books

Watching porn in an auditorium filled with people helped me take a critical look at my sexuality.

Traditional family life has long been fodder for stand-up comedy—but jokes about life as a child-free woman are a less-charted terrain.

Luckily, we have comedian Jen Kirkman to lead the way. Kirkman, a writer and regular performer on E!’s “Chelsea Lately” and “After Lately,” recently released a New York Times best-selling memoir, I Can Barely Take Care of Myself: Tales from a Happy Life Without Kids.

Though I Can Barely Take Care of Myself covers Kirkman’s entire life—including her Boston childhood and long comedy career—and zeroes in with especially sharp wit on the experience of being an adult without children.

Kirkman took a moment out of her current tour in support of the book to discuss what inspired her book, why some people think child-free women will change their minds, and what happens when an elementary schooler attends a sleepover party while dressed like Groucho Marx.

Anton DiSclafani's new novel, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (coming out on June 4 from Riverhead books), tells the Depression Era coming-of-age story of Thea Atwell, a complicated and willful 15-year old girl who is exiled to an equestrienne boarding school in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina for her role in a mysterious family tragedy. Thea is a nuanced character whose relationship with horses and riding lends a sense of power and steadiness to life as she confronts what it means to be a young woman of her time.

Anton Disclafani herself is a horse-lover herself and was gracious enough to take time off from her writing, teaching, and caring for her horse, Val, to speak with me about her new book and what horses mean to young girls. 

Some books are easy to read, yet stay with you long after you've finished the last chapter. Nivedita Menon’s Seeing Like a Feminist (Penguin/Zubaan, 2012) is a timely work that explains a complicated subject without over-simplifying it.

Have you heard? There’s a new swell in town named Gatsby, and he’s bringing flapper flair back into fashion.

“Daddy, you taught me how to blind a man with my thumbs, build a bomb with the contents of a kitchen cabinet,” says the 12-year-old girl. “I’ve shot people, choked people, even drowned a motherfucker.”

This quote gives you a good idea of the life of Hit-Girl, the tween vigilante star of veteran graphic novelist Mark Millar’s new book, Kick-Ass 2 Prelude: Hit-Girl. 

Knights and queens, high-walled castles, brothels full of exquisite lady companions, more wine than anyone can drink—this is the world of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Though the show is set in a medieval land of chivalry where men hold most of the legal power, women find ways to pull the strings in Game of Thrones’ tales of conquest and copulation.

As Queen Cersei Lanister advises one young lady, “Tears aren’t the only woman’s weapon. The best one’s between your legs.”

The best stories are the juicy ones. This episode of our feminist pop culture podcast is all about pulp (timely, right?). We talk with best-selling thriller writer Chelsea Cain about how her pregnancy inspired her to get started writing gory stories and she reads us a horrific short story about a hungry zombie baby. Then, we feature a sneak-peek excerpt from Monica Nolan's new lesbian erotica pulp, Maxine Mainwearing: Lesbian Dilettante. Finally, we talk with everyone's favorite mystery writer Laura Lippman about love, money, and reality television. 

All that, in just 20 minutes. Listen in! 

Read on for the transcript of this show and other listening options.

The American Girl company leaves many feeling torn between its promotion of pricey consumerism and the dolls' celebration of history and education. One thing is certain though, the story of Felicity and her horse Penny is one that offers hope to the suburban girl—the horseless girl with a wild heart.

Growing up in 4-H, I heard the joke often: girls would rather give up boys than our ponies. When women talk about horses, they often speak of freedom and power, of connectivity and understanding, of trust—often using the same language we use when we discuss intimate relationships with humans.