Thursday, July 1, 2010

Spiffy Title

While going through books at work, I came across this one from Ampersand Books and had a good laugh:

When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother by Melissa Broder. A cheesy pun on the common phrase of when you say one thing but mean another. But the title definitely makes you think. It brings to mind relationship problems and mama's boys.

I haven't actually looked at the book to see what the poetry is like or about, but just thought the title alone was worth the mention. :)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Picky Bookstore ^_^

While updating NewPages’s bookstore lists, I came across this website for The Twig Bookstore in San Antonio, Texas. And I must say I love their excerpt from San Antonio Current Magazine:

The ever-helpful Twig staff prominently display books by local authors, and mercifully place the Twilight books on a shelf too high for most ’tweens to reach.

That Twilight reference is funny to me. The first two books aren’t too bad, but really it gets a lot more mature in the latter half the the series and I am all for pushing them towards better forms of literature. Although, can we complain when we have books like Twilight keeping or interesting kids in reading?

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Starcherone Books to become Imprint

Recently independent publisher Starcherone Books announced on their homepage that they will become an imprint of Michigan-based Dzanc Books (a relatively young publisher still). Starcherone says that their editors will retain editorial control with Dzanc taking over production and distribution of Starcherone's books. In 2011, Starcherone and Dzanc plan to release The Girl with Brown Fur, and the anthology 30 Under 30 edited by Blake Butler and Lily Hoang.

I am surprised that Dzanc is acquiring Starcherone as Starcherone has been a round for a while well Dzanc is new (though growing rapidly).  For more information on this, you can visit Starcherone's website http://starcherone.com/

Monday, April 26, 2010

Kinda Ironic

So, I am a May baby. Which means basically nothing, but since my birthday is coming up it means I had to renew my vehicle registration and this year I had to renew my driver’s license as well. I find it funny that I had to pay $62 dollars for a piece of paper and sticker whereas the plastic card that is a driver’s license is only $18.

Why are registration feels so expensive compared to license fees? Although, I guess I shouldn’t complain as my grandfather (another May baby) owed $128 for his renewal. Gotta love make, model, weight class, and year produced which causes the amount you owe to change from person to person, vehicle to vehicle.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Carnism = Sexism & Racism

I am not against feminism or anything, but I have to say that some of these people come up with the most absurd theories. The newest one in being that eating meat, or “carnism,” is akin to racism and sexism. At least according to Dr. Melanie Joy. For the scoop, check out the original articles posted on CampusProgress.org. http://www.campusprogress.org/books/5348/how-eating-meat-is-like-sexism-and-racism

In my opinion, why do humans eat meat? It is not because it is some senseless thing we are taught from birth. Meat does bring in needed nutrients (iron, protein, and more) and it was a big staple to our ancestors before farming was invented (can you “invent” farming?).

There is nothing wrong with being a vegetarian or a vegan, but they miss out on the protein and other goodies meat provide. They also have to be very careful and make sure they are eating a well-balanced and supplemental meal (which quite a few vegetarians and vegans actually ignore). You need to make up for what you are not getting by adding meat into your diet.

You don’t need meat everyday. You won’t die without it, but to say that a person who eats meat is as bad as a racist or sexist is too extreme. It’s like those radical feminists who link pregnancy to a parasitic relationship that invades a woman’s body unfairly. (No, I am not making that up, I studied it in a philosophy class in college.)

But read the article for yourself and make your own judgments. I won’t give up eating meat. I am not a racist nor a sexist. Nor am I a total feminist, which makes some of my more radical friends cringe, but hey, not all girls today have to be feminists, right?