Sometimes, when I enjoyed a book I like to give it a bit of renewed love when it comes out in paperback. This week it's How to Be Famous—a feisty hot pepper of a novel from Caitlin Moran. Ready to be re-invigorated about being female?! This is your reading… When we left Johanna Morrigan (aka Dolly Wilde) at the end of How to Build a Girl (which I loved) she had come into ... Read More...
We Went to the Woods
Fresh out of college, Mackenzie signs up to be on a millennial-only competition reality TV show. It goes very wrong, she makes a big mistake, and is duly excoriated everywhere. When she meets a tight-knit group of four friends who are as disillusioned with the world as she is, they begin fantasizing what it would be like to leave society behind and create simpler lives for ... Read More...
From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir
It may sound like fiction, but it’s fact: Beck Dorey-Stein answered a Craigslist ad and got a job working as a stenographer at the White House. She was there for Barack Obama’s second term as president and in her memoir From the Corner of the Oval she shares her experiences of being the least important person in the room, but the one who gets to hear everything. From ... Read More...
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews
I'm back, with two spring releases that I didn't care for, but that I recognize could very well work for someone else. The family of women in What Should Be Wild are cursed. They are the Blakelys and they go back generations to 400 A.D. when the first, the young Alys, is slain by conquerors. There are seven and range from Emma who is only five and was left in ... Read More...
Quirky Women: Mini-Reviews
I am a huge fan of quirky characters, but when they fly by the eccentric train station heading full speed to weird I start applying the reading brakes. Today’s reviews are about two women who are quirky and then some. In one case it worked beautifully and led to a novel I loved. In the other, it was almost enough to overshadow a good book. As mentioned, I always ... Read More...
A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out
Let’s not beat around the bush: I’m a sucker for a clever book cover and when I saw A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out I knew I wanted to read the book, even if the title didn’t wow me. I mean, please…her skirt is a book! I want it. Add to that this is a novel about a young woman who got an English degree because she loved books and reading so much, only to discover that ... Read More...
