#20 [2026/CBR18] West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

I read West With Giraffes (2021) by Lynda Rutledge because it was chosen by my book club. After reading some pretty bad books, we've made up a loose rule that you need to have read the book before nominating it for book club. Well, it didn't happen this time. The husband of one of our book clubbers said it would be a good book for us. I think the majority of us would agree that it was not. I think I was most frustrated at what it could have been.

It is the midst of the Great Depression. Woodrow Wilson Nickel (Woody) lost his family in the Dust Bowl in Texas. He made his way up to New York City to live with his unfriendly cousin. But then a raging hurricane came through, killing his cousin. Woody is hurt, and has just figured out he's on his own, when he sees the giraffes on the dock. One of the giraffes is hurt as well. Woody learns the giraffes are going to be trucked across the country to the San Diego Zoo. Woody decides to follow them to California, the land where dreams come true.

Eventually Woody ingratiates himself with the "old man" in charge of transferring the giraffes, and he becomes the driver. They have many adventures, including being followed by a young woman Woody calls "Red" who says she is taking pictures for Life magazine. Woody is enamored with Red, and she is a pretty large part of the story.

This story is told from far in the future when Woody is over one hundred years old and about to die in a nursing home. He is desperately writing down this story from his childhood. He wants it to get to someone. I think this is supposed to make the story more meaningful, but it didn't do much for me.

I found this book occasionally interesting, and I like that the author was trying to bring awareness and appreciation for the animals that we are constantly losing through habitat destruction and climate change. In addition, it is true that two giraffes were trucked across the country after surviving a hurricane, which was the inspiration for Rutledge's story. Finally, Rutledge touches on real aspects of The Dust Bowl, how it was affecting people, and how desperate it was. 

However, reading this book was primarily a frustrating experience. I often found the descriptions lacking, and many of the events seemed unbelievable. I never had a good idea of what the truck looked like or how it worked. The situations they got in felt absurd and impossible. Both people and animals acted and reacted in ways that did not make sense to me. I often felt physics was not being taken into account in many of these situations.

For example, the old man has a hand that is so mutilated he cannot drive. But when the giraffe starts choking on a hat, he grabs a hose and climbs up the side of the truck. That's problematic enough because that would be challenging with two good hands. But then he sticks the hose down the giraffe's throat and the hat comes back up??? I don't see how waterboarding a giraffe is going to help a choking situation. And even if that was somewhat possible, I imagine you'd need some pretty intense water pressure to do anything--although that pressure is going down on the hat, so I still don't see how it would work. 

In addition, as far as I can tell from the internet, giraffes do not "caterwaul." The most I could find is something that sounded kind of like a growl when a mother giraffe was fighting with lions over its baby. I could go on for quite a while with things that were unrealistic or not described well enough to feel realistic. Red's car bumped the big giraffe truck at 5 mph, and suddenly the truck is leaning over the edge of a cliff. Later, Red somehow uses her car to keep the truck from tipping over in a flood. I had no understanding of how these things were physically happening.

I was also disappointed in the ending. Red was a pioneering woman who traveled across the country on her own. Except that we got no actual details of her journey. And in the end, she loses all of her pictures in a flood, she's pregnant, and she very quickly dies of heart problems. What a lame journey for her character. Even Woody is frustrating. He finally gets the giraffes to San Diego, but he doesn't even see them settled. Instead he steals another motorcycle and is forced into the army. This book has thousands of positive Amazon reviews, and many people enjoyed it, including my friend's husband. But I cannot recommend it.

#53 [2025/CBR17] Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I've already read a couple of books by Taylor Jenkins Reid and generally liked them, but I think Atmosphere (2025) is my favorite (so far). I first saw Atmosphere on NPR's Favorite books, and then my book club started talking about it too, which is why I picked it up.

Atmosphere takes place in the early 1980's at the NASA space shuttle program. We follow the women who are in NASA's second class of astronauts to ever allow women. Joan Goodwin is an Astronomer unhappily teaching introductory classes to spoiled Freshman when she hears that NASA has opened up applications for women. After not making it her first try, she tries again the next year and is accepted. 

The book jumps back and forth between 1981--following Joan when she first comes to NASA and her ensuing training, and 1984--when Joan is in the control room for a space shuttle mission. Both story lines are compelling. 

***SPOILERS***Atmosphere contains themes of women in male-dominated spaces, the excitement of space flight, and family, but it is more than anything a love story. Joan meets a fellow woman in her class, Vanessa Ford. Joan admires Vanessa, and the two become friends. There is romantic tension there from the beginning but Joan is pretty shut down sexually, not understanding why people make such a big deal of kissing and sex. She hasn't even considered that she might not have been with the right person.

The blossoming of the relationship between Joan and Vanessa is very sweet and feels real, but it comes with its own problems. NASA did not allow gay and lesbian people in its astronaut corps. They had to keep their relationship secret, and both felt their job threatened by suspicions of their love.

Back in 1984, the shuttle is up in space and something goes drastically wrong. Joan is the astronaut in the control room in charge of communicating with the astronauts on the shuttle. Most of the astronauts on the shuttle were in her class, and she is good friends with them. The tension is high. But as I read the book, I began to understand the depth of the relationship between Joan and Vanessa. And Vanessa is on that shuttle, too.

