The book opens with an “angel” (who turns out to be the daughter of a prominent citizen) replacing all the boI found this book absolutely delightful.
The book opens with an “angel” (who turns out to be the daughter of a prominent citizen) replacing all the books in Lula Dean’s Little Free Library with books that Lula Dean would prefer to be banned. A few people walk by the LFL and pick out a book, usually out of boredom, but the banned book inside speaks to some issue they’re wrestling with, and it opens their minds to other experiences. A little pat and perfect, to be sure, but Miller’s characters feel so real that the reader doesn’t mind too much.
Each chapter deals with one banned book and one character (or pair of characters). I really enjoyed the chapter called Battling the Big Lie, in which Ken and Kari Kelly, avid watchers of Fox News (though it’s never actually named), who are interviewed by a reporter from the channel after the two mayoral candidates have a debate on the stairs of the church. While the Kellys are supportive of what happened during the debate, but found it frightening when a rally ended in violence, their words are twisted on the nightly news to make it appear that they found the event after church terrifying. It’s only then that they realize that they have become “fake news,” what their favorite channel rails against yet tends to perpetuate. One can only hope they start to find more reliable sources for news.
I know people will say that this book leans left, but honestly the author is really just fighting for basic human rights extended to all people, regardless of race, gender, or sexuality. Those things really ought not to be political. At times Miller did become a little heavy-handed with the preaching, even as I agree with her. However, the folks that really need to read this book will see it as just so much “fake news.”...more
I do love a good true crime book, especially if it has to do with serial killers. There is just something I cannot fathom about someone killing not onI do love a good true crime book, especially if it has to do with serial killers. There is just something I cannot fathom about someone killing not one but many people over time. It boggles the mind. The infancy of crime detection is also of interest to me; how did people solve crimes without ballistics data and DNA?
I had never heard of the torso killer in Cleveland before I read this book. I probably have heard of Eliot Ness, though to be fair the name didn’t really ring a bell until the author began to speak of The Untouchables. But most of this book doesn’t really seem to be about the torso killer or his crimes at all. Instead, Stashower focuses on Ness and how he went after Al Capone (though he was convicted of tax crimes) and closed down many of Capone’s illegal alcohol distribution points and bars. Once Ness came to Cleveland, his goal was to clean up the police department, where prior to his becoming the safety director, many police officers were beholden to gangsters.
These things were interesting, to be sure, but they had little to do with the torso killer. The problem is, we still are not wholly certain who the torso killer may have been. Ness had his theory, but it was impossible to prove. It’s not very satisfying to read a true crime book without any real resolution. It’s also strange to think that perhaps the killer didn’t actually kill some of his victims, but merely dismembered corpses.
I came across this book in the general store in Mystic, Connecticut, and considered it an excellent choice for spooky season.
The author covers four iI came across this book in the general store in Mystic, Connecticut, and considered it an excellent choice for spooky season.
The author covers four instances of female serial killers in New England, all of whom employed poison as their weapon of choice. One of the women, Jane Toppan, was a nurse who seemed kind and jolly, and always ready to lend a hand when someone fell ill. Unfortunately, that hand usually held arsenic. Other women murdered their husbands and children when they got to be too much to care for. Because medicine was still in its infancy, quite a few of these murders were initially attributed to natural causes.
While the premise of the book is quite intriguing, I found it a little difficult to keep the four narratives straight, mainly because they took place around the same time, so they ran together in my brain. The author chose to use mainly courtroom testimony for the second case, that of Lydia Sherman, which made for somewhat dry reading, though at the same time, the author tends to embellish the text with charged language, words like “nasty” and “snarled.” Her own feelings about the matter seep through, which can make the reader uncomfortable.
If you’re looking for a book on female serial killers in New England, this definitely fits the bill, but I was hoping for a little more.
Merged review:
I came across this book in the general store in Mystic, Connecticut, and considered it an excellent choice for spooky season.
