Phantom’s List posts once a week, on Sunday. And it’s always the same thing: a list. Specifically, it’s a list of “writing by women around the Web.” With links, of course, embedded in quotes that tease or exemplify what they’re linking to.
Writing that is: A) by women, and B) around the Web seems a bit broad. The value of the site comes from the other, unspoken criteria for selecting these links. This is writing that Phantom finds good, smart, informative, interesting, funny, provocative or otherwise worthwhile.
And that means the whole thing is only as good as Phantom’s taste in writing. But here’s the thing: Phantom has great taste in writing.
Let me narrow down — slightly — the sort of thing you can expect to read in the links at Phantom’s List by quoting from her F.A.Q.:
So, is this going to be just about, you know, women’s issues?
If by “women’s issues” you mean “things that people who are women find interesting and write about,” then the answer is yes. If by “women’s issues” you mean “diet and fashion tips,” uh, well, you know. I’m really not very interested in diet and fashion tips. I am interested in writing that shows me the world in a new way. As far as I’m concerned, the patron (matron?) saint of Women Who Find Things Interesting And Write About Them is Mary Roach. If that helps.
That helps. “Writing that shows me the world in a new way” helps. So does the bookshelf seen in the background of Phantom’s List:
If that stack of books doesn’t whet your appetite or pique your curiosity, then that means you probably won’t enjoy Phantom’s List. (And, also too, that means I’m not sure we are going to wind up as friends.)
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