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
I don’t read a lot of YA books but I do love a teen drama and was a history major so Salem Mean Girls was right up my alley. Basically, a remake of the movie Mean Girls (with a dash of Heathers and Pretty Little Liars thrown in) it reimagines the story of Cady (in … Continue reading
The Potlikker Papers one of, if not the, best food history books I’ve ever read. It goes from the segregated South to the Black Panthers (did you know Bobby Seale* has a cookbook?) to Nation of Islam to hippies relocating from cities to the deep South to start communes to Paul Prudhomme to Southern Living to … Continue reading
I had mixed feelings about Agorafabulous!. On one hand, it was fascinating to read about agoraphobia, on the other I felt like she was trying too hard to be funny at times and occasionally was slightly offensive. For example, she’d refer to people’s race, sexuality or ethnicity all the time even when it didn’t matter. It … Continue reading
I requested two Louise Millar books from the library and they came in on the same day so I ended up reading them back to back. I enjoyed The Hidden Girl so I was looking forward to Accidents Happen. I was disappointed. It is basically the story of a woman who is super anxious because of … Continue reading
The Hidden Girl was a creepy mystery. A quirky and slightly mismatched couple moves from London to a big house in rural England for a fresh start. They’d like to adopt and eventually set up a music studio in an outbuilding for the husband. When they arrive the house needs much more work than they … Continue reading
Surprisingly written by a girl who GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL in 2016! It is a memoir about growing up in the Chelsea Hotel. For some reason, it was on my wishlist so I requested from my library. I have no idea when I heard of it and knew pretty much nothing about it. At first, I … Continue reading
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Mikita Brottman lives in Baltimore too and the book club she starts is right in Jessup south of the city. I always like a local connection. Each chapter focuses on a different novel or play she has the prisoners read and their reactions to it. There is also a … Continue reading
I did not love this book, at all. It wasn’t horrible; I’ve certainly read worse but it was too long, repetitive and boring. I kept reading because I was mildly interested in what happened to the mother and it was very quick reading but perhaps I should have given up. The book was very long … Continue reading
I’ve read all of Dani Shapiro’s memoirs (she has several) and so, of course, I read her latest one, Hourglass, where she reflects on her 18-year long marriage to her husband a former war reporter turned screenwriter. It is always a little weird to read so many memoirs about one person. You feel like you … Continue reading
Rachel Reads Books 