Joan is talking to the love of her life for what she thinks might be the last time. Hundreds of people are listening, and she can't let the true nature of their relationship show. I have to tell you that I was really crying for a good chunk of the end of the book. I had become attached to the characters and the story, and the circumstances were heartbreaking. ***END SPOILERS***

I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked the main characters, their relationships, the excitement of a trip on a space shuttle, and the details of their training. It almost felt like this book was written for me. Strongly recommended.

P.S. Joan was a lover of the stars, even saying she was lucky to go to Joshua Tree National Park as a child to see them. I happened to be in Joshua Tree while I was reading this book. I tried to appreciate the stars like Joan did, and they did look cool. However, I am too ignorant, and I don't know what I'm looking at. I tend to lose interest quickly.

#37 [2025/CBR17] The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes

CBR17Bingo: "B"

I first thought that The Boxcar Librarian (2025) by Brianna Labuskes might be a good present for my mother, since she was a librarian herself. But I wouldn't give any book to my mother that I wasn't willing to read myself, so I put a hold on it at the library. 

This book takes place around the Depression Era of the 1930's, and the story follows three different women whose lives are unexpectedly intertwined: Millie, Alice, and Colette. Millie grew up on her aunt and uncle's farm, helping to take care of the kids. In the middle of the depression, Millie left because she felt like she was too much of a strain on their resources. She ended up in Washington, D.C., working at the Works Progress Administration. Millie was an outcast amongst the other women in her boarding house, but she was able to send some money back to her aunt and uncle.

When Millie stands up to a nepobaby who is sexually assaulting another female employee, the nepobaby promises to get Millie fired. Millie's boss is very cool, and in order to protect her, she sends Millie out to Montana to oversee the creation of a travel book for the area. Much of the work had been done, but then it disappeared. Everyone was pointing fingers, and the boss needed someone smart and independent to figure out what was really going on.

Alice lives in the small town in Montana where Millie is sent, but her story begins before Millie ever arrives. Alice is the daughter of the town mogul. She lives a very comfortable existence except that she was a sickly child and her father shelters her to the extreme. She isn't able to do anything on her own, but she does work at the small library in town. At some point, Alice decides to create a library on the Copper Mine train that would travel from small camp to camp in order to provide books for the miners and their families. She gets the money together, and talks the mine owner into donating one of his cars for the project.

Colette is the daughter of a mine worker in one of those towns. Her father loves Shakespeare and has many books, so Colette is very well read. Her father is also very active in trying to unionize the mine workers, which is always met with increasing violence. When Colette's father is murdered in front of her, Colette is lost. Eventually she makes her way into town and applies for the job as the boxcar librarian.

As the book continues, we learn more about the characters and how their stories intertwine. Coming into this book, I did not know anything about the Works Progress Administration, but it turns out it was a real thing--the government creating jobs for those in need. Although this book isn't one of my favorites of the year, I thought it was well-written and interesting. Worth reading if you're interested in the material.

#7 [2025/CBR17] The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Women (2024) is now the third book I've read by Kristin Hannah. I started with The Great Alone, which I loved. Then I moved on to The Nightingale, which I'd seen on countless 'best of' lists. There were some good things about The Nightingale, but on the whole, I was disappointed with it. So, it was with just a little bit of trepidation that I started The Women. Fortunately, I thought The Women was a very good book. I would put it behind The Great Alone, but significantly ahead of The Nightingale.

The Women follows Frances "Frankie" McGrath as she becomes an army nurse in Vietnam. Frankie grew up in a very privileged home on Coronado Island in San Diego. After her beloved brother graduates from the Naval Academy and goes to Vietnam, Frankie decides that she wants to go there as well. Unfortunately, shortly after her decision, her family is informed that Frankie's brother was killed in action. Frankie's parents do not want her going to Vietnam, and she is struggling with grief over her brother's death, but it's too late.

The first half of the book is all about Frankie's experiences in Vietnam. Her culture shock when she arrives, and the noise, bombardment, and violent injuries she sees all deeply affect her. This book really dives into the violence that Frankie sees and the dangers she faces, as well as how everyone there dealt with the stress. Frankie goes from a FNG ("fucking new guy") with no practical skills to a dedicated and talented surgical nurse. She eventually becomes best friends with her roommates, Ethel and Barb. Frankie also falls for a couple men while she's out there: Jamie and Rye. After two tours, and after Ethel and Barb have already been home for some time, Frankie finally goes home herself.

The second half of the book is Frankie's life after Vietnam. Coming home after two years of unending violence and destruction is as much of a culture shock as first arriving in Vietnam was. I think Hannah did a very good job describing how hard these transitions were. When she comes home, the war is already very unpopular, and that is often taken out on those who were over there. Even at the airport, she is verbally attacked and refused taxi rides. But when she arrives home, the reaction from her parents is even worse. As Frankie tries to digest everything she's been through, her parents want to pretend it never happened. In fact, her father had told everyone that Frankie had been studying abroad in Florence this whole time.

Suddenly, Frankie is struggling with nightmares, flashbacks, and inexplicable anger. Time and again, Ethel and Barb come to Frankie's aid--helping her find some semblance of a normal life. Twice, in desperation, Frankie goes to the VA hospital seeking some kind of help, but she and her problems are abruptly dismissed. She is told "there are no women in Vietnam" and that she wasn't in combat, so she needs to solve her own problems. This was so frustrating to read because it was so obvious that Frankie desperately needed help.

Eventually things come to a head, and Frankie is able to go to an in-patient clinic for addiction. There she is finally treated for PTSD, and she is able to make some progress.

