Posts by Karen Ginman

Reader's Den continues in September with an online book discussion of Leela Corman's graphic novel Unterzakhn! The narrative follows two sisters, Esther and Fanya, living on the Lower East Side of New York City from 1909 to 1923. Though the story is a work of fiction, Ms. Corman creates a world that feel authentic—almost like a personal diary of two sisters from the early 20th century.

Ms. Corman takes us on the adventure of Fanya and Esther as they are thrust into adulthood 

Pedro Almodóvar is a Spanish director who has carved a name for himself out of the strange and captivating narratives in his films. With over 20 years as a director and writer, Almodóvar has cajoled audiences with his arresting combination of conflict while simultaneously remaining enjoyable and entertaining. He is a director who can both delight and disturb, because he is willing to be earnest and deliver the end of the film whether it is what we had hoped for or not. Almodóvar not only 

Be afraid. Be afraid of women, especially if they live inside the moon, are cat-like, can control your mind, and have pet spiders. Arthur Hilton's film Cat-Women of the Moon is a funny Sci-Fi B-movie that shows the gender stereotypes present in films from the 1950s. The actors are given laughably horrible lines that don't even attempt to hide the typical roles of the male "cowboy" and the female "ditz."

Regina Spektor's music, summer nights, and NYC are intertwined inside of me. As the air grows warm, I find myself listening to her music as she sings of summer in the city and selling butterflies on street corners. This summer, I am attending my first American Library Association Annual Conference in New Orleans. I am bursting with pure joy to visit such a literary and musical city while attending my 

Plan 9 from Outer Space was filmed in 1956 by Ed Wood, the King of B-movies, but was not released until 1959. The film begins with the funeral of a beloved wife, played by Maila "Vampira" Nurmi. The old man, played by Bela Lugosi, weeps openly at the loss of her and his purpose in life. The plot then takes off on a roller coaster ride of odd 

Walt Whitman filled the pages of Leaves of Grass with poetry exalting the lives of Americans. While out in the streets, he observed and recorded the beauty of daily life. Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing" is a delightful example how common activities make up the fabric of America.  Within its lines, a boatman owns a part of America, and a mother's daily activities are considered 

Black ink soaks through a transparent canvas to form an image drawn by the master, Pablo Ruiz Picasso. 

In Le Mystere de Picasso (1956), director Henri-Georges Clouzot creates a new type of art documentary: one which manages to capture art at the very moment of conception. The transparent canvas allows the camera to capture each stroke of the artist's brush in real-time, beginning in