Starting to read this book again reminded me why I love John Green. This essay about plague feels so hopeful especially when I know it was written in the middle of, if not directly after the worst of, the COVID pandemic. I genuinely didn't have any clue that the response to the influenza and black plague pandemics was so similar to that of what happened in 2020.
Green's assertion that our response to plague doesn't have to be a one star experience does evoke some sadness for me though, as often I find myself wishing the people around me still cared about COVID as much as the disabled community does. The lack of concern around sickness is so jarring considering the flu right now is killing people and COVID is giving people chronic health issues for the rest of their lives - and yet only the activists I know are the only ones wearing masks.
I am debating listening to this in bulk or piecing it out and digesting it one essay at a time.
So the five I've read are:
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid's Tale
City of Bones
Anne of Green Gables
and The Lightning Thief.
I am not a person who likes to watch a lot of movies or tv. I've never had the balls to watch GoT because I know how the books go, and I never like it when they don't follow the general plot... which is something GoT is known for fucking up at the end...
The Handmaid's Tale is better in the show. It makes sense why the book was so influential, but it was actually really helpful to have the visuals of the show in my mind when reading the book because there is very little actual description of the spaces, things that happen, etc. A lot of OfFred's internal monologue makes up the meat of the book. The pivots they took for the show might've felt like goreporn to some, but watching as a person who was in a cult, it made perfect sense to me. I need to rewatch the show in its entirety. I would pick the show over the book here.
City of Bones got Shadowhunters, and I didn't watch it because I was not able to access it when it was coming out (said cult) so I haven't seen it, but again I've heard a lot about how people don't like Shadowhunters because it diverges from the plotline so severely.
Anne of Green Gables - the ORIGINAL MOVIES - is to die for. I loved those films so much. I haven't watched the updated series, only the old VHS cassettes. And I want to rewatch them !!! they're classics!!
We don't talk about the new shitty remake or the movies for Percy Jackson. Just ...no.
anchorsaway commented...
So the five I've read are: Game of Thrones The Handmaid's Tale City of Bones Anne of Green Gables and The Lightning Thief.
I am not a person who likes to watch a lot of movies or tv. I've never had the balls to watch GoT because I know how the books go, and I never like it when they don't follow the general plot... which is something GoT is known for fucking up at the end... The Handmaid's Tale is better in the show. It makes sense why the book was so influential, but it was actually really helpful to have the visuals of the show in my mind when reading the book because there is very little actual description of the spaces, things that happen, etc. A lot of OfFred's internal monologue makes up the meat of the book. The pivots they took for the show might've felt like goreporn to some, but watching as a person who was in a cult, it made perfect sense to me. I need to rewatch the show in its entirety. I would pick the show over the book here. City of Bones got Shadowhunters, and I didn't watch it because I was not able to access it when it was coming out (said cult) so I haven't seen it, but again I've heard a lot about how people don't like Shadowhunters because it diverges from the plotline so severely. Anne of Green Gables - the ORIGINAL MOVIES - is to die for. I loved those films so much. I haven't watched the updated series, only the old VHS cassettes. And I want to rewatch them !!! they're classics!! We don't talk about the new shitty remake or the movies for Percy Jackson. Just ...no.
So The Handmaid's Tale wins out of the 5!