Girl Goddess: Nine Stories (Girl Goddess No. 9) [Library Binding]

Francesca Lia Block (Author)

Book Description

Series: Girl Goddess No. 9 | Publication Date: September 1996

Stories about nine remarkable young women include the tales of a girl with two mothers, a girl who keeps a strange blue-skinned creature in her closet, a rock star groupie, and a dancer who loves poetry and moonlight picnics.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Movie stars, rock stars, pond nymphs, intergalactic superheroes . . . who are the real goddesses in Francesca Lia Block's world? Real young women--the kind who ache, bleed, dance, and talk to blue ghosts in closets. Famous for her lyric Weetzie Bat books, Block blossoms in this collection of short stories about love: straight, gay, familial, and otherworldly. Very few young adult authors talk as frankly as Block about sex and some of the other yearnings we feel in this world, yet she guides her readers toward the self-respect and courage necessary to make smart choices about those yearnings. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

From the author of Weetzie Bat comes a collection of tales that challenges conventional social roles. "The roses, camellias and jacarandas of Block's lush prose style scent these works with a heady perfume," said PW in a starred review. Ages 12-up. (Feb.) r
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Library Binding: 181 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060272120
• ISBN-13: 978-0060272128
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,333,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Francesca Lia Block, recipient of the prestigious Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award. has been publishing novels, short stories, essays, memoirs and poetry since 1989. Her work has been translated into many languages. Ms. Block lives in Los Angeles where she teaches writing workshops that are also available online.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Girl's Diary, January 13, 2003

By 

Kieri "Kieri" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories (Paperback)

I look back now, and I realize that Girl Goddess #9 was a big part of my formative years. It was the first FLB book, and it still one of my favorites.

When I read the title story, I remember thinking, "Well,I like Sarah McLachlan, maybe I should give Tori Amos a try." (If you don't know how that story ended, well, know that I think nothing of driving ten hours to go to a Tori concert.) And, a year or so later, I re-read the story and thought, "Hey, I like Sarah and Tori, maybe I should try the Cocteau Twins." Thus began another addiction which annually saps me about fifty bucks.

I was going through major issues with a very dear friend as I read "Pixie and Pony," and for years now, those words have stayed with me: "Best friends? We are sisters." After my mother's injury, I struggled to reconcile the reality of her new self with the way she had once been. The story "La" was of enormous help.

GG#9 is every girl's diary. It is all of our fears and hopes and drems. It is everything we've questioned about life, our futures, our parents, our sexuality, and love. Each girl is perfectly unique, very mysterious, and yet completely familiar. Each of these girls is like a little facet of each other, and of ourselves.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastical, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories (Paperback)

Out of all of Francesca Lia Block's books, I think this is one of the best. Although I don't particularly like short stories in general, this book left me captivated. My favorite is Blue because it was so touching, and Ms.Block's writing style is so lyrical that it really brings out the sadness even more than imaginable.(it made me cry!) Anyway, the whole collection of short stories was great, and this is one book I'll be reading again and again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so touching, so real, so magical., October 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories (Paperback)

the best book you can ever possibly read. its not trashy, not sappy, not phoney. and its not boring. the most realistic stories, yet told in a magical pixie-punk way. and they're not superficial. they are the whole raw truth of the world and feelings of the humans living in it. i could not put it down. my personal favorite story is blue. it purly touched my soul in a way no other story ever could or will. basically,to sum up my feelings about this book, the most wonderful book of stories in the world, as best i can, is to say that you feel for the characters. you move with the characters you become the characters. This book is pure magic.