Insert Witty Journal Title Here

ETA: If you were planning to read Never Let Me Go, then don't read the blurb they provide. It's spoilery. Similarly, if you click through to their original list of 10 and haven't read Ender's Game, also a complete spoiler! Since I haven't read most of the books, it's entirely possible there's other spoilers as well. So if you intend to read any of these books, safer to skip the blurb and move on.

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Flavorwire has just posted 10 Contemporary Books That Challenged White, Male Literary Dominance. And I was like.. yes, awesome.

Until I read the list.

Now I am just puzzled.

"Last week, we published a list of 10 essential books of the past 25 years. It was one of our most popular posts of all time, as well as one of our most contentious, racking up over 100 comments. Much of the argument has focused on the list's lack of diversity: of the 10 books, eight were written by white men."

So.. this is a list of 10 awesome books by people who aren't white men? An otherwise rather random list of them? Because that's what it looks like.

While Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale (which I was surprised to see, because I guess my concept of 'contemporary' did not encompass 25 years ago) does 'challenge' white male dominance in the world, in an outside-the-book kind of way, the world itself in the book is very white male dominated!

But Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro struck me as more about class than anything to do with gender, race, or national origin. Perhaps I'm mis-remembering.

So if the texts don't have to challenge the white male dominance, then the books are challenging them.. simply by being written by women (white or otherwise) or men of color? Um, well.. did you really need to make a top 10 list to prove the majority of the population on the planet is capable of writing good books?! The list didn't even confine itself to books first published in English!

Which just makes you have to question why so many American, Canadian, and British authors made it into the list!

I was originally going to look at the list and complain if there was no sf/f on it. I have a little trouble doing that because whatever Atwood says, her book is sf. And wherever Ishiguro's is placed in libraries and bookstores, it's sf too.

I dunno.. I just.. seriously? There were several approaches you could take to 'challenging' the 'literary dominance' of white males and I don't think this list reflects any of them.

* Books that actually challenge that dominance by exploring worlds where white men aren't dominant, or by subverting that. You know.. feminist or anti-colonialist books, though not limited to those.

* Books written by women or men of color that dominated the bestseller lists. Rowling or Meyer, anyone?

* Books by women or men of color who won the Hugo or the Nebula? (Ah well, pipe dream this. Because sf/f isn't 'literary'.)

* Books by women or men of color that appear on school reading lists? I know that would include Octavia Butler.

* Books that are really big with book groups? With or without the Oprah Bump.

I'm annoyed that this list doesn't have LeGuin or Butler or anyone else in the sf/f world who is a major, major player and who challenged the status quo just by getting their voice heard.

Even while another part of me thinks that was too much to expect.

I should stop reading these top whatever lists just because Shelf Awareness points me to them. They're all rubbish. :P

ETA: I was also wondering about this summary of Handmaid's Tale. "As a result, some are virtuous Wives while others are Handmaids, like the novel's protagonist, Offred, named for their male masters and forced to bear their children so the Wives don't have to." Don't have to? I thought they couldn't! Am I misremembering here? No, wait, that was girly of me. I know they couldn't! That was the whole point! (But if you really want to satisfy the 2% of my brain that isn't sure, could you confirm it for me? Thnx.)

The back cover copy of Publish This Book is awesome.

The cover art of Museum of Thieves is awesome.

Free downloadable ebooks from the library are awesome.

So there's a bunch of books I really want to read before Wiscon. And it'll be March tomorrow. Eep. So here's my homework assignment between now and then.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin. I'm also reviewing this for Triple Take, so I should finish it soonish.

Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu. Also anything else by her, but I know I have this.. somewhere. As I bought it last Wiscon!

In the same vein, something by Mary Anne Mohanraj, though I'm not sure I have anything.

Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. I think I bought this at my first Wiscon and I really, really need to read it.

The Wiscon Chronicles um.. whatever number the last one was. Just to get me in the mood.

The Secret Feminist Cabal by Helen Merrick. Because I suspect people will be talking about it. I need to get my hands on a copy first.

This year's Tiptree winner(s), once that's announced.

And then whatever reading I feel I should do for whatever panels I end up on, if any.

Any suggestions for which Mohanraj I should read? Or an additional Okorafor?

Anything else I should read so I won't feel clueless?

MacMillan? McMillan? Something Scottish anyway.