Like I said above, I did enjoy this book. Frankie was a complex, often troubled character, and I wanted the best for her. The book was easy to read and very much a page turner. I read the entire last third of the book one morning when I had plenty of other things to do. I also really appreciate that Hannah focused on the women in the Vietnam war, as they are often overlooked. I thought Hannah did a very good job with Frankie's struggles as she joined the war and then tried to get away from it.

Like The Nightingale, there were a lot of coincidences and somewhat unbelievable aspects to this story. It's something I probably paid more attention to after reading The Nightingale. These coincidences/storylines made the story dramatic, but were often just on the edge of being too much--maybe even spilling over to make the story less believable. For instance, Frankie learns of her brother's death the moment that she is telling her mother that she has enlisted. In addition, many people die in Frankie's arms, and they all seem to survive the exact amount of time it takes for Hannah to describe them. Finally, Frankie just happens to run into a man in three different places across the country because he might just be the next love interest. There are some others that would get into some bigger spoilers, so I will leave it at that. However, even though I noticed some of these unlikely coincidences, this book was still moving and informative. Recommended.

#5 [2025/CBR17] Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

We chose Mastering the Art of French Murder (2023) by Colleen Cambridge for our next book club book. A young American woman who lives in Paris after World War II solves a murder with the help of her friend, Julia Child. I had never heard of this mystery novel before and wasn't too sure what to expect from it. I enjoy the occasional mysteries, and I like The Great British Baking Show, but I'm not much into cooking. I wasn't sure how I felt about reading about cooking--and/or how the mystery and cooking elements would mesh. But in the end, it was a fun, interesting book. The characters were likeable, and the story was often suspenseful. Apparently, this novel was the beginning of a trilogy, and I think I'll be reading the second book on my upcoming vacation.

Tabitha Knight moved to Paris to live with her grandfather after World War II. She grew up in Detroit, and during the war she'd fixed airplanes. However, since the war, Tabitha had been pushed out of her job by the returning servicemen, and she'd become disenchanted with her options. So she traveled to Paris, where she helps take care of her grandfather and his companion, whom she calls Oncle Rafe. Because of her French mother and grandmother, Tabitha speaks French fluently and sometimes tutors other Americans in Paris.

Tabitha first met Julia Child at the market, and they've become good friends. I only know Meryl Streep's version of Julia Child from Julie and Julia, and the book describes her in a very similar fashion. She seems delightful. Anyway, Julia, her husband Paul, and Julia's sister Dorothy all live together across the way from Tabitha's grandfather. One day, after a late theater party with Dorothy's friends at the Child flat, the body of a young woman who had been at the party, is discovered in the basement. She'd been stabbed to death with one of Julia Child's cooking knives. And Tabitha's name and number is discovered in her coat.

Tabitha's father was a detective, and her natural curiosity gets the better of her as she begins to nose around the case. The French inspector, M. Merveille does not appreciate her intrusions, and the two have an interesting dynamic throughout the book. Tabitha often finds herself in danger as she discovers clue after clue. There are a series of very lucky coincidences that allow Tabitha to solve the case, but the book acknowledges these with throwbacks to all the mystery novels Tabitha loved to read as a child.

In the end, the conclusion of the mystery was a little bit of a let down. But because the book itself was fun and sometimes suspenseful, it was easy to overlook the details of the murders. Recommended.

#26 [2024/CBR16] This Other Eden by Paul Harding

This Other Eden (2023) by Paul Harding is another book that I picked up because it was one of Barack Obama's favorites of the year. Harding tells the story of a small group of people, some of them mixed-race, who lived on a tiny, rugged island (Apple Island) off the coast of Maine in 1911. 

The largest family was the Honey family. Esther and her son, as well as her son's three children all live together. It is a hard existence, but they generally have what they need to survive. Benjamin Honey, a formerly enslaved man, and his Irish wife Patience settled the island in the late 1700's. They made it through storms and hardships, and Esther and the kids are still there.

Zachary Hand to God Proverbs is also an island inhabitant. He is an old hermit who lives in a hollowed out tree stump, and he spends his time carving out scenes from the Bible. Although he comes across as pretty crazy most days, he is aware of what is going on and can be protective of the other island inhabitants. The McDermott sisters live together in what used to be a boat with three orphans they are raising. Finally, there is the Lark family--made up of a brother and sister and their four ghostly  children. These kids have various disabilities, most likely stemming from the incest, and they often spend nights roaming about the island looking for food.

Matthew Diamond is a white missionary and school teacher who comes to the island during the summer to teach the children. As noble as this is, he keeps himself at arms distance from the kids, and often wrestles with his own disgust of them. When a committee from the mainland comes to the island, it is Matthew Diamond who tours them about, urging its citizens to comply with their requests. 

We know what's going to happen way before it does, and it was something I was dreading as I read. The citizens, with mixed motives, decide to evict all the inhabitants of the island. The professed reason for this is health concerns, but racism and greed played a stronger role in their decision. Matthew Diamond, who led the committee to the island in the first place does try to slow them down, but he has no more influence. He does manage to get one of Esther's grandchildren, Ethan, a very talented, artistic teenager who could pass for white, to leave the island in order to study art at a friend's farm.

Ethan Honey is alone and lonely at the farm, but he's progressing very well with books and art supplies that he's never had access to before. Ethan and the Irish maid, Bridget, a very lonely young woman herself, find each other. But when she realizes he's black, everything falls apart and Ethan is forced to run away. We never find out what happened to Ethan, but by that time we know he won't even be able to find his family anymore.

