Why must Olivia be a teenager in love with her finishing school headmistress? First published in 1949, it was a hot item. Per The Christian Science Monitor, libraries couldn't get it onto the shelves. Comparing Olivia and 1984, also recently published, Eric Forbes-Boyd writes in the CSM on July 21, 1949:
C's full-color handwritten and illustrated mini- 24-hourish perzine depicts her winter solstice day-in-the-life. She does a holiday craft project, but is unsuccessful at luring her son to participate--no Norman Rockwell memories for Emiliano! The next page is colored in saffron to match some Buddhist monks Celia saw waiting on the el train platform with her. She goes on to list and draw things she saw and heard in her travels that day and the contents of the single bag of stuff she bought at Whole Foods that set her back more than $80. There are also little anecdotes, music-inspired memories, and train haiku (morning meal is a / half gallon of Kemp's milk and / a "shut the fuck up").
High school cheerleaders as government spooks hide in plain site behind their sparkles and designer bags. Sounds juicy, right? It's a real page turner; I went through it in about 24 hours. I totally recommend it to a teen, tween, or fellow adult young adult literature aficionado, and I'm requesting the 2nd installment (Killer Spirit) from NYPL as I type.
And Then They Were Nuns is different from other lesbian separatist utopia novels because the utopia is a monastery, and the lesbians are nuns--except for the one who serves as the priest. I'm sorry; it's hard not to tease such a set-up. And Then They Were Nuns actually is more or less like other lesbian separatist utopia novels, not that that's a bad thing.
Witch Rachel learns to
embrace her inner demon
maybe even elves.
Marlys and Maybonne's little brother gets in trouble a lot, and like his sisters has a rotten home life. Who's better than Lynda Barry at depicting the misery and shame of childhood, but with enough love for her characters that you don't totally want to kill yourself while reading about them?
A biracial Manhattan School of the Arts comics geek does the Metamorphosis thing, and in the body of a fly gets an eyeful in the boys' locker room. Sounds great, right? Which is why it's a little disappointing--high expectations. It's a smart romance novel, and ends on an activist note, so what am I complaining about?
Last year the 50something unemployed school librarian took off on a European grand tour, starting with three months in Brest, studying French. This is my favorite issue so far of E-Zine. Elaine's narrative has more of a thru-line than in the past (my hang-up, not hers!), which contrast nicely with her collage-y visual style. There are photos and little handwritten notes and handstamped stamps throughout. I love the purple pen nib on the back, especially.
I've mostly indulged my love of celebrity autobiographies without guilt, but this one made me feel just a teeny bit dirty. It is a lot dishier than the others, for one thing. Melissa Gilbert knows everyone, and was a bit of a strumpet in her day. Did you know she was once engaged to Rob Lowe? She's also a sober alcoholic, so good for her. She strikes me as a doer (she was president of SAG) and a perfectionist, so writing a book isn't out of the realm of what one might expect, but even so, I wouldn't be surprised if she wrote it at least partially for the money. How is it that so many celebrities seem to feel as cash-strapped as the rest of us? More so, really. I don't feel poor at all, and I doubt any movie star could make it a month on my yearly salary, much less could they survive a week in my one-bedroom rental apartment!
Apparently life in North Korea is pretty grim. Most people don't even have electricity for more than a few hours a day, as you can see from this image that opens Nothing to Envy.
You'd think that would lead to a lot of teenage pregnancy, but according to the North Korean defectors Demick interviewed in South Korea, there's not a lot of premarital sex in the dark nation. Two of her subjects dated from their teens through early twenties without doing more than kissing, and it took them nine years to get to that point. It's just as well that the culture is so straight-laced, since the country can't feed the citizens it has. According to Demick, "Even in the best of times North Korea can produce only about 60 percent of the food needed for its population, and it currently cannot afford to import the rest." And these are not the best of times for North Korea.
