Books Nov 2010

Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution

by Sara Marcus

The title say’s it all--- it’s a lot more about the experience if girls during the late 80’s and early 90’s. Members of Gen X coming of age in a post sexual revolution, post - Title 9, post - Feminist age. There is a lot of anger about boys bubbling underneath the surface. Often I have trouble with that, as the anger is directed at those who inherited the culture, not those who created it and allowed it to persist. At any rate I liked that it did document some of the things like Rape Lists on college campuses that people don’t acknowledge happened, on the other hand the exclusive nature of the movement and the fact that many of the young women are now wives and mothers wasn’t addressed….

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield

I didn’t really think about the connection but following all that Riot Grrrl history is a different take on roughly the same time, only this time the focus is music and the life of the author relating to that music. The book is more like a collection of short stories with each chapter somehow related to a song from the time the story takes place. Some of the stories are better and more engaging than others, some are just ok. The book is worth reading just for the chapter (I disremember which one is it) where the phrase ‘no worries’ having supplanted ‘Whatever’ as thee dismissive of out times.

The Green Eagle Score by Richard Stark

I don’t think that I really need to say any more about how amazing the Richard Stark books are…. I do however think that my FFB post on this one was one of the best of my FFB post of the year.

Songs of Innocence by Richard Aleas

This was my Hard Case Crime book for the month, and it was a good one. I had been putting off reading it for some reason, I’m not sure why. It’s a great tale of a former PI who looks into the suicide of his lover and finds, well let’s just say that if you know James Ellory’s one word summary of Noir, you can imagine what happens in this one. It’s a solid, tight, engaging read and the ending while I saw the reveal coming is not for the faint of heart.

I am still working on my John D MacDonald for November and expect to have two of his titles on my December list….. along with the latest from James Ellroy, and a few other books that I have been collecting dust atop my too be read pile.