Welcome to Litsy!

I didn't read Harriet the Spy until I was a middle-aged librarian. By that time, the terror of stalking in real life ruined my ability to appreciate an 11-year-old gossip. After reading the tagged book, I feel like rereading HTS. Fitzhugh's short, complicated life and its place in American culture and time changes how I'll perceive Harriet. I hope a mg edition will be released. It would be a great addition to #LGBTQ kidlit.

If you enjoyed Harriet the Spy, you might enjoy this #biography of the author, Louise Fitzhugh. From her birth to death, the author takes you from her humble beginnings to her role as an #ally with what were marginalized communities during the mid-century.

This is a fascinating insight into a remarkable life. It's a very detailed account of Louise Fitzhugh's life - a little too detailed in places; while her dysfunctional family and childhood clearly had a huge impact on her life and work, the in-depth history of her family dragged a little.

I finished SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LIE over breakfast (coffee and overnight oats). The narrative sometimes slides into this-then-this-then-this territory, but on the whole it‘s an interesting and worthwhile read. Definitely recommended to those in search of 20th century queer biographies. #gaymay

I‘m barrelling along through this biography of Louise Fitzhugh. While Leslie Brody takes the kitchen sink approach so many biographers love (ie, she tosses in tons of cultural details that don‘t actually lend much insight to her subject), her prose is so readable that I‘m getting through 3-4 chapters a day instead of the 1-2 I usually aim for with nonfiction. #gaymay

I was fascinated but left a bit unsatisfied by this biography. It's a thorough account of her sadly short life. Emotionally I found it a bit distant. I wanted it to get into how Louise was feeling. But it seems a bit unfair to fault it for not having access to Louise's voice when it appears that isn't possible. Her TERRIBLE heir deliberately hid Louise's lesbianism although she was very out in life and severely restricted access to her estate.

Hmm it seems like Louise's last partner Lois struggled a lot with internalized homophobia and even though she's now passed away, it lingers still in the way Louise's estate was run, access to her papers strictly guarded and Louise presented in a sanitized way that elided any mention of her being a lesbian even though Louise was VERY out in her lifetime. How frustrating.

"Writing for children gave her [Louise Fitzhugh] a 'wonderful feeling of doing good.'"

Harriet the Spy's sequel, The Long Secret, was published in 1965 and it has an explicit scene where a 12-year-old gets her period! The groundbreaking scene was deemed inappropriate by many reviewers. Imagine thinking a natural occurrence for so many kids that age is inappropriate for them to read about. Sadly this idiocy is still around today.

The lesbian pulp era!! Louise Fitzhugh was friends with MJ Meaker, who wrote the first lesbian paperback novel in 1952 (under a pseudonym, Vin Packer, of course). MJ Meaker also dated Patricia Highsmith; both women killed off characters who resembled the other in novels they wrote after they broke up. Lol what a way to get back at your ex. Louise and MJ were drinking buddies who went to NYC gay bars together.

A wonderful picture of Louise Fitzhugh with a partner Alixe, who was an accomplished casting director in NYC theatre and TV in the 50s

This is such a great biography so far! Learning about pre-Stonewall queer people is so fascinating.
#QueerBooks #LGBTQBooks #LGBTQ

#ReadHarder challenge 9:a biography of an author you admire