{"id":582,"date":"2011-07-20T10:33:06","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T15:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=582"},"modified":"2011-07-20T10:33:06","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T15:33:06","slug":"the-l-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/the-l-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The L Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Find this book in a library near you.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/oclc\/505419630\" target=\"_blank\">McHugh, Erin. <em>The L Life: Extraordinary Lesbians Making a Difference.<\/em> New York: Stewart, Tabori &amp; Chang-Abrams, 2011. Hardcover. 160pp. $22.75. ISBN: 978-1584798330.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0pt none; float: left; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-583\" title=\"Cover for The L Life\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/L-Life-e1311175917831.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/>Conceived and written by Erin McHugh, and containing stunning portrait work by Jennifer May, <em>The L Life<\/em> is a glossy and selective Who\u2019s Who of American lesbians today. Part of its appeal is that it is not just a list of \u201cpower lesbians\u201d \u2015 though many of the individuals described in this book certainly qualify \u2015 but rather all women who are continually working to improve the world in which we live. McHugh selected lesbians from vastly different walks of life, including a rabbi, a judge, a comedian, an actress, a sheriff, and, my personal favorite, an urban gardener. As a relatively new lesbian longing for role models, I read this book with relish, enjoying each portrayal as I encountered real life versions of individuals in roles I had previously only met through <em>The L Word<\/em>\u2019s storyline.<\/p>\n<p>The book\u2019s tone is casual, almost conversational, as though McHugh is talking directly to us, such as when she exclaims, \u201c[I]f you don\u2019t know Beebo Brinker, oh, do you have a treat in store for you\u201d (95). This is both the book\u2019s strength and its flaw, as some individuals are described with more enthusiasm than others. The text, however, is at its best when it allows the reader to meet these highly successful women as authentic people, describing their lives outside of their jobs, detailing their coming out stories, and sharing their insights about life, love, happiness, and being a change agent.<\/p>\n<p>As the author states in her introduction: lesbians are everywhere, in every field, \u201cthe secret love child of the invisible sex\u201d (6). As such, in the future I would love to see a more extended version of similar texts with greater diversity, particularly in terms of age, race, and ethnicity, but <em>The L Life<\/em> is a good start. It is a book to be shared publicly, whether that display is in the front of the library or on top of your coffee table. There is some strong language, but nothing out of line for teen audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended for public and school libraries.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reviewed by, <strong>Katy Vance<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em>UNC SILS alumna, May 2011<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McHugh, Erin. The L Life: Extraordinary Lesbians Making a Difference. New York: Stewart, Tabori &amp; Chang-Abrams, 2011. Hardcover. 160pp. $22.75. ISBN: 978-1584798330. Conceived and written by Erin McHugh, and containing stunning portrait work by Jennifer May, The L Life is a glossy and selective Who\u2019s Who of American lesbians today. Part of its appeal is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}