Category: American Women
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The Girls by Emma Cline
“I looked up because of the laughter, and kept looking because of the girls.” I had quite a struggle within myself when deciding whether I wanted to read The Girls or not. On the one hand I love reading about the sixties, the Manson murders are such a defining moment of that era and I…
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Book Club: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
My book club has been meeting for almost 3 full years now and for much of that time I’ve lobbied to get Gilead on our schedule with no success – until last month! Since this year we took turns choosing the books I knew this would finally be the year we read it (since I’d…
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Someone by Alice McDermott
At my book club’s April meeting I presented three books for the group to choose from and the overwhelming vote was for Someone by Alice McDermott – because it is quite short! However, I was pleased with the choice as this is a novel I’ve contemplated reading for quite a while now and Sunday over…
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Willa Cather Reading Week: A Lost Lady
I was so happy to read Willa Cather this week – to be back in the West, in the beautiful landscape of Nebraska, in the small railroad towns and among the pioneers who are rough yet cultured in their own way. I always feel that reading Cather is the closest I get to reading about…
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Currently
I haven’t had much time to blog lately, in fact I think this is the first time I’ve turned on my computer in almost a week. There hasn’t been anything major occupying my time, just the little tasks, chores and time-wasters of life that have eaten up my hours. And I’ve been reading a lot.…
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Pulitzer Project: The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson
In looking for a place to start with American women writers I decided the best place to begin would be to read the books from my own shelves (which I will do), however I also thought it would be interesting to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels or short story collections written by women.…
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A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor
The very first paper I wrote in college was on the story ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’. I don’t remember what I wrote, but I do remember that I attributed the story to Eudora Welty throughout the paper, earning the wrath of my professor! Thankfully, I was able to laugh it off and…
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Just Kids by Patti Smith
In 1967 Patti Smith left her childhood home in South Jersey and, with very little money, moved to New York City to make it as an artist. On one of her first days there she met Robert Mapplethorpe who would become her friend, lover and artistic booster. In Just Kids the legendary musician recounts the…
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Fin & Lady by Cathleen Schine
“Fin’s funeral suit was a year old, worn three times, already too small”. I knew I wanted to read this book when I saw that it takes place in the mid-sixties, one of my favorite time periods. I love the music, the fashion, the films and the changing social and cultural norms. Fin & Lady…
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The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford
“Ralph was ten and Molly was eight when they had scarlet fever.” When I got home from Colorado I was seized with the desire to read about the American West. Traveling through that dramatic landscape just demanded it. As much as I love reading books set in England or among the privileged in the eastern…
A Certain Fondness 