lower east side librarian

Coincidentally, like the last book I read, this one is by an author who left (escaped from?) an insular community in England and then returned to it. The Killing Jar took place in crime-ridden Nottingham, and Disobedience in Orthodox Jewish Hendon. I say "coincidentally" because I found Disobedience browsing in my new branch of the NYPL, Hamilton Fish. Moving is traumatic; I'm going to miss Tompkins Square.

Moving was not traumatic for Ronit Krushka, who left the Orthodox community over which her father presided as Rabbi.

Per my post on LCSH Watch 2009, Week 51, I discovered this book via its subject heading, FEMALE JUVENILE DELINQUENTS—FICTION. If I were assigning subject headings, I wouldn't necessarily have picked that one, though. I might have gone with one of the cataloger's other choices PROBLEM FAMILIES -- ENGLAND -- NOTTINGHAM -- FICTION, but more to the point, CHILDREN OF DRUG ADDICTS. Essentially, I would have been more loving to the book's protagonist, Kerrie-Ann (Kez) Hill, whom we follow from the age of five to eighteen. She does a lot of illegal things and more than her share of drugs, but I don't see her as a delinquent, and neither does author Nicola Monaghan.

The more I read Lynda Barry, the more I wonder what kind of a crazy childhood she must have had. Boys and Girls is comics depicting painfully familiar incidents from childhood, adolescence, and also adult life. A section on finding your perfect love mate cracked me up, especially the Success Begins at Home quiz...

I was a little creeped out by Harris's dedication, "For all those readers who want every last sip of Sookie." I wonder if she really thinks of her fans as vampires? Let me be clear that I like Sookie, but I'm not a fanatic about it. What I am a fanatic about is reading. I like to be thorough, so when I learned of this collection of short stories that complements or fills in the Sookie Stackhouse series, I requested it from the library right away.

An eight-year-old, as sympathetic as she may be, is not always the most reliable narrator. I think Abi-Ezzi counts on the reader to understand what her protagonist Ruba isn't able to explain. Or maybe the storytelling just isn't that great. The premise--a Christian family trying to get by in Lebanon in the early 1980s--is compelling enough, but I just didn't buy into the drama of the fucked up father and the terrible secret from his past.

I read this book while in the process of packing up the apartment I lived in for the last ten years. I needed something that was...easy. Industrial Magic, like it's prequel went down easy. I still find narrator Paige Winterbourne a little middle-aged for a 23-year-old, but the story is damned absorbing.

When it comes to online reviews, if I don't have something nice to say, I try not to say anything at all. Unless the book makes me really mad. I should have put Triangle down when I realized it wasn't going to meet my admittedly high expectations of a book about the Triangle Factory Fire (I love union maids!), but even though I kind of hated it, it was readable enough.

I think Marisa Meltzer is brave for writing this book. There are probably a lot of women out there that know its primary sources as well as she does and who will think she left out x or misinterpreted y. I am not one of those women, though. I have expertise in the zine side of riot grrrl, but know very little about the bands, so I was psyched to read this short, personable history with a certain amount of memoir thrown in.

I felt like I earned this one. So far in 2010 I've only read one other paranormal fiction book, and I didn't even like it very much. I'd put a hold on Dime Store Magic, from Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series at NYPL 100 years ago, and so was pleasantly surprised when I finally got notice that my turn had arrived.

I wasn't expecting to like The Namesake very much. I wasn't crazy about her short story collection Interpreter of Maladies, and the description wasn't particularly enticing. So why did I even read it? Maybe just because Lahiri is a Barnard alumna? Or because I'd saved it in my library account to read list, and it was the only thing I didn't have to go over to Columbia to borrow? Who knows? Regardless, I'm glad I did.