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Rose posted an update in the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months agoI’m a huge Vonnegut fan and I am reading Mother Night next. I’ve already read and loved Slaughterhouse Five, The Sirens of Titan and Breakfast of Champions and various nonfiction short works of his.
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jifener25 joined the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months ago -
Jo joined the group
Autostraddle Social Club – Boston Chapter! 12 years, 5 months ago
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thelovelyjazmin posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months agoI just finished reading The Westing Game and tonight I will read From the Mixed Up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler. Even though I am 22 years old, I never read either of these books as a kid and it is a SHAME.
I’m also reading My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me which is a bunch of modernized fairy tales (the ones I’ve read so far have…[Read more]
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The Westing Game and From the Mixed Up Files are SO. GOOD. They demand all caps. I started teaching elementary school kids a few months ago and have been rereading a lot of children’s literature. Those two are definitely at the top of my list. Claudia from Mixed Up Files and Harriet the Spy were my role models as a kid
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omg! the mixed up files was one of my favorite books growing up. running away to a museum sounded awesome.
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I read about My Mother She Killed Me… on NPR (I think?) a while ago and totally forgot the title! Thank you. I have been meaning to check it out.
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thelovelyjazmin joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months ago -
Ryan joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months ago -
Sonia posted an update in the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months agoI like to read a bunch of books at once. I just finished and really enjoyed Julie Serrano’s Whipping Girl, which made me realize I had a lot of internalized misogyny with regards to femininity (as a tomboy growing up and a more masculine-ish girl, it was often hard for me to relate to really femmy people, so this read was a good read for me,…[Read more]
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Oh yeah and I’ve started reading Staceyann Chin’s The Other Side of Paradise, also great.
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Dani posted an update in the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months agoA few months back I read Just Kids by Patti Smith. It was phenomenal – and I mean really, really good. I’m an avid reader and I think it’s the best thing i’ve read all year. The book pays homage to the life of artist/photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and the relationship between Robert and Patti Smith. It mainly takes place during the late 60s…[Read more]
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Just Kids is fantastic. Patti Smith has such a wonderful way of telling stories. There was a really great review of it over at This Recordings that beautifully articulates all my feelings about the book.
Have you read Please Kill Me? The story is about the same era and scene, but the style is really different. It paints a much harsher portrait…[Read more]
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Yeah, I read Please Kill Me but quite a few years ago now. I think I have it in my house somewhere, I should re-read it! I’ll check out the This Recording review – now i’m curious
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ooh I bought that for my mom last year for Christmas, but I haven’t read it. Next time I go to visit I’ll have to swipe it.
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Lucy posted an update in the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months agoIs it ok to ask for book recommendations here? I’m in the process of starting up a queer reading group at my university and I’d like to have a reading list drafted up before the end of summer/start of term. So I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions? We’re looking for both fiction and non-fiction and books touching various different topics…[Read more]
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Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, Holding Still for as Long as Possible by Zoe Whittall, Angels in America by Tony Kushner, Anything by Virginia Woolf, I like A Room of One’s Own and Hedwig and the Angry Inch read the play, then you can watch the movie!!
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Thanks! I’m making note of all your suggestions. The last idea is a definite winner with me- any excuse to watch Hedwig and the Angry Inch!
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Also, I forgot Patti Smith – Just Kids is really great.
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And the Band Played On is an incredible history of the early days of the AIDS epidemic, with (obviously) a heavy emphasis on the gay men who were affected. It might be especially appropriate given that we just observed the 30th anniversary of the first AIDS diagnosis.
Call Me By Your Name is also great–one of the hottest books I’ve ever read,…[Read more]-
Thanks for reminding me about And The Band Played On. It was a long time ago when I read it but I learned so much from that book.
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Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
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freckleknees joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months ago -
Kerlia Aubrielle Rockwood posted an update in the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months agoI’m reading Mark Twain’s a Yankee in King Arthers Court. I have not read it since I was a youngin and I’m always surprised at how relevant his work is still today. And the old time rhythm of writing is my favourite. I rarely read new books. Unless they are really good or the subject matter is interesting. I don’t like the way people write today. I…[Read more]
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Classic junky here too =] I lOVED Conn. Yankee. (though it was absolute torture to get through Tom Sawyer) I dont know–it seemed people actually cared more about the english language back then. They made the words seem beautiful. I am going on a Dickens kick myself
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AlexM.914 joined the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months ago -
Steph posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months agoJust finished Kathleen Winters’ book Annabel, about an intersex child (Wayne) growing up in rural Labrador, in the 70’s/80’s.
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I just finished it, as well. What did you think of how it ended? I feel like it was a little too unrealistic and short. A college campus being THAT welcoming and accepting of Wayne just doesn’t seem feasible. I’m sure it’d be a safer environment, but I feel like Kathleen would have made a more powerful ending by sticking with how difficult life…[Read more]
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I don’t know…the ending did seem a bit sudden. I was expecting something more, but I’m not quite sure what. I was def hoping for a bit more of a resolution between Wayne and Wally, though.
