What is Goth? Just ask at the library...

Ask not what you can't learn at the library... That would be a really short conversation. Ask what you CAN learn. The list will be endless.

Just to dispel any question: the above slide show does feature a photo of one of those rare but wonderful Suburban Goth Librarians, the kind usually found perusing the industry reviews to make sure the library holds a rich, varied, up-to-the-moment book collection. (Hint: The Librarian is the one in black.) The rest of this scurvey lot of Medieval, Perky, Punkesque, and Wizardly Goths are not librarians but do in fact work in a library—ironically, a bright sunny library with comfy chairs, cheerful decor, a friendly engaging staff, and lots of wonderful, exciting programs and events for the whole community.

One day this cast of misfits decided to illustrate—by moping, dressing in black, painting weird curlicues around their eyes, and changing their names to things like Funeralisa, Tishella, Kali-Ma and Constantina the Dark—just how many things can be learned in a library. Yes, that's right. We—for I am one of them—became Goth for a day. (OK, for some of us, it's not that much of a stretch.) Want to learn more about the whole Goth thing? Check out our reading list:

Paint It Black: A Guide to Gothic Homemaking, by Voltaire (yes, crafts ARE involved)
The Goth Bible, by Nancy Kilpatrick
Goth Chic: A Connoisseur's Guide to Dark Culture, by Gavin Baddeley
Everything You Need to Know About the Goth Scene, by Kerry Acker
Goth craft : the magickal side of dark culture, by Raven Digitalis

On a related note: For a peek at the fusion of Goth culture and "Lolita" fashion in Japan, check out the startling photographs and funky design of Gothic and Lolita, by Masayuki Yoshinaga and Katsuhiko Ishikawa. Similarly, Gothic & Lolita Bible, Vol. 1, combines for the first time in the US four volumes of the Japanese mook (part fashion magazine/part book), Gothic & Lolita Bible. I haven't seen it yet, but I can't wait.

You might also want to read one of the earliest Gothic novels (Gothic novels are a must for all serious Goths), currently available in the KRL collection, The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole. (Yes, dedicated Jane Austen fans, this is one of the works that Jane flogs so mercilessly in Northanger Abbey.) Other must-read fiction for Goths:

Oh My Goth! Version 2.0, by Voltaire
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Tales of H.P. Lovecraft
Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
Pretty much anything by Anne Rice

Not enough for you? Feel free to sulk about it.

Either that, or send me your Goth favorites. Meanwhile, prepare for your own Goth day by learning How to be Goth in seven easy steps. Until then, have a dark and miserable day.

Sincerely, Constantina Countess of the Dark