From the Library

It's time for another Bitch Library Open House! Join us at our library in Portland this Sunday for zines and snacks with Anne Elizabeth Moore, author of the brand new book Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh.

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.

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.


Stream this conversation below, download it from archive.org, or subscribe to Bitch radio via iTunes or RSS! Transcript available here (.doc).

Put on those literary thinking caps, 'cause it's time for a game of "First Lines of Feminist Fiction"! Here's how it works: we provide a list of opening lines from feminist fiction and you guess which books the sentences are from. The books are listed at the bottom of the post, so don't scroll too far unless you're ready to check over your answers. Once you've given the game a go, let us know which opening lines are your favorite!

For this month's YA book club, Jennie Law asks Erin Blakemore, Ellen Papazian, and Nona Willis Aronowitz what they thought about Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott. Add your own answers to Jennie's questions (or come up with your own discussion points) in the comments section!

Have you been following our online YA book clubs? If not, there's no need to worry. We've still got three YA books left to discuss on our blog, and our next discussion is happening just one week from today! On June 3rd we'll be discussing Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott. Then, on July 1st we'll share our thoughts on Ash by Malinda Lo, and on August 5th we'll discuss A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. We'd love to have you involved in these conversations!

Here at the library, we're spending the summer reading feminist sci-fi. We'll be meeting in Portland to discuss Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy on June 21st. Then we'll be discussing Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler on August 16th. If you're in Portland, come to our book clubs! If you can't be here in person, perhaps you'll consider joining us from afar as we read some of the staples in feminist science fiction.

What are your feminist sci-fi picks? Let us know in the comments!

Did you know that it's Children's Book Week? In honor of the occasion, I asked around the office to find out what everyone's favorite children's books are. I've compiled a few of our favorites. Whether we read them as kids or read them to our kids now, these books definitely get our stamp of approval!

What children's books are you a fan of? Let us know in the comments!

For this month's YA book club, Jessica Stites asks Erin Blakemore, Jennie Law, Ellen Papazian, and Nona Willis Aronowitz what they thought about Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. Add your own answers to Jessica's questions (or come up with your own discussion points) in the comments section!