lower east side librarian

This book got me to wondering about the Ls, who moved in down the street from me when I was a kid. They were from Chile, but I have no idea if they fled oppression or sneaked out with their money. Probably the former, given the timing, but I think my parents didn't like them, so I don't know. Anyway, this book is written mostly from the point of view of the son of a Chilean political prisoner. While the father, Marcelo, was being tortured in jail, his wife, eleven-year-old son Daniel, and eight-year-old daughter Tina emigrated to Madison, Wisconsin. Eventually the family is reunited, but Marcelo is very broken. At seventeen Daniel is doing pretty well; he has a girlfriend, excels at soccer, and plays guitar in a band. His sister isn't thriving quite as handily, and I'm not sure about Mamá.

Patti Smith's adventures with Robert Mapplethorpe and lots of the happening artists and musicians of the late 60s/early 70s--pretty neat to be inside her head like that.

I remember being kind of cool to this Judy Blume book as a kid, but I might have been too old for it the first time I read it. Reading it now I have a greater appreciation for its portrait of a 10-year-old Jewish girl from New Jersey in post-World War II America. Sally is kind of dumb or naive, which is probably another reason I wasn't crazy about her as a kid, but as an adult I'm not quite as bothered. What really appeals to me is how Blume portrays the future writer, not by having her write a bunch in her diary, but by sharing her imaginative inner life. Blume identifies this as her most autobiographical work, which makes total sense to me.

I don't usually read books in translation, cuz I'm weird like that, but since Lisa Von Drasek recommended it highly and gave me a free copy I figured I could give it a shot. I couldn't stand the last German tween book I started (I can't remember what it was called, just that Siu Loong is a big fan), but luckily The Princess Plot didn't drag or insult my intelligence. There were times where I thought it took the characters forever to get what was obviously going on, but maybe that's a tween thing, rather than a generalization it's fair to make about German YA lit based on two samples, only one of which I read through! Anyway, the 14-year-old princess in question is in hiding from her uncle's regency government after the death of her father. A lookalike, our protagonist, is brought in to replace her. The nation of Scandia has some complex problems, and I appreciated the author's nuanced portrait of the rebel leader. Although I did at some points find the characters a little immature, the plot and themes are fairly sophisticated.

I was not engaged in the fat envelope frenzy myself, which in retrospect I think is a little sad. I wish I'd worked harder in high school, and had people supporting and encouraging me, and better Guidance. (If they'd told me to fill out one freakin' form, I could have had a scholarship, but because I was in a vocational program--performing arts--I missed the college prep sessions. That's pretty bad, right? Granted more of us kids in the arts that rode the tech bus were probably headed to college than those going to auto mechanics and cosmetology programs, but there's a bit of a chicken and egg argument to be made.) I probably ended up in the right place for what I needed--smallish school, college town, but sometimes I wonder... My nephew made a comment when he was a high school senior that it doesn't matter/schools are all the same, or some such thing. I hated to burst his bubble, but that is simply not true. I think all schools have different things to offer, not so much that they're better or worse than one another. But it's easy for me to speak about college admission from the distance of twenty plus years after writing my applications.

I snapped this book up when I encountered it I don't know where because it merges guilty pleasure and scholarly writing. Many of the essays balance the two well, but some are a little inaccessible. As with most edited volumes I skimmed or outright skipped a few entries. There is a common through line of Nancy the dull ice doll who while she didn't deserve to be clubbed she wasn't much deserving of all the accolades and endorsements she received either, vs. Tonya the admittedly troubled scrappy heroine who done her competitor wrong but sadly did not achieve her full potential.

I was pleasantly surprised to see among the contributors Abigail Feder (now Feder-Kane), Barnard's Director of Institutional Support. Her essay "A Radiant Smile from the Lovely Lady" Overdetermined Femininity in "Ladies" Figure Skating is one of the most compelling in the volume.

Whew! This one went by quickly. Well that's partially because I had to finish it before taking off for the US Social Forum in Detroit. It's a new book, so I couldn't renew it, and it's due before I'll get back. Anyway, it's the continuing saga of Cincinnati witch Rachel Morgan and her partners Jenks, a pixy; and Ivy, a vampire as they fend off coven witches, powerful elves, and greedy fairies trying to fuck with them.

It's totally weird that I would even read this book having been through neither fertility treatments or postpartum depression, but my sister the hospital social worker mentioned it, and I figured what the hell. A few pages I was afraid that the whole thing would be kind of shallow and self-involved, but I persevered because it was a compelling read even if it was a little celebrityish. Once Shields gets into the meat of her difficulty getting pregnant and then the devastating depression that set in almost immediately after the birth of her daughter, you really feel for her. Honestly I can't criticize this book because even with all her privilege, Shields comes off like a zine writer, bravely examining and sharing her most personal and painful secrets. She really did a good thing writing this book, and I'm sure it's helped a lot of people.

Staceyann Chin had a pretty bad childhood--abandonment, estrangement, poverty, abuse, fear of sexual assault--and then in young adulthood a certain proclivity that is not well tolerated in her native Jamaica. Yet she manages to tell her story without an excess of anger or emotion. There's no need, as the facts she presents speak for themselves.

Marijane Meaker

aka Ann Aldrich

aka Vin Packer

aka ME Kerr

aka Mary James

and finally aka MJ Meaker

held by only one OCLC member library!

writes of her two year affair with mystery writer Patricia Highsmith who also wrote--as Claire Morgan--the lesbian romance (noted for its happy ending--not that kind of happy end, gutterbrain!) The Price of Salt.