This was a good book, but also a very confusing one in that while it might *seem* logical to tell the tale of two women in similar situations together, in actuality it makes it hard to tell who is being spoken about when and who is the object of interest then, etc. Both Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) and Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87) had very interesting lives, obviously, and they did seem pleased to entwine themselves often throughout those lives. I didn't realize that though they had so much influence over each other, neither met in the flesh at all.

''To have two queens of the same generation, reigning as neighbors in one island, was a rare and significant anomaly in the history of kings,''
-Jane Dunn

And right now, because I'm really feeling tired...

The Barnes & Noble Review

...The deadly rivalry between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, gets a fresh retelling in Jane Dunn's majestic work, a riveting tale about the battle for the English throne that's rich with period detail and canny psychological insight.

Dunn's elegant narrative remains tightly focused on the relationship between these two women whose characters and backgrounds were so dramatically different. A queen from birth, the extraordinarily charismatic Mary was secure in her sovereignty. Pampered and impetuous, she was also surprisingly conventional and susceptible to manipulation. By contrast, Elizabeth learned early to live by her wits. As the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, she was raised in an atmosphere of struggle and precarious uncertainty that taught her lifelong lessons in survival and diplomacy and proved a valuable apprenticeship for her reign as England's queen.

Using a wealth of source material, the author reconstructs a 16th-century world rife with superstition, intrigue, and religious dissent. She also uncovers surprising qualities in both women. In the emotionally reckless Mary we confront unexpected craft and ruthlessness; and in steely, disciplined Elizabeth, ambivalence, insecurity, and great reservoirs of tenderness and affection. Ruled by her heart, Mary placed love above duty and lost her head. Ruled by her head, Elizabeth refused to forfeit power for the sake of married love and paid the price in loneliness. Elizabeth & Mary weaves a fascinating, insightful tale, earning its place on the list of must-reads about this scintillating period of history."

Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes, Ph.D.

This is a fabulous book. In it, Dawn Prince-Hughes takes her observations on gorillas and the animal kingdom and incorporates them into her understanding of herself and autism. This is one of the particularly eloquent observations here:

"'God, they're lazy!' he says. 'Get up and do something!' he yells at the gorillas.

'Yeah! Get up and do something!' a teenage boy shouts. The gorillas just sit. They ignore, endure, remain. His shouts are deafening. They deafen. I am deaf. He and his friend then go to the glass and pound. 'Hey!' They pound. They deafen.

They pound on the glass, on our bodies. I sit. I ignore, endure, remain. 'Stupid! Man, you can't do anything with them. They're just stupid.'

The gorillas don't speak human language, look the way humans look, move the way humans move. They are stupid.

This is why gorillas are captive. This is why crazy people are captive. We are the animals who don't speak the language, look the looks, move in the right ways. Captivity is for observing. Sit. Ignore. Endure. Remain.

It is easy for those who are not captive to forget that those who are remain individuals. An individual with a name, a family who needs them, a past that they stand on, and a future that they dream about. Maybe it is because so many people share the same past and dream the same dreams that they forget how lonely it can be to have a different past, a different dream. I knew what it was like to be in prison. I knew because I was looking at it now with one foot outside the door, knowing the other would always remain inside. I wanted to know myself both as a person and as a primate, both as a few and as a trapped thing, both as a gorilla and as a human person wanting to know gorillas. I started to listen to what they were saying."

From a wild child to a prestigious professor, she has been homeless, friendless, and hopeless but throughout the journey she has found love, a child, and an obsession turned profession. A must read for those interested in autism, animals, or success stories in general.

Some causes that you can check out if you have an interest in preserving our cousins and their habitats: I especially like the Primate Freedom Tags.

• Primate Freedom Project
  
• Jane Goodall Institute
  
• Great Ape Project
  
• Columbia University Cruelty
  

She edited Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students with Autism, and it is one of inspiration for anyone having a difficult time dealing with autism related troubles, or those having more trouble adjusting to a college climate. There are tips from many different writers, all with autism and all brave enough to tell their tales.


Also by this author:
The Archetype of the Ape-Man: The Phenomenological Archaeology of a Relic Hominid Ancestor
Adam - A book that is almost sci fi that I really want.
Gorillas among Us: A Primate Ethnographer's Book of Days - I really want this one, which is finally availably in paperback but still too expensive for me at the moment. I'm just happy it's available.

