Lynne M. Thomas's Blog, page 15
March 9, 2017
Why don’t you wear white gloves? [rant]
The White Gloves thing came up again because Chicago Magazine used it while promoting an article about the Newberry.
Rare book people often feel the same way about white gloves as when archives are referred to as “dusty.”
This is a reposting of a rant from 2011 back on the now-defunct NIU rare books blog.
Posted on March 16, 2011by Lynne M. Thomas
ILAB.org posted an article called “White Gloves: Functionable or Fashionable” yesterday, once again rehashing the whole “handling rare books requires wearing white cotton gloves” thing for their readers. They were fairly evenhanded, interviewing professionals who are both for and against white cotton gloves in rare book rooms.
Just in case you were dying to know my feelings on the subject, they are simple: I hate the darned things. I avoid wearing white cotton gloves while handling our materials whenever humanly possible.
Here’s why.
1. I’m a clutz. Unlike folks who may have grown up during an era when wearing gloves indoors was de rigeur as part of ladylike fashion (or who are avid costumers and reenactors), and therefore have sufficient practice to function reasonably well, I can’t actually be dextrous in the things. I’m far more likely to damage a book when wearing white cotton gloves than I am handling it with clean, bare hands, personally.
2. I think I look kind of dumb in them. There, I said it. I feel like Minnie Mouse. And not in a good way. Look, walking in heels when I need to dress as a grownup is enough of a challenge on a regular basis, ok? Don’t make my day even harder.
3. White cotton gloves don’t protect me from anything. If I AM going to wear gloves, it’s far more likely to be latex gloves that keep me from getting ink on my hands when using the Common Press, or when handling something fragile from our Southeast Asia collection. I can be dextrous in latex gloves, if need be. And if there’s anything weird on the object that I don’t want to touch with my skin (like, say, mold), the latex is a better barrier than cotton for protecting me. Plus? Disposable. I can just chuck them when I’m done, without the hassle of having to remember to bring them home to wash them.
4. I think they create an unnecessary social barrier. This is the real reason I hate them.
White cotton gloves feed into the whole social privilege aspect of special collections and rare books that keep people away from them and afraid of them, by silently telling patrons and guests “this is too fancy and expensive and special for anyone to handle, let alone you. I’m a fancy-pants curator and even I’m not allowed to touch it.”
99.9% of the time, that’s simply not true. Most books, even rare ones, are replaceable or repairable. (Obviously, not all, but in my university’s collection? Most.) The tactile sensation of handling a rare book, however fleeting, is one that I think should be available to everyone, with reasonable precautions in place (such as handwashing before the fact and gentle handling). I’ve seen people cry when handling First Folios. (Not on the book! they were very careful about that!) That moment of handling a rare book can change someone’s life for the better, putting them in touch with their own history, their own deeply-held passions. These materials can inspire people. Why are we trying to keep them away?
Goodness knows, I wouldn’t be a curator now if the curators I worked with at my alma mater hadn’t encouraged me to touch the books, to look at them, to get to know them intimately (both with and without the vacuum cleaner I was using to gently clean them at the time). Handling those books made me who I am, because curators that came before me didn’t think that I wasn’t important enough to touch the books, even if I happened to be a working class first-generation college student, rather than coming from a family of rare books collectors and connoisseurs.
At the very least, making handling rare materials more democratic can only bring us more support in the long run. Rare books should be for everyone. I’m a public employee at a state institution. These are literally the people of Illinois’ rare books, bought and paid for through gifts, taxes, and tuition. I am their steward. The more people that come to use their books, the better. Anything that creates even more barriers between the patrons and the books is not a good thing, in my opinion.
The best way to convince our public that cultural heritage materials are important is to encourage individual ownership of the notion. Especially when budgets are tight, we want our patrons to be fighting for the appropriate stewardship of our materials, not deciding that really, rare books are just a luxury for rich people only, and therefore can be cut from budgets in favor of other stuff.
Most patrons-off-the-street are exceedingly gentle with the materials that we bring them to use in our reading rooms. They already know that this stuff is special (it’s in the name!). They don’t need us to remind them of that fact by making them feel clumsy and unwelcome by forcing them to wear white gloves, or by wearing gloves ourselves.
It’s just not worth it.
Thus endeth my rant on white cotton gloves.
