I'm writing this on the day before Thanksgiving.
I'm thankful for many, many things this year. I'm alive and well, which would not necessarily be the case if I didn't have health insurance that limited my financial exposure when an unforeseen crisis nearly killed me in late June. I lost Malfoy-the-cat, but Gil and Diamond sleep on my bed every night. I have a roof over my head, a job that pays the bills, a place to write, books to read, meaningful work, two women who are my sisters in all but blood, friends and hobbies and a whole wonderful, marvelous world to experience and enjoy. I take none of it, none of it, for granted, and every night after I turn out the lights I thank God for my blessings and for another precious day on this flawed, damaged, but oh so precious pebble in the sky.
I'm also thankful for you - yes, you, bless all your crazy pointy little heads - who read and tweet and repost these diaries. I once thought this series might last a few weeks or months, but here I am, nearly three years later, and there's no end in sight. I hope I've entertained, amused, and possibly even enlightened you, and I hope to continue doing so for quite some time to come.
That said, the next month will not be the usual mix of bad books, incompetent authors, reminiscences, and things that I love. I've picked up an editing job that will pay me actual, real, genuine money, and I have a hard deadline toward the end of December. I also have other commitments as the holiday approaches, and given how my health has gone since my organ-losing experience last summer, I need to set my priorities with a bit more care than usual.
This means that between the 7th and 28th of December, I will not be posting original diaries in this space. I'll still be posting, and there will still be introductory essays about my crazy life, but the material below the orange thingy will be links to previous diaries, roughly arranged according to theme.
Therefore, the next month looks roughly like this:
December 7 - Remember Pearl Harbor! (World War II and the Nazis)
December 14 - I Love a Mystery (mystery novels and the pulps)
December 21 - Gather 'Round the Solstice Fire (New Age nattering)
December 28 - Happy New Year, Carbon Units! (science fiction and fantasy)
Thank you all so much for your understanding. New, fresh, original diaries will resume in 2014, and who knows? I may even actually get to Captain America, Socialist Scum!, and wouldn't that be a daisy?
As for tonight's entertainment...as we all know, yesterday was the retail horror show called Black Friday, preceded by the atrocity called "Gray Thursday," and dear God in heaven, if I ever again see those JC Penney ads urging me to "shop shop shop shop, shop shop shop shop" that nearly made me wing the remote straight through the cathode ray tube during Agents of SHIELD on Tuesday night, it will be much, much too soon.
Regardless of my personal feelings about the commercialization of the winter holidays and the frenzied amok that overcomes otherwise sane adults and sends them off to buy enough items in 24 hours to support a family of four for a year, it is customary to give those we love gifts at this time of the year. Since Thanksgiving was late this year, there's only a limited time to buy those all-important tchotchkes, which in turn increases the possibility of mental breakdowns, uncharacteristically violent/rude behavior, and otherwise ordinary people ending up in jail or the asylum, depending.
That's why tonight I bring you not terrible books, but books suitable for giving to friends, family, and loved ones to make their Festivus merry and bright. Following are five books of non-fiction, five novels, and two compilations of recent comic books that I think you'll all enjoy. I've read them myself and can vouch for them being entertaining, informative, and maybe even life-changing:
Fiction:
One Saved to the Sea, by Catt Kingsgrave - this Rainbow award-winning erotic novella is an elegant, heartfelt, beautifully written LGBT take on the old Scottish legend of the selkies, the seal people who can be won by whomever steals their skin. Don't be scared off by the erotica label - unlike Fifty Shades of Whatever, this is the real deal, with love scenes that actually count and characters whose passion will break your heart. Highly recommended.
Cat of Many Tails, by Ellery Queen - Ellery Queen was the pen name of two cousins who had an outsized influence on mid-century American mystery fiction thanks to their work as authors, editors, and anthologists. This novel, about a post-war New York that basically goes mad when a serial killer starts strangling citizens of every age, class, and race, is one of their best, and shockingly prescient of what actually happened during the 1977 Son of Sam hysteria.
Bread Givers, by Anzia Yezierska - stunning look at the immigrant experience in turn of the 20th century New York, written by a gifted woman who'd seen first-hand the pain and the promise inherent in transforming one's self from traditional daughter to assimilated American. I literally could not put this book down, and the darkness shadowing the otherwise happy ending all but had me in tears.
Buddenbrooks, by Thomas Mann - I read this huge, sprawling, magnificent book in two days when I was in college. Ostensibly the story of a prosperous merchant family sliding inevitably downhill into non-existence, Mann's first masterpiece is nothing less than the chronicle of a century and a social class, with vivid characters (oh, Toni!) and a magnificent fever dream of the power of art to destroy as well as enlighten.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain - what can I say about this book that hasn't been said a thousand times before? That it's a brilliant examination of the dirty little secret that is American racism? That it combats the corrosive and continuing influence of slavery and bigotry by showing the power of love to overcome even the deepest cultural conditioning? That it depicts a vanished America in all its beauty and horror and promise and pain? If there is one book that every American should read, it's this one, if only for the scene that ends with with the indelible line, "'All right, then, I'll go to hell' -and tore it up."
