The author of this book, Kathleen Smith, will be on super cool panel at SDCC 2016! Here’s the link you add it to your schedule and you can read the official blurb from the SDCC website below.
The Female Geek: Women as Fans and Creators
– Saturday, July 23rd @ 12-1 PM in Room 7A
There’s more to being a geek girl than meets the eye. From Princess Leia, to Katniss Everdeen, to Hermione Granger, fandom is full of awesome female characters-but what about the women who create these iconic individuals? Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy), Sabaa Tahir (A Torch Against the Night), Kiersten White (And I Darken),Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Complex), Kathleen Smith (The Fangirl Life), andMargaret Stohl(Black Widow: Forever Red) discuss feminism and fandom in a panel moderated byMadeline Ashby (Company Town).
She’ll also be doing autograph signings with the other members of the panel immediately afterward in Sails Paviolion from 1:30-2:30 PM. Check it out at booth AA09!
The Fangirl Life
Author: Kathleen Smith
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Publisher: TarcherPerigee
Genre(s): Self-Help, Fandom
Review Spoilers: N/A
GoodReads | Amazon
I know what you’re probably thinking. A self-help book for fangirls? Psh, yeah, right. Like I need that. Honestly, I felt a little bit like that, too, when I first cracked open Kathleen Smith’s The Fangirl Life. I don’t know if I fit the squarely into the fangirl category but I’m certainly a geek girl and let’s be honest – there are probably more fangirl qualities about me than I care to admit.
But within the first few pages I saw the real potential in this book.
While there are an increasing number of self-help books geared towards geeks there aren’t a whole lot of them that cater toward the ladies. This book fills a much needed niche and Kathleen Smith is just the person to write it.
See, Kathleen Smith isn’t just a therapist – she’s a fangirl, too. She’s even got her own blog – FangirlTherapy.com – where she discusses all your common fangirl dilemnas. She’s the perfect person to write a book like that because she is one of us. She’s not going to lecture you like your parents or teachers or those friends who just don’t get why fandom is so important to you. Smith isn’t hear to help you move on or stop being a fangirl. She writes fanfic and has a really strong appreciation of strong female characters on TV (and their eyebrows).
Smith isn’t here to tell you not to be a fangirl or to tell you everything that’s wrong about being a fangirl. Instead, she’s hear to help you be the best fangirl you can be and perhaps start the transition into fanwoman.
Smith’s book outlines a lot of the good – and bad – things about being a fangirl and encourages readers to reevaluate what works best for them. It’s okay to be a fangirl. But not all fangirl behavior is good for you and it’s important to realize just when things are getting a little too far out of hand. There are tons of resources in this book to help fangirls set goals, combat counter-productive behavior, identify problems, recognize addictive tendancies, and more.
Got a lot of feels?
There’s advice on how to handle all of that as well.
From case studies to introspective exercises, The Fangirl Life celebrates what it means to be a fangirl while at the same time focusing on how fangirls can better themselves.
A lot of what Smith has to offer could probably be found in a number of other self-help books but she gives it all a very pop culture, fangirl oriented spin – and it works. I found the book 100% more approachable than pretty much any other self-help book I’ve ever read just because things clicked. Smith’s references and fangirl in-jokes make the book fun and her recommendations aren’t the sort of anti-fangirl fanfare we generally expect when people talk about us ‘bettering ourselves.’ Smith makes things fun and she makes everything feel relevant to us.
She encourages you to be your best self without giving up those things that make you you.
The Fangirl Life really is the perfect book for every single fangirl out there. Even if you’re not a fangirl and just an overall geek girl, pick up this book. While you might not think you need it, Smith knows just what you’re thinking and her descriptions of fangirl behavior are spot on. You’re going to see a lot of yourself in this book – maybe more than you care to admit.
If you think The Fangirl Life sounds like a great read, you’re in luck. We’re giving away THREE COPIES of Kathleen Smith’s The Fangirl Life. Want to win a copy? Just hop on over to our #NotAtSDCC The Fangirl Life giveaway page and enter!
And if nothing else check it out if you ever get a chance.
Because let’s face it – being a fangirl is awesome. But it can always be even more awesome.
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