This is always crazy hard for me to decide!!
- Gone With The Wind. I read my Grandmas copy this summer, and it was truly hygge, the coffee, the quiet, the comfort of holding something that belonged to my Grandma. GONE WITH THE WIND: This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, in the pages of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captured readers for over seventy years.
- Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk. Pure joy. I loved her, her love for her city, her independence, her courage, everything. I will definitely reread this someday. It was so very wonderful. Added bonus was buddy reading this with a fellow reader. LILLIAN BOXFISH: She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. It was a job that, she says, “in some ways saved my life, and in other ways ruined it.” Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat and Manhattan is grittier now―her son keeps warning her about a subway vigilante on the prowl―but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed―and has not.
- It’s What I Do A Photographers Life of Love and War by Lynsey Addario. I am just in awe of this woman. What an amazing life. Beautiful work, beautifully done. I loved living vicariously through her in this book. I wish I was a tenth as brave. IT’S WHAT I DO: War photographer Lynsey Addario’s memoir is the story of how the relentless pursuit of truth, in virtually every major theater of war in the twenty-first century, has shaped her life. What she does, with clarity, beauty, and candor, is to document, often in their most extreme moments, the complex lives of others. It’s her work, but it’s much more than that: it’s her singular calling.
- The Book Thieves. This book…….So heartbreaking, so necessary, so my heart. I rescue and hand out books all the time. I repurpose and save books from paper gators and give them to those in need every single week. Never throw away a book and never destroy a book! Both my mantras and what I drill into people, so that they call me instead of throwing away books. This book spoke to my heart so much. I cried, I almost threw up, it moved me so very much. I would LOVE to be a part of the rescue and returning of books to those from whom so much was stolen….. THE BOOK THIEVES: The story of the Nazis’ systematic pillaging of Europe’s libraries, and the small team of heroic librarians now working to return the stolen books to their rightful owners.While the Nazi party was being condemned by much of the world for burning books, they were already hard at work perpetrating an even greater literary crime. Through extensive new research that included records saved by the Monuments Men themselves—Anders Rydell tells the untold story of Nazi book theft, as he himself joins the effort to return the stolen books. When the Nazi soldiers ransacked Europe’s libraries and bookshops, large and small, the books they stole were not burned. Instead, the Nazis began to compile a library of their own that they could use to wage an intellectual war on literature and history. In this secret war, the libraries of Jews, Communists, Liberal politicians, LGBT activists, Catholics, Freemasons, and many other opposition groups were appropriated for Nazi research, and used as an intellectual weapon against their owners. But when the war was over, most of the books were never returned. Instead many found their way into the public library system, where they remain to this day.Now, Rydell finds himself entrusted with one of these stolen volumes, setting out to return it to its rightful owner. It was passed to him by the small team of heroic librarians who have begun the monumental task of combing through Berlin’s public libraries to identify the looted books and reunite them with the families of their original owners. For those who lost relatives in the Holocaust, these books are often the only remaining possession of their relatives they have ever held. And as Rydell travels to return the volume he was given, he shows just how much a single book can mean to those who own it.
- Good Girls Revolt. Amazon original came out with this series which made me go to the library and get this book immediately. The series:In 1969, while a cultural revolution swept through the free world, there was still one place that refused to change with the times: newsrooms. Good Girls Revolt follows a group of young female researchers at “News of the Week,” who ask to be treated fairly. Their revolutionary request sparks convulsive changes and upends marriages, careers, sex lives, love lives, and friendships. The Book: It was the 1960s–a time of economic boom and social strife. Young women poured into the workplace, but the “Help Wanted” ads were segregated by gender and the “Mad Men” office culture was rife with sexual stereotyping and discrimination.Lynn Povich was one of the lucky ones, landing a job at Newsweek, renowned for its cutting-edge coverage of civil rights and the “Swinging Sixties.” Nora Ephron, Jane Bryant Quinn, Ellen Goodman, and Susan Brownmiller all started there as well. It was a top-notch job–for a girl–at an exciting place.But it was a dead end. Women researchers sometimes became reporters, rarely writers, and never editors. Any aspiring female journalist was told, “If you want to be a writer, go somewhere else.”On March 16, 1970, the day Newsweek published a cover story on the fledgling feminist movement entitled “Women in Revolt,” forty-six Newsweek women charged the magazine with discrimination in hiring and promotion. It was the first female class action lawsuit–the first by women journalists–and it inspired other women in the media to quickly follow suit.
