1950s Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

Let’s Call Her Barbie

Catherine — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 07:02:02 +0000

As a child of the 60s/70s I was one of the numerous little girls clamoring for a Barbie doll. Much like the opening for the movie Barbie (fabulous, a must see) I’d loved my baby doll to death, but needed something more and Barbie was the dream, but it was not to be for […]

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Every Time We Say Goodbye

Catherine — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 07:34:30 +0000

I loved both of the novels in the Jane Austen series by Natalie Jenner so was delighted to learn it’s a trilogy with the third book newly released. Every Time We Say Goodbye follows the indomitable Vivien, the writer and intimidating brunette who was introduced in The Bloomsbury Girls. World War II has finally ended […]

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The River We Remember

Catherine — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 07:59:06 +0000

Summer is just beginning in the small town of Jewel, Minnesota when the body of Jimmy Quinn, one of the town’s wealthiest citizens, is discovered in the nearby river. Given that he was also one of the most disliked there are plenty of people in William Kent Krueger’s The River We Remember who wanted him […]

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The Secrets We Kept

Catherine — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 07:16:30 +0000

I love learning something from my fiction so was pleased to find out that Lara Prescott’s novel, The Secrets We Kept is based on a true story from the Cold War. Even better, it involves espionage and literature. It seems, at the time, the CIA wanted to use the power of the written word to effect […]

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Tangerine by Christine Mangan

Catherine — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 07:25:34 +0000

If you run into trouble at home, do not be surprised to run into trouble here. You are still the same person. Tangier can be magic, but even she is not a miracle worker. Heiress Alice Shipley has found herself, at age 20, married and living in Tangier. It’s 1956 and not a place […]

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The Magnificent Esme Wells

Catherine — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 07:11:32 +0000

Esme Silver is the flaxen haired, china doll, daughter of a Busby Berkley dancer and a handsome, low level grifter. They live in Los Angeles where her parents are certain her mother’s big break into movies is always only a day away. Except the only thing that is ever a day away is them being […]

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Where’s an Editor When You Need One?: Mini-Reviews

Catherine — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 07:08:27 +0000

We’ve all read novels by authors who have a way with words, know how to shape a sentence, generate tension…all the good stuff, right? But what about when that good stuff keeps going and going until what felt like a perfect balance turns into words and plot piling on unchecked? I’m left either annoyed […]

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The Dreaded DNF: Summer Edition

Catherine — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 17:49:23 +0000

What can I say? 2017 is halfway over and my reading has been bipolar all year. I might think it was me, but I know too many other readers who report the same thing—high highs and low lows. And then the blahs in-between. Sadly, either the books are getting worse or my patience is waning […]

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Nonfiction November: Book Pairings

Catherine — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 08:40:09 +0000

This week the Nonfiction November folks (Katie at Doing Dewey, Lory at Emerald City Book Review, Rachel at Hibernator’s Library, Julz at Julz Reads and Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves) asked for reading pairings—book that complement each other in the way of other pairings like food and wine, clothes and accessories, chocolate and well…chocolate. Here are a […]

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The Golden Age: A Novel

Catherine — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 07:47:54 +0000

Joan London’s The Golden Age is a quiet novel about a frightening time in the 1950s when, instead of fun and freedom, summer came to mean fear and isolation as pools were closed and children kept inside the house in the hopes of avoiding the dreaded polio. The Golden Age is a convalescent home […]

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