The Book Lady’s Blog

Not much, except that they were all the subject of some great posts around the blogosphere this week.

This is kind of a random post, but I’ve seen and read several things this week that I wanted to share and discuss here.  Some are informative, some are amusing, some are thought provoking….and one is just downright awesome (Jessica, I’m looking at you).

So, here we go….fun stuff for a Friday afternoon.

Let’s start by talking about sex. (What could be more fun?) If you’ve been hanging around here for a while, you know that I haven’t always been the Book Lady. In my previous life, I did two years in doctoral program in clinical psychology. I ended up with a bunch of credit hours, a bunch of clinical experience, and an as-yet-undefended (but very interesting) thesis about social constructions of sexual orientation (feel free to email me if you’re actually interested in hearing about that). After doing the clinical work and the research and discovering that I actually wanted to be neither a therapist nor a researcher, I jumped ship, but I brought with me an enduring interest in sexuality, gender, women’s studies….and an abiding love for making inappropriate comments and/or starting conversations that people may not be altogether comfortable with. (Remember this adventure, when I said the word “vagina” and nearly made a woman pass out?)

My abiding interest has resulted in reviews of books about sex research, banned books that discuss sexual issues for young people, and books that question traditional definitions of family. I just finished a book all about first periods, and I’m currently reading one about America’s obsession with virginity.  If that sounds interesting to you (and/or if you like trashy TV and Tyra Banks…or you just can’t look away), check out this post.

Since becoming the Book Lady, I’ve determined that the universe sends me the customers who need to find a book about sex (or, more commonly, a book about explaining sex to their kids, who probably already know more than they are willing to admit), and 9 times out of 10, they only ask for help as a last resort. I’ve had people shamelessly ask for books on just about every topic you can imagine (including one college student who was pretty sure he had genital warts but wanted a book just to be sure), but the idea of asking a bookseller for help or even *gasp* recommendations for books in the sexuality/relationships section makes them squirmy. Josh, a fellow bookseller and blogger (who blogs about books and beer, what could be better?), addresses this very issue and makes a few great recommendations of his own.

While Josh was talking about taboos, Ann encouraged us to examine and break our own reading rules. And she said she’s pretty confident that she can find an exception to every category that will make you willing to reconsider, so go give her a run for her money.

What’s that about money? Could we be talking about bankruptcy? Bankrupt pseudo-rappers who were popular in the early 90s? Are we talking about this guy?

Well, Jessica’s re-writing “Can’t Touch This,” and trust me, you don’t want to miss it.  Remember her take on “Baby Got Back”?

If your Friday has been less-than-stellar, engage in a healthy dose of schadenfreude, or submit your own f-ing bad stories.

And if you think my Adventures in Bookselling are crazy, check out these stories from Not Always Right…as in, “the customer is…”  And don’t worry, a new installment of AiB is coming your way next week…that is, if my coworker (he knows who he is) ever gets his butt in gear and writes that story he’s been promising for several weeks now….how’s this for cyber bullying, huh?

What about you? Have you seen anything around the interwebs this week that I shouldn’t miss? Please, do tell.