- How to Survive A Plaque. I don’t know where to start. I was in my late teens and early 20s when AIDS hit mainstream media. I live in a very small town, I had gay friends, we did life with them, we danced with them at clubs at way out-of-town places, they were part of our circle, none of them survived. I worked in home health care during this time, it was horrific. This book brought that all back. The fact that the author talks about the next town over from my current location and how homophobic it was-still is-broke and continues to break my heart. It’s a bit better, but it’s still horrific. I saw the movie Longtime Companion during this time, late 1989 I think, and it still haunts me to this day. One of, for me, the truest pictures of AIDS and the effects of it on a community of friends. Look it up. This book is an amazing history book of brave activists, brave people period, beautiful souls and a reminder of the fight it took to get to here and the fight we need to do and a reminder to never forget. This book for me was all-encompassing: so many feelings, so much knowledge is told, it’s so well done. An amazing tribute and call to action. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE:A definitive history of the successful battle to halt the AIDS epidemic, here is the incredible story of the grassroots activists whose work turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Almost universally ignored, these men and women learned to become their own researchers, lobbyists, and drug smugglers, established their own newspapers and research journals, and went on to force reform in the nation’s disease-fighting agencies. From the creator of, and inspired by, the seminal documentary of the same name, How to Survive a Plague is an unparalleled insider’s account of a pivotal moment in the history of American civil rights.
- My Mother’s Kitchen. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to cook everything I read about! As a foodie and a cook for teens on a weekly basis and for anyone really who is hungry this book was zen for me. MY MOTHER’S KITCHEN: My Mother’s Kitchen is a funny, moving memoir about a son’s discovery that his mother has a genius for understanding the intimate connections between cooking, people and love. Peter Gethers wants to give his aging mother a very personal and perhaps final gift: a spectacular feast featuring all her favorite dishes. The problem is, although he was raised to love food and wine he doesn’t really know how to cook. So he embarks upon an often hilarious and always touching culinary journey that will ultimately allow him to bring his mother’s friends and loved ones to the table one last time.The daughter of a restaurateur―the restaurant was New York’s legendary Ratner’s―Judy Gethers discovered a passion for cooking in her 50s. In time, she became a mentor and friend to several of the most famous chefs in America, including Wolfgang Puck, Nancy Silverton and Jonathan Waxman; she also wrote many cookbooks and taught cooking alongside Julia Child. In her 80s, she was robbed of her ability to cook by a debilitating stroke. But illness has brought her closer than ever to her son: Peter regularly visits her so they can share meals, and he can ask questions about her colorful past, while learning her kitchen secrets. Gradually his ambition becomes manifest: he decides to learn how to cook his mother the meal of her dreams and thereby tell the story of her life to all those who have loved her. With his trademark wit and knowing eye, Peter Gethers has written an unforgettable memoir about how food and family can do much more than feed us―they can nourish our souls.
- Daddy Long Legs. Part of my summer reading challenge this book was so much fun and such a great story! I enjoyed it immensely and will definitely reread it again some day. DADDY LONG LEGS:A trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month and that she can never know who he is. Judy’s life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much happening in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing to ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’, or wondering who her mysterious benefactor is…
- The Heart’s Invisible Furies. I read this with my BOTM buddy read book club on Litsy. What a book. What a read. What an amazing story. The character Cyril will stay with me a long while. It was a joy to read it and discuss it with others, this gave the read even more depth. THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES: Cyril Avery is not a real Avery — or at least, that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he? Born out-of-wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from – and over his many years, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, and much more.In this, Boyne’s most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart’s Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.
- Anna Karenina. I finally tackled this classic read!!! It was beautiful. I now feel I can tackle War & Peace. ANNA KARENINA:The must-have Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of one of the greatest Russian novels ever written. Described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and thereby exposes herself to the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel’s seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness.
- Faithfully Feminist. I really learned a lot from this book. FAITHFULLY FEMINIST: “Why do you stay?” It is a common question women are asked in relation to their faith. These are not women who buy into Candace Cameron’s biblically submissive theory; rather, these are women who claim a feminist identity, have membership in a particular religious tradition, and practice their faith in spite of gendered challenges. In Faithfully Feminist 15 Christian, 15 Jewish, and 15 Muslim women share their stories of struggle and faith.In a world where women’s issues are political issues, women are judged for their positions in relation to their claimed identities. Feminists argue that you cannot be a “true” feminist if you are a practicing Christian, Muslim, or Jew. Likewise, religious practitioners claim that you cannot be a “true” Christian, Muslim, or Jew if you support feminist values. Nevertheless, women who practice these religious traditions and hold feminist values are not uncommon, and the question “Why do you stay?” is one that is frequently asked of them.
This question is asked of me more often than not. I’m told by one set of friends to just get rid of the Christians in your life, to only get told by some Christians just don’t claim to love Jesus. Interesting. To be a strong intelligent feminist who loves Jesus is a foreign concept to both sides, which leads you to having ‘haters’ on both sides. It’s amazing to me that it matters. I enjoyed this book. It was so very encouraging and gave me great hope. - Girl in the Blue Coat. Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion. I enjoyed this book very much. It’s a really good read to introduce YA readers to the Holocaust. I may be rereading this as a buddy read soon and look forward to visiting it again.