So when I first heard about this, I thought Amazon had only pulled the Macmillan e-books. And as I don't buy e-books, it was more interesting as an intellectual 'hmm, let's see how this plays out' exercise. But then I found out it was all books, even the traditional, papery kind. At about the same time that I learned Tor is part of MacMillan.

So my next thought was.. isn't N. K. Jemisin's book with Tor? Does that mean they've canceled my pre-order? And if they haven't, should I, as a form of 'hey, Amazon, you got yourself into this, here's where it leads' semi-protest, and place the order with B&N.com, for which I have a gift card anyhow.

But it turns out The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is an Orbit book. So it's still listed in my open orders. With a shipping estimate of March 1st? What the frell, Amazon?

So, anywho, for the brief timespan where I thought Amazon was screwing over the release of the first book of an author I know, it hit a little closer to home than an intellectual exercise. Just because it's not affecting this book, doesn't mean it's not affecting release of first books by other authors trying to get a career off the ground.

So who gets screwed in the end? Not Amazon, who has a right to not work with a publisher if they want, really. Not MacMillan, who has a right to set the prices for their own books, truly. But the authors get screwed. And the readers get screwed.

And Amazon starts looking even more like Walmart, who I try very, very hard not to shop with, but every year or so, get sucked into the store and hypnotized into buying by the low-low prices.

And Amazon, it's a dickish move to do this with no warning, on a Friday.

Or is this a 'glitch' like the last time you did this?

Working in the library's been filled with little serendipitous things. The first book I ever shelved was about careers in library science. My first day of class, someone donated the exact textbook I needed, saving me a fair bit of money.

And today, because someone returned this book to the wrong library, it landed on my desk. One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey. My first thought was that it reminded me of the blueberry book, so I wondered if it was the same author/illustrator. Turns out it was -- starring the same protagonist even, I presume.

But what then caught my attention was the last page. CLAM CHOWDER FOR LUNCH! And that started to ring bells with me. So I turned to the front and began to read. And yes, definitely. I read this book. I was read this book. I think I must have really liked this book. It's about a girl who's obsessed with her first loose tooth. I'm not quite sure if that had made a particular impression on me. But when they go digging for clams, you can bet that did. I think I was in love with clam-digging! And never have gone and done it.

There are certain pictures in this book that are oh-so-familiar to me. Mostly of the main character, Sal. Her poses. Her expressions. Losing her tooth in the clam hole saltwater puddle.

As you can guess, the book's also about Maine. My family, both sides, is rather obsessed with the state. And the lobsters. And the clams. And the lighthouses. So without asking, I couldn't say who bought this book or who read it to me.

But man.. want to go dig me some clams right about now.

Stealing these from The Angry Black Woman blog:

I Love My Dead Gay Husband I and II
I Love My Dead Gay Husband III
The Werewolf Ate My Homework

The first two are about historical romances, which aren't something I've ever read. (Or, if I have, I am in complete amnesia-inducing denial.) It's a very snarky, witty writeup of some of the tropes found in such books. Which you can find crossing over into books in genres I have read.

The Werewolf post is not actually about supernatural romances, which I would have found interesting to read her take on. The Homework part might clue you in it's about YA fantasy. Except it sounds like YA fantasy romances that she's talking about. The YA fantasy books that I can call up to my mind don't have a lot of the things she's talking about (with the huge glaring sparkly exception, of course). So I guess I'm reading the wrong (or right) YA fantasies.

Anyway, all three posts are well worth the read. I even had fun following her links in those posts to other posts she made, so I'm going to make a point of checking her blog in the future for other amusing tidbits.

One of the books I bought is missing from the photo because it was hiding on me when I gathered them all together to take pictures. But you can see I did go a little crazy on the book-buying, to make up for the year before when I couldn't really afford to go to Wiscon, let alone buy books there.

A Room of One's Own: The first place I bought books was the feminist bookstore, during the reception and before the GoH readings. I picked up What Remains, a special run chapbook with pieces and interviews by the two Guests of Honor. I had my pick of numbers, but bought Copy #13. I later got this signed by the both of them at the SignOut. Ellen read her story that's published in here, so I look forward to reading it. (I'm better at reading than listening when it comes to books.) I also bought The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto, because I was pretty certain I'd seen it on a Tiptree list and it can be difficult to find books from the Tiptree lists elsewhere. I also also bought Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu because I'd heard good things about it. I later got this signed by Nnedi and her daughter at the SignOut. She's one of the GoHs next year, so now I have a deadline to read it by.

