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Jamie posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 1 month ago Sometimes @internrachel and @julia1 when it rains it pours. Four books that I had requested awhile ago came in in a matter of two days this week while I was still reading ‘The Second Sex’. Library books take precedence though so I’ve read two of them and hope to have the other two done next week. First off is ‘A Girl’s Guide to Taking Over the World: Writings from the Girl Zine Revolution’ edited by Karen Green and Tristan Taormino, 221 pgs. It’s a collection of writings from a wide variety of zines from about 1990-7. The writings were divided into different sections that covered various topics, politics, gossip, body image, personal stories, etc. I really enjoyed this because I missed the zine thing for a variety of reasons and it’s a part of riot grrrl and girl culture I’m sad that I missed. It was really awesome to be able to experience a condensed but also abbreviated view of zines from their heyday and! there were several pieces by Tammy Rae Carland who swoon!
Second was ‘Orlando’ by Virginia Woolf, 316 pgs. I’ve read some Woolf in the past (and also the excellent ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ but I guess that’s not the same) but it had been awhile and I thought ‘Orlando’ was charming. There were some sections that I had issues with even with the explanations given in the book but it was a really exciting story and an interesting take on history and personality. My biggest issue was Orlando having an ‘itchy finger’ that wouldn’t calm down until she had been married. I know that there are a variety of justifications given in the story and I liked the man she ended up marrying but I hate the image of a woman itching to get married. And this comes from a person who is totally pro-marriage. Also the edition I read was annotated and I really liked that, it gave explanations for all the historical people and events mentioned in the story so I read about them afterwards even if I had forgotten what I had wanted to get more info on.
In conclusion, yay books!
Now I’ve got ‘The Edible Woman’ and a book about the original Penn Station in New York
I read ‘A Girl’s Guide to Taking Over the World’ recently too! I loved it so, so much. It made me really nostalgic for my punk days. Don’t you think a lot of those selections wouldn’t look out of place in blogs these days? I think things are definitely moving online for that kind of expression for most girls, but I can’t help feeling like we’re losing something by doing that. The internet is ultimately so ephemeral. I mean, you’re not going to run across an old box of blogs in your storage shed like I did with a box of zines last month.
I was so sad when I saw it had been published in ’97 because I totally would have sent out for some of the zines. I think blogs have completely taken the place that zines once held, they’re a lot more convenient in a lot of ways but they seem less anarchic. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up a blog legally for free. Overall I’m pretty sad that I missed out. Oh to have the wherewithal to start making a zine now!