The eviction of the island inhabitants, who had lived their for generations, was very difficult to read about. The people with the power were so sure of their rightness that they did not stop to think about the island inhabitants as people or what damage they might be doing to them. But the island wasn't a real Eden, too. The families were barely scraping by, sometimes in very poor circumstances. The Lark family, especially, was disturbing. Between the incest and the children, it certainly seemed like they needed help. Unfortunately, as it turned out, every single one of them had been better off on the island--before the interference of the outsiders.

Like many of Barack Obama's books this year, this was not especially fun to read. There are dark stories, struggling families, and deep injustice. However, it was well-written and memorable.

#13 [2023/CBR15] Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

I found Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (2022) on NPR's Best Books List under "eye-opening reads." It takes place in 1973 Montgomery, Alabama where Civil Townsend, a young black woman of relative wealth starts her first nursing job at a government-run, family planning clinic. Civil travels to a one-room shack as part of her job and meets Erica and India. Erica and India are only 13 and 11 years old. Their mother recently died, and they live in cramped and unsanitary conditions with their father and grandmother.

Civil's father is a doctor, and she grew up in town in drastically different circumstances. She is horrified by their living situation. She is also shocked that she was instructed to give the depo provera birth control shot to them when they are so young. She is even more disturbed when she learns that the depo provera shot had caused cancer in some animal studies. Civil does what she can for the family, helping them move into a government-subsidized apartment, and finding their father, Mace, a job. Civil finds herself getting closer and closer to the family. 

***SPOILERS?***

Then one day, Civil stops by the family's new apartment to find the children gone. Their grandmother tells Civil that a different nurse from the family planning clinic had taken them to the hospital in order to get their shots. Confused and alarmed, Civil hurries to the hospital to find Erica and India crying in pain at the hospital. Not given enough, if any, pain medication, they are recovering from a tubal ligation surgery.

Definitely the most emotional and disturbing part of the novel, these two young kids were dragged off to the hospital for a painful, invasive procedure that dramatically affects the rest of their lives. It was horrifying. 

The rest of the novel is Civil coming to terms with the guilt of what happened and a lawsuit against the family planning clinic and the government agencies.

***END SPOILERS***

I really wanted to like this book, and I came into it with high expectations. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The book certainly kept my interest in the beginning, as I was trying to figure out what was happening. But by the second half, the worst had happened, and I was ready for the book to be done. The characters did not feel real to me, so it lacked some emotional punch it could have had. I was also not particularly interested in Civil and her family. I wish there had been more focus on the children and what happened to them as well as what was happening around the country. Instead, there was something of a romantic triangle that felt unnecessary and Civil trying to figure out her life.

In addition, Civil found herself loving Erica and India, but I found most of their interactions kind of disturbing. She didn't question them thoroughly at all before giving them the depo shot when she first met them. She cut their hair without asking their father or grandmother. And she didn't listen, dismissing Erica's feelings, when she said she needed to get away from Montgomery. 

Halfway through, I wished I was reading a non-fiction account of what had actually happened instead of Take My Hand--because it wasn't doing much for me. I wish I could have liked this one more.

#53 [2022/CBR14] The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

I've had The Nightingale (2015) by Kristin Hannah hanging over my head for quite some time, but I never got around to it. Then my brother bought me The Great Alone--also by Kristin Hannah--one Christmas, which I eventually read, and loved. This only increased my anticipation for The Nightingale, so I had high expectations when I finally started reading it. 

There are a number of good things about this book. For a long book, it was a pretty quick read. I admire that Hannah focused this WWII story on the danger and privations women faced during the war. On the other hand, I was disappointed with this novel. I thought the characters were much better developed and the story more focused in The Great Alone. The Nightingale had too much going on, but not enough detail to keep it grounded and feeling real. I felt like Hannah shoehorned her characters' storylines into the plot of the war, and it didn't feel natural. There was not enough detail and too many coincidences. I knew something horrible was going to happen to one or both sisters, so I felt like I was just treading water until I found out what that would be.

Vianne lives with her husband and daughter in an idyllic town in the French countryside. She has barely seen her younger sister, Isabelle, since their mother's death. Vianne was very young when she married her beloved husband, Antoine, and her sister has been getting herself kicked out of various boarding schools ever since. Their father came back a broken man from WWI and his wife's early death finished off any fathering instinct left in him.

With the German invasion of France, Antoine leaves to fight, and Vianne keeps her head down, trying to protect her young daughter. Isabelle is horrified by the German occupation of France and vows to fight. Vianne ends up housing (because she has to) a German officer while Isabelle joins the French resistance. We see conditions get worse as the war begins and food gets scarce. And we continue to see conditions worsen as the war continues. Eventually, Vianne begins to house a sadistic, evil German officer, and the Germans start rounding up the Jews. Vianne does what she can to save the children while Isabelle brings downed airmen over the Pyrenees and to safety. 

I had high hopes for this book, so I was disappointed with it in the end. I wish it had been more focused instead of trying to cram so much into the storyline. There were many unrealistic coincidences, which always took me out of the story. Even though it was loosely based on a true story, it felt very unrealistic.

#47 [2022/CBR14] The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko

"He then offered one of the most infamous pronouncements that has ever been made about the Grand Canyon: 'Ours has been the first, and will doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended by nature that the Colorado River, along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed.'"

