A review by editrix
The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters: A True Story of Family Fiction by Julie Klam
4.0
This was great. It's not so much about the story she researched for the book as it is about the *process* of her researching the story for the book, but I wasn't bothered by that because it was put together so nicely and was smart and snappy. Klam is funny and self-deprecating in comfortable but not dopey ways, and I'll read more from her.
"Reader, do you know what microfilm is? If you're young and grew up never being without a cell phone, the internet, or social media, you may not have ever used microfilm or even heard of it. Back when I was in school and we used our feet to propel our school bus and Dad ran a dinosaur in the quarry, we used microfilm in our library. The microfilm reader looks like an old black-and-white TV. (Or if that's not a visual you're familiar with, an old desktop computer. And if that's not a visual you're familiar with, then just stop it right now!) At a library you would request a certain reference book, and the librarian would hand you a box and inside was a roll of film. But it's not moving images, it's micro images ("micro" was a word used to describe high-tech devices back in the twentieth century.) You thread the film into the machine, not unlike how I used to load film into 35 mm cameras in college (which I didn't do if I could help it even though I was a film major and it was a mandatory skill to learn.)"
"As a young kid, I was a so-so athlete (so, so terrible), and I did almost comically poorly in school ("I just don't understand how you can get a negative grade on an exam," my father once said). I wasn't conscious of the fact that other kids in sixth grade showed and washed their hair regularly until a girl in my class said fro Valentine's Day she was going to give me a heart-shaped bottle of Head & Shoulders. (She did not.) So while I was often oblivious to the world around me, I knew that secretly I was very special."
"When I was younger I told my brothers that when our parents eventually died, no one should tell me for as long as possible. Let me go on and pretend that they just were too busy to pick up the phone. Maybe even record a few messages to leave for me every now and again. I clearly feel as if what I don't know can't make me sad."
And so on. She seems fun.
"Reader, do you know what microfilm is? If you're young and grew up never being without a cell phone, the internet, or social media, you may not have ever used microfilm or even heard of it. Back when I was in school and we used our feet to propel our school bus and Dad ran a dinosaur in the quarry, we used microfilm in our library. The microfilm reader looks like an old black-and-white TV. (Or if that's not a visual you're familiar with, an old desktop computer. And if that's not a visual you're familiar with, then just stop it right now!) At a library you would request a certain reference book, and the librarian would hand you a box and inside was a roll of film. But it's not moving images, it's micro images ("micro" was a word used to describe high-tech devices back in the twentieth century.) You thread the film into the machine, not unlike how I used to load film into 35 mm cameras in college (which I didn't do if I could help it even though I was a film major and it was a mandatory skill to learn.)"
"As a young kid, I was a so-so athlete (so, so terrible), and I did almost comically poorly in school ("I just don't understand how you can get a negative grade on an exam," my father once said). I wasn't conscious of the fact that other kids in sixth grade showed and washed their hair regularly until a girl in my class said fro Valentine's Day she was going to give me a heart-shaped bottle of Head & Shoulders. (She did not.) So while I was often oblivious to the world around me, I knew that secretly I was very special."
"When I was younger I told my brothers that when our parents eventually died, no one should tell me for as long as possible. Let me go on and pretend that they just were too busy to pick up the phone. Maybe even record a few messages to leave for me every now and again. I clearly feel as if what I don't know can't make me sad."
And so on. She seems fun.