that Half of a Yellow Sun "illuminates a seminal moment in African history: Biafra's struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s." It also mentions that the story is told through five unforgettable characters, and that is true, but while Odinegbo, Olanna, Richard, and Kainene are all integral to the novel's intrigue, the character who had the most profound effect on me was Ugwu. Readers follow Ugwu, a teenage boy, from the poverty of his village home through his employment as a houseboy for university professor, Odinego, and finally to the front lines of the war as a member of the Biafran army. Readers move alongside Ugwu as he learns, loves, and commits atrocities as a soldier.

Half of a Yellow Sun is a story about war, what war does to people, and how it changes people. I'm not going to lie. This book is not easy to read. It's so heart-wrenching in places that I almost had to put it down a few times. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's ability to write such realistic, yet fictional, characters is what makes this novel so incredible.

If I have one negative critique it would be the structure of the chapters. Around the middle of the novel, the plot jumps ahead to the late sixties before telling the story of the early sixties. I was confused at first, until I flipped back and then ahead to reassure myself that I had not missed integral details. I think a chronological structure might have been more effective if only to avoid reader confusion.

I haven't really adopted a rating scale so I'll stick with the age-old star chart. Half of a Yellow Sun gets an easy FIVE stars from me. I would highly recommend that everyone open their minds a little and read this novel!