It is hard to believe that this novel was written over 200 years ago.  I have never been an Austen fan, never understanding the allure of P&P or S&S when I read them years ago. There is no question that the narration and writing here stands the test of time.  But, the main character is thoroughly unlikeable, which I gather is the point.  Emma is a sociopath, unwilling to ever take responsibility for the disastrous consequences of her gossiping and meddling and no one around her seems willing to hold her accountable or even aware that she is manipulative.  She reminded me of too many people I've known, so I didn't particularly enjoy reading about her antics.  That said, it is quite impressive that this same exact personality type continues unbated from the Regency Era to now.

​Not recommended.

Following Billie Jean King's book, I was interested in reading more about the tennis world, having stopped following professional tennis 20+ years ago when I stopped coaching  and playing competitively.  This wasn't a memoir or even authorized biography, so it lacked some of the personal touch that I generally like in a book like this.  In an era where public figures curate their entire lives for instagram and such, there seems more pressure than ever to control the narrative around celebrity life.  So, while the book was easy enough to read and follow, it felt like a summary of the information publicly available about her.  Since I hadn't been following her career, it was a good enough story, but shallow.

​Not recommended.

This is a sweet short read about a Georgia O'Keeffe--not about her art or even really her life, but just a snippet of her experience in Santa Fe. I quite enjoyed it. Bonus points for being a free download to boot.

Recommend. 

Having read I, Tina several times and for many years now having assigned it to students in the university class I teach, I was excited to read Tina Turner's new book.  I was hoping it would be an updated and expanded life story.  I, Tina is such a poorly written book about such a powerful life of abuse and survival that I was sure an updated memoir or autobiography was something to get excited about.  Unfortunately, that isn't what the book was. A lot of it was about her spiritual practices and the role that has played in her life and those parts were definitely why she wrote the book, but not the part that I enjoyed.  

What I found most interesting was some of the additional backstory, particularly poignant was the thought process behind her divorce from Ike Turner.  I knew she had walked away without anything other than her stage name, but I appreciated hearing more about how she came to that decision and how even getting that deal was difficult.  

There just wasn't enough here to actually recommend it, though.

This is a quirky murder mystery. It is not the first book in the series, the first one not having an audio version available anywhere and there being some conflicting information online about what order the books should be read in.  I might have enjoyed it more had I figured out the order, as there was clearly some back story I wasn't privy to. The story itself was ok, pretty disjointed to start with and I had to reread in some places thinking I must have missed something only to discover that was just the way it was written.  It wasn't a page turner and I didn't find the characters particularly likeable, so I can't recommend it, but it really wasn't as bad as I am making it sound as I write this, either.

​Not recommended.

I was really looking forward to this book. There is so much about Billie Jean King to like and admire.  She has so many good stories here of how her fierce determination and unparalleled leadership changed women's sports and impacted the "battle of the sexes."  It is truly amazing to think that she was able to organize players on a tour where they played against each other all the time.  Unifying most of them behind equal pay, walking out & creating their own tour, and so forth is as amazing when being retold all these years later as I am sure it was at the time.  

I was quite disappointed, though, in her discussion about trans and non-binary athletes and some of the other language she used was out of date. For such a warrior for Queer rights, I was surprised that apparently no one she has proofread or edit realized how rally offensive some of the book was.  Deadnaming Renee Richards, just as one example, was completely out of line and unnecessary and showed a real lack of understanding of contemporary standards.  It was especially shocking that she did that when she was purporting to be supportive of Renee being on the women's tour.  It was a strange juxtaposition that seemed anachronistic.  I just do not understand why no one in a position to edit did something about that or told her how offensive that entire section was.  Maybe they did and she didn't care, but that is just too much disappointment for me to bear.

Despite that issue and particularly if you can get past that, I recommend the book anyhow because she is such an icon and so much of the book is a detailed account of what it took behind the scenes to do all that.

​Recommend.