Tag: books

Family Drama, Women's literature

The nature of fragile things by Susan Meissner

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Susan Meissner has once again taken a real-life experience and made it come to life with engaging people to watch experience the event. This is the story of Sophie, an Irish immigrant living in a terrible tenement in New York City, who answers an ad for marriage to a widowed man with a young child in San Francisco.

Martin Hocking meets her train, and they go directly to city hall. Sophie insists upon having a photograph taken to commemorate the occasion. After that he brings her to a beautiful home to meet his 5-year-old silent daughter, Kat. Martin leaves them that night to go on a business trip. Sophia takes her responsibility to Kat seriously, and the bond between them grows, while interactions with Martin are stilted and cold.

On April 18, 1906 a pregnant woman named Belinda comes to the door looking for her husband. Sophie begins to put answers to questions she never fully acknowledged but now must face. As the two women piece together the information they have, the earth begins to quake. San Francisco sustains significant damage, and fires begin to rage. Sophie takes charge, making sure that Belinda and Kat are with her and taken care of. It is Sophie’s poverty history that helps make sure they all survive and continue to search for answers to questions asked before the quake.

It is the resilience of women, and the understanding of what is right and just, that brings the surprising ending – no spoilers here. This is a reminder that most things are not as they seem, and not all stories have a happy ending.

book-review, Women's literature

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

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This book is beautifully written, with a difficult topic. If you have ever witnessed someone you care slip toward death, this book will hit the spots in your heart that will forever be raw. You will question every thing you did or did not do to make the journey easier, and wonder how the feelings expressed in the book were so similar to those you felt?

While I cried throughout the story, it was because I wanted to crawl into the scenes and hold both Edi and Ash close. Their emotions are front and center, and in my opinion, really the whole purpose of the book. It is a study of friendship, devotion, despair and acceptance. You go through all the stages of grief, watching from the sidelines, but knowing exactly what they are feeling. When the inevitable happens, everyone gathers, deals with things the only way they know how, and find themselves looking at those around them with not new eyes, but grateful ones. They are better able to see those that would walk through this journey with you, both holding you up and letting you go.

While the subject matter is very sad, the book ends on a note of resilience. You take the pain you experienced and it becomes part of who you are. It determines your future. The person you lose remains an influence in your life by what you witnessed and what you lost. They are forever near, continuing to guide and support you.

This story will linger with me, not just as sad, but as an acknowledgement that you can survive, and the love remains.

book-review, books, Historical Fiction

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

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While there are many bright spots in the prose, the overall story was too far fetched and disjointed. I didn’t truly care much about Hamnet. He was a flat character I never really felt drawn to. Anne/Agnes’ story was sort of interesting, but again not fully believable or endearing. Many half stories throughout. Still not clear why the name Hamnet being change to Hamlet was such an intolerable thing.

I have questions: are these half stories part of the point, that we really don’t know what was real or not? Was the Latin Tutor never named because there are questions if Shakespeare was the true author of the works? Was Anne/Agnes given powers that were considered unnatural because she was supposed to be a magical inspiration for the plays? And my big question – why should I care?

book-review, Family Drama, Women's literature

Every Tom Dick and Harry by Elinor Lipman

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Elinor Lipman hits upon another fun one. Emma Lewis is taking over her parent’s estate sale business. She is living in their home rent free, and her father’s friend and her high school algebra teacher Frank is moving in as a renter. A former “bed and breakfast” that had more use for the beds than for breakfast, is going up for sale and an estate sale is needed. Emma jumps on the opportunity, coming to realize the open secret of the town – it was a brothel. Emma begins dating the handsome new Police Chief, and Frank begins dating the mother. Screwball comedy ensues. Light, fun romantic comedy.

book-review, LGBQ+

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

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Rosie and Penn fell in love, got married, and had kids. After 3 boys they decided to try one last time for a girl. Then Claude was born. Creative, smart, and by 5 years old obsessed with becoming a princess. ER Doctor mom and Author Penn go to great lengths to keep this a family secret. While they tried everything to support their child, the complexities of what this truly is and the choices that must be made are overwhelming. And secrets are difficult to keep. When this is reveled the confusion grows for everyone. The truth of this is stark. No matter what is done there are two sides to each choice. While there are a few things missing, like the mom not knowing what additional resources to use to help, it faces a difficult topic with compassion. The fact that there is no one answer is the point of the story.

