Flappers Something Something

I will try to find the title and the author of this one for you later. It was about women in the jazz age as illustrated by the life of Zelda Fitzgerald. But it wasn't a very good biography or a very good history book. It was an easy read but not very cohesive and brushed over too many important events. Also Zelda wasn't exactly an every woman- and although an icon of her time using her life to talk about the lives of all American women wasn't really effective. Better off reading the Beautiful and The Damned or The Great Gatsby. Maybe they are a little less informative but the language and emotions are powerful- really Fitzgerald at his best.

America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins

So while looking for a biography about Margret Fuller (with no luck) the librarian sent me to the Feminist/women's history shelf. I was a little surprised that I had read most of the books they had and a little disappointed they had so few. But I found this gem. It is wonderful and all of you should read it. Part way through I thought to myself this book is very good- but so far it is only a review of things I already know. And what is with the obsession with menstruation. Then I thought gee this book really needs a chapter about the Grimke sisters- what was that book I read before that had a good chapter about them? And then there was a chapter about the Grimke sisters- and then I realized this was the book I had read before. No wonder it seemed like a review of things I already knew! (This was about pg 200) I finished the book- because I really did enjoy reading it and it was just as enjoyable the second time. I know that 600 pages can seem like a lot but it is really good and just flies by. Also you can just pick it up and read the sections you find interesting- Say Andrea only wants to read about Calamity Jane's depressing real life- easy to do. I can't recommend this book highly enough. I loved it- both times I read it. I am thinking about picking it for my online book club.

Queen of the Babble by Meg Cabot

I have read two and a half books in the last 24 hours which sounds impressive until you realize this little doosy was one of them. It only took me four hours to read all 308 pages and it wasn't even nap time. I picked this up in the library because even though I hate the Princess Diaries- I did read a book by Meg Cabot I liked once ( I think it was called All American Girl- but don't quote me)- so I thought oh look she has written a book for adults and it looks light and fluffy and brainless. And it was. But fun and I look forward to checking out the sequel. I identify with the main character as she talks too much and shares more than she should. Yet in me it comes off as overbearing and turns people off- for her it leads to romance with a wealthy French/American. Hmmmm what did I do wrong?

The Rise and Fall of Alexandria Birthplace of the Modern World by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid

I loved this book. I was horrified by haw little I know about ancient history. While reading this and Justinian's Flea (which I think I already reviewed) I kept saying to Alma "did you know......" which of course he already kind of knew- stupid know it all history majors. I am still shocked at my education that this area of history was so woefully left untouched. Didn't I take a world History class in High School- how come the only thing I remember is reading All Quiet on the Western Front and my strange teacher going on and on about how in Ireland protestants wear orange and unless we were Catholic we shouldn't wear green on St Patrick's Day. How is this all I remember- and I was in the advanced class. Oh and for some inexplicable reason I left class a lot to work on some kind of poetry compilation of poetry from different historical times. I did this in place of learning anything about Greek or Roman history?!?!?!?! And why I ask you why did no one tell me about the Visigoths? Anyways the book is very informative and interesting a really worth reading and I am now a little less uninformed. I will be reading more ancient history as I hate not to be a know it all in any subject- any suggestions?

Charles Todd, Gorgette Heyer

I checked out some more Gorgette Heyer books from the library- they were great- they all kind of meld together in the mind but fun fluffy and end with the enterprising heroine kissing the rakish but deep down good bachelor no one ever thought would be caught. So predictable, so mindless, so funny, so fun. Thank you Gorgette Heyer. Also Becky and I have been debating whether she wrote in the 60's or the 20's and I did a little research and we were both right. She published her first novel in 1921 and her last in the 60s. I read her first published novel- The Black Moth and as you can tell from the title it was melodramatic and silly and involved a duke who was really a highwayman or the other way around. Just what you would expect from a 17 year old writing her first book. Thank goodness she improved with age.

I read one more Charles Todd- A Matter of Justice. Which I liked- maybe my favorite so far. I love how he is slowly slowly healing, and finding new scars over time. Just like any other shell shocked victim would. His pain and suffering are so real and compelling- for me the mystery is just the setting of his emotional story. Also Andrea and Kayli I thought you would like to know the series is written by a mother son team- interesting no?

The Mrs Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman

I know I know- Brooke and Andrea have been telling me to read these books for years- And I meant to really. I just was not a huge mystery reader (other than books supplied by Laura- ans I read those mostly because she brought them to my house and you know I am incapable of not reading a book in my house). But the Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax was this months read for my online reading group so I decided now was a good time to read this oft recommended book. I loved it. It was so different that your average book. And it wasn't really a mystery more like a spy thriller starring a slightly depressed elderly woman in a flowered hat. I loved the idea that she just walks into the CIA because she has nothing better to do with her life and she is bored. She also assumes she is expendable since she is old and she might as well die in the service of her country. She is such a likable spy! I also loved that this was published in the sixties so it is full of evil communists- cold war phobia at its best. I feel like spy novels have greatly suffered from the end of the cold war because is there a better evil doer than the devoted communist party man- be he Albanian, Cuban, Russian, or Chinese. I guess we still have the Chinese and Cubans- but it isn't the same. Mind you this is a totally uneducated opinion as I have read maybe 3 spy novels in my life- I'm just guessing. I checked out The Amazing Mrs Pollifax as well- and liked it to. I plan on reading all of these the library has.

American Priestess by Jane Fletcher Geniesse

Well the pile of books by my bed is just growing and growing and yet I rarely sit down to log them into this little blog. And even worse if they are library books they get returned far too often with out getting reviewed at all.

American Priestess; The Extraordinary Story of Anna Spafford and the American Colony in Jerusalem. This was a fascinating- and disturbing book. A Swedish immigrant who marries a wealthy and very religious man. She is in a ship wreck coming back from Europe in which all her children are killed. She returns to a religious husband (until now a quality she seemed merely to tolerate) who has lost their fortune and many others in risky investments. She finds God- in the guidance of her husband who has visions. They then lead a group of faithful to Jerusalem to await the return of Christ as for told by her husband. While in Jerusalem her husband becomes more and more distant from the group and this world. It is up to Anna to find a way to survive. She does by turning their followers, converts, and their children into slaves to run her many business enterprises in Jerusalem. Many of these converts are immigrants from Sweden who have no way to return. The first generation stayed faithful most of their lives, but the second generation denied education while her daughters received the best, made to sleep on the floor in the halls when they could rent out rooms of the mansion, forbidden to marry and have children until her daughters desire to do so as well- are much more bitter. This is a very interesting look at the workings of what I would call a cult. It definitely started out as a religious order, but as her husband lost control of the group and Anna took over there was a noticeable shift in the work and intent of the group. The author was able to interview some of the surviving records and the journals a letters of Anna and the members. It was a very interesting read.