SFist Reads
If you're lucky, you'll see an SFist b***hfight between those of us who are competing to reserve the hottest new books at the San Francisco Public library. There are some days we can't face SFist Rita's kung-fu, however, so we break down and just buy the books we want at one of our fine local independent bookstores.
SFist Eve is here to tell you that the "Desperate Housewives" gang are a bunch of punk-ass bitches (in the words of both our favorite editor and favorite Supervisor) compared to the women of Out, by Natsuo Kirino . The story of four women brought together by a part time job and torn apart by their collusion in a murder, themes including the death of a marriage, caring for elderly parents, growing apart from your children, and disposing of bodies for the yakuza are all explored. Sfist recommends it most highly, with the caveat that you'll never look at a bento box the same way again.
SFist Rita just finished Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin, which is about animal behavior from the perspective of an autistic. It wasn't nearly as good as she was hoping it'd be, but the parts about how animals and autistics behave similarly were pretty cool. Plus, the tips on dog training looked interesting too.
Out book cover from the SFPL site
Busy, busy SFist Cheshire is reading Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx, her second collection of "Wyoming Stories." He didn't read the first collection, nor has he read The Shipping News, but they'll likely be on his list once he's done with this book. He's also reading a friend's novel manuscript and liking it so far. He's also trying to write a short parody of "America's Test Kitchen" for Impact's upcoming production of ten-minute plays.
You might recall that SFist Emily has been reading Getting a Job by Mark Granovetter. As she makes her way through it, she reflects that has successfully opted out of gainful employment for the next few years, but the labor market has crept into her other wise idyllic job-free studies. Getting A Job is about labor markets and interpersonal networks. Turns out the best way to get a killer job is to have a good job, and know tons of people not all that well. Doesn't help much if you're unemployed, though.