I found three of the Bannon novels next to one another on the "new" shelf at the library and snapped them up. Was that unfair? Perhaps, but I'll try to return them quickly.

I wasn't expecting much from Beebo Brinker before I read it, which contributed to how much I enjoyed it. I was trying to keep my expectations low for this as well (because---shockingly---I am totally fascinated with Beebo and I knew she was a more minor character), and was again surprised.

Sam keeps making fun of me for reading pulps, and I keep telling her that she needs to read them so she can at least understand exactly what she's mocking. I don't even know what I like about them, exactly. They make no bones about being trashy; they have an aura of cheapness and they are rushed and convenient and ridiculous in places. And yet I get very involved with the characters and completely wrapped up in their world.

I was kind of surprised by the heavy-duty issues (apart from homosexuality, of course) that got brought up.

The characters' attitude toward sex is surprisingly up to date, but their attitudes toward many other things are not. I think that's another reason I like these books: they remind me how much I don't have to face in my daily life, and how much has changed in such a short time. (Would I work as an elevator operator just to be able to wear pants?) While I am becoming reasonably confident in dressing as I prefer for work, attitudes towards (and protections for) transgender people are still for the most part stuck in the fifties. Things are starting to change, but here's hoping it takes less time.

Ooh, ooh, and now I know why a butchy friend has a dachshund named Nix!! ( )

The story of what happens to Laura when she makes it to New York and meets the handsomest, most swashbuckling, and world-weary butch in the city: Beebo Brinker, the character for whom the series is named.

1959 was a hard time to be gay or lesbian, even in Greenwich Village where (apparently) a buck could buy you three drinks in a gay bar and leave you with enough change for a phone call!

Sweet young lesbian Laura Landon has run away from an overbearing father and is trying to make it on her own in the Big Apple. She falls in love with her straight roommate, becomes the obsession of a tough butch, and fails at her office job. Fortunately she has a great gay guy friend named Jack who is there for her when she needs it - and she needs it a lot.

Poor Laura whines a lot and she makes some bad choices. Sometimes you feel like slapping her until you remember that she's just twenty and from the Midwest and it's 1959: she's never listened to Lady Gaga or heard of Ellen or seen a "It Get's Better" video on YouTube. ( )

In I Am a Woman, the second book in the Beebo Brinker series, Laura has left college after breaking up with Beth. Beth is now married, and Laura returned home to Chicago to live with her father. But unable to stomach life with him, Laura runs away to New York City, where she is introduced to the Greenwich Village gay scene.

There are some large discrepancies between the first book in the series (Odd Girl Out) and this book. In Odd Girl Out, Laura's mother is still alive, and her parents have just gone through an emotionally draining divorce. In I Am a Woman, Laura's mother drowned when she was five (along with Laura's brother), and Laura's father blames Laura for their deaths. In Odd Girl Out, Laura's father is portrayed as more calculating and wanting his daughter to make good connections while in college, while in I Am a Woman, he is portrayed as a very cold, abusive man. I'm not sure why the author changed so many details; it was quite disconcerting.

Still, I found this book to be interesting. I especially liked the character of Jack Mann, who is gay himself and sniffs Laura's secret out pretty quickly. The character of Marcie is aggravating, but Beebo is intriguing. For being written in the fifties, the series is still entertaining, even though some of the stereotypes are nauseating. ( )