Women's Lives and Relationships

Author: Roxane Gay

Title: Difficult Women

Genre: Women’s Lives and Relationships, Short Stories

Publication Date: January 3rd 2017

Number of Pages: 272

Geographical Setting: United States, Various. Florida, Michigan, California

Time Period: Present Day

Plot Summary: This is a collection of short stories that have been featured in various publications. They each have a sense of heartbreak that comes from loving someone. While most of the stories focus on relationships between man and woman, there are also stories that focus on relationships between family members, coworkers, and friends. These stories feature women in a variety of settings, all dealing with their own struggles and how they overcome or deal with the complexities of being a woman, and often a black woman, in the world.

Subject Headings:FICTION / Short Stories (single author)
     FICTION / Literary.

Appeal: This book appeals to anyone who has experienced struggle. This book makes you experience complex feelings about the characters and completely absorbs you into these worlds that are created. The reader can feel and imagine themselves in every situation, so these stories stick with you for a long time.

Genre:Literary fiction; Short stories

Tone:Offbeat; Thought-provoking

Writing Style:Stylistically complex

Three terms that best describe this book: Intense, moving, powerful

Similar Authors: Joan Didion, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates, Hilton Als, Rebecca Solnit, Zadie Smith, bell hooks

Week Seven Prompt

I love Roxane Gay. I read "Bad Feminist" last year, and since then have been seeking her works out whenever I could. I will be annotating "Difficult Women" for a later assignment and have "Hunger" on hold at the library, so that whenever it gets published and released, I can have it as soon as possible. So, when I heard that she was going to be publishing another book in 2018, I was ecstatic. 

Roxane Gay has strong and clear beliefs. She is well spoken and well written. Even her twitter page is full of thought provoking, funny, and insightful quips. Because of her strong and clear beliefs, when it was announced that Simon and Schuster would be publishing Milo Yiannopoulos’s book (which is now a moot point), she did what she thought was best for her conscience. She pulled her book because she didn't want her book, even though it was going to be published by a different branch of the company, to be associated with someone who has completely different beliefs as to what it means to be a person in the world today. She does recognize that not everyone has the ability to take a hit to their paycheck. I have so much respect for that.

In the CNN article, Gay is quoted as saying: "He doesn't have a right to have a book published by a major publisher but he has, in some bizarre twist of fate, been afforded that privilege. So be it. I'm not interested in doing business with a publisher willing to grant him that privilege." This pull quote is misleading. It makes her sound like just because she doesn't agree with what he says, he shouldn't be able to have his book published. She addressed this in her full statement: "And to be clear, this isn’t about censorship. Milo has every right to say what he wants to say, however distasteful I and many others find it to be." What I believe her to be saying is, how could a publisher be willing to publish someone who says pretty offensive things about women AND someone who wants to lift women up, all in the same breath? 

I personally wouldn't have read Yiannopoulos’s book. However, I do know that several patrons in my community would have read it. In fact, there are holds on the book. People were anticipating it. It is not my job to argue with what people read, but I doubt I would have put it on a display or even recommended it to people. In the same breath, I know that I won't be recommending Roxane Gay to my patrons anytime soon. There are always going to be books that people don't agree with and that is one of the joys of working in a library. I will continue to appreciate Roxane Gay for standing up for what she believes is right.

Science Fiction

Science Fiction

I won’t lie. I really struggled with this book. There are so many Spanish words thrown in, that I had to skip a few pages in the middle. I knew that it was a translated book, but I didn’t realize that most of the dialogue was peppered with Spanish. There were also so many technical science words and made up words to describe the creatures and the planets that it was incredibly difficult for me to read. With that being said, Yoss does an excellent job at creating a world. The middle where the main character was telling his autobiography was outstanding, I wish there would have been more of that in the book.

Author: Yoss

Title: Super Extra Grande

Genre: Humorous stories; Science fiction; Space opera; Translations

Publication Date: June 7, 2016

Number of Pages: 160 pages

Geographical Setting: Outerspace

Time Period: Distant Future

Plot Summary: Intergalactic veterinarian Dr. Jan Amos Sangan Dongo takes us on an unusual journey by way of his job as “Veterinarian to the Giants,” where he deals with the largest creatures in the universe. The story beings with him having to rescue a priceless wedding bracelet for a politician's wife from the belly of an extra grande sized monster. After he rescues the bracelet, he reflects upon his life up to his point. He describes how travel between planets became possible, how he decided to because a veterinarian biologist, how he got rid of two ‘female’ assistants (who were both in love with him), replaced them with a ‘male’ assistant, and other musings about his life. The climax of the book happens when his two former assistants are swallowed by a super extra grande creature, and must be retrieved, in order to keep the peace in the galaxy.

