Catherynne Valente on her new fantasy Palimpsest:
Valente said that the novel was terribly personal. “It is simultaneously a story of a fantasy world and the burning desire to get there, and of lonely people trying to find connection on the edges of society,” she said. “Being a child of the internet and various subcultures, and also someone who has been often solitary in my life, I found myself writing an almost confessional novel about the places where many people can come together and create an entirely new space, a new country, sheerly out of their desire not to be alone.”
Richard Nash is leaving Soft Skull (and Counterpoint). From a reviewer's standpoint he has been great to work with - and has sent so many lovely books my way. I hope he does wonderful things in his upcoming freelance career. He has killer instincts when it comes to good writing - can't wait to see what comes next. (He also is the one who got Soft Skull onboard the Teen Book Drop - Lonely Werewolf Girl, yea!)
Why the American Girls novels (and everything that goes with them) are so so wrong:
Each book includes a textbook-like "Peek at the Past" or "Looking Back" section at the end of each girl's story that adds historical context. This background material parallels standard textbook fare. Given that American Girl claims to provide girls with a sense of history, it is striking that these brief narratives focus on general American history rather than on the history of girls or even women in the United States. The representation of American girlhood in these materials avoids any lessons about social activism and refuses to teach girls about how to organize or how to fight ongoing gender and/or racial discrimination. Real life examples could have been included, such as the story of 11-year-old Harriet Hanson, who led a strike in Lowell, Mass., in 1936 against unfair and harsh working conditions for mill girls. American Girl chooses to market a less controversial story about girlhood in The Great Depression in which Kit Kitredge sacrifices her room for one in the attic so that her family can take boarders into their house for extra money. For the year 1944, American Girl focuses on a white privileged girl rather than choosing to tell a story about the experiences of a Japanese American girl interned in a camp. Let's just say I don't anticipate a Black Panther American Girl doll to turn up any time soon.
Am I the only one who has never heard of Harriet Hanson? Talk about someone who needs a book written about her....
Two books arrived today that make me very happy: A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell and So Punk Rock by Micol Ostow. Sandell's is due in April, so hopefully will work in my June colum; Ostow's in July and should appear that month (beach blanket reading is the theme....I think.)
And now, some notes on books recently finished or currently being read:
This is Me, Jack Vance was really lovely - what a fascinating life. It actually has very little about his writing life; it's more about how he has lived and how writing fit around that. The man has gone all over the world, literally. It's a great example of bold living; large living; happy living. Review due....at some point. I'll keep ya posted.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks is out in tpb now and if you missed it the first time around or like literary mysteries then you need to go after it. This whole idea of the many ways in which a book can touch different lives - the histories a physical book can have - is mesmerizing. Plus she such a wonderful writer. The modern storyline is very compelling as well. I'll be writing more on this in the next couple of weeks (when I've finished it).
Charles De Lint is in the Southwest for The Mystery of Grace which is a book about death and dying and moving on (and also falling in love both before and after dying). It has a kick ass protagonist in Grace and I'm ever hopeful for a happy ending although I don't think it will be at typical ending (if that makes any sense).
William Kittredge is making me reconsider and understand the west in a dozen different ways in The Next Rodeo. He writes about the mythology of rodeos and home and the plains. It's sublime.
Melissa Wyatt sent me a copy of her new book, Funny How Things Change which is about teen Remy Walker and how he is supposed to want to leave his small West Virginia town but can't seem to come up with a reason (other than his girlfriend) that makes leaving seem like a good idea. It seems like we sell the concept of far far away (of growing up and leaving) so hard that we forget that staying is not a bad idea either. This is also about mountain top removal which I don't think nearly enough people know about. It's due out in late April - should be in the June column.
And finally, we have a kid terrified of water who is following some "silkie" myths in A. LaFaye's Water Steps. So far there's Lake Champlain, lots of talk about Irish folklore and some gentle family drama. If it ends as well as it is reading so far, then it will be in the May column.
And then there's the Poe anthology which Strange Horizons seemed not to like but I think is really very interesting. The stories are very different, but so was Poe's work. It's giving me a lot to think about. It's always so hard for me to review anthologies as the temptation is to focus on individual stories (what you like, what you don't like) but I think you need to look at a book like this as a package. Does it present the many different facets of Poe, both the man and his work, in a way that makes him more attainable for readers? So far I have to say a resounding "yes". And that should be the point I think. More on this when I'm finished reading.
