Another book I had mixed feelings about. It was a mashup of a memoir of a woman who never married and the profiles of 5 (6?) “spinsters” throughout history that Kate Bolick found inspiring. Looking at GoodReads, it seems like a lot of people liked the historical woman part and didn’t love the memoir bits. … Continue reading
I watched Poirot since I was 9 or 10 when it premiered here on PBS and the series premiered until it ended just a few years ago. That’s roughly 2/3 of my life! One my favorite scenes was in ‘The Royal Ruby’ where Poirot shows his dining companion the best way to eat a mango. … Continue reading
Apparently, I’ll Have What She’s Having is based on a series of articles Rebbeca Harrington wrote in New York Magazine. That explains the choppiness and length of the chapters; they must have just compiled them and bound them. The premise of the book is cute, she tries various celebrity diets and reports back. Unfortunately, the … Continue reading
A Spool of Blue Thread was not my favorite Anne Tyler. I always liked Ladder of Years best, personally, although now I see the protagonist who seemed like a real, old, established adult to me when I first read it was only supposed to be 40. Oy. Living in Baltimore, I do like to read books that … Continue reading
I came across this book because the author is the father of the girl who wrote the memoir of growing up in the Chelsea. I googled her parents because I was intrigued by who would raise a girl who graduated high school in 2016 and put out a memoir shortly after. Her mom is an … Continue reading
I have read all of Nick Hornby’s books even the music essay ones and somehow it took me until now to read Funny Girl. I guess my library hiatus had more casualties than I thought. I enjoyed the beginning of the book. Barbara from Blackpool goes from being Miss Blackpool for an hour to … Continue reading
Computer problems plagued me again this week. We’ve had awful internet issues since we moved in this house in 2005 and since we live in Baltimore City we have little choice as to service providers. We finally bought a new desktop for me to work on (our old one was so noisy and … Continue reading
I think I am getting old because I spent the whole book thinking “where are your parents?”. I’ve read a couple Megan Abbott books and they are generally pretty good. YA but long, well written and a little dark. Dare Me is the story of two best friends, their cheerleading squad and the new, troubled … Continue reading
Some of the essays in Selfish were really good. Geoff Dryer’s essay was hilarious. Others were sort of sad. Lots of divorces and bad childhoods. I can’t say I related to a lot of them but it was interesting to read the reasons people had for making the same decision I made not to have … Continue reading
After reading an exhaustive history of Southern food and some pretty serious memoirs about mental illness I thought I’d go for something lighter. Oddly, The Perfect Neighbors took longer to read than all of those previous books. I have no idea why! The writing was pretty simple and the plot wasn’t terribly complex. I didn’t love the … Continue reading
Rachel Reads Books 