|
Hi everyone,
Normally,
Kyle and I start these letters from the editors by talking
about something related to the month's theme or the HBC in
general, but truth be told, there's no need here. This month,
I'm so excited about the diversity and quality of our content,
I just want to break it all down for you and hope you feel
as passionate about it all as I do.
This
month, we thought we'd do some a little coverage of LGBT lit,
but we wanted to remind everyone that there's plenty of great
material beyond the popular and the obvious. That meant putting
down certain parameters to our coverage: no David Sedaris,
no Augusten Burroughs, and no The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Let's face it: Everyone's heard of them, and it's time to
go further. Gay, lesbian, and trangendered lit permeates all
different genres and touches on a broad range of topics, and
we wanted to give you a sampling.
For features,
we have Dorothy Parka's experiences with gay romance lit (trashy
book covers and all) and Traci Castleberry's run-down of LGBT
sci-fi and fantasy. Also, I turned to an old friend, Julia
Watson, who agreed to write about her experiences writing
smutty Buffy the Vampire Slayer lesbian fanfics. This
is quite possibly Kyle's dream come true.
As for
our book reviews, the titles may seem a little old, but we
hope you'll enjoy the variety, as we cover poetry and essays
(Essex Hemphill's Ceremonies) and YA literature (Jacqueline
Woodson's beautiful The House You Pass on the Way).
The latter, I should mention, was difficult to find, considering
that the author is a celebrated YA and children's novelist.
I checked with several chains, indies, and children's specialty
bookstores, and none of them had it. And of the 71 branches
of the Los Angeles Public Library, only a paltry three carried
it. It was worth tracking down, though, and I hope you all
do the literary world a favor by hunting it down this book
and bringing it back into stores.
Obviously,
we aren't focusing the entire update on LGBT literature, and
we're covering some really choice books this month, including
the latest by novelist Jim Shepard (Like You'd Understand,
Anyway), graphic novelist Adrian Tomine (Shortcomings),
and Plimpton Prize winner Benjamin Percy (Refresh, Refresh).
Plus, after months of hearing the hype about the book, we
wanted to give both Miranda July lovers and haters a chance
to explain themselves in our pro and con reviews of No
One Belongs Here More Than You.
We're
also covering some great YA lit, including Nick Hornby and
Sherman Alexie's first teen novels (respectively, Slam
and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian).
We also have Before I Die by first-time novelist, Jenny
Downham, which is being touted by some as the next YA book
to become a hit YA book with grown ups (think The Lovely
Bones and The Curious Incident…). Really, the YA
label is arguable for all three of these books, considering
the content. The target audience may be high schoolers, but
high schoolers don't often read from the YA section. Know
what my teenage students read in their free time? David Sedaris,
Augusten Burroughs, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Go figure.
After
rattling off all those book titles, I still haven't mentioned
everything we've covered in this update, which is actually
rather cool. Though this issue doesn't have as many independent
works as we'd like, I feel that this update provides many
of the things we wanted to see when we began this website:
thoughtful reviews, exposure to lesser-known works, the inspiration
to pick up new books…and the chance to read the new Nick Hornby
two months before it came out.
Anyway,
hope you enjoy our little labor of love. If you love it, too
(or even if you like it only as a friend), please let us know.
We thrive because of great contributions and constructive
feedback. Well, that and we like getting mail.
Thanks
for reading,
Yennie
(October,
2007)
|