Used Bookstores: On Friday morning, I had time to myself, so went 'shopping'. I'd had intentions of buying new sneakers, maybe some clothes, etc. I bought a Tshirt and chapstick at Walgreen's, a soda and water at a campus bookstore that was pretty much cleaned out, heavily browsed Goodwill and bought nothing, and finally hit two bookstores.

The first one was more of a typical used bookstore -- smallish, cramped, feeling like you could find something if you just looked hard enough. They had a whole section on Deaf Studies/ASL, and if the copy of the Green Book that I needed was in better shape, I would've gotten it. Their sf/f section was small, at least unless they were hiding more elsewhere. Browsed the children's section, also small. Bought nothing.

The second bookstore was an Antiquarian one. It was huuuuge. I was trying to get back in time for The Gathering, so I didn't spend as much time there as I could have. I had intended to go back, maybe with someone else in tow, but I never did. However, I did buy two books by Suzette Haden Elgin, because I liked her xenolinguist/feminist series despite the heavy feminism, and hadn't heard of these two books. Furthest and Communipath Worlds. That latter one has an intriguing cover picture, doesn't it? And I bought The Survivors by Marion Zimmer Bradley and apparently her husband or brother, because I decided I need to read a whole lot more MZB. And by "a whole lot more", I mean more than the 3 I have read. The books turned out to be more expensive than I was expecting. That's where the Antiquarian comes in, I guess. I think they were about 4$ a paperback. So I'll go back, spend more time, and be careful not to buy everything in sight next year. The children's section was a little bigger than the other place, and organized. Didn't find any Dorrie books, K, sorry.

The Gathering: Last year I went a little crazy with the 1$ ARCs, but this year I only found one I was interested enough in buying. Next year, I'll make sure to get there right when they start and keep circling the table with the other vultures until the supply runs low. You can't really see it in the picture, but I got V: The Original Miniseries by Kenneth Johnson and A. C. Crispin. They're coming out with a new V tv series, so I think it's a find. And I still need to find A. C. Crispin's final Starbridge books, so she's been in the back of my mind for awhile.

The Dealer's Room: I don't think I realized this was open or made my way in there until Saturday, or possibly even Sunday. First thing I bought was a Tor Double, because I've kinda been collecting doubles. For those who don't know, it's basically two novellas printed in the same book, but you can flip it over. So it looks like one book on one side and a completely different book on the other. This one didn't make it into my picture. It's Press Enter by John Varley and Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg. I believe I paid 2$.

I stopped by Aqueduct Press with a handy 'buy 1 get second half off' coupon from the freebie table. I bought The Wiscon Chronicles Volume 3 after spotting shweta_narayan had a piece in there! (Plus other cool people, really.) I started reading this while at the con. It's really interesting to see what other people experienced of Wiscon 32 and thought about it afterward. Also made me nostalgic. Also bought at Aqueduct, Cheek by Jowl, a collection of essays by Ursula K. Le Guin about fantasy. I've just finished reading this. Alanya to Alanya by L. Timmel Duchamp. Tiptree, GoH last year, first of a series. Got this signed at SignOut.

I may have bought at Tachyon Publications, Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages, because I did buy it somewhere and it's not on my A Room receipts. Got this signed at SignOut. Also, probably bought at the same table, Content by Cory Doctorow. It's a collection of essays on technology and copyright and etc that I've been eyeing at the library for awhile.

A different trip to the Dealer's Room, and I bought Water Logic by Laurie J. Marks from the Small Beer Press table, because it was a good deal and I was pretty sure I didn't have it yet. Still need to read the second one in the series, which I bought at a previous con. Shamelessly did not buy a book by the author actually manning the table. Although Superpowers had previously caught my eye in A Room. I'll probably regret not getting it.

And then, suddenly it was Monday and SignOut was looming. I'd intended all along to buy at least one copy and maybe a couple of A Green Glass Sea because I really, really liked it and get it/them signed. So I stopped in the Dealer's Room to do so, only to discover that A Room had packed up their table and left and no one else had copies!! Fortunately A Room was open on Memorial Day, so I trekked down there to get a copy, only to discover they didn't open until noon. SignOut, already in progress, and here I am standing outside a bookstore. (Note to myself and everyone for next year: If you intend to buy a book, don't wait until Monday.)