Posting this mainly for someone in particular who asked for a list, but figured I'd let everyone in on it if they were ever interested. It includes Non-Fiction, Fiction, Authors, a list of some of the books I haven't read yet, and online resources.


Non-Fiction:

• Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Complete Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and other ASDs by Chantal Sicile-Kira [This is one of the first books I picked up about autism, and it reads beautifully for anyone without a lot of knowledge on the subject. It's easy to read, understand, and most importantly, put to use. Offers great advice on the many stages and difficulties the child may encounter]
  
  
• Through the Glass Wall: Journeys into the Closed-Off Worlds of the Autistic" by Howard Buten [I wasn't very fond of this book, but it is also about severely autistic individuals. It goes through his career and how he relates to his patients.]
  
  
• Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students with Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes [Dawn Prince-Hughes is amazing. That should be all that needs to be said, lol. But-- this book is written in essay form by many different people on the spectrum. Dawn is the editor and specifically refrained from editing the pieces too much. Usually, the odd phrasing and punctuation present in most of their writing is smoothed out and changed by the editor, but these are raw accounts, some good, some bad, but all real.]
  
  
• Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes [Again, amazing. Probably the very first book on autism I'd ever read and quickly went out and bought my own copy when I had to give </a></b></a>bahboo's copy back, lol. Dawn Prince-Hughes is a professor of anthropology. This books is how she climbed from a homeless, undiagnosed Aspie, wild youth, to a well respected individual within her field.]
  
  
• The Mind Tree by Tito Rajarshi Mukopadhyay [Tito is an amazing little boy who, with practically the sole help of his mother, broke through a speechless, confusing world. He is literally a genius, pointing out words on an alphabet board very early on in short, beautiful poems. The Mind Tree combines two books that he has written, one about his life, and one fictional tale, along with a variety of poems. I believe he was nine years old when this was published, to give you an indication as to how young and brilliant this severely autistic boy is. His mother is the angel behind his ability to communicate now, never giving up on her son.]
  
  
• Autism-Asperger's and Sexuality by Jerry and Mary Newport [This is a book to help parents talk to their spectrum children about this one subject that everyone wants to avoid, sexuality. Autistic children are just as interested and curious about the subject, but it can be much harder to explain. It offers good tips from a male and female perspective on how to break into this part of life with blunt honesty that all autistic people can appreciate.]
  
  
• Pretending to be Normal by Liane Holliday Willey [Liane has a daughter who was diagnosed with Asperger's, and through that diagnosis she then realized that she was similar in many, if not all, ways. I loved this book because after she had told her story, in the appendixes, she gave detailed and direct lists on how to avoid sensory overload, how to deal with family life, how to survive college, get a job, etc. I copied almost all of those pages, lol. She is now a professor and mother to three beautiful children.]
  

Fiction:

• Blue Bottle Mystery: An Asperger Adventure by Kathy Hoopmann [This is actually one of a few books based on Asperger adventures by this author, and I liked this one a lot. I wish I could find the others, but the libraries here only carry this one. It's a juvenile book, but it helps illuminate some of the Aspie boy's behavior in simple terms.]
  
  
• Wishing on the Midnight Star by Nancy Ogaz [Also juvenile fiction. This one was so-so. Two brothers, one of whom has Asperger's, try to raise a malformed chick. It was a sweet story, with a very good ending. The plot was a little dull though.]
  
  
• Colder than Ice by David Patneude [Juvenile fiction. Good story for any child interested in Hockey. Not my sport of choice, but the Aspie boy was well represented and an interesting character]
  
  
• Clay by Colby Rodowsky [Juvenile fiction. More about two children who have been kidnapped than autism. But one of the children is suffering from autism and it's being ignored instead of treated.]
  
  
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon [A *great* book, almost for young adults, though I think any adult will enjoy it. It's about a boy with autism who, in trying to solve the mystery of his neighbor's dog's death, discovers much more than he was looking for. I liked this book because it was broken up by many visuals and followed the thinking patterns of an autistic mind well in it's randomness.]
  
  
• The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon [An interesting story in the near-future when a controversial cure for autism has been discovered. It follows a young autistic man's life as he works (where the high-functioning autistic employees are being pressured into doing this "cure" procedure), fences, and falls in love.]
  