Subject Headings: Aliens -- Fiction.
Human-alien encounters -- Fiction.
Veterinarians -- Fiction.
Science fiction, Cuban.

Appeal: Anyone who is interested in unusual science fiction stories. This book has a lot of humor and a lot of sexual overtones.

Character:Exaggerated

Storyline: Plot-driven

Pace:Fast-paced

Tone:Irreverent; Racy humor

Writing Style:Engaging

Three terms that best describe this book: Immersive world, Raunchy, Incredibly technical

Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

In Other Worlds: SF and Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen

Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To by D.C. Pierson

Infomocracy: A Novel by Malka Older

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Versus the Multiverse by Kyle Darnell

Week Six Prompt

While our horror books go out a lot during October, due to Halloween, the rest of the year our collection doesn’t get much attention. I think that the reason these books go out so well during that time is because of our central display. Our patrons are busy, so they gravitate toward the pre-selected books. This is true for the majority of the displays we have, so I thought that it would be nice to create a horror book display, even though we are several months away from the key time to read it. To keep it relevant, I would want to create several smaller displays that are related to current popular television shows. This would include multiple signs that say “Books to read if you like……” and include shows such as Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Westworld, Black Mirror, Twin Peaks, Mr. Robot, etc. These are all popular shows that have a horror element to them, but they are enjoyable to watch during any season. That is what horror books can do, as well. These are all shows that tackle a variety of subjects, so if people don’t like zombies or aliens, then they can see that there is a whole range of horror books in our collection that they might enjoy. This project would take a short amount of time to put together, but I think our patrons would enjoy the tie-in to popular TV shows.

Kirkus Style Review

Patti LuPone: A Memoir by Patti LuPone

Even though Patti LuPone is a beloved star of stage and screen, she uses this opportunity to not only talk about all the wonderful places her career has taken her, but also the darker side of being a performer. She details the feuds between high profile co-workers and directors, as well as the difficulties of being on the road, away from family and friends. Regardless of how difficult her life was, she writes this book with the same grace, class, and wit she exudes no matter what character she is playing. Heartbreaking, charming, and wonderfully funny, this book is a must read for anyone who is a performer, aspires to be a performer, or just loves theater. She proves time and time again that life is not always easy, but you should never give up, no matter how many cards are stacked against you. My only gripe with this book is that is doesn't discuss her time on 30 Rock. She is an absolute treasure.   

Book Review Resources

I think that book review publications should have honest reviews. Granted, people have different tastes in books, and they won’t have similar thoughts on the same book. Book reviews affect collection development if the purchaser isn’t using a wide variety of resources for their reviews. If they are only looking at Kirkus reviews to purchase books, they might miss out on books that might not have gotten great reviews, but would be a great fit for the community they serve. They might also miss out on certain genres such as ebooks or romance books, just because they aren’t reviewed. This can also cause an issue with reader’s advisory, because someone might not want to recommend a book due to it’s poor review, or they might recommend a “bad” book because it got a good review.

I don’t necessarily feel that blog reviews or Amazon reviews are super reliable in a professional sense, but I do like to read them for personal gain. I might trust the blog a little more than an Amazon review, just based on my own biases. I would consider buying this, but I would need to look at how well Christmas romance ebooks circulate, or if we even have them. If we don’t have much in that genre, or if it circulated well, then I would absolutely purchase it. If we already have several similar books or if they don’t go over well, then I would hold off on purchasing it. I don’t think this would be a romantic suspense book. I guess it would be suspenseful to see if they wind up together or when she is up for bid. Overall it doesn’t seem suspenseful.    

These reviews make it seem that Angela’s Ashes should be in every collection, if not multiple copies. It is obviously a classic, and I know it’s required reading for multiple classes. I would say that I would have this book in my collection, without a doubt.

I think it is important for all different types of books to be reviewed. Libraries are supposed to have something for everyone, but if they only use a handful of review sources to get their books, then they are going to be missing out on countless books. I generally like to read reviews for books, especially if it’s an author that I haven’t read before, however, if there is an author that I really enjoy, I probably won’t read the reviews of their newest book. I use indiereader.com, BookPage, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and  New York Times to read book reviews.  

Secret Shopper

This week I went to a library that I haven't gone to in a long time to find a book to read. Normally, I don't go out of my way to ask for help as far as reading suggestions go, so I felt pretty uncomfortable. However, the experience was really great and I might consider asking for book suggestions more often! I came away with several books to add to my reading list!