Geez Louise. The humor and good sense of Shanker’s The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life is a marked contrast to the neuroticism of Carol Lay’s The Big Skinny. Seriously? They both talk about bananas - Shanker’s all like, “Isn’t it messed up that one banana is two servings? Who only eats half a banana at a time?” Well. Carol Lay.

This graphic novel focuses on Lay’s weight management techniques. While it’s helpful in terms of really making clear the benefits of … READ MORE

Shanker is a diva on a mission. She wants to talk about the politics of fat and the politics weight loss. Her hilarious, honest take on one faboo woman’s body politics challenges conventional wisdom about weight, fashion, and the economic forces of the weight loss industry. Plus, she’s suggesting something wicked radical — part of what enrages folks about a fat woman’s body is that they’re rejecting the Contract. You know — the Contract? The one that says women work … READ MORE

Ellis’ online project, FreakAngels, is an amazingly good time. The basic plot centers on the adventures of the FreakAngels, a group of mysterious twenty-somethings who’ve apparrently destroyed the world. These purple-eyed tots have taken Whitechapel under their wing, and are attempting to restore some order to the little pocket of England they’ve now claimed as home. Fellow Freak Mark is now in the outside world working against them, and they’re now at the point where they’re trying to both solidify … READ MORE

Mary Janice Davidson’s mermaid series Sleeping with the Fishes (Fred the Mermaid, Book 1) is fantastic. It’s set in Boston (SQUEE!) and features the New England Aquarium quite prominently.Her delightfully snarky half-human protagonist Fred is a marine biologist utterly resistant to the charms of Thomas, the water fellow at the NEA, and Artur, the mer-prince who’s come to woo her. These delightfully silly three must combine forces to save the Harbor from becoming a poo-filled wasteland. Dude. Most romance novels … READ MORE

Fire Study was a somewhat unmemorable conclusion to an otherwise strong trilogy. In it, we’re once again trying to negotiate peace between Ixia and Sitia. Yelena is also trying to get comfortable with her role as a Soulfinder, figure out a way to be with Valek, and reconcile a series of dual obligations related to her newly discovered family, her dual citizenship in these two countries, and her growing desire for independence. The text’s flaws included an increasingly de-fanged Valek … READ MORE

Gah. Everfree, Nick Sagan’s closer to his Black Ep. trilogy, introduced some neat-o characters, but subsided to an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion. Remember the plot? Major plague, well-to-do humans go into cryogenics, everyone else dies? After inventing post-humans, genetically engineered kiddies smart enough to save the planet? Only then one went insane and killed like half of his compatriots? ‘Member that? Kay. At this novel’s start, we find out that the post-humans have begun reanimating the world’s old movers-and-shakers, and forcing … READ MORE

I’m still on a big YA kick, and went ahead through the first volume of Smith’s Night World collection. Again, Smith’s prose is gorgeously lucid, and the plots are quite fun. My one hesitation is that Smith’s got an on-going motif re: female archetypes that’s kinda making me twitch. The whole DID YOU NOTICE XXX IS SO WILD MAGIK IT MAKES YOUR TEETH HURT? THIS IS WHY THEY’RE IEXPLICABLY SEXY!!! as a means of characterization is making me a leeeeeeeetle … READ MORE

Eve Sedgwick, a major queer theorist, died April 12th, 2009. This prolific writer is touchingly remembered by one of her close friends here.

Voz_Latina is call for a boycott of feministe and feministing because of their consistant FAIL regarding trans issues. More info here.

http://voz-latina.livejournal.com/4425.html

Hey all! New book coming out focusing on women’s friendships! Bonus points for being set (in part) at SMITH, my alma mater!

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Sullivan: COMMENCEMENT

Part One

SMITH ALUMNAE QUARTERLY
Spring 2006 Class Notes

CLASS OF ’02

Robin Hughes graduates from Northwestern this May with a master’s in public health. She lives in Chicago with fellow Hopkins House alum Gretchen (Gretch) Anderson . . . Natalie Goldberg (Emerson House) and her partner Gina Black (class of ’99) have finally realized their dream of moving to … READ MORE