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Sex and Rage
Sex and Rage: Advice to Young Ladies Eager for a Good Time | Eve Babitz
16 posts | 18 read | 32 to read
The popular rediscovery of Eve Babitz continues with this very special reissue of her novel, originally published in 1979, about a dreamy young girl moving between the planets of Los Angeles and New York City. We first meet Jacaranda in Los Angeles, a beach bum, part-time painter of surfboards, sun-kissed and beautiful, semi-involved with a married man, glittering among the pretty creatures, blithely drinking Pink Ladies with any number of tycoons, unattached and unworried in the pleasurable mania of California. We follow her as she rises from the mists to the discovery that shes twenty-eight, jobless, with no sense of purpose; that her wild friendships with Gilbert and Max and Etienne might not be as real as they seem. So she pries herself away from this immensely seductive place and moves to New York, to seriousness and work, to meet the agents of her new world. Sex and Rage delights in its starry, sensuous, dreamlike narrative and its spontaneous embrace of fate, and work, and of certain meetings and chances. We witness Jacaranda moving beyond the tango of sex and rage into the open challenge of a defined and more fulfilling expressive life.Sex and Rage further solidifies Eve Babitzs place as a singularly important voice in Los Angeles literature -- haunting, alluring, and alive.
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QuintusMarcus
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Mehso-so

Very silly book about LA and literary New York in the sixties. Thinly veiled autobiography, clearly, by an observant but not terribly thoughtful young woman. The recent reissue of the book was lauded by all the usual suspects, but I really don‘t see what the fuss was about. Skip this and read anything by Raymond Chandler instead.

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mrsthilkey
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"It was a dare- he dared you not to laugh with him. He dared you to despair...he dared you to believe you were going to die- when you at that moment knew, just as he did, that you were immortal, you were among the gods."

-Eve Babitz

readordierachel Ooh. I need to pull this off my shelf! 5y
mrsthilkey @readordierachel I really enjoyed it! I need to read more from that decade/genre. 5y
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Bookish.SAM
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Mehso-so

My final cottage read. Far less sex and rage than you‘d think. I was more into it for the first half than the second. Definitely not for everyone. I enjoyed but didn‘t love it... I soooo wanted to love it.

Bklover Love this photo! 5y
Bookish.SAM Thanks @Bklover 😊 (edited) 5y
40 likes2 comments
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MockTurtle
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Started listening today to this California female coming-of-age novel, originally published in 1979. The cover image that RBdigital has slapped on it seems not the slightest bit apropos for the setting. An enjoyable listen so far.

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MLRio
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Currently reading 💅🏻

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bookandcat
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Pickpick

I adored this novel about a 1970s California girl growing up and into her own. If Joan Didion and Shonda Rimes wrote a book together, you might get something like this. Little sex and little rage are present here in their literal forms (it is extraordinarily clean given the title) - but the California ocean waves, Hollywood soapiness, and drama of publishing and the LA and NY elite abound in dreamy vignettes. Time to read every other Babitz book!

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bookandcat
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IT'S BEEN A #BOOKHAUL KIND OF WEEK!
On Thursday I went to the ACC tournament in Brooklyn and went to The Strand afterwards to use my gift cards I had hoarded. So far I'm ADORING the Chew-Bose book and the Babitz book. I love how I can always find interesting recommendations for books I've never heard of there. The two books at the bottom were recs from a Bookmarks magazine article about REALLY long books (Shantaram was also on it 😍😍). #thestrand

mrozzz 🙌🏻 7y
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ReadingEnvy
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Jacaranda is truly my word of the year.

Lindy 💜🌺💜 7y
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sisilia
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Damage Day 1

minkyb You are be so restrained! 7y
sisilia @minkyb Not yet😅 I‘ll save the best (shopping) for last 7y
77 likes2 comments
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LadyBrik
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Day 3 of #riotgrams

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Manoshgirl51
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Mehso-so

This book was good, but I would definitely have to re-read it a few times. I loved how detailed Eve was with detailing how life was back in the 60s and 70s. It definitely showed me that people all struggle with different demons and there is always a story as to why those demons can come around.

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anniegr
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Read this in a day! Loved it. Want to read everything she ever wrote. Reminds me of Didion.

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Rachelkerr
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She really believed that the great religions of the world had come into being before anyone had grown up by the ocean. She believed in the ocean.

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Liberty
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This is just a small sampling of the amazing books coming out on Tuesday (and the only ones I had physical copies of in my office.) But there are TONS more you'll want to check out, particularly WHAT WE LOSE by Zinzi Clemons, TELLING THE MAP by Christopher Rowe, and THE SARAH BOOK by Scott McClanahan. 📚❤️📚

PrincessLibrarian I received an ARC of What We Lose, and was a major fan. 7y
ReadingEnvy SO excited for a new James Kelman. 7y
bitterbear What do the star stickers mean? 7y
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Liberty @bitterbear It's my galley system. 7y
LDuffN I just started Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown which is also coming out on Tuesday? Have you read this one @Liberty 7y
Liberty @LDuffN No, not yet. I might get to it before Tuesday. 😊 7y
152 likes1 stack add6 comments
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Liberty
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Today's reads are accidentally themed. 📒💛🌕🌼🍋

Jabberwocky Gork the teenage dragon looks adorable 😂 7y
heikemarie I've been trying to get a galley of Gork, it looks awesome!! 7y
FountainBookstore Williams is coming to the shop. Can't wait! 7y
117 likes2 stack adds3 comments