July update July 27, 2009

Many ups and a few downs for the last few months:

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain July 27, 2009

I have now finally read my Brontës. Jane Eyre was amazing but Wuthering Heights was, well, that it wasn’t what I was expecting worked very much in its favor, since I spent most of the book going “Really? These are the leads? This is the structure? Wait, you mean this person is dead? I have literally no idea where this is going.” It certainly succeeded insofar as I was neglecting other life objectives to get to the end, but I’m fairly certain the book demands a few more readings. I’m grateful I got to read it so relatively fresh to it, though–the mentions of Cathy and Heathcliff and love on the moors really don’t let you know what you’re in for. So it’s a mixed review, I guess, but I have a strong feeling the spell creeps over you with every reading (and I definitely need one more where I don’t just believe the opinions of the narrator the whole time).

In comics, I’m finally reading Criminal: Ohmygoshwow. Read my first Alex Robinson (author of Box Office Poison): his semi-recent short book, “Too Cool To Be Forgotten.” File it under ‘Don’t read this at work unless you can cover the sniffles really quickly.’ (So, yes, it was very good. Wish some of the plot threads had come back or been resolved, but absolutely satisfied with the ultimate direction)

I also recently made perhaps the greatest book purchase I will ever make: at a used book store near the UCB Theatre, I picked up a book with the following fascinating spine: On top, “History of Prostitution” by W.W. Sanger, M.D. On the bottom: “Eugenics Publishing Company.” How can you walk away from that? It has a certain trainwreck quality. The book, as it turns out, is even better than I’d hoped. It is a 1937 printing of an 1897 volume containing a massive sociological study from the 1850s(!) on the current state of prostitution in America and around the world. The joys of this book are endless (and much better than the mere shock value I was expecting from the spine). For instance, the full title page reads:

THE HISTORY OF PROSTITUTION

ITS EXTENT, CAUSES AND EFFECTS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

by

WILLIAM W. SANGER, M.D.