What it is: The Cleft by Doris Lessing is a novel about a Roman man who tells the story about the beginning of humanity, which consists of only women. They live communally and conceive babies through moonlight. Suddenly a baby boy is born, and eventually their society changes to establish, embrace, and struggle with gender roles. The…
Today is International Women’s Day. It was first established in the early 1900s, and since then has been a day designated for the fight for equality of the sexes. From the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote to the Lilly Ledbetter Act backing equal pay, legislation in the United States has been slowing…
I like to think that some day I’ll write a book. I have no idea what that book would be, but seeing my name in a bookstore would be absolutely amazing. In the meantime, I get to admire my blog friend Beth Teliho whose same dream of releasing a novel is coming true next month. If…
“Do you know anyone in jail?” the officer asked. “Um…” I thought through everyone I went to public school with. One them had spent some time in jail, but I was pretty sure he’d been released. “No.” “Hold out your arms,” he instructed. He ran a metal-detection wand over my body, but it didn’t beep. I’d…
What it is: Cry No More by Linda Howard is a mystery/romance novel centered on Milla Edge, a woman whose six-week-old baby was violently torn from her in a Mexican open-air market. She dedicatedly spends the next ten years trying to find her son, Justin, which is both dangerous and difficult due to the smugglers’ conniving tricks…
What it is: The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo is a novel about Marjorie, a 17-year-old girl living in rural New Hampshire, and the challenges she faces growing up in a more or less abusive home where her parents keep her isolated and even use their own strange dialect of English. After getting a job as…
EDM started becoming really popular a few years ago, and now it seems like upbeat dance remixes are everywhere. I dismissed the genre immediately, but I made a deal with Catherine from Never Stationary: I would give EDM a chance if she did the same for one of my favorite things, and we’d both write our reactions.…
Roll the opening credits. Enter Average Troubled Male. Average Troubled Male has a mediocre, meaningless life. He feels trapped in his job and either hates his friends or has none. He can’t see the fun in anything, and he’s on the road to depression. What does he need? A) To get out of his cubicle…
What it is: Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh is an inside look at gang life in the Chicago housing projects, particularly the activity of the Black Kings at the Robert Taylor Homes during the early 1990s. Venkatesh spent years in and around the complex, collecting data and anecdotes for his graduate work in sociology. He…
Some search terms make sense and direct readers to what they want. Others aren’t perfect, but come close enough to work. The rest are a smorgasbord of “erm,” “okay then,” and “WTF?” Some people seem to be coming to my blog for advice on personal matters and…shopping? Some visitors seemed to need help with school assignments or…
Victim to Charm 