Book review: The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Excellent middle book in the series. Jemisin’s worldbuilding here holds very solidly as she further tortures her characters. Essun and Nassun both are fighting for their respective lives in different places, as the Season creates more problems, more trauma, more loss. One of the things Jemisin is particularly good at telegraphing is the dissociation that sometimes comes with trauma. There would be times where I would feel as though I were not connecting with a character, and then I’d turn the page and find myself crying. Literally crying. Because the other (emotional) shoe had not yet dropped in the character’s POV before turning the page.
Once you get there, it’s like being hit by a ton of bricks in a cathartic manner. While I’m not always a huge fan of dystopia, the sheer stubbornness that leads to survival in this series feels particularly prescient these days.
March 8, 2017
Verity! Episode 130 – A Good Last
New Verity!
What makes a good final episode for a Doctor or companion? Join Deb, Katrina, and Liz as they discuss just that.
What do you think are the hallmarks of a good last episode? Let us know in the comment!
^E
Also covered:
Kat writes chapter 4 of Gene Roddenberry is Not a Timelord!
Liz can’t wait to see Michelle Gomez back in Doctor Who!
Deb has all the feels about Head Over Feels’ Love Letter to Gally!
Download or listen now (runtime 1:11:33)
March 3, 2017
Extra! – Polly-Anneke
I forgot to reblog this one! New Verity! Interview!
It’s time for another con-sourced interview! Join Deb and Erika as they chat very briefly about Deb’s experience interviewing Anneke Wills at Long Island Who. Then listen to the interview. This lady has had quite a life! Tragedy, success, and strawberries with John Lennon. What more could you ask for?
^E
Download or listen now (runtime 52:48)
February 28, 2017
Book review: Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had some very complicated feelings about this book.
I’m generally a huge fan of Kinsale’s work. The Prince of Midnight is, hands-down, one of my favorite romances, which I reread fairly often.
This has some things in common with that novel, particularly, the jerky hero who is “brought low” by his disability, finds love with an awesome, yet prickly intelligent woman, learns to be less of a jerk, and moves on to a better life with an understanding that being an asshole to everyone you meet isn’t actually a good thing. So, the “overcoming toxic masculinity through disability” trope, if that’s a thing.
In this novel, Christian (an unrepentant rake) has a stroke and is institutionalized because he is thought to be mad. His family is trying to disinherit him by having him declared incompetent.
Archimedea (Maddy), the Quaker daughter of his mathematical partner (Maddy’s father is blind), ends up as his caregiver through A Series Of Events. She eventually has to wrestle with her faith as she falls in love with someone outside of her community.
As much as I bought their initial attraction/different worlds thing, I had great difficulty with the relationship development itself. Christian is, mostly, still a selfish jerk. And while he is getting better, he is still predominantly entitled (from his perspective) to Maddy’s time, love, and care, over the care of her blind father in many cases.
Maddy didn’t feel to me like she had a ton of agency here; maybe that’s because her decision to care for Christian is initially a religious awakening, which then gets tied into her having the hots for him. But she never feels as though she is choosing for :her: — she moves from choosing because it is a Calling to “but he needs me.” (In contrast, Sunshine from The Prince of Midnight is very prickly, but she makes her own choices in relation to Maitland; and Maitland does not feel entitled to her love or care, even after he has rescued her from a cult).
Now, Maddy gets the fairy tale ending of being wed to a Duke, which means many more resources to help people and care for her father, so it’s not like she’s ending up with a horrible deal, here.
Interestingly, Christian does recover some from his stroke (but is not fully cured!) through Maddy’s care. They win, and there is a cost, and all is not perfect, which I actually LIKE.
But this is one of those books where I can’t decide if I enjoyed it overall or not. There are some really great things going on, and yet some of them made me uncomfortable, and I need to sit with that.
February 27, 2017
Book review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a really long book. I don’t say so as a criticism, more as a warning to readers for the experience to expect.
If I had to describe this to someone, I’d call it “Middlemarch with magic, but mostly about men. Not a lot happens.” Again, not a criticism. Middlemarch is one of the most important novels in the English language, full of deep thematic layers and characterization that change and shift as one rereads from different perspectives. Arguably, not a lot happens in Middlemarch. And yet, the portrayals of the shifts in lives lived are seismic.
This novel is similar. I began reading it as an ebook, then switched to a paper copy because the footnotes were much easier to navigate in paper. (Also, the paper copy is printed in a period appropriatesque Baskerville font). The irony of needing to switch formats is extra rich, as this novel includes lots of 19th century printing jokes (including ascribing several seminal magic books to George Eliot’s publisher).
