<![CDATA[Jezebel: jezebook club]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png <![CDATA[Jezebel: jezebook club]]> http://jezebel.com/tag/jezebookclub http://jezebel.com/tag/jezebookclub <![CDATA[Were You a Judy Blume Enthusiast or a Babysitters Club Nerd?]]> In today's Washington Post, book critic Jonathan Yardley extols the virtues of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books as part of "An occasional series in which The Post's book critic reconsiders notable and/or neglected books from the past." Though I was never personally a fan of all those Prairie books (they were kind of boring and unsexy for my tastes. Where was the talk of making out and menses??), the article got me thinking about the kinds of books I loved as a tween. I asked the other Jezebels what books they read under the covers in their pre-teen years. Anonymous Lobbyist and I were closet Greek mythology lovers (I particularly loved D'Aulaires). Tracie was obsessed with V.C. Andrews, Moe was into Ray Bradbury, Dodai loved Kurt Vonnegut, and we all were into old standbys like Judy Blume and the Babysitters Club.

So, we're curious. What kinds of books did you guys love as kids? And also, isn't that picture of Judy Blume really hot? The woman is pushing 70! Writing about masturbating teens must be amazing for your skin!

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Well-Insulated 'Little House' [Washington Post]
Judy Blume's Official Website [Judyblume.com]

]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=320527&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ British researcher Joanna Bourke takes...]]> British researcher Joanna Bourke takes a look at the cultural interpretations of rape in her new book Rape: A History From 1860 To The Present. Turns out she's having just as much trouble as the the rest of us in defining "rape" in any definitive manner. Says the Independent: "Bourke's own working definition of rape as whatever anyone - whether 'participant' or 'third party' - thinks of as rape is so broad as to render impossible any general argument about one specifiable crime. The book's pointedly gray cover already makes it seem more likely that Bourke's history of rape will be at pains to avoid simple black-and -white categories of judgment." Even the cover is gray. How's that for literally illustrated ambivalence? [The Independent]


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