Cunt, the book

Okay, who's ready to discuss?

Checking in

Hey, how's everyone doing with our August book? Do we need more time, or are folks ready to discuss?

Break out the hand mirrors, ladies!

We're reading Inga Muscio's book Cunt: A Declaration of Independence for August's book club.

August book

Does anyone else want to choose this month's book, or is it my turn? If it's my turn, I must confess that I'm having a hard time finding things to recommend that don't involve child abuse or transracial adoption. OOH, except Cunt! I just thought of it! PK and I have already read it, but have the rest of you?

If that book's too out there for the group, I can try to think of something else. Inside Transracial Adoption, anyone? Mwah ha ha!

Radical Prunings

Hey Wormies,
Let's start the discussion on the 21st to keep in line with our pattern from earlier books. This allows those of us who read the book a bit ago to refresh ourselves of the plot turns.

And we will answer no questions about lawn care.

There Will Be a Slight Delay in the Expected Programming

Hi fellow wormies.
Since Radical Prunings was not available in Canada for Canada to read, and since the bookstore in MA did not have the book in stock when I went to buy it to send to Canada in Canada, and since I ordered the said book online and it still has not come in, and since once I get the book, I am sending it to Canada in Canada so she can read it, let's make Radical Prunings the book for June and July. Is that OK with everyone else?

Next

Do you mind if I jump in with the next book. I know I am a wee bit early but we are leaving for the traveling part of our vacation soon and will be gone at the start of the next month. I have been preparing for almost two months, searching for just the right thing for the beginning of the summer reading season. So I have a few options for you to consider.

First, there is the new-ish book by Jill Conner Browne, The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide. Below is the overview of this book:

The Sweet Potato Queens are bona fide experts at planning a marvelous marriage (and ending one—flip this book right on over if you're looking for advice on dumping a deadweight hubby!), so who better to provide this handy wedding planner? And even if you're not planning your own nuptials, surely you have dreamt about your perfect day, regardless of whether you've met Mr. Right yet! In this essential manual, you'll learn:
• How to plan a truly regal wedding
• What to wear (and what not to wear) to your own wedding, or to anyone else's
• How to organize the sassiest games and sauciest entertainment for the occasion
• How to plan and prepare the greasiest, tastiest wedding vittles for your big-ass guests
You are hereby summoned to appear . . .
The Sweet Potato Queens know a thing or two about ending a marriage (and beginning one—flip this book on over if you’re planning on attaching yourself to the ol' ball and chain!), so who better to provide this crucial divorce guide? Besides, whether you’re getting your own personal divorce or not, chances are you’ll be calling Mr. Right Mr. I-Don’t-Think-So sometime in the future! In this practical handbook, you'll learn:
• How to survive even the nastiest divorce while maintaining your queenly composure
• Why it’s appropriate—and necessary!—to throw divorce showers and send out divorce announcements
• Why love is even better the second, third, or fourth time around

If by chance you are not yet familiar with the Sweet Potato Queens, we could also read the first of her books, The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love. Here is a review of the book:

Unlike other beauty queens, the Jackson, Miss., Sweet Potato Queens are self-crowned, rule for life (there's no "former" tag for these gals) and are real women?figure flaws and all. Originally organized in 1982, the Queens are, by their own account, "fallen Southern belles" and "female drag queens"?and as such, they are all about attitude and humor. This buoyantly funny guide to life and love is a hoot from the get-go as ringleader Browne offers queenly observations on life's most pressing issues. Some topics may seem trivial, such as tanning, making the most of big hair and delighting in "big, sturdy, serviceable, substantial Russian immigrant underwear" for pregnant women (it's so "indescribably comfy" that "you may never go back"), but they are expertly mined for laughs. Non-cooks may reconsider when reading the hilariously artery-clogging recipes in the chapter "What to Eat When Tragedy Strikes," highlighting the four main food groups (sweet, salty, fried and au gratin) and suitable for both therapeutic and recreational eating. The life-affirming final chapter reminds readers of life's many options: "Life may indeed be short, but it is, for a fact, wide."

Finally, there is a book I read about on NPR's website, entitled Radical Prunings: A Novel : Officious Advice from the Contessa of Compost. Again, below is the overview:

A literate, funny, and surprisingly bittersweet debut from a writer with a sharp wit and a green thumb. This rather deceptive work purports to be the collected horticultural columns of one opinionated Mertensia Corydalis, a woman genteel as a rose and just as prickly. As Mertensia answers her readers’ innocent gardening questions, she reveals more than she intends about her life, her relationships (from volleys with her celebrity gardener ex-husband to questionable interactions with her employees, Miss Vong and Tran), and her own precarious state of mind. But be warned—Miss Mertensia does not entertain questions about lawn care.
Though RADICAL PRUNINGS is often laugh-out-loud funny, Bonnie Thomas Abbott’s love for gardening is serious. Her characters immerse themselves in the sensual pleasures of growing things— the earthy sensation of wet dirt between the fingers, the beauty of soil clinging to a freshly dug radish, the anticipation of a blossom slowly unfolding—even when other aspects of their lives have gone to seed

What do you think?