This is a slow novel. It is, like the Victorian literature it is aping, structured as though it was being serialized and the author was paid by the page. Linguistically sharp and in the Victorian mode, this is a novel about the return of English Magic, and long-lost connections to Faerie. It is also about human folly despite intent–how we treat each other well (or don’t), how we hurt each other (or don’t), and the ways in which we feel safe (or don’t), all exacerbated by magical access.
This is not a plot heavy work; big battle scenes are not laid out in great detail, and much of the magic is described through the perspective of the caster. For Norrell, it’s a lot of dry scholarly references; for Strange, it it instinct and effect, with little explanation of the mechanisms. The central conflict of the novel is that neither Norrell nor Strange can be happy or truly effective without the other’s approach to magic, despite the fact that they do not get on particularly well.
So, if you are looking for something contemplative and slow, with a lot of wry commentary on human nature, this is for you. If you want whiz-bang action, not so much.
I reread Middlemarch every 10 years or so, and get something different from it every time. I suspect this novel has the same capacity, but I won’t be able to tell for another decade.
February 22, 2017
Extra! – Gallifrey One Love
New Verity! Extra!
It’s our annual recorded-live-in-person Gallifrey One Extra! Join Deb, Erika, and Katrina as we tiredly gush over how lovely this year’s Gally has been.
Were you at Gally this year? Please share your fond memories in the comments!
^E
Download or listen now (runtime 32:03)
February 15, 2017
Verity! Episode 129 – The Doctor as a Valentine
New Verity!
No, we’re not talking about the Black Guardian, it’s (just past) Valentine’s Day! Join Deb, Erika, Lynne, and Tansy as we celebrate the holiday-of-love by discussing the Doctor as a romantic figure. Not all of us are equally comfortable with that notion, but as always, that leads to a fascinating discussion.
What are your thoughts on the Doctor as a heart-throb? Let us know in the comments!
^E
Also covered:
Tansy loves The Doubleclicks‘ new song “Women Know Math”!
Erika loves Gallifrey One and hockey:
the Oilers Are Still Courting Vladimir Tkachyov!
the NHL announces Hockey Is For Everyone month!
Lynne loves Michael (they just celebrated their 17th anniversary)!
Deb loves her whole Gallifrey One schedule!
Bonus links:
Erika’s Gally schedule
Kat’s Gally schedule
Download or listen now (runtime 1:13:07)
February 1, 2017
Episode 128 – Lynne’s Love: Frocks and Fireplaces
New Verity! In which I GUSH about Girl in the Fireplace, my fave story ever.
It’s high time we started on the love part of our year of love and lasts. Join Deb, Erika, Liz, and Lynne as we cover Lynne’s love, “The Girl in the Fireplace”. Liz and Deb do some LJ fanthropology, Erika has a change of heart, and Lynne gushes about France and frocks. Of course we do our usual random-tangent thing too. X-men fighting leprechauns, anyone?
What did (and do) you think of this ep? Do you love it like Lynne or hate it like an old-school Rose/10 shipper? Or somewhere in between? Let us know in the comments!
^E
Also covered:
Lynne is delighted to learn that Chicago TARDIS will welcome Sophie Aldred and Peter Davison to this year’s convention!
Liz can’t wait to read the next (and sadly last-of-the-miniseries) Third Doctor comic by Paul Cornell and Christopher Jones!
Erika
is utterly squeeful about the return of The October…
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January 31, 2017
Book review: Valentine Rogues
Valentine Rogues by Cindy Holbrook
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Finished this yesterday.
Once in a while, I will read an Old Skool style romance to remind me of why I prefer newer, more inclusive romance. This collection of novellas from around 2000 (which I totally grabbed from my pile of free stuff from a friend because LOOK AT THAT COVER) is a good example. It’s mostly fine, but there are little things that kick me out because the stuff I tend to prefer Doesn’t Do That Anymore.
So, for instance, secondary characters in a couple of these were kind of cardboard. I tend to enjoy the any-point-of-entry group series (sets of siblings or friends who all get their own books), so thin secondary characters irritate me now.
Slutshaming– having a flirtatious character (the sister of our protag) who is acting out referred to as “whorish” really did not work for me. Yes, she crossed the line (that was her plot job). But having the hero call her a whore is not really what I would have gone with in the scenario where you want me to LIKE him. There are ways to express social displeasure with out doing that.
Stereotypical “high drama Italian courtesan” was really not my cup of tea, although I’m glad her character got rehabilitiated after our main couple got together. Also, there was some deeply classist stuff that just threw me off.
Again, most of this was perfectly passable, and each contained an Important Valentine’s Day Ball Scene with Lovely Frocks. But the things that kicked me out outweighed the things I stay for.
