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Shanghai Girls
I was so psyched to read Lisa See's new historical novel that I snatched it off the cataloging truck to get at it faster. With that kind of build up, it would have been surprising if I liked it as much as I expected to, so maybe it's not Shanghai Girls's fault that I didn't love it.
reviewdate:
Aug 22 2009
isn:
978-1-4000-6711-4
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Welfare Brat
I read a lot of autobiographies, but seldom does it occur to me to consider what a feat of memory and bravery it is to get down a rich portrait of one's life. Mary Childers does an admirable job of recalling her impoverished childhood and adolescence in the Bronx, and is pretty out there about what she endured, including her own shaming behaviors. I wonder if her telling the story in the present tense helped her with that? It kind of confused me, so I wish that even if the device helped her memory, that she'd switched it to past tense after the first draft.
Quotations:
He had always been a cruel and violent drunk, but when he dangled Lacey out of a window because she wasn't his kid, Mom ditched him. At least that's what she tells us. I'm glad to have a standard for where to draw the line on the kind of abuse to take from men. p.17
I wish my social studies teacher would verify what the old Irish guy told me and Paula about these crowded hills belonging to the Appalachian Mountains. But during the geography unit we only memorized and pierced with pushpins the map locations of natural resources and capitals in Africa, Asia and Central and South America, as if preparing for lifetimes of exile or plunder. p.127
reviewdate:
Aug 16 2009
isn:
978-1-58234-586-4
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You'll miss the Post Office
Sandy Berman sent me this news service article about the decline of the US Postal Service printed from his local paper. I agree with it when it comes to the USPS, but also think you could substitute the word "library" for "post office" and have it be equally true.
LCSH Week 30: in which I date myself with a Little Darlings reference
This week on LCSH Watch, List 30 (July 29, 2009), we explore
- Childlessness
- Divorced men (also Divorced people and Divorced women)
- Goths
- Historic house museums—Interpretive programs
- Irony in music
- Right to water
One of these subject headings inspired a memory of the Kristy McNichol/Tatum O'Neal rite of passage film Little Darlings!
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Internship at Marvel Library
Apparently they haven't received any applications from library and information science students yet. So if you're in an LIS program and looking for a for credit internship, and you want to work with comics (How could you not?), please get in touch with these nice people!
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Dead as a Doornail
Regarding the last vampire book I read, my cousin asked me, "Isn't that trash?" I don't think that particular book, a graphic novel, is trash, even though I didn't like it very much. I did like Dead as a Doornail pretty well, but I do more or less regard it as trash. But I also don't say trash in an entirely pejorative way. I guess what I mean is that it isn't literature. It goes down quickly and leaves you feeling sated, even if hungry for more. I don't think that's a bad thing, although I do prefer to balance paranormal series like these with materials that are edifying. If I had a better diet, I'd probably make analogies to protein and carbohydrates. If I had a worse diet, I might compare genre fiction to fast food, but since I haven't been inside a McDonald's since the turn of the century, I can't bring myself to liken tasty paranormal tales to something that in addition to having bad politics makes you feel sick when you're done consuming it.
reviewdate:
Aug 13 2009
isn:
0441013333
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Dictionary--the Children's Song
Intrigued by the phrase
"record album that celebrated different reference books"
from the "Stickers in Pain" issue of Have You Seen the Dog Lately, I wrote to one of the zine's authors, Serena Makofsky for an explanation.
Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again
"Male like me" is the general idea of Ned/Norah Vincent's year and a half undercover as a man. Vincent is a tall lesbian, who has a masculine mien. After one night out in costume accompanying a drag king friend, and experiencing how differently people respond to men, even in passing on the street, she decided embark on an intensive research project. Dressed as a man, Vincent infiltrated a men's bowling league, strip clubs, the world of online dating, a monastery, some sales jobs, and finally a men's group.
reviewdate:
Aug 11 2009
isn:
0-670-03466-5
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NYC Fringe Fest
Although I was a theater major in college and then worked in theater for nearly ten years after I graduated, I don't see too many shows any more. I make up for that once a year by seeing a bunch New York International Fringe Festival productions every summer. I'm about to buy my fiver pass (5 shows for $70). Anyone want to come see a show with me?