anita brookner

one of england's best fiction writers. a writer of formidable technique and intelligence. --the san francisco chronicle.


i enjoy brookner's works so much i was glad to find one i hadn't read in a used bookshop. this copy was inscribed from susan to claudia

claudia:
a short novel
for a long afternoon...
some summer
on the sunporch
soon.
ah, for the luxury
of that,
well-deserved!
susan
may 1990 spring.

Queen of the Waves

Gertrude Ederle was the first woman to swim the English Channel. She was one of the famous sports -celebrities of the 1920's.

The Bridges of Madison County

Bored housewife gets thrill of a lifetime.

Some hated the book some loved it. Me? I liked the book and the movie. The book had some clunky dialog, though.


Photo of bridge & woman in Madison County: Ms. Eda Cherry

Detours

Old-fashioned Marxist feminism has lost whatever charm it once had for the younger generation. Generation X mothers demand time off rather than High-Quality-Affordable-Day-Care. Even Ivy League women now take significant detours from their careers to raise children. -Dr. Jennifer Roback

Do you think women "lessen" themselves by staying at home with children? What about home schooling? Are women taking a step backwards? Do a large percentage of these children benefit by being home schooled?

What About Dorothy Parker?

Charcoal portrait of Dorothy Parker by Peggy Bacon.

One of my favorite photos of Dottie. 

At age 22, Dorothy Rothschild sold a poem to Vanity Fair Magazine. It was 1914, and she was on her way. (Three years later she would marry Alan Parker & continue on her career path.) She wrote plays, short stories, poems, and Doodads as she called them. Witty little phrases that people who have never heard of her are familiar with. Later she would move to Los Angeles and write screenplays. 

Investing in a collection of her writings would be a wise decision. You won't ever regret it.

Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin was a master storyteller. Her favorite author was Charles Dickens, and her fiction was considered the early beginnings of feminist literature. She never considered herself any kind of "ist" ~ not a suffragist or feminist not even an abolitionist. She had strong feelings about racism and women's struggles, but never felt she needed to join any group.  She wrote about subjects that no other writer would dare to, and touched off a great controversy with her novel, The Awakening (1889) which dealt openly with adultery and suicide. The negative reaction to this book reached the point of hysteria among the critics and Chopin  was so upset she gave up writing for a long period. 

You can read a very short story by Kate Chopin here: "The Story of an Hour"

if the link doesn't work, copy & paste:

http://www.pbs.org/katechopin/library/storyofanhour.html

Funny Females

"Much is owed to Phyllis Diller; I have always adored her." ~Sarah Silverman

"It's not about what's acceptable-- some misogynistic jokes are , but why not go for something  that might require a little more thought to follow, something edgier and more humorous?"

~ Sarah Silverman

Who could forget Sarah as Haddassah Guberstein on the Puppet Phoney Phone Call show, "Crankyankers" ? 

It's still tough out there for females in stand up, according to Silverman: "when a group of comics are hired, they throw in one female 'just so they have one' in a group of maybe 6 or 8 comedians.  And then there are the men and fellow comedians who just say "you're not funny." right to your face. Asshole! you think, but you just make another joke, because he's probably just intimidated --at this point most people know that woman comics are funny."