If you're a fan of literary heroines and free books, you're in luck! Erin Blakemore, who recently participated in our online young adult book club, has five copies of The Heroine's Bookshelf to give away to Bitch readers. All you have to do is leave a comment as a registered user letting us know who your favorite literary heroine is.
Erin's favorite literary heroines and contest details after the jump!
In this week's douchey children's lit news, Aloha Publishers is catching heat for a picture book they'll be releasing in October called Maggie Goes on a Diet, in which a 14 year old girl is "transformed" into a "normal sized teen" after going on a diet.
Rather than a diet, I'm pretty sure what Maggie needs is a healthy dose of children's books that promote fat-positivity. While they're hard to come by, there a few fat-friendly children's books that exist.
This past weekend, we were lucky enough to table at the 11th Portland Zine Symposium. We love the PDX Zine Symposium because we always end up with a big pile of zines at the office come Monday morning. Kjerstin, Ann, and I decided to share some of the zines that piqued our interest at the zine symposium this year. We hope that you'll decide to pick up some of these zines yourself.
For our final YA book club, Nona Willis Aronowitz asks Erin Blakemore and Jennie Law what they thought about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Add your own answers to Nona's questions (or come up with your own discussion points) in the comments section.
Next up for the Bitch YA Book Club is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. If you're like me, you've been meaning to read this book since high school, and you're thrilled to finally have an excuse to do so. We'll be discussing Francie's coming-of-age story right here on the blog on Friday, August 5th.
This month, we're kicking off our second annual Bitch Library Summer Reading Program in Portland, OR. The prize incentives (yes, you win prizes if you read books from our library this summer) certainly help everyone get in the mood for a one-on-one with a good book. I asked around to find out what everyone at Bitch HQ is reading this summer. Here are some of the books that we're currently crossing or looking forward to soon crossing off our lists.
As you may already know, our library hosts a monthly book club in Portland, OR. We're currently in the midst of three months of feminist sci-fi picks. We got together last month to discuss Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, we'll be reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood this month, and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler in August.
We love the varying groups of Portland-based feminists that get together each month to talk books with us, and we want to share these conversations with those of you who can't be here with us in-person each month. So, we're going to start sharing pieces of these book clubs with you via podcast!
On June 19th, our book club met up to discuss Woman on the Edge of Time. Tune in to hear us share our thoughts on Marge Piercy's feminist sci-fi classic.
For this month's YA book club, Ellen Papazian asks Erin Blakemore, Jennie Law, and Jessica Stites what they thought about Ash by Malinda Lo. Add your own answers to Ellen's questions (or come up with your own discussion points) in the comments section.