The author covers four instances of female serial killers in New England, all of whom employed poison as their weapon of choice. One of the women, Jane Toppan, was a nurse who seemed kind and jolly, and always ready to lend a hand when someone fell ill. Unfortunately, that hand usually held arsenic. Other women murdered their husbands and children when they got to be too much to care for. Because medicine was still in its infancy, quite a few of these murders were initially attributed to natural causes.
While the premise of the book is quite intriguing, I found it a little difficult to keep the four narratives straight, mainly because they took place around the same time, so they ran together in my brain. The author chose to use mainly courtroom testimony for the second case, that of Lydia Sherman, which made for somewhat dry reading, though at the same time, the author tends to embellish the text with charged language, words like “nasty” and “snarled.” Her own feelings about the matter seep through, which can make the reader uncomfortable.
If you’re looking for a book on female serial killers in New England, this definitely fits the bill, but I was hoping for a little more....more
Well, I’m back on my P&P retelling BS again, I see.
I have read quite a few adaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. I generally enjoy them, siWell, I’m back on my P&P retelling BS again, I see.
I have read quite a few adaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. I generally enjoy them, since it’s fascinating to me how different writers can take the same story and get different things out of it. Plus everyone’s lived experience is different, so that informs the retelling as well. While the original is always going to be my favorite, the adaptations make me see the original in other lights, and lets me peek into the lives of more modern writers.
Other adaptations that I have read insist on hewing extremely closely to the original. But that just isn’t possible in our 21st century world. So many aspects just don’t translate to our modern lives. But somehow Nikki Payne was able to ride that fine line where she’s true to the original sense of the story, yet puts her own modern spin on it so that it still feels rather plausible. It’s amazing how well she did that.
I do have a couple of quibbles with this story, however. As someone who grew up in DC, the likelihood of a blizzard shutting the city down is just about nil (the blizzard of 1987 notwithstanding). I will admit that only a few inches of snow will accomplish the same thing. DC just doesn’t really get a winter. Also a few times the writing would get a little choppy, and it would pull me out of the story. It’s probably due to this being a debut novel, so it’s easily forgiven.
I look forward to reading the next in the series. ...more
I went into this book knowing very little about it. It’s gotten a lot of hype, and I knew it wasn’t just the hype of casual readers (what made Fifty SI went into this book knowing very little about it. It’s gotten a lot of hype, and I knew it wasn’t just the hype of casual readers (what made Fifty Shades of Gray so popular, for example). Plus a friend of mine read it recently, so I figured it was time.
This is a really cleverly done book. Imbler chooses a sea creature for each of their essays and one prominent feature of said creature, then relates a story from their life that connects to that feature. Some chapters work better than others (I quite enjoyed the chapter on hybridism — it never occurred to me that some multi-racial people would have no elders to look up to that looked like them), but most of the personal aspects of each chapter is a bit too raw for me. Imbler really opens themself up, just about removing their skin, and lets everything be seen. While I appreciate the bravery they’re showing, it unsettled me. It may be that this just wasn't the book for me right now with the heartache I’m enduring.
Though I didn’t personally love this book, I am so glad it exists....more
My favorite local indie bookstore is doing a book club where for three months, we read books of the same genre, one per month, starting with the book My favorite local indie bookstore is doing a book club where for three months, we read books of the same genre, one per month, starting with the book that started the genre, then a book that falls between then and now, and finally a book that best shows off that genre now. It’s a great idea.
So we’re starting with The Castle of Ortranto as the first gothic novel. Another reviewer points out that when this book was published in 1764, the novel as a form was still very, very new, so I suppose we can forgive it a great deal. However, I will say that it’s best to read this imagining it as one of those old Bugs Bunny cartoons that brings culture to little kids. It’s so melodramatic and at times silly to a 21st century woman. It doesn’t help that Walpole has all the women in this novel agree that of course they should just be pawns in the plans of the men because it is their duty to do what they’re told. Ooof.
I look forward to seeing what others in this book club have to say about this book. ...more
I can’t remember whether I or my younger kid found this book, but I know she read it first. And I’m so glad I did!
Greenfield does an excellent job of I can’t remember whether I or my younger kid found this book, but I know she read it first. And I’m so glad I did!