book-review, books, reading

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King

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Monica Tsai, a reclusive computer science college student, is torn between the project her professor has her working on and the need to help her recently Alzheimer’s diagnosed grandmother. Through her work on the project EMRG, an application that is to connect people, she finds a connection to her grandmother’s cousin. As she works to untangle the past, she learns of the magic that existed in the family to reforge or recreate the words written with handmade pencils from the family company. A family saga follows them through wars and distance, always returning to the heart – of the pencil or of the family. What happens to the stories written in pencil appears to be going the same way for the digital content. As her grandmother faced the question of is it right to share other’s words without their knowledge, so does Monica.

The work for her professor is about journalling to leave a digital record of who you are and what your life was. The work for her grandmother was the same, but through the process of reforging from a pencil. Either way, the importance of leaving your story for others to share is the focus.

YA Lit

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

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In the year 2044 the world is harsh to those that don’t have much. The escape is into a virtual reality game called Oasis. Created by James Halladay, a pop culture fan of the 1980s, who passed away five years earlier. Control of this program/world is to be gained through an “easter egg hunt”. Clues are hard to find, and no one has been able to find them in all these years.

Eighteen year old Wade Watts spends as much time in Oasis as possible. With few friends, and few resources, he is able to project who he wants to be by selecting an avatar and hiding behind it. This is where he meets his friends. And you can’t believe that it is Wade that solves the first clue. The world takes notice, and the chase is on – and is real in both Oasis and the real world.

Great puzzle, engaging characters, and a timeless message. Be true to who you are, and you will always find your place.

Black Experience, book-review, books, literature, reading, Women's literature

What ever happened to Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul

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This novel is a story told by two people – Kitty Karr, a star actress, and her former co-star’s daughter, Elise St John. When you start you are with Elise, and you are sent in circles trying to figure out who she is, how she is connected, and why we should care. The Kitty Karr parts are fascinating, learning how she came to California in a long and winding fashion. It is even more circuitous to finding out the relationship to Elise St John.

In the end, this was an easily guessed premise that has been used many times. I did, however, enjoy Kitty’s story. Elise’s seemed too contrived.

books, Historical Fiction, literature, reading, Women's literature

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

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Inspired by the life of Martha Ballard, a well‑known midwife from the 1700s, this book gives a close look at a world where women had to live very carefully. They worked hard at home, supported their husbands, raised their children, and went to church. Anything outside those roles was risky. A woman’s word was rarely trusted. She could only speak in court if her husband stood beside her. Even years of hands‑on experience meant less than a man’s formal education. And if a woman became pregnant outside of marriage, she carried all the blame and shame.

In this setting, Martha Ballard is asked to examine the body of a man pulled from the river. With no doctor in town, her experience as a midwife made her the closest thing to a medical expert. The dead man was a well‑known citizen who had recently been accused of a violent rape. One of the other accused men—the town magistrate—decides that a newly arrived doctor should give the official opinion instead. This doctor immediately contradicts Martha’s conclusion that the man was murdered.

Against this backdrop, we see Martha support and protect women through her work as a midwife, pushing back against male arrogance and sexism. We also see her try to raise her children, especially her sons, to be good and responsible people. Her husband loved her and even taught her to read and write, which gave her opportunities most women of the time did not have.

Some of the conversations between the Ballards, and between groups of women, felt more modern than I expected, which made me wonder how much creative license the author used. Still, the story was interesting and worth reading. I do prefer her other book, The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress. That was really good.

Asian Culture, Asian Culture, books, literature, read around the world, reading, Uncategorized

Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan by Various Authors

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I’ve been trying to read books from around the world to learn about different cultures, and that led me to this collection of stories by women authors from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is in Central Asia and is bordered by Russia to the north, China to the east, and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea, and Turkmenistan to the south.

The stories in this book were originally written in both Russian and Kazakh, and they span many different time periods. It seemed to me that the language used in each story might reflect the political leadership at the time it was written, though that’s just my impression. Each story offers a small window into the country’s culture and traditions. Together, they show powerful moments of what life was like for women in different eras.

If you enjoy learning about people around the world—and seeing how our lives can be both similar and different—this collection is a meaningful and eye‑opening read