I finished 8 books in August, with two long plane rides working to my reading advantage.
Book 1
An Abduction
Jean McConville was thirty-eight when she disappeared, and she had spent nearly half her life either pregnant or recovering from childbirth.
Book 2
As we stepped off the plane at the small airport, the howl of the jet engines deafening and the snowcapped foothills of the Himalayas looming behind us, two old friends embraced.
Book 3
The Golden Beetle of New Caledonia, 1914
When Margery was ten, she fell in love with a beetle.
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A beetle, but not the one in the book.
Book 4
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
Q. I hate to ask you this, but–approximately–how many people do you think you’ve slept with?
Book 5
The small, slender woman with apple-red cheeks, greying hair, and shrewd, almost naughty little eyes sat with her face pressed against the cabin window of the BEA Viscount on the morning flight from London to Paris.
Book 6
Chapter 1: Women’s Rights in Antiquity: The Seed is Planted
4500 BCE to 859 BCE
“Welcome to the history of women’s rights. Sometimes you have to start at the beginning to understand where you’ve been and where you want to go.”
Book 7
Chapter One: It is Important for Children to Learn About Electricity
Mma Ramotswe remembered exactly how it was that the subject of taking a holiday arose.
Book 8
The voice of her new friend, bidding her good night, followed Miss Hannah Mole as she went down the garden path, and the laurel bushes, as she brushed by them, repeated in a whisper, yet with a strange assurance, the persuasive invitation of Mrs. Gibson to come back soon.
Did not finish
Prelude
The conversation took place over dinner in October 1837. Dusk had likely fallen, and the city’s gas lamps had lit up the central streets of Berlin.
The titles and authors revealed:
Book 1
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe
441 pages • first pub 2018
nonfiction, history, politics, true crime
This was a book I could not read at night. Northern Ireland was a violent place. The unfolding of the crimes and the trajectory of the major characters was well told. I thought one big shortcoming of the book was that it did not explain the background of the hatred between Protestants and Catholics in N. Ireland. That said, I did not want this book to be longer than it was. The inadequacy of the Good Friday Accords was touched on - I was unaware of that. I read it for book club, where it engendered a good discussion.
Some of my maternal ancestors were from what became Northern Ireland, most likely from County Tyrone. I don’t know when they emigrated to the US - likely in the late 1800s.
My parents on their honeymoon in Ireland.
Book 2
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama XIV, with Douglas Carlton Abrams (Translator)
384 pages • first pub 2016
nonfiction, philosophy, self help
Good ideas (but I disagree about the nature of suffering). Repetitive. I didn’t read the last 20%, which was basically more self-helpy, mainly because one of my book clubs might be reading this book next year. I’ll probably read that part next year.
Book 3
Miss Benson's Beetle
By Rachel Joyce
352 pages • first pub 2020
fiction, historical.
I read it for book club. It was sort of thriller-ish, veering from one tragic event to another, but I had been led to believe it was cozy, light lit. I didn’t really come to appreciate any of the characters. I suppose most of the scenes were meant to be comic but there was just too much gripping tragedy for me to find amusement. The author’s first novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, is one of my all time favorites, but this one was not for me.
Book 4
Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President
By E. Jean Carroll
368 pages • first pub 2025
nonfiction, feminism, gender, memoir, politics
Oof. A fast read. Big trigger warning - rape and sexual assault are described in full detail. Also, bullying, because, you know, the FFOTUS is an adjudicated rapist and a sexual predator but can’t admit it and has to lash out at other people to cover up what he has done. The writing style is breezy, chock full of references to high fashion, movies, and literature. I am not sorry I read this book, but after Miss Benson’s Beetle and this one, I was truly ready for something not thrilling, without any crimes.
Book 5
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Mrs. 'Arris #1)
143 pages
By Paul Gallico. Electronic edition published 2022.
First published as Flowers for Mrs Harris in Great Britain by Michael Joseph in 1958.
fiction, classics
Snobby British people look down their noses at the cleaning lady Mrs. Harris. But she finds congenial types on a lark of a trip to Paris to obtain the dress of her dreams.
I had to read it on my tablet, which is less preferable than reading on my kindle. A pleasant diversion from today’s cruel world.
Purim celebration, 2014
The Common Household Husband as
The Phantom, and yours truly as Esther, in a
fancy dress and child's costume tiara
Book 6
Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights.
By Mikki Kendall (writer) and A. D’Amico (illustrator)
208 pages • first pub 2019
nonfiction, feminism, graphic, history
This graphic book covers a huge amount of history, and as such is a good overview of the fight we’ve had. The artwork was well done. Includes intersectionality, and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights as well.
One line made me so sad, I almost decided to hand-write an update in the library book: “These are some of the successes of the women’s movement in the ‘70s. Even though the E.R.A. didn’t pass, women won the right to have an abortion if they wanted one.” (page 152) The book was published before the right to an abortion was snatched away by the corrupt and patriarchal SCROTUS.
Page 178 has the sad truth: “The women’s rights movement still has a lot of work to do. Although some women–insulated by wealth and privilege–have been able to rise above most of the concerns affecting the majority, it’s a precarious perch that can be toppled as long as some women aren’t equal. The patriarchy will hold up the exceptions as examples of what can be achieved and blame everyone else for not being as successful.”
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| Political pins. All of them state the truth. |
Book 7
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #16)
By Alexander McCall Smith
224 pages • first pub 2015
fiction, mystery
Blessedly familiar characters, lots of tea drinking, and an interesting twist near the end.
Book 8
Miss Mole
By E.H. Young
288 pages • first pub 1930
fiction, classics, historical
Less cheerful than I had expected, but there is no violence, blood, or gore. I was not in the right frame of mind to read this book, starting it when I was nervous about job-related matters, and not able to fully concentrate. The writing style is anti-Hemingway, with giant sentences. There was quite a bit of irony, although I’m sure I missed more of it than I got. The novel seemed to be deeply psychological at points.
There is wringing of hands at the breaking of social norms and at not having the latest style of hat to wear. The main character, Hannah Mole, has the desire but not the resources to break free from all of that, and uses stinging repartee as her main weapon against the patriarchy. She had been educated “above her station”. And she is also a vulnerable human with valid feelings and needs. I read on because I liked the main character, and wanted to find out how the author wraps up the story. When I was about ¾ of the way through, I discovered E.H. Young was herself quite the rule-breaker and feminist. I think it is probably a very good book of its time, as a daring commentary on the role of women in 1920s society, but I picked the wrong time to read it.
Did not finish
The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
Siddhartha Mukherjee
490 pages • first pub 2022
nonfiction science
I enjoyed reading about the people involved in doing the science, but got muddled in reading about the actual science. I appreciated learning about Rudolf Virchow. The library snatched it off my kindle before I could finish.