In October of this year, (2022) I was able to go on a rafting trip down the upper section of the Grand Canyon. I went with a company that had six guides and about 22 guests. The trip was amazing. The people were fun, the views were beautiful, and the whitewater was exciting. At the end of the seven days, I (and some others) hiked out of the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail while the rest of the group continued down the canyon.

In August, I got a new boss and when I mentioned my upcoming Grand Canyon trip to him, he said he had a book for me to read, and that he would loan it to me. I wasn't particularly excited because I always have a long list of books I want to read, and I didn't want someone arbitrarily adding books to my pile. However, the next day he brought in The Emerald Mile (2013) by Kevin Fedarko, and it looked interesting. By this point I was starting to get excited about my trip, so I started reading it almost immediately.

And this book was the perfect thing to read right before my trip. (I later discovered that it's on the rafting company's recommended reading list as well.) Fedarko begins the book with three rafting guides illegally sneaking a dory into the raging waters of the Grand Canyon at midnight--attempting the fastest time from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. 

Fedarko also spends a good portion of the book giving us a broader view of the area and its history. He begins with the first Europeans who saw the Grand Canyon, and then does a quick overview of John Wesley Powell's courageous and crazy trip down the Canyon. He also discusses the great rift between the environmentalists and the Bureau of Reclamation as they fought over damming the river or leaving it pristine. I had no idea that the original plan was to dam the middle of the Grand Canyon. It would have made my rafting trip impossible, and I can't even imagine it. 

But they did dam just before the Grand Canyon with the Glen Canyon Dam, and Fedarko describes what a feat of engineering and mass that it was. And then he describes how there became such a surplus of water in 1983 that it threatened the dam itself. The dam operators were letting as much water as they could go through the spillways, but the spillways were falling apart. The people rafting downriver through the Canyon (out of touch with the rest of the world) were receiving warnings about high water levels from park service helicopters. And on one of the biggest rapids on the river, boats were being torn apart and people were dying.

In the midst of all this chaos, three river rafting guides took a dory and plunged it down the (now closed) waters of the Grand Canyon, hoping to make a speed record from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. 

Perhaps because I focused on Natural Resources Law and worked for The Wilderness Society, I found the description of the fighting over the dams utterly fascinating. The rest of the book was the perfect thing to read before my trip. I learned just enough about the history, the boats, the people, and the topography to have a better understanding of where I was going.

And when I got on my trip, one of the boats in our group was a dory! And even better, a woman (recently retired) on my trip was the first permanent, female park ranger in the Grand Canyon. She worked in the Grand Canyon in the 80's and remembers the chaos that the flooding water caused in the Canyon. She said they took a trip up to the dam, and she stood on top of it and the entire thing was shaking. I was so glad I went on that trip, and I'm so glad I read The Emerald Mile before I left.

#38 [2022/CBR14] The Family Roe by Joshua Prager

There's been a lot of discussion of abortion lately--for obvious reasons. Full disclosure: I feel very strongly that the government should not force women to have unwanted children or butt into their healthcare decisions, so I was very angry about the recent Supreme Court decision. Right about that time I noticed The Family Roe: An American Story (2021) on NPR's Best Books List. I detest the machinations of politics, and will avoid most political tomes. However, besides being familiar with the Roe v. Wade opinion (I did go to law school, after all), I realized that I knew nothing about the people behind the case. I think I'd heard that the plaintiff Roe had come to regret her decision, but that's about it. The Family Roe seemed to talk more about the people involved with Roe v. Wade than the politics of it, so I figured I would give it a try.

For the most part, I found this book both informative and interesting. I guess a fair bit of politics is inevitable with this topic, but it was only really painful for me when Prager went into detail about all the restrictions put on abortion since Roe v. Wade. This book was published before the overturning of Roe v. Wade (the infuriating Supreme Court decision that shall not be named), but Prager could see where things were going, and it was depressing reading about it.

Prager details how Roe v. Wade came about as well as the lives of the people involved with the case. Being fairly ignorant of all these details, I learned a lot. In addition, Prager focuses on two people involved with the abortion rights struggle--one doctor adamantly crusading against abortions, and one who has performed countless abortions, beginning before they were legal. I did not think this book was trying to change anyone's mind. I imagine that people who already have their opinions will not be swayed in either direction by its contents.

The majority of the book focuses on the plaintiff of one of the most famous cases in America: Jane Roe. Jane Roe is actually Norma McCorvey. She was born in Louisiana and moved to Texas. She was the third generation in her family to deal with unwanted, teenage pregnancy; the inability to take care of her children; or grandparents/aunts pretending to be parents. Norma Rae had two children before she became pregnant with the child that would give us Roe v. Wade. She asked the lawyer who had helped to adopt out her second child if she could get an abortion in Texas (where it wasn't legal), and he hooked her up with Linda Coffee. Coffee was a brilliant attorney who was interested in challenging Texas's abortion ban. She was working with Sarah Weddington, a more charismatic attorney who would argue the case in front of the Supreme Court. Coffee and Weddington apparently told Norma that the court process was too slow to help her get a legal abortion, but there is some question of whether they could have helped her get an abortion out of state. However, that would make their court case moot. In any case, by the time Roe v. Wade was decided, Norma had already given birth on June 2, 1970 to the baby who would become Shelley Thornton.

