Good Husbands: A Novel
by Cate Ray
Average, Average (4/17/2022)
I read the book, Good Husbands, waiting for something to really happen and pep it up a notch. It continued on a bland fashion and the ending was so predictable. The storyline just wasn't worth wading through, although, in honesty, the writing itself was good and entertaining. It was just that for me...the magic thread that channels through a good story never appeared. I think this story could be done again, with a few changes in characters and scenery and some element of surprise or mystery mixed in to keep the reader hungry enough to want to plow through to the last page. The book has it's virtues, however, for me it was an effort to read. Again, I do applaud the writing style and think this author has a stunning future waiting for her to unveil. I would regard Good Husbands as a "practice" book.
The Madwoman and the Roomba: My Year of Domestic Mayhem
by SandraTsing Loh
If funny is money, this is poor. (4/15/2020)
Good comedy is hard to write. Great comedy writing is a gift. This book is not a gift if one is looking for hearty laughs and tears running out in hysteria. It is simply not funny despite it's author, Sandra Tsing Loh, trying very, very hard. Comedy has to have "magic" and there was none or it was extremely well hidden. While there is undeniable talent with the twist of the word and interesting life observations, it was in essence dull and each page turned like lead. Hopefully the future will hold a brilliant tome from this same author, but this was not it. If you won it at a raffle, you would be disappointed.
The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II
by Katherine Sharp Landdeck
A Job Well Done. (1/22/2020)
I enjoyed and was inspired reading this book. I marveled at the courage and confidence of women who were our grandmothers and even great grandmothers who stepped forward to take the early wings of transport air traffic during the days of WW2, to free the male pilots for combat. Today we have women who fly wing to wing with men in our military. These women were pioneers and this book chronicles their early path in a most readable way. These ladies did a very dangerous and heroic job and were largely unsung, as many women are even today. I felt a personal strength and glory, reading about them and see them as being among the first to bring about the glimmers of a new dawn for the women today and our struggles for equal status. Good read all the way.
The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna
by Mira Ptacin
Insights into Spiritualism in America (10/18/2019)
I really greatly enjoyed reading this book about the unusual subject of Spiritualism and how it began and evolved in our country starting in the mid 1840's and became a platform for women to have a heard voice . The author, Mira Ptacin, did a great deal of homework and research and writes very informatively on her subject. She covers the early beginnings, when two farm girls in upstate New York had strange tapping sounds around them and claimed a spirit, Mr. Splitfoot, was giving them messages from the "other side". The book continues with the author's experience with various psychics and mediums and explores how Spiritualism allowed women psychics to speak publicly without social censure for the first time. It was fascinating to learn that Houdini himself, went about trying to debunk the validity of Spiritualism and died exactly on Halloween as predicted by a frustrated medium, Margery, who put a curse on him for pursuing her as a false pretender. I would recommend this to anyone who wanted an information and entertaining read.
Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America
by Nefertiti Austin
Routine read (8/30/2019)
I read this book by Nefertiti Austin hoping to gain deeper insights into the challenges and difficulties in raising an adopted child by a single black woman. The book did not do that. It was readable enough and the author wrote truthfully about her background, I felt, but it was not an interesting read that spurred me on to learn or know more by turning the pages. Adopting a "crack baby" and raising the child to the best of one's ability is not unusual in the black community or even the while community as a whole these days. People in all circumstances raise to occasions as they present themselves. Ms. Austin does portray her love for her adopted child in her writing and that may be the prime redeeming quality I found in reading this book.
D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
by Sarah Rose
D-Day Dull (4/3/2019)
I looked forward to reading this account of the valiant women who volunteered to be dropped behind enemy lines during WW2 prior to D Day to create havoc and damage for the Allied forces. The reading was crammed with facts and much documentation supporting the exploits of these brave ladies, but I plodded through the lifeless portrayals that did nothing to stir imagination or bring an empathy of these real heroines. I feel it has value more as a research vehicle than generally readable book to honor this elite group that gave so much for so many.
When We Left Cuba
by Chanel Cleeton
Life with Beatriz Perez (1/9/2019)
I dearly enjoyed reading "When We Left Cuba" and all the exploits of the undaunted Latina spitfire, Beatriz Perez. Her adventures carry us accurately through historical passages such as the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis and Kennedy Assassination and I found myself quickly turning the pages and rooting Beatriz on through her escapades. A sizzling romance and tender love story add a softness to the fire of Ms. Perez. She rings so true in her love also for her lost Cuba and I found myself sympathizing with predicaments in a world she didn't want or ask for, but faces squarely up to when she is called to deal with it. I highly recommend this book for great book club reading.
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