Sappho's Overhead Projector

Sappho’s Bar and Grill #2

by Bonnie J. Morris

Feminist scholar Hannah Stern finds herself working at the Library of Congress, assigned to catalogue a donation of rare lesbian books. But it’s more than a one-year job in it’s a mission handed to her by Sappho, The Overhead Herself. When a series of desperate, haunted phone calls from the ghosts of lesbian writers directs her to rescue even more at-risk books, Hannah begins a journey into the love affair between banned writers and newly-out readers. Will hearing others’ fond memories of lesbian books from the 1920s and 1970s help Hannah save their legacy for future generations? Or will Isabel, Hannah’s partner and the mystical proprietor of Sappho’s Bar and Grill, have to summon her magic to save the entire bar membership?

Genres: Lesbian, Fiction

182 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 2018

About the author

Bonnie J. Morris grew up in Los Angeles and North Carolina. She earned a B.A. in Jewish history from American University, the first student there to minor in women’s studies. She completed her Ph.D. in women’s history at Binghamton University in New York in 1989.

Dr. Morris taught at both George Washington University and Georgetown for almost 25 years, becoming professor emeritus and Professor of the Year at GWU and Vicennial Medalist at Georgetown. In 2017 she joined the history faculty at the University of California-Berkeley, earning a nomination for its Excellence in Teaching Prize.

She is the author of 16 books, including three Lambda Literary Finalists, two national first-prize chapbooks, and the critical feminist texts Women’s History for Beginners, The Disappearing L, and The Feminist Revolution. She may be found lecturing on C-Span, Olivia Cruises, Semester at Sea, the National Women’s Music Festival, and on Pacifica Radio KPFK.

Reviews

[Diane Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

'ARC generously provided by Bywater Books in exchanged for an unbiased review'

**'You don't read to discover the writer,you read to discover yourself and the storyline..Nothing can break the mood of a piece of writing like bad dialogue..'

2.5stars!
The story is told consistently through two separate viewpoint by Hannah: present and fantasy world. It all started when she lost her job and while walking through the hallways,she started day dreaming and everything just switched from reality to fairytale. At first,i think some readers might be unsure what,if any connection exists between these two world -- but as the storyline progresses,we learn that there might be some kind of interlocking uncertainty with the past and a chaotic future. The world surrounding Hannah do appears the same but also different; like both her girlfriend and close friends are abuzz about recent news events pertaining to the LGBT community -- and the everyday look of things might seem to be changing little by little.
What's so weird about this story,is that as the protagonist (Hannah) she cannot even distinguish between her dreams and whether her unique visionary form of fantasy is real or not -- because there are to many conflicts concerning the future.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Here are the ones destroyed at birth because they were born girls.’

Author Bonnie J. Morris has assumed the role of historian for this very fine book about the significant aspects of women’s history and lesbian history in particular. She lectures on women’s studies as a professor at the University of California Berkeley, Georgetown and George Washington University. She is the author of 16 books, including three Lambda Literary Finalists, two national first-prize chapbooks, and the critical feminist texts Women’s History for Beginners and The Disappearing L. Her newest book, The Feminist Revolution: The Struggle for Women's Liberation, was chosen by Oprah.com as a Best Book to Read March 2018.

Bonnie is a gift to gender issue topics that are flooding the social a media and press at this moment in history. Though she makes the history a novel, the facts are solid and very accessible to every reader.

As she states in her synopsis, ‘Feminist scholar Hannah Stern finds herself working at the Library of Congress, assigned to catalogue a donation of rare lesbian books. But it’s more than a one-year job in Washington: it’s a mission handed to her by a powerful and mysterious goddess, The Overhead Herself. When a series of desperate, haunted phone calls from the ghosts of lesbian writers directs her to rescue even more at-risk books, Hannah begins a journey into the love affair between banned writers and newly-out readers. Will hearing others’ fond memories of lesbian books from the 1920s and 1970s help Hannah save their legacy for future generations? Or will Isabel, Hannah’s partner and the mystical proprietor of Sappho’s Bar and Grill, have to summon her magic to save the entire bar membership?’

