Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Book Review

Published in 1968

Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion C-

I really want to like Joan Didion. I really wanted to like this book. But, despite some intriguing subject matter - a murderous wife, the free love and chaos of Haight-Ashbury circa 1967, Joan Baez, Howard Hughes, etc... these essays simply didn't resonate with me.

For more on this essay collection check out Dan Wakefield's 1968 New York Times review, "Places, People and Personalities."

http://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/21/books/didion-bethlehem.html?_r=0

The Amputee's Guide to Sex - Book Review

Published February 2007

The Amputee's Guide to Sex - Jillian Weise A

I regret not reading this book sooner. The Amputee's Guide to Sex is provocative, powerful and one of the best debut poetry collections I have ever read. Divided into three sections: "Translating the Body," "Help Your Physician Better Understand Your Pain" and "Of Holman" - Weise, an amputee, masterfully details the vulnerability of being fetishized, medicalized and emotionally brutalized. These poems are like catchy songs I can't get out of my head. Engaging and titillating.