Greenfield does an excellent job of sucking the reader into the story. Often I would be reading and I’d totally forget I was seeing words on a page. Instead, I was simply engrossed by what was happening in the story. I love these kinds of books, and I’m so thrilled this is a debut novel because more like this will come from Greenfield’s fantastic mind!
I will admit I have no chronic illnesses like Phoebe (IBS) and Jess (a form of arthritis), though one of my kids’ friends tends to use a cane and a walker, and Jess reminded me so much of him! It was fun to know someone so like Jess in real life. I have to say, I really hope Phoebe gets some help for her IBS are her upcoming appointment; IBS sounds truly awful.
There is so much to love in this book — the being stuck in a time loop is well done. I like that neither and Jess did anything really crazy, like jumping out of an airplane or robbing a bank. Their stunts were much more sedate, much like the two of them, and fit them perfectly. I also love the idea that Phoebe and Jess were really truly made for one another, and that Phoebe’s dad could see it even when they were so young. My inner romantic definitely swooned a bit at that.
I’ve got no critiques of this novel. It’s just lovely. ...more
Andy (Evander) Mills is back, now working as a private investigator out of the Ruby nightclub. We’ve also got a wholeI am so glad I found this series!
Andy (Evander) Mills is back, now working as a private investigator out of the Ruby nightclub. We’ve also got a whole new cast of characters from the first novel, which I appreciated. I don’t always need a sequel to involve everyone from the previous book. When some questionable photographs are stolen and used to blackmail an old friend of Andy’s from his time in the Navy, he’s put on the case to try to figure out exactly what’s going on.
Andy is now a bit stronger than he was in Lavender House. He’s still trying to find his footing, but now he’s immersed in the gay side of San Francisco with so many others like him. Perhaps he could even find someone to love.
There are some unsatisfying bits to this book, most particularly how Danny and Donna’s plot wrapped up. I do understand why Andy made that call in 1950s America just after the Lavender Scare, but still. It is always uncomfortable reading the insults people felt acceptable to hurl at people who love folks of their same gender; I’m glad that seems too be lessened now. It was also somewhat surprising to hear that men could be affectionate with one another during war, though I suppose it shouldn’t be. I’m just glad they were able to have that time together.
I very much look forward to the next book in the series coming out in just a few short weeks!...more
I’ve read a couple of books by Gregg Olsen now, and I haven’t loved any of them. Perhaps I should quit while I’m ahead. But this one absolutely rates I’ve read a couple of books by Gregg Olsen now, and I haven’t loved any of them. Perhaps I should quit while I’m ahead. But this one absolutely rates as my least favorite.
I’ve had this book in my Kindle queue for a while, and I finally checked it out from the library, since I had found a physical copy of The Amish Wife at my local library. I felt it was important to read the first book regarding Eli Stutzman before reading a follow-up. But this book has some serious issues.
I understand that this book was written 30 years ago, but the pearl-clutching Olsen engages in is off the charts. Just because a man is gay and has quite a few encounters with other men doesn’t mean we all need to be privy to his preferences for cock rings and butt plugs. We also don’t need to be told over and over and over again about the size of Stutzman’s penis and scrotum. None of that has anything to do with whether he killed his wife, his son, or his friend. Being gay doesn’t make someone a psychopath, willing to commit murder. Perhaps his sexuality is why he wanted to leave the Amish, but that could have been discussed without all the titillating and scandalous details Olsen insisted on including, like exactly what Stutzman and some guy got up to in the bedroom. And the version I read, with an author’s note dating from 2003, could certainly have redacted all the instances of the f-slur.
This book also suffers from an incredible amount of repetition. The first part of the book, in which Olsen tells us a bit about Amish religion and culture, is interesting, but then it devolves into a litany of who said what and who did what and when for pages upon pages, which are then recounted when Olsen includes testimony from the court proceedings and police interviews. Plus there are so many people that Olsen includes that seem to have only a tangential effect on this case. Most happen to be men that Stutzman happened to sleep with.