- The Silver Music Box. 1914. For Paul, with love. Jewish silversmith Johann Blumenthal engraved those words on his most exquisite creation, a singing filigree bird inside a tiny ornamented box. He crafted this treasure for his young son before leaving to fight in a terrible war to honor his beloved country—a country that would soon turn against his own family….Oh my word I loved this story. It was an amazing find! I own several nonfiction and some fiction Holocaust literature books, they are a favorite of mine to read. The Silver Music Box I will be purchasing to join the bookshelf. The generational story of consequences for decisions that were so incredibly difficult to make due to the surrounding happenings in history lured you into the story and made it impossible for me to put down! A beautiful sorrowful story. There is a second book rumored to be out November 2018! I can not wait!
- Piecing Me Together Jade believes she must get out of her poor neighborhood if she’s ever going to succeed. Her mother tells her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. And Jade has: every day she rides the bus away from her friends and to the private school where she feels like an outsider, but where she has plenty of opportunities. But some opportunities she doesn’t really welcome, like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for “at-risk” girls. Just because her mentor is black and graduated from the same high school doesn’t mean she understands where Jade is coming from. She’s tired of being singled out as someone who needs help, someone people want to fix. Jade wants to speak, to create, to express her joys and sorrows, her pain and her hope. Maybe there are some things she could show other women about understanding the world and finding ways to be real, to make a difference.
This was so much more than I thought it would be. Although reading Jaqueline Woodson’s opinion on the back sold it (I love her books and have read them ALL) . Jade, the girl in the story, voice is so clear in this narrative. The story has you look at growing up in a different light, and makes you take a hard look, for me, at prejudices that we don’t always see, it makes you aware of things we all need to work on. Jade’s story is beautiful, one that will stay with me for a long while. Her tenacity, strong will and artist gifts remind me of my daughter. I will be recommending this book to a great many people young and old. I will also be looking up the rest of this authors books to read and share. Amazing find! - My Mother’s Secret. This book could be read by anyone 12 and up and is based on the true story of Franciszka Halamajowa and her daughter Helena. There is a documentary of their life that I now really want to see. One of the survivors, Moche Maltz, also wrote a book and since it is 75-100 dollars used most places, I have requested it from my library quest who found the book at a university for me to borrow in the translated form as the original is in Yiddish! So very excited. I also ordered a copy of this book. Inspired by a true story, My Mother’s Secret is a captivating and ultimately uplifting tale intertwining the lives of two Jewish families in hiding from the Nazis, a fleeing German soldier, and the mother and daughter who save them all.
- Elizabeth Taylor: The Accidental Feminist. I read the Accidental Feminist WAY quicker than I thought I would! An amazingly interesting book. I now have to re-watch all her movies with new eyes and new insight. I personally never thought she wasn’t intelligent, but I can see that people did not give her credit for who she was, things she did, or how she reacted to the life she was given. I highly recommend reading this. It won’t take you long, and you learn so much. Her fight against AIDS was so much-needed at the time, that I think we forgot how awful those times were and how much gratitude we should have for the things she got accomplished by lending herself to the cause.
Movie stars establish themselves as brands–and Taylor’s brand , in its most memorable outings, has repeatedly introduced a broad audience to feminist ideas. - Gone Til November… 2010, recording artist Lil Wayne was at the height of his career. A fixture in the rap game for more than a decade, Lil Wayne (aka Weezy) had established himself as both a prolific musician and a savvy businessman, smashing long-held industry records, winning multiple Grammy Awards, and signing up-and-coming talent like Drake and Nicki Minaj to his Young Money label. All of this momentum came to a halt when he was convicted of possession of a firearm and sentenced to a yearlong stay at Rikers Island. Suddenly, the artist at the top of his game was now an inmate at the mercy of the American penal system. At long last, Gone ’Til November reveals the true story of what really happened while Wayne was behind bars, exploring everything from his daily rituals to his interactions with other inmates to how he was able to keep himself motivated and grateful. Taken directly from Wayne’s own journal, this intimate, personal account of his incarceration is an utterly humane look at the man behind the artist. I really enjoy reading memoirs and journals, you can usually get a better feel of the person and who they are. It is also how I feel about reading poetry and lyrical verse prose books. This book by Lil Wayne, Gone Til November, was really interesting. I got to really appreciate him as a person with his honesty in this book. His love for his children oozed through the pages. Also his love for his Mama. Truthfully I did not know much about him, other than I have heard his music and I have seen him on various television guest shows. I have, however, had many of the kids I mentor do time in the system. So I am familiar with some aspects of prison life. I was very happy that Lil Wayne stated in the book how prison is not the place to be. He also was well aware of his own privilege, which is refreshing. The importance of mail, visitors and having money for commissary is also something that, unless you are in the situation or have a loved one incarcerated, you have no idea how very important this is. I agree with his synopsis of the time is just time, its endless, there is no rehabilitation in there, it’s just time and survival. The entire system has been in need of overhaul for decades. The unfairness of needing a good lawyer is also something Lil Wayne witnesses while there. The term was only eight months, I do sincerely hope he never goes back to prison, that he learned a great lesson, and that people reading this can gain insight without prejudice on what you go through, even though it is such a tiny snapshot. It’s a good start. Knowledge should always lead to understanding. This book has huge potential for that. Plus you can read it in a day or two.
That’s A WRAP!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
2018 May PEACE reign.
