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Bitch magazine has a lending library in Portland Oregon. The library has a blog and they would like your zine donations. They make posts about books in their collection and today’s post is about Celeste West and a new book out on Library Juice Press celebrating her life. [via]

She Was A Booklegger: Remembering Celeste West is a collection of essays, excerpts, and photos that attempt to capture the spirit of Celeste West, a woman whose influence on feminist librarianship, publishing, journalism, and activism was monumental. After West passed away in 2008, a few friends and admirers (Toni Samek, Moyra Lang, and K.R. Roberto) decided to embark on a project that would honor West’s work and life. This book, which acts as a comprehensive and compassionate obituary, was the result.

So, I’m officially on a vacation which means I’m tootling around Portland Oregon visiting libraries and seeing friends. I am pleased to report that I am liking this vacation business and will endeavor to do more of it. My project as I mentioned earlier was to stay caught up on RSS feeds because I was starting to become one of those “who’s got time for all this?” people which was simply unacceptable. To that end, I used some stuck-in-airport time to cull down my list of RSS feeds I was following — deleting blogs that haven’t updated since 2005, removing blogs whose feeds have moved — and make sure everything I was following I was actually reading. I suggest you take some time to do the same. For the record, I follow about 150 feeds total. That includes friends, family, librarians, a few music blogs and some MetaFilter-work stuff. My next project is to catch up on all the music that needs listening to.

I have a short list of links to make sure I mention and then I’m all set and “caught up” in whatever that means for someone like me. I hope your Summer is treating you well.

• School Library Journal is doing a 23 Things project and have opened it up so that anyone who wants to can follow along and learn about 2.0 tools a little at a time.
• Brian Herzog links to an OMG-ish news story discussing the availability of R rated movies in the public library and what their library’s response has been.
• Erin Blackwell has written a very loving obit for Celeste West, one of the editors of the original Revolting Librarians.
• Molly Kleinman sent along a great post from the lute (librarians use technology every day) blog giving tutorials about how to use the command line.

Reviewed by Suzanne Lieurance

Title: Defying the Diva
Author: D. Anne Love
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Pub. Date: March 25, 2008
ISBN-13: 9781416934813
Age Range: Young Adult

It’s been decades since I was a teen or even a “young” adult. Still, one of my favorite authors is YA novelist, D. Anne Love. Her newest book is called Defying the Diva, a story about teenage bullying - along the lines of the movie Mean Girls. I was lucky enough to get a review copy of the book. It won’t be released until the end of March.

What I enjoy most about any of Love’s novels are the distinctive voices of the characters and Love’s quick paced writing style. I never get bored (even for a second) with any of her novels. It also doesn’t matter if readers are 15 or 50. Female readers of all ages are able to relate to any of Love’s books. In fact, mother-daughter book clubs have been created across the country so girls and their moms can discuss Love’s novels. The books are THAT good!

In Defying the Diva, the main character is Haley Patterson, a high school freshman who writes a less than flattering gossip column in the school newspaper. As a result, she ends up losing her two best friends and is ostracized by the entire school because of the most popular girl on campus, Camilla Quinn, who also happens to be the school bully.

Haley spends the summer with her Aunt Bitsy and ends up working at a resort. She starts to make friends with some of the teens she works with, and she slowly comes out of the protective shell she has created for herself when mean girl Camilla shows up and threatens to ruin everything.

But will Haley stick up for herself this time and not let Camilla get the better of her this time?

Inquiring minds will HAVE to read this book to find out!