I don't review every zine I read on here, but I do try to get a few lines out about my favorites. Her Blues is one of those zines that like good poetry, art, etc. captures an experience in such a way that it resonates completely with something that you thought was yours only, and reading it you feel less like a freak, less alone.
I was soooo excited to see this new Kim Harrison book listed in the NYPL catalog. I didn't realize when I placed my hold it was YA, which is normally even more appealing to me. Once Dead, Twice Shy is more or less a dead girl coming of age story.
My Radical Reference bud James Jacobs was good enough to post Sandy Berman's latest Personal LCSH Scorecard (meaning subject heading's he has proposed to the Library of Congress) to the Rad Ref site. The first part of the scorecard identifies headings that LC has adopted, and the second part lists headings yet to be accepted. I thought I'd second my favorites from the latter list...
I run hot and cold with Kurt Vonnegut, sometimes thinking he's a genius and other times silly and simplistic. My response to this tale of the effect of God's utter indifference on the creatures of our solar system is one of moderate disinterest, though I do generally enjoy clever irreligiousness.
I was so psyched to read Lisa See's new historical novel that I snatched it off the cataloging truck to get at it faster. With that kind of build up, it would have been surprising if I liked it as much as I expected to, so maybe it's not Shanghai Girls's fault that I didn't love it.
I read a lot of autobiographies, but seldom does it occur to me to consider what a feat of memory and bravery it is to get down a rich portrait of one's life. Mary Childers does an admirable job of recalling her impoverished childhood and adolescence in the Bronx, and is pretty out there about what she endured, including her own shaming behaviors. I wonder if her telling the story in the present tense helped her with that? It kind of confused me, so I wish that even if the device helped her memory, that she'd switched it to past tense after the first draft.
He had always been a cruel and violent drunk, but when he dangled Lacey out of a window because she wasn't his kid, Mom ditched him. At least that's what she tells us. I'm glad to have a standard for where to draw the line on the kind of abuse to take from men. p.17
I wish my social studies teacher would verify what the old Irish guy told me and Paula about these crowded hills belonging to the Appalachian Mountains. But during the geography unit we only memorized and pierced with pushpins the map locations of natural resources and capitals in Africa, Asia and Central and South America, as if preparing for lifetimes of exile or plunder. p.127
Sandy Berman sent me this news service article about the decline of the US Postal Service printed from his local paper. I agree with it when it comes to the USPS, but also think you could substitute the word "library" for "post office" and have it be equally true.
This week on LCSH Watch, List 30 (July 29, 2009), we explore
One of these subject headings inspired a memory of the Kristy McNichol/Tatum O'Neal rite of passage film Little Darlings!
Apparently they haven't received any applications from library and information science students yet. So if you're in an LIS program and looking for a for credit internship, and you want to work with comics (How could you not?), please get in touch with these nice people!