So we’re left with a story that could have been summed up in a newspaper article, instead of 400 pages. I will most likely read The Amish Wife since I have it out from the library, and because I want to see if Olsen has gotten any better. But if he’s still somewhat homophobic in this most recent book, I will be sorely disappointed....more
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from this book. I’ve seen it everywhere, so I figured I ought to read it. I enjoyed The Sisters Brothers, but I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from this book. I’ve seen it everywhere, so I figured I ought to read it. I enjoyed The Sisters Brothers, but this felt like a let-down.
I’m not a fan of authors who write the dialogue for their characters in an extremely stilted way. Honestly, no one talks the way deWitt’s characters talk. From other reviews, it may be an affectation of his, but it felt jarring to me.
I generally also don’t mind a slow burn of a book, a character study, but this one just didn’t come together into some cohesive narrative. At the beginning of the book, Bob volunteers at an old folks’ home. Then it goes back in time and discusses how he meets his wife Connie and how they married, and what happened to their short marriage. Next is a section of Bob running away when he was 10, nearly 11, right at the end of World War II, and he stays four days at a decrepit hotel in order to help out some aged thespians. Finally it all wraps up with Bob becoming a resident of the old folks’ home. Not only that, but the book just… ends. I was shocked when my kindle displayed the end of book pop-up.
All in all, this was a disappointment to me. ...more
One of my favorite booksellers was teasing me that I was two books behind when it comes to Emily Henry, so I figured it was time to actually read thisOne of my favorite booksellers was teasing me that I was two books behind when it comes to Emily Henry, so I figured it was time to actually read this novel. But to be totally honest, I didn’t love this book.
Harriet (or Harry, occasionally “Har” which sat badly with me; is it “Hahr” or “Hair” — when people used to shorten my name online as “Kar” I had the same issue) and Wyn (we have a hotel here called Wyndham, so that was a terrible choice for a character name, lol) have been dating for years, even though at first their friend group was terrified that it would break everyone up if the relationship didn’t work out. But then it helped Parth and Sabrina to become a couple, and when Cleo added Kimmy, it became the six of them. Life goes on, however, and things change, as much as these old friends resist it. And that is the crux of much of the novel.
What drove me nuts about this novel is how much miscommunication there was. I know that’s kind of the point, but not just talking to one another is one of my least favorite tropes in romance. It drives me batty. Both Harriet and Wyn operate on assumptions, both that neither deserves or is good enough for the other. You’d think that at least Harriet would have recognized that she’s doing it, considering that she gets annoyed when Wyn is self-deprecating. Also I felt it was a little weird how wedded some of the friends were to keeping everything the same all the time. I supposed I have a different perspective, since I have moved so often and I don’t have a friend group like this. Even my college friends have scattered to the four winds.
I am so glad that Harriet finally decided to do what was best for her, but this was not a very satisfying book for me. Your mileage may vary....more
I learned to read when I was 3, and I’ve been reading voraciously ever since. I am never without a book; there is not a moment of the day when I’m betI learned to read when I was 3, and I’ve been reading voraciously ever since. I am never without a book; there is not a moment of the day when I’m between reads. I’m also an enthusiastic patron of my local indie bookstore, so much so that they have asked me to host author events at their store.
So you would think this book would excite me. Sadly, it did not. For one thing, the writing isn’t even any good. I don’t know how these essays were collected, but they can’t have all been written by the people they depict because they all sound the same. There are few individual voices to be found. Everyone also has the same purpose to being a bookseller/librarian, to share the love of reading with others and the next generation, and it’s expressed in much the same way in every essay.
Almost every essay starts with an event in the past, but it’s written in present tense (“I’m 9 years old, and my mother and I are perusing the shelves at the local library when…” “Now I’m 50 and have been working as a librarian since I was a page at 14,” to give an example). It’s very jarring to begin the essay thinking that it’s happening “now” when in reality it was decades ago.
There are so many booksellers that work at Barnes & Noble represented, which is a little disheartening. I would have preferred more essays by those who work at independent bookstores, or even used bookstores. And too often a bookseller would mention that someone came in looking for the latest James Patterson, or that they just knew the customer would love this James Patterson novel. It feels a little self-serving. James Patterson really doesn’t need the extra publicity. Even non-readers know who he is.
