Your Library Is Your Portrait

–Holbrook Jackson

This is the quote on the back of my business cards.

Shelves of books in my life, carefully boxed and transported from one place to another, are from my college days. From my days as a Women’s Studies major when titles such as “Lesbian Ethics” were de rigeur to my Chinese primer from the one semester of Chinese language of which I was so proud.

My bookshelf was a demonstration of my beliefs, of what I was interested in, who I was, where I’d been, where I was going. Mostly textbooks or novels or histories bought for classwork, they were the most tangible evidence of my present and my past. Chaucer. Thousands of pages on 20th century Chinese history and biography. Eighteenth century British poets. Isben.

The books were also boastful. They contained titles I’d never read and in the portrait business that’s like whitening your teeth with an air brush.

You see offices where people have a lifetime of books. I thought I was the same way. I recently realized that those college books that felt so important for so long aren’t anymore. I’m in a different phase of my life these years later, I don’t need my bookshelves to speak for me, and I don’t need to store books I’m not going to read again.

I certainly did not get rid of everything. I was an English and Women’s Studies major for good reasons and many of the books remain something I want to have nearby – a reach away. Books I want to know that I can simply walk to a shelf and pick up whenever I want to. Raymond Carver. Gloria Naylor. Katherine Philips. Ayn Rand. Three translations of the Koran.

And Stephen King and John Sandford. I weeded my recreational reading too. And I kept all the Stephen King and John Sandford.

The books that are sale-able I’m giving to local library whose friends group can see some cash from them. The “edgy” and “cool” titles I’m taking to Dawn Treader in Ann Arbor where I’ll take store credit for them. Always something interesting in Dawn Treader for someone looking to shed light on the portrait of their age.

What I’ve Been Reading

Here are some of the things I’ve been reading. All of the images click to Amazon where you can read reviews.

The Sisters Antipodes. The true story of two families in the diplomatic corps – one American, one Australian, who decide, basically, to swap families. The spouses switch partners and the kids stay with the mothers. If you like stories about interesting relationship patterns it’s  a good read. Unfortunately, the author does not demonstrate emotional growth from page 1 to The End. She doesn’t show a progression of feelings and understandings. She’s just jealous, angry and pissed off, always. And she uses ten words where one would do. And she was demeaning to the other patients in the psychiatric ward where her sister stayed which pissed me off. There but for the grace of God goes she -  if she hasn’t been in therapy for two decades with all her Daddy issues I’d be shocked. But other than that, seriously, it’s an interesting read.

A history of the scientific study of sex. This is by the same woman who wrote Stiff, about what happens to dead bodies. The book is not titillating, it is informative and educational, and I’m learning stuff I didn’t know. The author is funny and has done great research. But the book is limited. She doesn’t talk much about homosexuality, for instance, and what she does say is mostly about gay men. Have there been many scientific studies of lesbian sexual activity?

And back to gay men. This is a book about two flaming queers – very typical, body-obsessed, Starbucks-swizzling, Candyland-planning men approaching middle age. Who, I’ll be god-damned, fall in love with the country around Saugatuck Michigan and move here from St. Louis. It’s amazingly refreshing to find two people who moved to Michigan because they like it here. The funniest parts are about the transformation of city folks to country folks – they give up cable, glossy magazines, shopping, their high-powered incomes, and more, so the author can write. A very good, quick read.

What I’m Reading About Where My Family Has Been

I did a genre-jump into Canada last year and the first few books were so dull I discontinued the jump – not that Canada is dull, just these books. (They were probably “good” books, and I know they were chosen by librarians because that’s who I asked to recommend them.) That made me kinda sad.

My image of Canadians is that they are a lot like us on our good days – steadfastedly democratic, friendly, live-and-let-live, let’s-all-get-along, yeah-I-can-help-you-with-that folks. Neighborly. Lefty radical cool people except that everyone is relaxed and polite about being radical which takes most of the bitterness out of it. A no-drama people.

Is all that “basically” true? I don’t even know. That’s how much I don’t know about Canada.

Well, much of my family still lives in Canada and my direct line that I’m researching lived there from shortly after the (U.S.) Revolutionary War until shortly after the (U.S.) Civil War (I will pause here to say members of other lines of my family fought in both of those conflicts – and all on the winning sides as far as I know).

I went searching for a history of Papineauville Quebec (what is 90 miles from Montreal), an English-speaking valley in Quebec, where my family lived. Here’s a map. I quickly realized I needed to take a step back. I know a lot more about European countries than I do about Canada. So, I’m starting with the basics and shall work my way forward. I’ll let you know how it goes.

What We’re Reading, Matey

Me waited for A . to get on IM the other day for the cause that I wanted something new to illuminate meself. Me said, “I want something as good as Pirates by Reese – something young adult.” The good woman replied with the question whether I wanted pirate stories or strong female character stories. Me said the latter, matey, and after a few minutes she comes back with a list – of both. So this is what me will be reading over the next few weeks:

Bloody Jack: Being an Account of hte Curious Adventurs of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy by L.A. Meyer

Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl’s Adventure Upon the High Seas by Tanith Lee

Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Me started with Bloody Jack – about a girl who passes for a boy to get work as a ship’s boy during 1797 London. This here book has the most useful diagram me have laid me eyes upon in many a year.

Hubby, on the other of me two good hands, is reading a 192-page Popular Mechanics books on Garage Make-overs.

Together, we’re reading Phantom Prey by John Sandford and The Appeal by John Grisham. Today we be off to the park for a hike, a picnic lunch of seabiscuits and grog, and a few hours of reading in the Mizzentop