For Wild Card I indulged my curiosity about weddings and read Altared: Bridezillas, Bewilderment, Big Love, Breakups, and What Women Really Think about Contemporary Weddings edited by Colleen Curran. It’s a collection of essays about weddings broken up into different sections based on themes.
I liked the variety of voices. Most of the voices were from married women but we heard from divorced women, single women, women who married while pregnant, a woman who called off the wedding and then the engagement.
I was a little disappointed in the lack of bridezillas. All of the women seem self-aware enough, at least in hindsight, that there weren’t any horror stories that reality television thrives on. Most of them saw themselves get swept away in the insanity of the bridal industry and family pressure.
The voices here were mostly practical and realistic. While many recognized it was an important event, it wasn’t about me-me-me but everyone coming together. It was really interesting to hear women talk about how they got sucked into Brideland and weren’t sure how to get out. Some admitted it was because they were trying not to think about something else.
My favorites were the women who realized that while awesome, a wedding is a just one day. It is a party to celebrate what comes after, the marriage. An extravagant affair won’t guarantee love and respect, a casual affair doesn’t foretell a simple and easy life. The wedding doesn’t foretell anything about the marriage. It just sends it out.
1) Fiction – A Once Crowded Sky by Tom King
2) Nonfiction – The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
3) Sci-Fi – Redshirts by John Scalzi
4) Fantasy – The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
5) Mystery – Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer
6) Horror – Call of the Jersey Devil by Aurelio Voltaire
7) Memoir/Biography – Data, A Love Story by Amy Webb
8) Chick Lit – Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter
9) Feminist – Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
10) Teen – What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
11) Holiday
12) Essays – What Was I Thinking? ed. by Barbara Davilman & Liz Dubelman
13) Short Stories – Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
14) Library
15) Animal
16) Book about Books – Judging a Book By Its Lover by Lauren Leto
17) New – Pitch Perfect by Mickey Rapkin
18) Old – Dark and Stormy Knights edited by P. N. Elrod
19) Pop Science – Why Men Fake It by Abraham Morgentaler, MD
20) Near – Lust, Lies, and Love Over Lunch by Krista White
21) Far – Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
22) Graphic Novel – Love and Capes: Do You Want to Know a Secret? by Thomas F. Zahler
23) Reread – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
24) Wild Card – Altared edited by Colleen Curran
25) Otherworldly Creature – Those Who Fight Monsters edited by Justin Gustianis
26) Free – Point Your Face at This by Demetri Martin
27) Noteworthy
28) Bestseller – How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
29) Themed Anthology – Red edited by Kris Goldsmith
30) Steampunk – The Immersion Book of Steampunk edited by Gareth Jones and Carmelo Rafala
31) Movie-Book – One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
32) Media – Doctor Who: Touched By an Angel by Jonathan Morris
33) Travel – Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche
34) Food
35) Classic – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
36) Humor – Sleep Talkin’ Man by Karen Slavick-Lennar
37) Poetry
38) Past – Stasiland by Anna Funde
39) Future
40) Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic
41) Zombie
42) Sports – Red Rising by Ted Starkey
Music: Take Cover by Acceptance