This book would have been much stronger had it features far fewer essays, and had the essays been more in-depth. As it is, we barely get a taste of each bookstore/library before we move on to the next. The only chapters I really remember anything from, and even then the essays were superficial, were the ones from the bookstores I’ve been to (Page 158 in Wake Forest, NC, and Inisfree Bookstore in Meredith, NH)....more
I’ve long been fascinated by folks in cults. As someone who isn’t even religious, it befuddles me that people can listen to someone say a thing and haI’ve long been fascinated by folks in cults. As someone who isn’t even religious, it befuddles me that people can listen to someone say a thing and have it rule their entire lives. I knew I would be interested in this book but I admit that I had a hard time wanting to pick it up. The Westboro Baptist Church spew some of the most vile slogans ever created, and their picketing of soldiers’ funerals and signs that feature the f-slur is despicable.
Phelps-Roper does an excellent job of explaining why the members of that “church” believe the way they do. I admit it is hard to comprehend that her grandfather fought for civil rights over decades, yet then turned around and lost all empathy for people he felt were sinning against God. They really did feel they had the right to rebuke anyone that wasn’t living God’s truth, the way the WBC interpreted it.
But then Phelps-Roper begins to question everything she has known. The way WBC interprets the Bible and its verses — is it truly the only correct interpretation? (Amusingly enough, the King James Version is the one the WBC prefers, a version commissioned by King James to get the church off his back for being so open about his boyfriend and their relationship.) Is rebuking sinners truly the best way to get them to see the errors of their ways? Could there be something better, a kinder way?
Phelps-Roper is clearly a very intelligent and highly empathetic person, something she must have had to repress during her years on Twitter defending the WBC. Throughout this book, she is racked with torment for the pain she and her church have caused, and she still hopes her family will find their way away from the strictures of the WBC.
This book reminds me that every group, even those as despicable as the WBC, is made up of individual people. People who may be brainwashed, who may have been taught their entire lives that what they do is acceptable and right, people who truly believe they’re on the right side. It would behoove us all to remember that. ...more
I will agree with several other reviewers that mention that this book is more about why the author reads, and less about why people as a whole read. BI will agree with several other reviewers that mention that this book is more about why the author reads, and less about why people as a whole read. But because a lot of Reed’s reasons for reading mirror my own, I quite enjoyed this book. In fact, I screenshot two pages of the book to share with my bookseller friend, lol. He also laughed.
That said, this book doesn’t really have a purpose other than to exist as a collection of anecdotes as to why reading is so important to Reed, not only for herself but also as a college professor. I love that she taught preschool and now teaches college; those are such disparate skills and most folks don’t go from one to the other. I also appreciate that she teaches very diverse novels, not just the same old dead white male authors that have been taught since time immemorial, and even teaches a class in contemporary fiction. I adored the chapter describing how she decided to teach Lincoln in the Bardo without reading it first, and how she and her students managed to decipher what was going on together. I would have loved to have been in that class. I quite loved that book, but I’m sure I would have understood it much better had I had others to discuss it with.
The one small issue I had with this book is I didn’t love all the footnotes. A few would have been find, but most chapters had at least half a dozen. I found them a little distracting....more
I always love a good Mrs Pollifax novel, and this is no exception. A bonus to reading books a little bit in the past is that it encourages me to learnI always love a good Mrs Pollifax novel, and this is no exception. A bonus to reading books a little bit in the past is that it encourages me to learn about how the world was different back then. Earlier Mrs Pollifax novels have her behind the Iron Curtain, which was familiar to me from my childhood. But now in 2024, nations in Africa look different than they did 50 years ago. In this book, Zambia has achieved independence, but its southern neighbor, now known as Zimbabwe, was still Rhodesia and an apartheid nation. To be honest, I had no idea that apartheid as an official system existed outside of South Africa, so I learned several things reading this book.
