 Icelandic cafe decor. These are color coordinated books that look cool, but the books have been cut away about 3 inches from the spine so that they can be displayed. The bookshelves don't need to be full sized this way, but the books are unreadable.
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 The Dress Lodger. Sheri Holman. 1999. The Dress Lodger (Jodi). Another gloom and doom, depressing tale about how utterly horrible it was to be a woman in the 1830's and also, what is up with all my friends and their gruesome obsession with dead bodies? If you loved the history of dead bodies in Stiff and want to learn more about body snatching and dissection in the 1830's, this book might be for you. There is a lot of rape, disease, and poverty. The subplot theme about the spread of cholera had me washing my hands for days. Definitely a depressing, though well-researched and interesting book. It doesn't make the recommend list, though.
Recommended by another friend of a friend I tagged in the original post, Jodi.  The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Kelly Barnhill. 2016. The Girl Who Drank The Moon (Andrea): I convinced my Soroptimist book club to read this for our April book club book and we invited participants to bring a kid with them, some of whom even read the book. I brought the kid of one of my friends. I was sort of neutral on the book when I read it. It was an interesting story. The writing didn't suck. I wasn't bored or wowed or anything. I kept reading, but it wasn't hard to put it down when something else was happening.
But, then we had book club and I had just a delightful time with my 9 year old reading buddy. The online questions we downloaded to discuss as a group were really good and having a kid there to talk about them made it a hundred times more enjoyable. Kids books should be read with kids and if you have one around, I recommend reading this one together. The messages about misunderstandings, on micro and macro levels made for good discussions, as did the many liars in the book. Some told big lies and some told little lies. Some told lies to hurt people and maintain control, while others lied to try to protect people they loved. Some lied to themselves and sometimes this actually made them stronger, happier, and more powerful. So, I recommend this one, but only if you have a kid around to help you think through the themes. I probably would have missed them but for that. *** Note: The Soroptimist book club is reading the children's book, The Girl Who Drank the Moon next and it is an adult/child book club meeting. I don't have a kid in the correct age bracket of my own, so I am borrowing a friend's kid. Anyone is invited. We don't have the date and time yet, but probably it will be in early April at a local pizza restaurant. So, whether or not you can find a kid to bring, plan to read it and join us.  Slaughter House 5. Kurt Vonnegut. 1969. Slaughter House 5. I try to read the books that are assigned to my kids as reading for school, which is why I diverted from my 50 books recommended by 50 friends in 2018 list to read this one. I hadn't read it before. It is a war novel that was gory and gruesome in its detail about the horrors of war and the misery of coming home from war, with an underlying theme about the misery of serious mental illness. Definitely not my favorite.
 Manhattan Beach. Jennifer Egan. 2017. Manhattan Beach (Gretchen): There was a lot I loved about this book. Until the plot twist about 80% of the way through the book, it was even better. This historical fiction about a woman working in a ship yard as a diver crams in a lot of topics--possibly too many. There were times when I was listening and my attention wondered. Initially, I thought I was just more distracted than normal, but I took the unusual step of backing up the story several time to re-listen to what I missed. I later figured out that this was in part because the story took some quick, odd turns that didn't exactly make sense, so it wasn't so much that I wasn't paying attention as much as I couldn't follow the story. It wasn't until the major plot twist that I realized this is what had been happening all along.
Side note: there is definitely room to criticize the exclusion of characters of color, as there is only one and this tangential story line could have been developed with a lot more care and depth. Nevertheless, I found enough parts of this book compelling enough that I am going to say, "Recommend." Recommended by Gretchen G. after I had already read her first choice, My Name is Lucy Barton.  Call the Midwife. Jennifer Worth. 2002. Call the Midwife (Becca): I really liked the British tv series by the same name, so I was skeptical about switching to the book since I worried it wouldn't be a good or that it would be so good it would ruin the show for me. But actually, I ended up really enjoying the book. The first few chapters were slow, but I really got into it. It was easy to put it down and come back to it because the story was so clear that you remembered exactly what happened when you left off. It reflected both the timeless joy and sorrow of childbirth and, to a lesser extent, nursing in general. Highly recommend. Recommended by Becca: Call the Midwife is a trilogy that is documentary style remembrances of midwifery and social issues for women in 1950s London. Touches on birth control, poverty, marriage dynamics, abuse and family structure. I found it fascinating. I also own the series in paperback if you want to borrow (and the BBC turned it into a decent show, it's on Netflix). Generally easy reading, but thought provoking. Me: I loved the tv show. I’m adding it to the list.  Note: You can see the BBC show on Netflix. It really is lovely.
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AuthorI'll read anything a friend recommends & I love telling people what I think about it. Every year, I read 50 books recommended by 50 different friends. Welcome to My 50 Bookish Friends Blog. SearchCategories
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