  
• By the Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz [I usually don't like Koontz, but this was an exception. Three individuals, two brothers (one of whom is autistic) and a woman, are injected against their will with a high-tech new psychotropic "drug". Thrown together, they whirl through change after change, running away from an unknown pursuer who wants them, or more precisely what is now in their bodies, eradicated.]
  

Other Significant, Suggested Authors:

• Donna Williams [One of the first autistic women to break through her wall to write about her life. She has now published many books beginning with Nobody Nowhere, in which she recounts her emergence. She also dealt with a Dissociative Identity, or "multiple personality" disorder as a child.]
  
  
• Temple Grandin [ I've just put her new book Animals in Translation: Using The Mysteries Of Autism To Decode Animal Behavior on hold for me at the library and can't wait to read it-- Temple is one of the leading scientists in the animal world and also a High-Functioning Autistic, though she now wonders if Asperger's is a better diagnosis. She writes about her animal obsessions, autism, and the relations between the two worlds in many of her books]
  
  
• Tony Attwood [A Clinical Psychologist specializing in Asperger's Syndrome with many different books on the subject, each exploring the many different facets of Asperger's.]
  

Books that I've started to read or I have not yet read, but want to:

• The Siege: A Family's Journey into the World of an Autistic Child" by Clara Claiborne Park
  
  
• Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter's Life with Autism by Clara Claiborne Park
  
  
• The Everything Parent's Guide to Children with Asperger's Syndrome "Help, Hope and Guidance" by William Stillman
  
  
• The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome: Advice, Support, Insight, and Inspiration by Patricia Romanowski Bashe and Barbara L. Kirby, founder of the OASIS Asperger Web Site**
  
  
• The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Integration Dysfunction by Carol Stock Kranowitz**
  
  
• Finding Ben "A Mother's Journey Through the Maze of Asperger's by Barbara Lasalle
  
  
• Elijah's Cup "A Family's Journey into the Community and Culture of High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome" by Valerie Paradiz**
  
  
• Asperger Syndrome in the family: Redifining Normal by Liane Holliday Willey**
  
  
• Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism by Paul Collins
  
  
• Living and Loving with Asperger Syndrome: Family Viewpoints
  by Patrick McCabe, Estelle McCabe, and Jared McCabe
  
  
• Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage, and Meltdowns by Brenda Smith Myles, Jack Southwick
  
  
• Right Address ... Wrong Planet: Children with Asperger Syndrome Becoming Adults by Gena Barnhill**
  
  
• Your Life is Not a Label: A Guide to Living Fully with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome by Jerry Newport, Ron Bass
  
  
• Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence by Tony Attwood**
  
  
• Congratulations! It's Asperger Syndrome by Jen Birch (more for Aspie adults)**
  
  
• Women from Another Planet: Our Lives in the Universe of Autism by Jean Kearns Miller**
  

**Books that I have a large interest in reading especially.


Online Resources

• http://www.autism-resources.com/
  
• Brain Talk Communities - Asperger's Syndrome
  
• Autism Information Library
  
• Autistic Spectrum Links
  
• OASIS - Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support
  
• You Might be an Aspie if: [Just for fun.]
  
• Adult Autism Research and Support [For adults, but with good links]
  
• AutismInfo.com
  
• Wendy Lawon's Home Page
  
• Yale Child Study Center - Autism Group
  
• Jacob's Bridge Through Autism: National Resources
  
• Umbrella Autism
  
• National Austistic Society
  

Oh, stop laughing at me. I actually listened to this book on tape since my sister gave it to me a long time ago and I thought it was about time to give books-on-tape a try. Putting all my insistence on having a book in my hand when I'm reading aside, I listened to this in the car for a few days and actually liked the experience. I didn't feel like I was wasting so much of my time in a little box with wheels.

The book itself was almost an attempt to climb out of the badly received book I Am Not Spock, which I haven't read yet. It spoke fondly of his experiences as the Vulcan science officer and was very humorous. I had no idea that he had such a hand in the movie productions and how much he shaped the character itself. It makes me rethink my liking for Tuvok- the Vulcan security officer on Star Trek: Voyager, who frequently states how "boring and typical" his days on the set were. Had he shown more enthusiasm and offered a deeper insight into the character, maybe he could have made the time enjoyable, as well as Tuvok more real and tormented (as any true Vulcan should surely be, right?) Anyhow, Leonard Nimoy's writing style alone was very fluid and practiced, another thing I was shocked by. Some memoirs are written by people with interesting lives but are told without an ear for storytelling...this book, however, was either edited well or Mr. Nimoy is a sound and entertaining writer. I suspect the latter.