Norma was a very difficult person with some definite mental health issues. She would tell a lot of stories about herself, many of which weren't true. Sarah Weddington later said, "I wish I had picked someone else." Reading the book, it was sometimes hard to keep track of Norma's relationships--as well as the lives of her three children and their subsequent relationships. It was clear that Norma was used for political points--first by the liberal, pro-choice faction. But when she was about 48, Norma became a born-again Christian, and the right went along and did the same thing. Even more problematic was that Norma was a lesbian and in a serious relationship with a woman--something that the extreme right-wing hated almost as much as abortions.

Two other prominent characters in the book were Mildred Fay Jefferson and Curtis Boyd--both doctors. Curtis saw a high school crush of his get pregnant in high school, and it ruined her life. Since then, he was always willing to help women end unwanted pregnancies--even before they were legal in Texas. Eventually, he expanded his practice to include abortions in any term of pregnancy--although the vast majority were still in the first twelve weeks. 

Mildred Fay Jefferson was an idealistic young Black woman. She was very impressive and the first Black woman to go to Harvard Medical School. Unfortunately, the combination of racism and sexism stalled her career. She turned to focusing on pro-life causes. Mildred Jefferson was a very useful and pithy mouthpiece for pro-life causes. It was Mildred's television discussion that made Ronald Reagan pro-life. Sadly, the older she got, the more off-kilter and extreme she became. She was a hoarder who couldn't pay her bills. When her husband left her she told him that "filing for divorce 'violated the rights of the children we might have had.'"

This book gave me interesting insight into the people and events surrounding Roe v. Wade. Definitely recommended for anyone with an interest in the topic.

Below are some interesting things I read that don't quite fit in the review, but I didn't want to leave out:

-Linda Coffee tried to get a job at the DA's office after law school, but women lawyers faced severe discrimination at the time. "The DA then interviewed Coffee and told her that she'd impressed him, too. But the only job he had for a woman, he said, was collecting child support from delinquent dads." (71)

-Wade--the Dallas DA named in Roe v. Wade was actually a closet, moderate liberal who was pro-choice.

-Hyde Amendment - 1 in 4 women who would have had abortions funded by Medicaid gave birth instead. (149)

-Gloria Allred used Norma McCorvey for her own interests. I did not realize that Lisa Bloom is Gloria Allred's daughter. Lisa Bloom represented Weinstein, attacking his victims, so I consider that worse.

-"Enforced motherhood is the most complete denial of a woman's right to life and liberty." Margaret Sanger 1914 (323)

-Norma talking about being on the pro-life side. "It's really a lot harder on this side because you gotta act like you care." (422)

-2/3 of abortions occur by the eighth week of pregnancy. (480)

-1/2 of the women in America who have abortions live below the federal poverty level (451) and 60% are already mothers

-Nearly all women who have abortions are glad they did.

-Single-issue politics can "lead to the election of a moron who holds the right view on abortion." (459)

Finally, I wanted to link to my favorite Youtube ObGyn discussing the overturning of Roe v. Wade because I think she is thoughtful and informative. 

#36 [2022/CBR14] The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

The Dictionary of Lost Words (2020) by Pip Williams was chosen by my book club. I began this book with high expectations. It has 4.4 stars on Amazon, and is a New York Times bestseller. The blurb stated that this book is: "[d]elightful...[a] captivating and slightly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on The Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded." Well, I love reading and words and feminist literature, so I figured this was right up my alley.

Esme is a young girl being cared for by her father, a lexicographer, who works for Mr. Murray in Oxford. Mr. Murray is the editor of the first Oxford English Dictionary, which is being created in an iron shed behind his home. They call this shed the Scriptorium, and this is where the men come together to decide which words go into the dictionary and what their definitions should be. 

Esme is entranced by words and loves the Scriptorium. She grows up among the slips of paper and the pigeon holes used to organize them. When she is not hanging about the Scriptorium, she is often taken care of by the Murrays housekeeper.

As time goes on, Esme grows older and wiser. She discovers that there are a lot of words that are being excluded from the dictionary. She starts preparing her own slips that include "indecent" language such as swear words, slang, and more feminine-driven words--hiding these in a chest. Eventually, Esme begins a formal job with the Scriptorium. She dates Gareth, a young printer whom she meets while running errands. He understands her and is very good for her. Esme lives in pretty volatile times, seeing the height of the Women's Movement as well as World War I. You would think all this would make for a dramatic and exciting novel. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

My first hint that I would be disappointed was when I glanced at the first page. The writing did not capture my interest, but I hoped it was one of those books that took a little time to get into. But things never really got better. There were pages and pages on pigeon holes and words, but the discussion on words wasn't specific enough to capture my interest. The book felt slow and repetitive.

Williams did make the point that words were kept out of the dictionary, but that's not too surprising and nothing much came of it in the end. If a bunch of old, white men create a book in the early 1900's, you'd better believe there would be a slant to it. What frustrated me the most was how passive Esme was. Sure, she collected some "inappropriate" words, but then she didn't do anything with them! She just hid them under a bed. I really wanted to see her sneak some words into the Oxford English Dictionary or make her own book, but it's Gareth that acts in the end.

Although I appreciated the idea of this novel, I was frustrated with the execution. 