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Steph joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months ago -
Franny P joined the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months ago -
Mari joined the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months ago -
Dani joined the group
The Great Library of Autostraddle 12 years, 5 months ago -
Dani posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months agofinished Zoe Whittall’s Holding Still for As Long as Possible. It was great, easy read – the book was about relationships between a group of 20-something friends, based in the city of Toronto, Ontario.
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Have you read Bottle Rocket Hearts? Better/worse/different? I feel conflicted about (finding/reading) Holding Still, I really hated her first book the first time I read it, but then I read it again and loved it.
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I have read Bottle Rocket Hearts. I know it’s won awards and has a ton of accolades but Holding Still is just a better book. It has a more well-defined plot, the characters are more developed, it’s a less choppy read. I liked it a lot better then Bottle Rocket Hearts – actually, the only thing I liked about that book was that it took place…[Read more]
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I can definitely get behind “less choppy.” I’ll have to check it out!
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I liked holding still… But I think she choked the ending. That kind of made me mad. However, no one is perfect so I have to say that of the lamda awards I have read this year, Whittall’s book was my favorite.
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I didn’t think the ending of Holding Still was too bad. A lot of authors “punt” their endings. I can only think of a handful of books where I thought the ending was well written.
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Actually, I am kinda snotty about the endings as I have many examples of well done endings. I don’t think the excuse that ‘many authors punt their endings’ is good enough for me. What I had a problem with was the whole getting hit by a bus thing. fist, she pulled out into the third person for no apparent reason so that first pulled me out. Second,…[Read more]
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It’s not really an excuse – it’s just reality. People can’t write good endings. I hate it too. It’s even worse with television shows. I think the bus thing was supposed to be an ironic moment – you know, someone who is so neurotic suddenly gets hit by a bus and it’s a life-changing event (blah blah). It was fine in that it at least pulled things…[Read more]
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Off the top of MY head: Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, because he earns the dancing bear. Shelley Jackson’s Half Life because sometimes it is what is between the words. Stephen Wright’s Going Native because he has the best last line. ever. Jessica Anthony’s The Convalescent because she makes you believe. Kathrine Dunn’s Geek Love because…[Read more]
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Those are some great endings for sure. Going Native and The Virgin of Flames especially. I’ve only read David Foster Wallace’s arguments and essays I think – i’ll check out more of his stuff.
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Enough dissing on Zoe’s book as I still liked it poopy ending or no. What are your favorite beginings? And you can’t say Moby Dick … or the Bible for that matter.
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This is nerddy as shit but I read that some theorists think that the beginning of Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse is a re-writing of the beginning of the Iliad. If you read the book like that, it’s unbelievable.
The intro to Nightwood by Djuna Barnes sucks you right in.
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I am nerdy too. no worries. I did know that about To The Lighthouse. The Odyssey and the Illiad are my favorite books (with good openings) and is yet another reason to love the Woolf. My favorite opening is from Beloved because she starts with numbers so the opening is as jarring as the book. I also Like Joe Meno’s Hairstyles of the Damned because…[Read more]
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Hairstyles of the Damned, jesus .. Haven’t heard that title in a while. Remember Punk Planet? O God, best magazine. I was crushed when they stopped publishing, I grew up with that shit. I bought the book because of a flyer that came in the mag.
I love Mimi’s Dada Catifesto it’s on my bookshelf! I feel like it was written for me instead of kids…[Read more]
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Jealous. I applied for an MFA at the New School so I could work with Shelley Jackson and Stephen Wright. did not get in, but I looked over my old app and realize it was not good enough. So, it was for the best. My friend Lance Olsen got to hang out with her when she came to see his doctoral candidates. Double jealous.
Punk Planet was super…[Read more]
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You are killing me. You know Lance Olsen? We need to book swap.
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You know Lance? No one knows Lance. Do you know Lidia Yuknavitch? She is my ‘mentor’/ drinking buddy/ idol. How the hell do you know lance? No one, I mean no one knows lance. He is, by the way, the nicest man you will ever meet.
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ill hit you up, facebook!!
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Dani joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 5 months ago - Load More
Have you read Cats Cradle by Vonnegut? I feel like that book gets all up in my brain and spits out things I never thought anyone else felt. It’s a wonderful, quick read
I’ve never read and Vonnegut, I feel like that’s a sin to say or something. Any first book recommendations?
I say try Slaugherthouse Five or Cat’s Cradle. CC is a little lighter and a quicker read; while S5 is a bit darker and the plot line is a lot less linear. Both are great reads!
Cool, I think i’m going to pick up both. Thank you.
I have it, but have not gotten to reading CC yet. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, I’ve liked everything I’ve read by him!