All the Good Stuff

Hey everyone, guess what? It's an election year! Always my favorite because so many people start acting like a complete jerk on their twitter/tumblr/facebook online spaces in support of their favorite team. I'm excited to see what authors go after their readers or ridiculous and offensive things celebrities say. Of course the politicians themselves will do enough of it on their own. To be honest, though, I wish I could feel something about it besides exhausted resignation to what the country will be like for the next few months. I remember when I used to think stuff mattered. Don't worry, I'll be voting, we won't have another round of everyone being shocked when I say I support the right to not vote, but it's almost because I care less than that I care more. Sigh.

On that subject, I was disappointed that Stephen Mansfield didn't write The Faith of Mitt Romney. I always enjoy his books about the faith of the major politicians. I was talking to some friends about it and they both seemed to want to run away from the subject of politicians and faith which made me consider why it's interesting to me. I guess part of it is that I thought these books would be cheesy before I read them, like I remember thinking they'd be like "Finding God in The Lord of the Rings" or something, but they end up just being really compassionate and humanizing takes on a person's life. For example, one of the things I really loved about reading The Faith of Sarah Palin was how I learned how much the Pentecostal church shaped her as a leader and that the authors felt the church actually provided a sense of equality in male and female leadership she might not have received elsewhere. Also her early exposure to the church's desire to transform society played a big role in her own turn to politics. But is also made me think about the kind of...flak she got for being Pentecostal, the way some of her opponents used it against her. It was just really really interesting for me to think about. I mean I am always pretty interested in matters relating to faith, so I guess it makes sense I'd like these books. Also...I don't know I think a religious/faith system can shape the way a person sees the world, and at the very least can help explain why they behave in certain ways. So basically I think these books are like biographies viewed through the lens of "what is their driving belief system?" and Mansfield seems to have genuine interest in and compassion for his subjects so the books end up being really enjoyable. But alas, none for Mitt Romney. (ETA: obviously I don't think everyone needs to or should care about this, I'm just really good at over analyzing my own response to things!

In other news! Carl has announced R.I.P SEVEN! I can't believe it. This is my favorite book blogging challenge/event, tbh. Partly because Carl is such a fantastic host, he always chooses such great art to accompany the challenge, but also just because it means fall is here and spooky books and pumpkin bread, etc. Sign-ups are open now!

This blog tour is being organized by Aarti and friends and I think you'd really like to participate! Check out the details! Sign-ups are open until September 12th. They want it to be really huge, so hopefully it will be!

A few other links of interest:
Beth Kephart revealed the cover to her nonfiction book about writing memoir which is bound to be amazing.

FX is getting busy promoting American Horror Story. I didn't even like the way last season ended but I'm excited? It's set in a mental asylum! It's going to be creeepy! By the way the scariest haunted house I've ever been to was in Japan. Partly it was scary because everything was in Japanese, but also because the story line was a hospital where the doctors stole organs from the patients. I don't really know why this reminds me of that but it does.

Speaking of shows, Switched at Birth comes back next week! And they even released a tie-in novel! Kathryn's memoir. (I had no idea this show had enough viewers to do that--affiliate link btw)

One of my friends linked me to this article Fear of a Black President that is well worth the read, imo.

I am both curious and nervous about Amazon's press conference on September 6th. I think this is the appropriate way to feel about Amazon. Nervous.

Happy September everyone! I hope you the last quarter of the year brings you a lot of joy!