But Mrs Pollifax is always good for a good rollicking adventure, and now there seems to be love on her horizon! ...more
When I was in college, I dated a guy who had been born in Iran in 1975. His father saw the way his country was going, and sent his wife, their eldest When I was in college, I dated a guy who had been born in Iran in 1975. His father saw the way his country was going, and sent his wife, their eldest son, and my ex-boyfriend S to Canada when S was still a baby. Eventually S made his way to the US and bought a condo where he, his stepmom, and his two brothers (the younger being his half-brother) lived. While we were dating, he would tell me about Iran, as his father spent half the year there on business, and I was lucky enough to be introduced to delicious Persian food. We did talk about the revolution, but I didn’t really press him on whether he lost any family members.
So reading a book about a young boy who moves to Canada and then the US from Iran, right around the time my ex had done the same, resonated with me. I’m just a little younger than Reza in this book, but I vividly remember the AIDS crisis. I remember when Magic Johnson was diagnosed and some of his fellow basketball players didn’t want to play against him for fear he would “contaminate” them. I remember hearing about nurses that didn’t want to treat AIDS patients. I remember hearing that sex was a death sentence for gay men. And then I watched the show Pose when it came out, and it was all so familiar.
I am glad books like this exist. Queer people have been through such trauma over the centuries, culminating in a health crisis that was ignored for many years by our government simply because people felt gay men deserved to die simply because they loved other men. I cannot wrap my brain around being a fun-loving gay man in the 1970s, perhaps having lots of casual sex because at least you can’t get anyone pregnant, and within a decade that fun sex now leads to directly to death. And all you see around you is death and dying, so many of your friends, your brothers, your ex-lovers, your chosen family. It’s important to remember that this happened, that we lost an entire generations of gay men that we didn’t have to bury, that those who survived have huge holes in their lives and their hearts.
But I am also glad that there a lot of books on queer joy now, stories where people find their person, their absolute love, and they can express that joy and celebrate that love. It’s important to tell the traumatic stories, but just as important to celebrate the joy....more
I put a hold on this book a long time ago, and kept putting it off. I nearly canceled my hold, but then I saw the blurb again and I figured I should gI put a hold on this book a long time ago, and kept putting it off. I nearly canceled my hold, but then I saw the blurb again and I figured I should give it a chance. I’m not sure if that was my best decision.
It’s not that this book was bad. It’s not. It’s just not really for me, which makes me sad because it has so much potential.
I totally get where Lizzie is coming from. My own biological mother was also an alcoholic narcissist, but fortunately my father got me out of her clutches before she could do *too* much damage. But the self-flagellation goes just a little too far with Lizzie. She’s constantly doubting herself, her friends, her feelings for Cara, Cara’s feelings for her, and it just ends up to be this huge mishmash of misunderstood feelings. Her deep-seated sense of unworthiness becomes really hard to take after the first ten times. I just wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. And that’s coming from a person who constantly feels as though she’s a burden on all around her. At least I’m working on that.
My other issue with this book is that James and Cara’s mother is a little too Disney-villain-esque, especially in the scene where everything comes to a head. Her attitude was just too entitled to be believed, and in my experiences, if someone is raised in that sort of environment, they are just as bad if not worse than their parents.
I will say that the meet-cute is very cute, and I love that they got their happily ever after in so many ways. It’s just the rest of the book which became somewhat problematic to me. ...more
Kate Quinn is a must-read novelist for me. While I didn’t love her earlier work on the Roman era, her later books taking place in mid-century America Kate Quinn is a must-read novelist for me. While I didn’t love her earlier work on the Roman era, her later books taking place in mid-century America have all captivated me. My favorite of hers has long been The Huntress, but this may very well have superseded it.
