I am currently somewhere between the first and last pages of the following books: The Omnivore's Dilemma, Loving, The Rising of the Moon, From Where You Dream, Alternadad (I'm not too proud to admit it), and the Francine Prose book I blogged about months ago. It's pretty pathetic. This will never stop me from adding more books to my to-read pile and now I'm all hot under the collar about James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips.
From the Boldtype review:
Science-fiction enthusiasts know James Tiptree, Jr. as a remarkable, energetic, and inventive storyteller who burst onto the scene in the late '60s with a series of stories that helped define the genre. His tales explored the role of sexuality and gender, and although told from a man's point of view, they were often sympathetic to women. Tiptree carried on lengthy correspondences with editors, as well as other sci-fi heavyweights (notably Phillip K. Dick and Ursula K. LeGuin), none of whom had ever met Tiptree in person. Then, in 1976, James Tiptree, Jr. was revealed to be a 61-year-old woman named Alice B. Sheldon who lived in rural Virginia.
Sound familiar? Her story gets even more interesting (at various points Sheldon was a debutante, a painter, a CIA agent, and a chicken farmer) and ultimately tragic (she took her own life in a murder/suicide pact with her husband). I'm so all in.
