You may have noticed a rather paltry number of books in our recent book club photos. No real reason for this, beyond the self-evident one that it’s hard to read when you’re playing with a puppy or walking a street fair (or performing Shakespeare). But we did get back to basics on our first visit this year to our favorite rooftop sundeck. (Which has been freshly painted blue and white for the season — yay, new colors!)
Before we could catch up on the latest from Max Allan Collins and Erle Stanley Gardner, or old favorites by Tad Williams and Deborah Harkness, or even work by non-pulp types such as Alison Bechdel and Elizabeth Benedict, we had to doff our garb–
–and also welcome a group of seven undergrads from Purdue who’d contacted us to say they were visiting NYC as part of a queer history tour that would take them to New York, Paris and Berlin, and could they meet with us while they were in town?
Of course we said yes. And what an amazing group they were! Engaged and curious and passionate and intelligent and concerned and whip-smart. And so young! The world, we must say, is in better hands than we feared if these students are representative. (Sadly, they’re not. But if they were!) You can check out their blog about their travels here, and you won’t be sorry that you did.
Then it was on to our books, supplemented by our usual heady mix of edibles and submersion.
To this mix we added a bit of physical exercise, although of the moderate variety, trying to outdo each other by holding forearm planks (don’t ask why…it seemed like the thing to do…).
The afternoon flew by, chased by the threat of rainstorms at its heels, and never have minutes felt more fleeting or more precious. The summer hasn’t even begun yet — but we can never have enough, and these were hours to be savored.
So we savored them.
Kudos to the unflappable pizza deliveryman, undaunted by the dozen or more naked people he walked in on, and to our visiting guests, and to our hosts whose roof we used. And kudos to you, too, our readers. Remember: if you’re a bold, body-positive woman in the New York area, you can join us sometime yourself. Just email toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com and that might be you in the inflatable pool, or planking on the fake grass, or reading in the sun, without a care or a stitch.
Love, love, love you ladies and what you stand for.
I imagine the pizza delivery guys would be fighting for the chance to deliver the pizza! Lol.
You’d be surprised. This one was fine doing it, but the last time we ordered pizza the delivery guy refused to climb the five flights and insisted that one of us come down to meet him on the street.
… topless, I hope! Just so the guy realised what he was missing…
Good to see you catching up on your books. Now perhaps you need to be working on the co-ed part of your title. Surely there must be some men who are not embarrassed to be seen in the company of unclad ladies – and are not overwhelmed by lust every time a girl takes her bra off. You used to have one of two brave souls who accompanied you – is it just that men are less interested in reading?
Have you not been reading our last few entries? There were some undeniably male images included. Hell, there’s at least one male in this entry — the third of our forearm planks. That said, our group is primarily a women’s group, and that’s deliberate. The issue we’re confronting — the freedom to go shirtless in public places — is (primarily) a women’s issue.
I always love reading your copy.
I like the idea of the ‘latest’ from Erle Stanley Gardner!
Great post. I appreciate that when you can, many of you go not just topfree but naked. Like your young student friends, this “bare” fact gives me hope that our planet may not be in as much danger as I fear.
Shouldn’t the bag in the last photo read “So Many Books …. So Few Clothes”??