Hear my book budget rise

SO. I'm a news junkie. I subscribe to several different web news sites, get two local papers, the Economist- yadda, yadda, yadda. The result aside from a gift for water cooler/cocktail hour chit chat? A huge To Be Bought list. And I hate waiting. Our local library system believes in buying mainly dry, run of the mill, cookie cutter bestsellers written by monkeys. This means that anyone who likes books from the bottom half of the NYT lists or *gasp* anything not actually on the lists doesn't exist.

Unfortunately for me, I found three more hardcovers I really want to read. You guessed it, not one is listed by my library as a coming title. If you have a well funded, well stocked library support them as much as you can. Those of us suffering with a subpar library system are envious.

So what are these magnificent tomes you ask? One is an history of American women's political activities during the Revolutionary period. What women's political activities, you ask me? I 've no idea. Because you see- only men write political history, as we all know. NOT.

Founding Mothers by historian Carol Berkin supposedly reveals that, between feeding the screaming brats & burying their sons & husbands, women had quite a lot going on. The Christian Science Monitor has a review.

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi, sounds wonderful. The author also wrote Persopolis & Persopolis II. This time she writes about women's intimate lives, including sex, gossip, men, plastic surgery in Iran. I'm a nosy voyeur & love looking into other people's windows. Especially when they let me. Seriously though, as a Westerner wanting to learn about other cultures this sounds good. Given the US- Iranian history & their closed society, I hope this reminds us we're not so different after all. BTW- this title is a graphic novel.

The Almond by Nedjma is billed as an erotic expose of the author's sexual awakening in a closed Islamic society. One review says the author uses too many food metaphors for sex organs & sexual acts, others say the book is wonderful. Personally, a woman who has to use a nom de plume for fear of being murdered for her words deserves my husband's hard earned cash. The lady divides her time between Paris & an Islamic country. Obviously, the title is likely to be filled with purple prose galore, but damn it- women's voices need to be heard everywhere.

There you have it, my next three gotta have 'em books.