How do you feel about books on tape?

Hey, look! I'm still alive!

Fun book. I actually read it too long ago to remember much of it, but I know I sailed through it and enjoyed.

I very recently picked up a book about Autism written by the same author called Through the Glass Wall and absolutely hated at least half of it because it seemed to me like a bunch of "Oh, look how much I love these poor, poor creatures and how NO ONE can understand them or love them like I can." It just got old. Not to mention that he practices in France, where the common theory is still based around autism being caused by "refrigerator moms" who don't hug their kids enough when they're in those precious infant years. I couldn't even tell from his writing whether he concurred with that theory or actually knew it was a sensory perception issue. I didn't realize it was the same person but then, when reading his brief biography, I found it was the same author who wrote When I Was Five I Killed Myself. I truly don't know what to think now, but it makes me want to recall the book better.

To give you an idea of what it was about, I'll give you the publisher's write-up:

Burton Rembrandt has the sort of perspective on life that is almost impossible for adults to understand: the perspective of an 8-year-old. And to Burt, his parents and teachers seem to be speaking a language he cannot understand. This is Burt's story as written in pencil on the walls of Quiet Room in the Children's Trust Residence Center, where he lands after expressing his ardent feelings for a classmate. It begins:

When I was five I killed myself....

In this rediscovered modern classic from "one of France's best-loved temporary writers" (Time), Howard Buten renders with astounding insight and wry language the tale of a troubled -- or perhaps just perfectly normal -- young boy testing the boundaries of love and life.

"I'm starting to think I'll probably never have a girlfriend, which would be okay too. On those few occasions when a girl has actually flirted with me, tipped her head sideways and laughed at some stupid remark, all it did was make me angry. It seemed like she was playing a game with idiotic rules. First you laugh, then you tell a pretty lie, then you stick your tongue in each other's mouths, then you say something really mean and hurtful to each other, then you go off to find somebody else who wants to play the game. This is an activity for intelligent people? I think not."

Hard love is definitely the case. The boy in this YA novel, John, falls head over heals for a lesbian. But he's never really been in love before, so his reaction to the experience is a little less than suave. I related to John's life a little too much- no relationship with his parents worth speaking of. They're divorced and his mother hasn't touched him in years-- his father just heads for the hills the moment John comes to visit. How do you relate to people when you've lived your life eliminating the need to? Knowing how to enjoy someone's company and begin to trust them can be incredibly tricky. He begins to express his frustration through a zine, inspired by Marsol's zine, Escape Velocity. Though the two eventually meet through this and become friends, John falls for her, and the relationship is cut short as often happens when young people are still discovering themselves. Even Marsol, who describes herself as a lesbian, appears unsure of her feelings for John. This reminds me of many friendships or understandings that come so comfortable that the difference between wanting to be close and wanting to be more than close become confused.

The song below was featured in this book, and was a strong inspiration to the story line:

Hard Love

Words & Music by Bob Franke

I remember growing up like it was only yesterday
Mom & Daddy tried their best to guide me on my way
But the hard times & the liquor drove the easy love away
And the only love I knew about was hard love

It was hard love, every hour of the day
When Christmas to my birthday was a million years away
And the fear that came between them drove the tears into my play
There was love in daddy's house, but it was hard love

And I recall the gentle courtesy you gave me as I tried
To dissemble in politeness all the love I felt inside
And for every song of laughter was another song that cried
This ain't no easy weekend, this is hard love

It was hard love, every step of the way
Hard to be so close to you, so hard to turn away
And when all the stars and sentimental songs dissolved to day
There was nothing left to sing about but hard love

So I loved you for your courage, and your gentle sense of shame
And I loved you for your laughter and your language and your name
And I knew it was impossible, but I loved you just the same
Though' the only love I gave to you was hard love

It was hard love, it was hard on you, I know
When the only love I gave to you was love I couldn't show
You forgave the heart that loved you as your lover turned to go
Leaving nothing but the memory of hard love

So I'm standing in this phone booth with a dollar and a dime
Wondering what to say to you to ease your troubled mind
For the Lord's cross might redeem us, but our own just wastes our time
And to tell the two apart is always hard, love

