From the Library

When Susie Bright decides to write a memoir, you know it's going to be big. Bright, often referred to as "Susie Sexpert" and even "The Godmother of Erotica," has made quite a name for herself. In addition to co-founding On Our Backs, the first magazine that featured lesbian erotica made by and for women, Bright founded and edited the Best of American Erotica series from 1993 until the last edition was published in 2008. Bright currently advocates for sexual freedom and equality through her audible.com podcast called In Bed With Susie Bright and has continued to edit erotic anthologies over the last few years. With her latest project, Big Sex Little Death, Susie Bright has provided us with a memoir that is as smart, colorful and unapologetic as her career continues to be.

Hey, feminist YA readers! Did you participate in our online YA book club earlier this month? If you missed it, you can check out the discussion here.

Today's post is just to remind you that the next online YA book club is coming up on May 6th. That's two weeks from today, which gives you plenty of time to pick up our next book, Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan.

More details about the upcoming book clubs after the jump!

April is National Poetry Month in the US, so libraries, schools, and booksellers are banding together to celebrate the importance of poetry. Here at Bitch HQ, we're excited to have an excuse to sit down with some feminist poetry.

Who are your favorite feminist poets? What are your favorite feminist poems?

Late last month, we were lucky enough to have Kel Karpinski, a Library Science student located in Chicago, come to Portland to work at our Community Lending Library for the week. She helped us catalog a whole bunch of books (thanks to all of you who have been sending book donations lately!) and created a list of books that we need to bring into our library in order to provide a more comprehensive selection of books written by and for Latina and Latin American women. Before she left us, we asked her if she'd like to share her passion for librarianship as well as some of her favorite books with our readers. Fortunately, she said yes.

Welcome to our first Bitch YA Book Club! Today, Erin Blakemore asks Jennie Law, Ellen Papazian, and Jessica Stites what they thought about Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce. What did you think about this book? Add your own answers to Erin's questions (or come up with your own) in the comments section!

Here at the Bitch Community Lending Library, we're spending the spring talking about sex work. Last Tuesday, our book club got together to discuss Working Sex: Sex Workers Write About a Changing Industry edited by Annie Oakley. In April we'll be discussing Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry by Siobhan Brooks, and in May we'll read Rent Girl by Michelle Tea. If you're in Portland, come to our book clubs! But regardless of where you are, if you're looking to put a few books that explore the sex industry on your bedside table, you should read along with us.

If there are other books about sex work that you would like to recommend to readers, leave them in the comments!

Our lending library is getting ready for a growth spurt. We're heading to the hardware store next week to buy some new shelves—enough shelves to make space for another 1,000 books in our library. This is where you come in! We can't continue to expand our collection without your help. So donate your used books, DVDs, zines, and magazines. We promise that we'll take good care of your donations and check them out often.

What do Community, Parks and Recreation, and Episodes all have in common? Besides being popular sitcoms, these shows have all got something to say about librarians.

Last week we asked you to vote for which books you'd like to read for our upcoming online young adult book club. The poll has been closed, so it's time to announce the winners!

The Bitch Media Community Lending Library brings you our very first book list, made up of 100 young adult novels that every feminist should add to the stack of books on their bedside table. Here at the library we've been re-reading some of our old standbys and finding new feminist favorites. If you're looking to buy a book for your favorite teenage girl or just looking to cuddle up with a powerful story featuring teenage characters, look no further. Click on the pdf below to see our picks, and be sure to let us know which of these books have resonated with you and which books you would add to the list.

100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader (609.65 KB)

If you're unable to open the pdf, you can view the list here.