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Title: One Degree of Separation by Karin Kallmaker ISBN: 1-931513-30-9 Publisher: Bella books Pub. Date: January, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.92 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Get out your dance cards and enjoy!
Comment: "Life is twisted" is a favored exclamation from Liddy, a twenty-something dyke from Berkeley, California. Newly graduated from Cal with her Masters degree, Liddy has taken a contract to conduct research for a nationally known writer and finds herself trapped in the Iowa corn-belt for the summer. Her goal was to get away from the West Coast and an affair that ended very badly. She has no intention of getting romantically involved with anyone this summer. The women of Iowa City which boasts, arguably, the highest concentration of dykes living in any town in the Midwest, have other plans for "fresh meat." Even Liddy finds herself reconsidering her goals when she meets "Marian the Librarian."
If you are a librarian living in the "River City," Iowa and your name is Marian, you might as well surrender and embrace the humor of the musical. Marian Pardoo, on the Reference staff at the Iowa City Public Library, has done just that. Her dog answers to "Professor Hill" while her cat is dubbed "Trombone." Marian enjoys her work and is pleased with life in semi-rural Iowa. However, she is nursing some major heartache. That pain sometimes makes her life very difficult.
Neither Liddy nor Marian is prepared for the chemistry that strikes when they meet. Their conflagration is wonderful, frightening, and more than a little confusing. Or as Liddy wonders, "Was she in a foreign movie with no subtitles? Or was this just the way the dykes dated in Iowa City? Yes, no, yes, no, talk, talk, and more talk?" p112
The two women struggle to overcome their fears of getting hurt by love again and find that sometimes communication is difficult. When Marian looks for a greeting card to express her feelings for Liddy, she finds, "There weren't any cards that said, 'Can we do it like rabbits and still be friends?' Not one read, 'Ignore what I'm saying and jump me, now!'" p122
Having a crush on a gym teacher is a fairly common element in the school years of most future dykes. In One Degree, Kallmaker pays tribute to what has to be a close second for many of the "nerdier" lesbians, that of the crush on a librarian. Or as she has Marian reflect of her decision, years ago to become a librarian, "It always seemed like whatever I could dream I could find at the library. And ever since I was a girl I thought librarians were the guardians of all the mysteries of time. It never occurred to me .... That I could be one of the guardians." p43
Kallmaker's romp through the lesbian community in a Midwestern College town is entertaining, sexy and touching. While One Degree is one of her most lighthearted novels, Kallmaker taps readers on the shoulder with a few well-placed political observations. She illustrates the realities of public library employment and points out a frightening aspect of our post-9/11 world, i.e., the Patriot Act and its assault on privacy and the free access to information.
One Degree is a delightful romantic comedy, filled with humor, lust, and lots of intelligent, interesting dykes. Kallmaker's characters have a familiar feel and it's easy to identify with them. They are individuals, yet likely to remind readers of women they know. As the novel opens, Marian is having a bad PMS day and she writes in her journal, "Someone will die if my period doesn't start tomorrow." p1 When Marian self medicates with chocolate, it's a sentiment with which most women can empathize.
The "square dance" of lesbians working together and loving each other in a small community will be a familiar theme in the lives of many readers. Kallmaker calls these dances with compassionate understanding, a taste for irony, and a deliciously wicked wit. Interestingly, she continues a dialog that has threaded its way through some of her other romances, as Liddy and Marian discuss definitions and nuances of the butch and femme "do-si-do." One Degree of Separation is just plain fun to read. So get out your dance cards and enjoy the music!
Rating: 5
Summary: Librarians are Hot!
Comment: This is not your mother's library! It's the library where I wish I'd spent all my youth though. Imagine going to the library and there at the desk is this cute, sweet, honest, knowledgeable, kind, OUT LESBIAN there to answer your every question. I would have asked *this* Marian the Librarian where to find the girls-who-like-girls book, let me tell you.
This book was like a fantasy come to life. All my life I have had the hots for librarians. I think it's because Barbara Gordon was a librarian -- you know, BATGIRL! I laughed a lot and really felt like if I went to Iowa City I'd find Marian and Liddy drinking coffee, along with the rest of the gals. No telling who'd be with whom by then, except Marian and Liddy -- they're meant for each other. Wouldn't I like to be a fly on the wall for their sex life!
I did not think that Karin Kallmaker could come up with a heroine that was sexier than the savagely intelligent, tormented, motorcycle riding Reyna, but Marian flipped all my lights to green. She can check out if I'm Dewey any day!
Rating: 5
Summary: One of her best books this far
Comment: I have previously read some of Kallmakers books and I think that this one might be her best book this far. She has always been good at doing research but I have sometimes in previous books felt that she had included too much of it in the storyline. This book has, however, a perfect balance between the research she's done and the fiction. One Degree of Separation doesn't have the complex plot that Substitute for Love had but it has a lot of charm and and other qualities that make up for it.
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Title: Maybe Next Time by Karin Kallmaker ISBN: 1931513260 Publisher: Bella books Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Tomorrow's Promise by Radclyffe ISBN: 0974092215 Publisher: BookEnds Press Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: Twist of Fate by Jessica Casavant ISBN: 1932300074 Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Passion's Bright Fury by Radclyffe ISBN: 1930928939 Publisher: Renaissance Alliance Publishin Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Heart's Passage by Cate Swannell ISBN: 1932300090 Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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