#46 [2021/CBR13] The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

I had never heard of it, but when my book club chose The Island of Sea Women (2019) by Lisa See, I was excited to read it. The ones who had already read it mentioned that there was some very graphic violence, which is helpful to know if you prefer not to read that sort of thing. I'm glad my book club chose this historical novel. It was well-written and gave me a glimpse into a time and culture that I knew nothing about. Interestingly, I have read another very good book about the Japanese occupation of Korea, Pachinko, but this one felt very different.

The book takes place on the island of Jeju, just off Korea. The massive timeline follows two close friends, Mi-ja and Young-sook from the 1930's and 40's during the Japanese occupation of Korea. It continues through World War II, the Korean War, and up to current times.

Young-sook has a hard life, but she's part of a loving family. Her mother is in charge of their local Haenyeo divers' group. The Haenyeo are courageous women who free dive in the ocean, gathering food to eat and sell. It's only women who dive, stemming from some kind of tax law many years before, but it creates a small subversion of traditional gender roles. The men stay at home and take care of the children while the women provide for their family. However, women don't have much power. It's still only the boys who are sent to school.

Mi-ja is caught one day stealing food from Young-sook's family garden. Mi-ja lives nearby with her aunt and uncle who mistreat her horribly. She is not considered part of the community because her father was Japanese, and there is strong community dislike for any "collaborators" with the Japanese occupiers. But Young-sook's mother allows Mi-ja to work with them in the garden for food. She also hires Mi-ja to help out with the diving collective.

When they are old enough, both Young-sook and Mi-ja take their turn at becoming baby divers and learning the skills needed for the dangerous ocean. They grow in their skills and even travel to earn money for their families. When it is time for them to marry, Young-sook is married to an old friend of hers. Mi-ja is married to a rich man and moves to the city. The two are split up and don't talk as much anymore.

After the war, the people of Jeju are excited about independence, but instead the United States takes over occupation of the island. The United States and Koreans in power view Jeju's push for independence as pro-Communist and stamp down on them hard. There is incredible violence and destruction, tearing Young-sook and Mi-ja apart for good.

I really liked this book. I felt like I really grew with and understood Young-sook and Mi-ja. I loved learning about the extraordinary Haenyeo women. As someone who gets cold easily, I cannot even imagine spending so much time in frigid water--let alone holding my breath for that long! My one issue with the book was that it was obvious that See had done a ton of research while writing this book, but it seemed like she was intent on shoehorning all of that research into her novel whether it fit the story or not. Whenever something felt a little awkwardly placed or unbelievable that the main characters had heard or seen it, I found out later that it had actually occurred. It makes sense that See wanted to put all that incredible history into her book, but it sometimes took away from the story of Young-sook and Mi-ja.

#41 [2021/CBR13] Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

My first experience with Jennifer Egan was A Visit From the Goon Squad. I loved that book; it's one of my favorite books of all time. Well, my brother and his wife gave me Manhattan Beach (2017) by Jennifer Egan for Christmas awhile ago (probably in 2017). Even though I knew I wanted to read another Egan book, I kept putting off Manhattan Beach. I had trouble finding the time for a book I owned when there were always new library books to read. I felt kind of bad because I think my brother and his wife picked a perfect book for me. Finally, I stopped procrastinating and read it.

Once again, I am very impressed by Egan's writing. Although this book didn't capture my attention as strongly as A Visit From the Goon Squad, I was impressed by the complex story in the midst of important historical moments.

The book begins during the Great Depression in Brooklyn. Anna Kerrigan is 11 years old and she adores her father. He takes her along with him when he has to work, but this time he wants her to keep it a secret from her mother. They go out to a mansion near Manhattan Beach, where the mysterious Dexter Styles spends a long time with her father. Anna stays in the nursery with Dexter's daughter. Anna is too young to understand, but later that afternoon she shares a moment with Dexter Styles that sticks with her.

Anna has a sister, Lydia, who is crippled. Her mother was a former dancer, but she stopped in order to care for Lydia. Anna's father tries to care for Lydia, but he is unable to get over his repulsion of her abnormalities. As Anna grows up, her father distances himself from her. One day he disappears altogether.

Anna gets a job at the Brooklyn Naval Yard when she is old enough. She is patriotically helping with the war effort. Because of her intense interest, strong body, and incredible willpower, Anna is able to become the first female diver. She's entranced by her ability to experience the ocean, and pushes through the incredible sexism that she has to endure. I found this to be the most interesting part of the book.

One night at a club, Anna runs into Dexter Styles again. He doesn't remember her from when she was a little girl, but they share a kind of fascination for each other. Dexter Styles seems to be an important figure in the mob. Slowly, Anna starts gaining some idea of what might have happened to her father. Egan points out the similarities between Dexter, who held power in the mob, and Dexter's father-in-law, who was very powerful in the banking industry.

The relationship between Anna and her father was full of love, sadness, tragedy, and betrayal. And the book was full of history and interesting characters. Even though Manhattan Beach wasn't as intensely readable as A Visit From the Goon Squad, I'm glad I read it.

#32 [2021/CBR13] Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

To be honest, I think I was primarily looking for an easy, short book when I picked up Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte. I first saw it on NPR's Best Books of 2020 List. I enjoy the occasional young-adult novel, and the history of a deaf community on Martha's Vineyard was intriguing, so I picked it up. My knowledge of Martha's Vineyard is not great but I still feel some connection to it. We took a memorable family trip there with my whole family when I was a kid. I later saw Jaws, which was filmed on Martha's Vineyard, and recognized some of the locations. Finally, the whaling industry depicted in Moby Dick was very important to the area around Martha's Vineyard, and I did push myself through that novel about eight years ago. However, LeZotte shows a different side of Martha's Vineyard that I hadn't read about before.