So of course I'm standing outside their window display and seeing all the other books by people going to be at the SignOut and thinking maybe I ought to buy some. Talked keyan_bowes into joining me at the bookstore, and talked her into buying A Green Glass Sea, which I think she'll really like. We seem to have gotten the last two copies that A Room had. Also bought Paper Cities by Ekaterina Sedia, The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy, The King's Last Song by Geoff Ryman, GoH. Got them all signed at SignOut, though I was running out of time by the time I got back to the hotel and ran around the SignOut room with all my books.

Though I did have Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn with me, after having purchased it at Readercon, and though I was on a panel with her, I did not get this signed.

And to be completist, I brought with me the library's paperback copy of Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb that I have mysteriously started to read before and yet apparently never finished. Also, bought a 5$ Variety puzzles book in Logan airport.

It was a good book-buying con.

I like shopping at Borders. Usually there's a decent coupon, or a manga special, or money in my Rewards account, or sometimes a gift card I earned for surveys or shopping from various websites. So, cheap books, sometimes essentially free books. And instant gratification.

Recently, however, there are a number of things I could not buy at Borders, forcing me to look at Bookcloseouts, Amazon, or even further afield.

- Content by Cory Doctorow. This didn't just come out, but within the last several months. Did Borders have it in the store? Not according to their computer. Which I had to trust, because I wasn't quite sure where to look for it and didn't have the time to search.

- Sharing Knife #2: whose title escapes me by Lois McMaster Bujold. Twice I was in Borders and it wasn't there. Then it turned up on Bookcloseouts in paperback, so I went for it. Of course then Borders had it in yesterday, after it was already on its way to me. Thanks.

- XxxHolic Volume 8 by CLAMP. Every single time I was in there... yea, they've got 7 and they've got 9 and a whole bunch of others. But do they have volume 8? No. At least three times, the answer was.. no. I gave in and got that one at Amazon. It had been frustrating me too long.

- Realms of Fantasy, the final issue. Did Borders have it? No. Did they just not have it yet? I don't know. Did they have it and sell out already? I don't know. All the guy could tell me was that it had arrived. But what issue had arrived? He didn't know. He said something about the magazine publishers just send them boxes of magazines and they put them on the shelf.

Borders has wonderful inventory control, doesn't it?

What did I successfully get at Borders yesterday? F&SF, Sharing Knife #3, and a random Torchwood so I made sure I could use a coupon and spend my 15$ in rewards. So I guess maybe Borders succeeded in some fashion.. I bought a book that wasn't on my list...

Hrm, Borders Express in the mall isn't terribly likely to have Realms, though it might. And I should check B&N. But if those avenues fail, where to try next?

ETA: I just made some phone calls. Borders still doesn't have it on the shelf, not that I gave them very long.. less than 24 hours. Borders Express doesn't carry it and B&N doesn't either! I need a local sf/f bookstore. Anyone want to open one with me? :)

Further comments on The Telegraph's 110 best books: The perfect library

I haven't even heard of most of the Literary Fiction books. Woe is me.

Romantic Fiction. Master and Commander - Patrick O'Brian. Who what where? Romantic? Oh, you mean Captain Jack and Maturin, right? Gotta love ya a Captain Jack!

Books That Changed Your World. Not sure what this category means, but it includes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, so it must be a good category.

There's a cookbook on the list. Pity there aren't more books about surviving on a deserted island. They'd probably come in handy. Well, maybe Sun brought some in Korean for us.

No specifically Fantasy category. No YA category. No manga!

All in all, a pretty boring library, but at least I can sound smart once I'm rescued from the island.

Hurray for Google, which dug up this.

The Telegraph posted 110 best books: The perfect library.

110 books? Seriously? So I'm stuck on a deserted island with no Internet, but the 'perfect library'. Assuming time spent finding food, building shelter, and learning Korean from Sun, what am I going to read in year 2?

Here's their "SCI-FI" list:

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley - Had to read it for at least one college class.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne - I think I read this in English..
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells - Read it. May have been for class.
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - Had to read it for at least two college classes.
1984 - George Orwell - Had to read it for class.
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham - Unread.
Foundation - Isaac Asimov - This is a series, not a book, isn't it? Read at least one.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke - Saw the movie. That counts, right?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick - Read for class. Watched for two-three classes.
Neuromancer - William Gibson - Unread, but on my shelf!

( My further thoughts on this. )