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31
Book Review: OTHER PEOPLE WE MARRIED by Emma Straub
2011 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Published February 2011 by Five Chapters Press
Say hello to Emma Straub’s debut short story collection Other People We Married, and kiss your preconceived notions about short fiction goodbye.
Let’s be honest: there are short stories that reinforce the idea that the genre can be pretentious, inaccessible, and abstract. I know. I’ve read ‘em. You probably have too. Or maybe you haven’t touched short fiction at all since high school. Or ever. Whatever your experience with short fiction, you’d do yourself a favor by spending an afternoon (and really, that’s all it will take) with Other People We Married.
Straub’s collection, full of the kind of quirky, flawed, believable characters that will remind you of your friends, your colleagues, and yourself, begins with “Some People Must Really Fall in Love,” in which a young writer attempts to fight her attraction to a student by dating a real Grown-Up Man (who owns a house and everything) and ends up reflecting on the strange in-between-ness of the stage of life during which one is technically an adult but doesn’t feel like it yet. Read more
A.S. King Is Sorry If She Makes You Uncomfortable…But She Wants You To Read This Anyway
2011 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
A.S King is the author of a superfantastic YA novel called Please Ignore Vera Dietz. When she’s not busy being a big-time fancy author, she’s a wife, a mother, a proud feminist, and a really, really ‘rageous woman. She’s taking over the blog today to talk about an issue near and dear to both our hearts and what you can do to stop it. Take it away, Amy.
I am not here to fuck around. I am not here to sit still and put my hands on my lap. I’m not here to look cute or care about how long my eyelashes are. I don’t give a shit about wrinkles. Or visible panty lines. Or stretch marks. Or leg stubble. Or my gray hairs. If I was to believe what I see on TV, these are the things that make people uncomfortable, ashamed and aghast.
I’m going to tell you what makes me uncomfortable, ashamed and aghast. Rape. I’m not alone, either. A lot of you cringed when you read that. Some of you almost clicked out of here because it’s just too horrifying to think about isn’t it? Because you know the stats. You know the deal. It’s too damn big. It’s gone on too damn long. It’s the way of the world. It’s as old as time. It’s just part of life on Earth. It can’t be stopped. It’s hopeless.
I know. Depressing as hell, right? I used to think so, too, until I got involved with my local V-Day and started to speak at our annual production of the Vagina Monologues. Now, instead of cringing, I get to stand up on a stage, feel my heart beat out of my chest with stage fright, and talk about the truth and the solution. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I get to share a stage with gutsy women who are standing up for vaginas just like I am. I gotta tell you—it’s a buzz like no other. Read more
HANDBOOK FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVORS Giveaway Winners
2011 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
No, the cartoon doesn’t have anything to do with the post, but it is entertaining in light of LOL and OMG being added to the OED, and everybody knows that giveaway winner posts tend to be boring. So there.
Now for the three lucky winners of signed paperback editions of The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors and book club or Skype visits from author Michele Young-Stone are:
@heathmocha
Bex at An Armchair by the Sea
Congratulations to the winners (whom I’ve emailed already) and a big thanks to my pal Michele Young-Stone for sponsoring this exclusive giveaway.
The Sunday Salon 3.27.11—Special “Support an Indie Bookstore” Edition
2011 at 1pm Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
So, I got thirteen hours of sleep last night (go ahead and be jealous) and am feeling too fuzzy (and also way too relaxed) to think about putting together a full post. I’m still recovering from the Salt-N-Pepa Legends of Hip Hop concert I saw Friday night (you know you’re getting old when it takes two days to recover from going to show), which was just as fantastic as it sounds—Biz Markie, MC Lyte, Doug E. Fresh, Naughty by Nature, and Salt-N-Pepa. Rather than recapping a week on the blog and discussing what I’m reading, I want to tell you about an opportunity to support an up-and-coming indie bookseller who is buying a well-established bookstore.
Lacy Simons (whom you might recognize from the Poetryrageous episode of the Bookrageous podcast) has managed Rock City Books in Rockland, Maine for the last five years, and on May 15th, she will become the owner of the store she first visited more than ten years ago. Lacy is knowledgeable, passionate, and totally ‘rageous, and she is offering the bookish community a unique opportunity to provide boots-on-the-ground (or, well, dollars-in-the-bank) support for independent bookstores.
Lacy says:
I spent years working in national service programs and at nonprofits, and those years didn’t exactly help me build up my savings account. Nor, needless to say, did going to grad school. That’s why I’m going to ask for a little bit of help from everyone who I think might be willing to offer a little bit of help, and ask you to pass this along to anyone else you think, for whatever reason, may want to help too.
My business plan is meticulous and awesome, my loan application is filled out, and the planning for a May 15th start date is well underway, but the bank likes to see more cash in hand before saying yes to a business loan, so I’m taking a cue from NPR and asking you to pledge your support: of me, of independent bookstores, of print books themselves.
Read Lacy’s full proposal and check out the four budget-friendly sponsorship levels (plus the awesome Magical Unicorn Level at which you donate a million dollars) and consider making a donation to Lacy’s endeavors if you can, or providing word of mouth, which is free!
In addition to my donation, I’m taking a page from The Reading Ape’s book and donating all proceeds from affiliate sales between now and May 15th to Lacy and Rock City Books, so when you clickety-click a buy link in one my reviews and purchase your book through my favorite indie bookseller, you’re supporting two great stores at once.
