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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Books Re: This Can Only End Well

Posted by Jesse Vernon on Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 2:02 PM

When I read the Weetzie Bat books a few years ago (collected conveniently in Dangerous Angels), I wished like mad I could time-travel and give them to my Bible-thumping, hell-fearing, closeted adolescent self. For the record, here's the context of one of the Milwaukee Christian Civil Liberties Union's complaints about Baby Be-Bop:

ac8b/1244759616-be-bop_1.png 3bef/1244759649-be-bop_2.png

Comments (9) RSS

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I am thankful to have had Dangerous Angels as a closeted adolescent. Those books and others by Block helped me through some tough times. It's hard to believe that will all the bullshit going on in the country and in the world, that these people have time to sue a freaking library over this...

Posted by SB on June 11, 2009 at 2:21 PM

My sister calls my daughter Witch Baby because she has crazy hair. We loved those books as teenagers. They helped us feel connected, being city kids moved to a severely depressed rural area.

Posted by tabletop_joe on June 11, 2009 at 2:30 PM

My love for Francesca Lia Block and specifically her Dangerous Angels books knows no bounds. As an uncomfortable adolescent and teenager, I read and re-read them constantly. Every suburban and rural junior high and high school should have these, along with librarians who can recognize what students could benefit from them (Thanks, Ms. Carmody!).

Posted by Jessica on June 11, 2009 at 2:34 PM

Well yes, clearly that use of the N-word is intended to incite violence against African-Americans. Coming from the mouths of such depraved young hooligans, the story effectively elevates the trucker to the position of role-model and hero.

Uhhhhhhh.

Posted by breklor on June 11, 2009 at 2:45 PM

Um. "Hell of cool"?

Posted by w7ngman

on June 11, 2009 at 2:59 PM

@5, you beat me to it. Just reading that sentence made me lose ten points of IQ.

Posted by Fnarf

on June 11, 2009 at 3:17 PM

It should be, "That is hella cool, man".

Posted by Y.F. Redux on June 11, 2009 at 5:00 PM

@5,6,7, you need to read the sentence in the context of the book -- Block plays with language in a way suited to hyper-teenage-glampunk kids. She's a smart writer; it works.

Posted by Irena on June 11, 2009 at 5:28 PM

Never heard of this book or any sort of "christian civil liberties union". Book looks cool, MCLU looks daff, and really i'm mainly just posting to check out how my new avatar looks.

Posted by Jack Frost on June 12, 2009 at 4:52 AM