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August 7, 2006
From the Library
Something I do for fun and self-affirmation is check books out of my university library system, then leave them to languish in my office book case. If I don't start the book within a week of checking it out, I almost never get around to reading it. But as a faculty member, I can keep a book out for, like, the duration of my employment here, as long as no one else wants it, and it comforts me to look at all those books from the library, know that I haven't spent a cent to have access to them, and imagine that I might read them, some day.
I just got an email telling me that I needed to renew my stash of books--I had 34 out. Here are some of the titles:
Solitary sex : a cultural history of masturbation, by Laqueur, Thomas Walter.
The celluloid closet : homosexuality in the movies, by Russo, Vito.
A history of the breast, by Yalom, Marilyn.
Bachelor girl : the secret history of single women in the twentieth century, by Israel, Betsy
"Shall she famish then?" : female food refusal in early modern England, by Gutierrez, Nancy A.
I leap over the wall : contrasts and impressions after twenty-eight years in a convent, by Baldwin, Monica.
Over her dead body : death, femininity, and the aesthetic, by Bronfen, Elisabeth.
Integral psychology : consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy by Wilber, Ken.
Beyond sexuality, by Dean, Tim
Language and social identity by Gumperz, John Joseph
The female malady : women, madness, and English culture, 1830-1980 by Showalter, Elaine.
Becoming an ex : the process of role exit, by Ebaugh, Helen Rose Fuchs
The palm-wine drinkard ; and, My life in the bush of ghosts, by Tutuola, Amos
Changes of mind : a holonomic theory of the evolution of consciousness, by Wade, Jenny
Femininities, masculinities, sexualities : Freud and beyond, by Chodorow, Nancy
Outercourse : the be-dazzling voyage : containing recollections from my Logbook of a radical feminist philosopher (be-ing an account of my time/space travels and ideas--then, again, now, and how), by Daly, Mary.
Unbearable weight : feminism, Western culture, and the body, by Bordo, Susan
Swimming to Antarctica : tales of a long-distance swimmer, by Cox, Lynne
Spinning straw into gold : what fairy tales reveal about the transformations in a woman's life, by Gould, Joan
Truth : a guide, by Blackburn, Simon.
Posted by Holly at August 7, 2006 10:29 AM
Comments
A lot of those sound really interesting. Now I'm nostalgic for the days when I could check out books from the UofA library and keep them for six months...
Posted by: Revena at August 7, 2006 4:51 PM
After years of a mutual flirtation, I'm in the midst of consummating my relationship with Bachelor Girls. The information is mostly retread of things I've already read (in Lillian Faderman's books, in Joshua Zeitz's Flapper, in dozens of scholarly articles), but it's presented in a fairly dynamic way. Even though Israel betrayed us by marrying, I'm titillated by the book's defiant existence. I only wish the book was broader in scope, and acknowledged the existence of women of color and lesbians. Invisibility ain't just for the straight white girls.
Unbearable Weight, though, I did like. And I'd like to hear--if you do indeed read it--what you think of the Chodorow.
Posted by: verbify at August 8, 2006 12:17 PM
Thanks for the recommendations, Verbify. Unbearable Weight is pretty high on the list, if I ever do find some free time--higher than the history of masturbtation, for instance.
Yes, Revena, it is very nice indeed to be able to keep books out for more than two or three weeks.
Posted by: Holly at August 8, 2006 12:53 PM