A journey to collect 500 20th century novels by women
I had known, or at any rate was capable of knowing, that Toni Morrison was our greatest living writer prior to reading Paradise. But certainly I am not capable of denying it now. As I had mentioned before in my prior post, I had been dragging my feet about finishing the remaining Morrison books I …
I’ve been sitting around for days pondering what to say about Zora Neale Hurston’s debut, Jonah’s Gourd Vine. What to say about the beginning of a dazzling literary journey? What to say about this spectacular, clever, frustrating, hysterical, singular writer at the start of her career? I knew that Jonah’s Gourd Vine was partly autobiographical, …
Today is a special day on the calendar for women’s literature: it is both Toni’s Morrison’s and Audre Lorde’s birthday. This year, Ms. Morrison is celebrating her 88th. If Ms. Lorde were still with us, she would be turning 85. Both 20th century icons; while my women’s library focuses more on fiction and novels (Toni …
First of all, I hope wherever you are on this planet, you’re enjoying weather better than the revolting mix of sleet, freezing rain, and ice that the greater Baltimore region has been “enjoying” this week. Snow I’ll welcome, but nobody likes ice and freezing rain. The only good thing about such weather is that it …
Oh, Sybylla Melvyn! I adore you. You name is added my list of favorite literary young heroines, below Anne Shirley, Josephine March, and Elizabeth Bennett. My Brilliant Career, published in 1901 and written by Miles Franklin when she was, unbelievably, a teenager, is a perceptive coming-of-age tale partially set on Sybylla’s father’s austere dairy farm …
I know, I know. January is almost over and I’m just getting around to posting about my New Year’s book resolutions! I guess I’ve already blown it if I say that my first one is not to procrastinate about blogging, huh? KIDDING. Anyway, without further nonsense, here they are: To Finally Read Ellen Glasgow, Edna …
A few weeks ago, a Chicago poet and activist that I very much admire, Eve Ewing, tweeted out a picture of a typed letter from Gwendolyn Brooks with the caption “Your faves are problematic.” Immediately my heart sank. What had beloved writer Gwendolyn Brooks done? Did she espouse some awful belief that we didn’t know …
Oh, quirky little British books! How I love you! I inadvertently read two of them over the Christmas holidays: The Love-Child by Edith Olivier and Living Alone by Stella Benson. I didn’t even mean to read them back to back, it just sort of happened that way. I’m not even sure how I became aware …
So, I didn’t spend the entire holiday watching Little Women – I read some strange books too! Strangely strange books. The other two – The Love Child by Edith Olivier and Living Alone by Stella Benson – I definitely enjoyed and will talk about in a later blog post. Right now I want to talk …
Continue reading Children Are Strange When You’re a Stranger
I’ve been sitting around all week trying to think of what to say about the wonderful Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, a Lambda award-winning novel first published in 1993. I couldn’t decide how to possibly summarize what a wonderful job Feinberg does of giving an honest, simple, true voice to pre-Stonewall LGBTQ communities, to …
