7/13/13

 Pain, Parties, Work - Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953  by  Elizabeth Winder. I remember when being a Mademoiselle Guest Editor was absolutely the top thing you could do, as a college girl. I also remember when The Bell Jar came out. To think Mlle isn't even around anymore. Anyway, everybody should read this, as a window into a forgotten world. (The portrayals of people she knew that were supposedly so vicious in TBJ were amalgams and largely fictional - Fiction, remember? - plus the tone was supposed to convey her alienation and numbness due to her mental state).

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves  by  Karen Joy Fowler, who wrote The Jane Austen Book Club, about a family who tries raising a chimp as one of their own children.  (Mostly this isn't a good idea).
It's a bit of a surprise or trick story, since she starts telling the story in the middle - actually it's quite similar to Sara Gruen's  Ape House. Kind of a trend lately for some reason. Anyway it's a very good read.