D’anna, Lynnette. fool’s bells. Toronto: Insomniac, 1999.
D’anna is the pen name of Lynnette Dueck, a Canadian writer of Mennonite origin. A friend who knows that I am interested in the intersection between sexuality and literature recommended D’anna/Dueck’s work to me; apparently it is quite explicit, which is a rarity in Mennonite literature. I may end up writing about it as a result. I’ve ordered a bunch of her books from amazon.com’s network of booksellers, and this is the first one to arrive (i.e., get ready for several more Books Acquired Recently entries on her work in the near future!).
Jacobsen, Annie, with Jane Finlay-Young and Di Brandt. Watermelon Syrup. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier UP, 2007.
I acquired this novel because Brandt, one of my favorite poets, is listed as one of the authors, and I would love to read some fiction by her. As it turns out, she did not actually write any of the book. Jacobsen wrote it, but died before she could revise and publish it, so per her directions Finlay-Young revised it and had Brandt act as a consultant on the Mennonite issues in the book because Jacobsen had Mennonite ancestry and the novel includes several Mennonite characters. It looks interesting, but for different reasons than I first anticipated. I ordered it via amazon.com from Better World Books‘s United Kingdom branch; it was originally owned by a library in Chelsea.
Daniel Shank Cruz 