So I'll tell you that I love you even though I'm far away
And I'll tell you how you change me as I live from day to day
How you help me to accept myself and I won't forget to say
Love is never wasted, even when it's hard love

Yes, it's hard love, but it's love all the same
Not the stuff of fantasy, but more than just a game
And the only kind of miracle that's worthy of the name
For the love that heals our lives is mostly hard love

Ellen Wittlinger's webpage: www.ellenwittlinger.com
Bob Franke's webpage: www.bobfranke.com

Empress of the World is an energetic story about an innocent romance between two girls at...yes, summer camp. In the beginning, the main character, Nicola, begins to sketch the people around her, bored with the introductory assembly for the camp. I thought this was a interesting way to introduce the people who would shape the next few weeks of her life, even if they were a little flat. She described them, including quirks and nuances seen from an artists eyes. Much of the story is penned in this notebook as she tries to work out her feelings, and untangle her sexuality.

For the queer young adults on this list (what's this- do I hear crickets?), and even those who aren't, I'd recommend this one. It's gooshy mini-romance, yes, but also uplifting in many places. It's unpolished and the subtle flaws will make you twitch, but for a mind looking for a less stereotypical view of relationships between women, this one manages not to shove every character into a tight-fitting and often unreal sense of self. They're confused, so the solidity of the story is also confusing.

Some works quoted in the book:

O fotruna
velut luna
statu variablilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis...

"O furtune,
you are changeable
like the moon,
ever waxing
and waning..."

- from "Fortuna, Imperatrix Mundi" (Fortune, Empress of the World)
Carmina Burana, Cantiones Profanae


Ama me fideliter, fidem meam nota: de corde totaliter et ex mente tota sum presentialiter absens in remota, quisquis amat taliter, volvitur in rota.

"Love me faithfully, see how I am faithful: with all my heart and with all my soul, I am with you even when I am far away. Whosoever loves this much knows the torture of the wheel."

- from "Omnia sol temperat" (The Sun Warms Everything)
Carmina Burana, Cantiones Profanae

I should also mention that she's a cool kid herself: sararyan.com
She's put together a booklist of similar titles for you to check out:
gay, transgender, bisexual, lesbian, transexual booklist for young adults

Once their secret is found out, a hidden spring that will grant the drinker eternal life, the Tuck family is thrown into a heartbreaking situation. Though only two other people knew, the potential for a disastrous reaction was there and so, they proceeded to do everything they could to save that secret. The family acts from the good of their hearts to the core, even though some actions speak otherwise. It's a story that sets off a lot of "what if..." thinking, by the time the story's been told. Everlasting life is a tempting offer, but obviously has it's consequences.

This first sentence alone automatically points towards a circle of life that will never end:

"The first week in August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning."

I almost wish I hadn't seen the movie, because now something I felt when reading the book is gone. My pictures of the characters and their setting is shattered and overrun by Hollywood sparkles and pretty faces. I love the movie when I can think of it separately, but it didn't feel like the story I remember. I reread this one after seeing the movie and wasn't surprised that they added a romantic flare to the children's relationship. But it was one that I felt was almost brother and sisterly in the book. The undertones were obviously there though.

I haven't seen the older version of the movie, but think it will be worth a look also. Anyone here seen it?

Switchers by Kate Thompson. A book about child shapeshifters, "Switchers", but specifically about a lone girl named Tess who stumbles onto another like her. While it sounds like an old story told by dozens of pens, it's not really about that, it focused on their growth and their strengths. A book that empowers many children, I would imagine. Or maybe it just provokes me into wishing I'd had that kind of advice and insight Tess receives from her experience- from a privileged family to confronting those not so well-off. The book is followed by two sequels, Midnight's Choice, which I'm half through, and Wild Blood, which is the reason I began reading these in the first place. The artwork on the cover pulled me in, but I have that sequential quirk that forces me to read every book in a series until I get to the one I'm interested in. In this case, I'm glad for that one obsessive-compulsive glitch because the books are a quick read and entertaining, if not intellectual.

More young adult books. I need to remind myself that a steady diet of sweets makes for a very bad tummy ache. Some serious non-fiction reading is required soon. I find myself lacking much to say about the books I've been going through because they were entertaining and fun, but aren't exactly challenging. This particular book did feed a bit of emotional knowledge to me, so it wasn't complete fluff, and a perfect choice for the younger science fiction and fantasy crowds.