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E joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
Erin joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
Kerry joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
Kat joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
J-Elizabeth joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
sean joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
Rebecca posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months agoIf anyone’s into non -fiction try The Glass Castle. A poignant memoir, I was constantly surprised that I wasn’t reading a fictional narrative. Crazy stuff, lots of feelings, and well-written.
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Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
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Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
nicole b posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months agoI started “Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme” yesterday (http://www.amazon.com/Persistence-All-Ways-Butch-Femme/dp/1551523973/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307369650&sr=8-1). I saw it on a reading list on an AS article.
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i bought this just after seeing it in an AS article. truly enjoyed it. the one that struck me the must was one that started with “having a baby is the butchest thing a woman can do” not sure if those are the exact words but the whole piece was beautiful … the letting my arm fall asleep so she’s comfortable or standing so she can sit part really…[Read more]
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*most
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I’m only part of the way through the book, but I loved this essay.
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nicole b joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
thelovelyjazmin posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 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, 4 months ago -
Ryan joined the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
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Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months ago -
Steph posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 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, 4 months ago -
Dani posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 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, 4 months ago -
Rose posted an update in the group
Autostraddle Summer Book Club 2011 12 years, 4 months agoI think I am tackling War and Peace next. I’ve noticed that I have the opposite philosophy of everyone else about “summer reading” – for me, it’s “Time to tackle some enormous, deep book I’d never have time to read during the school year!”
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I’m totally the same way. I’ve already finished the last 100 pages of Stranger in a Strange Land, Beloved, and Full Frontal Feminism. Now I’m reading the Count of Monte Cristo and have about 10 other books I want to read this summer.
I tried reading War and Peace but couldn’t get in to it… and I love Russian Lit. Maybe I’ll give it another try. -
Same! Stuff I don’t have time of for the rest of the year, and also because I usually have to prepare for next year (I study English at uni). I have to read a LOT of Shakespeare this summer – I say have to, but I am looking forward to it.
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