It’s 1950 at the Briarwood, a boardinghouse in Foggy Bottom, DC, that is home to a very disparate group of women. But once Grace March arrives with her Iowa drawl and her sun tea, she begins to bring the women together in friendship. Each chapter is devoted to one of the women, from the British Fliss whose husband is away serving as a doctor in the Korean War and who struggles to find meaning in being a mother (as society tell her she should), to Bea, a former player for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League who still aches to get out on the diamond, to Reka, an older Hungarian woman who had escaped Hitler but found very little welcome here in the US, to Claire, who barely survived the Depression and who dreams of owning her own little house one day. Even the kids of the landlady, Pete and Lina, become important side characters in their own right, as well as the house itself. But what holds them all together is Grace’s Thursday night dinners in her room, and the murders that happen four years later.
Initially I wasn’t sure what to think about this book. It feels like a bit of a slow start, but once you learn the characters and that each will get to tell their own tale directly to the reader, the pages really do start to fly under the reader’s fingers. Quinn has an uncanny talent to be able to make her characters feel so real that they could be your neighbors next door, adding to the vividness of her writing. I very nearly felt like I was part of the Briar Club, with all those differing personalities become a cohesive group of friends. I also very much appreciate how these women took both Pete and Lina under their wings; kids with harsh parents like Mrs Nilsson need as many positive influences in their lives as they can get.
This is certainly a bit of a departure for Quinn, not being about Nazi hunters but instead about the love and friendship women have for one another, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. ...more
Hmmm. Initially I wanted to give this book four stars, but now that I’m thinking about it I think I’ll go with three.
While this book had me turning pHmmm. Initially I wanted to give this book four stars, but now that I’m thinking about it I think I’ll go with three.
While this book had me turning pages like mad (I’d sit down and be able to read something like 50 pages in half an hour), aspects of the novel had me frustrated. I didn’t love the back and forth timeline, between the “now” just days before Bridget’s wedding, and chapters that were two, three, and four summers ago. I realize that the author was setting up *why* this summer would be different, but it just frustrated me because I wanted to know why Bridget was being so evasive. I also felt Bridget was being a bit selfish; I understand getting your bestie to come to you when you’re freaking out over a huge decision, but you also need to not string along said bestie for days without telling her what’s going on when she has a huge contract on the line *and* she needs to do the flowers for your wedding.
I also found the best friendship between Bridget and Lucy a little problematic. Finally Bridget tells Lucy she can’t be her everything, but that should have been established a long time ago. I get that these women are super close, but Lucy seems quite dependent on her. That said, I may just not understand that sort of thing, never having had that kind of best friendship.
For me, the slow burn, the “will they end up in a real relationship or won’t they,” was drawn out way too long. I would have preferred for that to have happened at maybe the halfway point, instead of nearly to the end.
But there are things that I really loved about this book. I loved that it was set in PEI, and it really cemented my desire to visit one day. I have always loved the Anne of Green Gables books, and I loved that Fortune sprinkled some quotes from the books throughout this novel. I loved that Felix was such a reader, and that he loved Jane Austen novels. I really loved that Lucy really worked on herself, on being happy with herself and not because she was with either Felix or Bridget, because loving yourself, being confident in yourself, helps you be a better friend and partner.
I’m not sorry I read this book, but I just wish it was a little bit better....more
A few years ago I happened upon the documentary Crip Camp on Netflix. I really had no idea that the Americans with Disabilities Act wasn't signed intoA few years ago I happened upon the documentary Crip Camp on Netflix. I really had no idea that the Americans with Disabilities Act wasn't signed into law until 1990. I had just always assumed that the (somewhat) accessible world I knew, with wheelchair ramps and closed captioning and elevators, was the norm. It wasn’t until I saw Crip Camp that I knew otherwise, and how disabled people aren’t considered full citizens in most of American society.
It’s infuriating that Heumann wasn’t allowed to go to school because the administration considered her a fire hazard. It’s mind-blowing to think about how many obstacles have been put in her way just to exist. She could easily have given up and gone along with the status quo, but Heumann refused. Instead she and her fellow disability activists made a whole lot of noise, taking over the federal building in San Francisco, and forced change.
Not all heroes wear capes.
If one gets anything from this book, I hope they realize how this world doesn’t really want to accommodate differently-abled people, and how easily the regulations that Heumann and her colleagues fought for can be diluted and watered down. We shouldn’t be moving backward....more
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