Non-Fiction:
Island of Vice, by Richard Zacks - entertaining and frequently hilarious chronicle of Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt's attempts to clean up the vice-ridden streets of 1890's New York, how he used his early popularity to jump-start his political career, and how he finally ran aground when he committed the cardinal sin of trying to shut down the saloons on Sunday.
Discover New York 1943, by Helen Worden - this delightful little book was originally written as a guidebook to be distributed to the millions of soldiers, sailors, and other war workers who flooded New York during World War II. Old neighborhoods, vanished shops, snippets of history, legendary nightclubs, vintage ads lauding the psychological benefits of Tangee lipstick in wartime, letters from airline presidents urging travelers to give up their seats to servicemen on leave - if you're even slightly curious about New York during the war years, there's no better resource.
An American Childhood, by Annie Dillard - I read this book while waiting to have my traitorous gallbladder removed, and it carried me straight back to my childhood. Lyrical, sensitive, perceptive portrait of Pittsburgh when she was the greatest industrial city in America, and so close in many ways to the city that birthed me and nurtured me that I was nearly in tears.
American Phoenix, by Sarah Skinner Kilborne - William Skinner is scarcely remembered today, but this early industrialist was a true giant of his time. Born in a slum, sent to work as a child, he emigrated to America when he was 19, established himself as a leading silk manufacturer, and seemed to have reached his peak when he was 49 - and had to do it all again when a flood wiped out everything he'd spent thirty years building up. This first biography of a man who shaped an industry and not one but two communities is well worth it, as a portrait both of a man and of a neglected but crucial part of the American industrial juggernaut.
The Mallet of Loving Correction, by John Scalzi - John Scalzi is, by turns, a brilliant essayist, an award-winning SF writer, the wielder of the Mallet of Loving Correction, a loving husband and proud father, and a taunter of all that's tauntable. He also once taped bacon to his cat. Need I say more?
Comics:
Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, by Matt Fraction, art by David Aja and Javier Pulido - ever wondered what a superhero does when he's not being heroic? Or what it's like being an ordinary schlub who just happens to be so freakishly good at an obsolete martial art that you end up on the same team as a demigod, a superpowered retired test pilot, the world's deadliest spy, and America's national icon? This collection of the first few issues of Hawkeye's new series not only shows this working class hero during his down time, but introduces wonders like pizza-eating rescue dogs, AIM agents chanting that they are part of the 99%, Hawkeye being mistaken for Iron Fist while being arrested (and then getting chewed out by Iron Man (not happy) and Captain America (really not happy)), Russian mobsters who wear the sleaziest track suits in history and call everyone "bro" - seriously, just read it.
Captain Marvel: In Pursuit of Flight, by Kellysue DeConnick, art by Dexter Soy and Emma Rios - Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has been my favorite female superhero since the days when she was Ms. Marvel and wore a costume so stupid even her writer mocked it. She's suffered from some remarkably crappy writing over the years, but her current chronicler, Kellysue DeConnick, has restored the Captain to her rightful place as one of the bravest, toughest, most powerful and determined heroes in the Marvel pantheon. This story arc takes Carol back in time (where she meets the all-female Banshee Squadron in World War II) and back to her origins, and if you aren't cheering for her and her mentor Helen Cobb by the end, I'll be shocked. Fabulous writing.
My own work:
Although this may seem somewhat self-serving, here are links to my own works in print. Girl's gotta eat, after all:
Non-fiction (by Lisa Evans):
"'The Same Counterpoint Being Olde and Worene': The Mystery of Henry VIII's Green Silk Quilt," in Medieval Clothing and Textiles 4.
"Anomaly or Sole Survivor? The Impruneta Cushion and Early Italian 'Patchwork', in Medieval Clothing and Textiles 8.
Erotica (by Sarah Ellis):
"Sisters are Doing It For Themselves," in Spellbinding: Tales from the Magic University.
"The Place Where Heroes Are Made," in What Happens at the Tavern Stays in the Tavern.
I'm also going to be part of Circlet Press's 2013 Erotic Advent Calendar, so if you're looking for something that isn't Fifty Cliches About BDSM, head over on December 3rd.
Happy shopping, everyone!
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So - do you have any holiday suggestions for this season of giving? Any charities that need help? Any books or DVD's to recommend? We all love a good book (or two, or three, or.....) so don't hold back!
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Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule: