Showing posts with label yea lady writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yea lady writers. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2011

Book Review 18 of 24 (Scrapbooks Are Paper Blogs)

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt
By Caroline Preston
Barnes & Noble link

(Fun fact: I just found out about this book earlier yesterday at my job. Read it in two sittings and decided that it was an appropriate last review.)


When given the tools, anyone can become the person they were meant to become. The influences could come from anywhere, but usually you can discern the usual suspects. For the narrator of The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, this was an easy one: her own parents. But it takes more than that to get this girl going. Adventures await her as she leaves the farming countryside of New Hampshire for the wide-eyed wonder of New York State in this uniquely-presented tale.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Book Review 17 of 24 (Atwood Schools Everyone About Sci-Fi)

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
By Margaret Atwood
Barnes & Noble link

(Fun fact: the main reason I joined Twitter was because Margaret Atwood had one and enjoyed using it.)

When you want to learn about a genre, you normally go towards the genre's representative books. In this case, we are talking about science fiction. Go for the popular, we have Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, and Philip K. Dick. Wanna get esoteric? Walter M. Miller, C.S. Lewis, and J.G. Ballard. How about the ladies? Margaret Atwood, Octavia E. Butler, and Ursula K. Le Guin. You have a lot to choose from.

In this case, let's go with Margaret Atwood. She has written the chilling The Handmaid's Tale, the apocalyptic tale of Oryx and Crake and its sequel The Year of the Flood. But she ain't through. She has more to say about science fiction than her novels could contain. With In Other Worlds, Atwood puts together all she learned about sci-fi and schools you good.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Book Review 16 of 24 (Surrealistic Lady Writers Unite!)

Fantastic Women: 18 Tales of the Surreal and the Sublime from Tin House
Edited by Rob Spillman
Barnes & Noble link

(I'm breaking with tradition: I normally don't review things after reading another review, in fear of plagiarizing... but it's time to subvert!)

If it weren't for the wonderful magazine Bitch, this book's existence would've never been made unto me. Already hurting to read more works by female writers, this collection not only appealed to that but also for the draw of big names. I've read Rikki Ducornet's The Fountains of Neptune (a recommendation from a creative writing professor) and am currently reading Karen Russell's excellent Swamplandia! and the collected stories of Lydia Davis. Thanks to this book, I now have a list of fantastic writers to check out.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Book Review: 13 of 24 (First Lady of Rock Criticism)

Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music
Edited by Nona Willis Aronowitz
Barnes & Noble link

This was a book I wasn't sure how to approach when it came time to finally review it. At first, I abandoned the idea of doing this, since it is the first book of its kind that I ever reviewed (here or anywhere else). But after some consideration, the review will go on. This unsung lady of rock journalism shall not go ignored any longer! With a little help from her friends (and daughter too), the late Ellen Willis gets a fitting tribute in this collection of her greatest hits in Out of the Vinyl Deeps.