This keen mixture of romance, paranormal, history and adventure makes for a novel that will satisfy a very large audience – in addition to being an important overview of the history of lesbian culture over the years. Solid writing and very fascinating writing style and content. A Winner!

[Zuska · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much to love about this book. Books as things that are alive and can talk; the relationship of readers and books; the tactile and sensual experience of holding and reading a book; the way a book can awaken the reader to dimensions of her own life and lived experience. These are elements that all book lovers can relate to. In service of telling the story of lesbian culture and the importance of books, bookstores, libraries, librarians to that culture, these elements are all heightened and fraught with significance, poignant with grief for suppressed and vanishing lives and experiences. Offered the opportunity to do anything she wants, Dr. Hannah Stern asks, "Might I become some kind of radical librarian?" And so we are off with her on an incredible year at the Library of Congress which includes The Reception of the Banned and The Grand Reshelving, mediated by communications through an old pay phone in the first floor women's bathroom. Along the way, books are thumbed, nestled in the thighs of women, spread their pages wide open, and love and are loved. There are also some flying sanitary napkins (they have wings, you know.) Either Bonnie J. Morris has an incredibly vivid imagination, or she's taken some mushrooms. One or the other or both, the results are sumptuous.

[Darlene Vendegna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imaginative and entertaining sequel to Sappho’s Bar & Grill. Expand your imagination and accept that books can have personalities and fondly recall the people who have loved and cherished them. Now imagine that the being who operates the Great Overhead Projector has chosen a women’s studies professor to be the person who saves these books from obscurity. I spend a lot of time grinning, nodding and occasionally getting teary eyed, as the characters in this novel waxed poetic about the lesbian books they discovered in their early coming out days. To witness a very uptight and snobbish Well of Loneliness get shut down by a feisty Rubyfruit Jungle was worth the price of admission.
A must read for lovers of lesbian novels, memoirs, poetry and erotic. I bet your favorite is mentioned.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh! This story took me on a wild ride of book adoration, woman loving and community centered relationships. I fell even more in love with Hannah and Isabel and I didn't even think I could have loved them more than I already did. This entire story spoke to me and it made me hunger for more of this author's words because I am a die-hard book lover and this story made me yearn for the women's bookstores, music festivals, a place just for me to belong to and feel at home like Hannah did at Sappho's bar and a chance to read all of those priceless, banned books from the courageous women who were bold enough to declare their love for women and immortalize their love in paper and ink.

[M.E. Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who's going to take our place? No more lesbian bars, no more bookstores. Women's music festivals? They are even changing "women studies" to gender studies. We're being erased. Again.
Such is the conditions feminist scholar Hannah Stern finds herself when she is been laid off from her coveted teaching position.

[Tia Friesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

This is such a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as well as the previous book Sappho’s Bar and Grill. I hope there is a third book someday soon.

[Kel H · Rating 4 out of 5]

SAPPHO’S OVERHEAD PROJECTOR is a one of a kind book. Being a lesbian librarian myself, so much of it resonated with me, from combing the library to find a book to help me understand myself to the ever-growing need to preserve and share queer history with others. Morris blends the real and the unreal together in a way that makes for a fascinating, kaleidoscopic look at the state of women’s history and queer history. The only thing that didn’t quite sit right with me was the backlash against changing women’s studies to gender studies, citing expansion to include non-binary folks as counter to women’s studies progress. But overall, SAPPHO’S OVERHEAD PROJECTOR is a thought-provoking book that rewards readers.

[Carol Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about books. Books becoming lost. Lesbian books. Books given to the Library of Congress and discarded because the library has another copy somewhere. Books being warehoused. Moral: Don’t give your book collection to the Library of Congress but to another library.

This is a story about the fading away of much lesbian culture. It’s narrated by Hannah Stern, a professor of women’s history who is being phased out by her university as the university phases out its Women’s History Department. That is based on Bonnie Morris’s own experience. When that happened, she worked for a time at the Library of Congress.

This is an exquisitely written yet jaunty book. I love it except that it saddened me. It’s a clarion call to preserve lesbian history.

[E.K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We are Sappho!” Hannah shouted, never minding a sleepy bang on the wall from her neighbor in the adjoining apartment. “We are the witches. We are the books. We are formed from the women in the water. We are the naiads!”