Mary Lambert is growing up on a farm in Martha's Vineyard in 1805. She is deaf and her father is deaf, but her mother can hear. There were a large community of deaf people on the island at the time, and they'd made up their own form of sign language. Her brother George, beloved by the whole family, was recently killed in a tragic accident. Mary blames herself for this, and she thinks her mother blames her, too. Mary believes that her mother wishes that she was killed instead of her brother. There are land disputes with the native Wampanoag people as well. The settlers claim their land was "sold" to them by the Wampanoag. Mary's father generally supports the Wampanoag, but he is a minority in the settler community.

A young, ambitious scientist comes to town because he has heard of the sizable deaf community and wants to study them. He has a relation in town that gives him access to the locals. He travels about, taking soil samples and talking to families around the island. It's an awkward affair when he shows up at Mary's house. He ignores Mary and her father like they are unimportant and speaks only to her mother.

***SPOILERS***The book takes quite a turn when Mary is kidnapped by the scientist as a live "specimen" that the scientist brings back to Boston. He tells others that her parents gave him permission "to take her off their hands." He beats her and threatens her. Mary is suddenly torn from a loving family and close-knit community to a place where she can communicate with no one and most people do not even see her humanity.

Fortunately, Mary is eventually rescued and reunited with her family. Perhaps a little too easily, all the problems with her mother are repaired. ***END SPOILERS***

I was impressed by this book. It was certainly age appropriate, but I learned some things about the history of Martha's Vineyard that I didn't know. It was interesting reading a book from the point of view of a deaf character. I also thought LeZotte did a good job contrasting the dehumanizing treatment of Mary with the dehumanizing treatment of the Wampanoag.

#31 [2021/CBR13] Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

I'm pretty sure I first saw Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham on NPR's Best Books of 2019 List. Usually after a bunch of light romance novels, I can be in the mood for some more serious non-fiction. The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986 and lasted for many months afterwards. I was only seven at the time, and even as an adult I only had a vague notion of what occurred there. Besides knowing that a big disaster occurred I knew none of the details. Seeing all of the positive reviews for Midnight in Chernobyl convinced me that it was a good time to learn more.

Higginbotham wrote a very thorough, consistently interesting account of the Chernobyl disaster. Viktor Brukhanov was the director and builder of the nuclear power plant, and a rising member of the Soviet Party. Brukhanov began with nothing and built a huge powerplant with four reactors as well as the nearby town that supported the plant.

There were problems from the beginning. Brukhanov was under intense pressure to meet deadlines, even when there were supply issues. Thus, some of the original build was not up to its original design standards. Even worse, the RBMK reactor the Soviets used was not as safe as the ones used in the West. The soviets used rods to slow down the nuclear reaction, but those rods were tipped in graphite that would actually speed up the reaction. If too many rods were lowered simultaneously, it could be disastrous.

People were aware of these significant problems as early as 1983, but the nature of the Soviet Union and its nuclear program was to keep everything a secret. So, even the people working and running the plant did not learn about these potential issues until it was too late.

Higginbotham goes into great detail about the night of the explosion. During a safety test, things went out of control. There was a giant explosion that blew a gaping hole in the reactor and released an incredible amount of radiation. Firefighters located close by gamely tried to put out the fire on the roof. They were some of the most exposed. The insidious thing about radiation is that you can receive a lethal dose in just a couple of seconds, but you don't feel anything in the moment. It's only later that your body starts to fall apart. In the end, 31 plantworkers were killed and at least 100,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. In addition, radioactive fallout caused an unknown amount of cancer and serious health problems across western Russia and eastern Europe. The Soviet Union's response did not help matters. The nearby town was not evacuated for days after the explosion, and even then occupants thought they would be returning soon. The international community was also left in the dark until they demanded answers.

Higginbotham continues his description with the massive clean-up efforts, most of which had to be done with conscripted manpower. Finally, his story ends with the trials of the people "at fault." Interestingly, this did not include the designers of the faulty RBMK reactors or the failure of those in the know to tell people what risks they should watch out for.

The most challenging part of reading this book was keeping the many different Russian agencies and Soviet political parties straight. The power struggle between some of these agencies was part of the story, but it was a lot to take in for someone so unfamiliar with Russian politics. It was also sometimes hard for me to keep the many power plant workers, politicians, and regular people straight in this book. There were so many, and they all had unfamiliar (to me) names. However, I'm really glad I read this book, and I learned a lot.

P.S. The Chernobyl miniseries on HBO has been highly recommended to me, and I mean to watch it when I get the chance.

#6 [2021/CBR13] The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

My boyfriend read The Warmth of Other Suns (2010) by Isabel Wilkerson and suggested that I read it. I trust his judgment, but it didn't hurt that it was named the best book of the year by a ton of publications. It also just sounded interesting.

The Warmth of Other Suns is a non-fiction book about The Great Migration that occurred from 1915-1970. Coming into this novel, I was vaguely aware that a large number of Black Americans had moved up North after slavery ended, but that was about the limit of my knowledge. Wilkerson goes into much more detail about the numbers, the reasons, and the effects of this huge population shift on both the northern destination cities as well as the South and the people left behind. 

Wilkerson interviewed thousands of people in writing this book. One of my favorite aspects of this book was that she followed the stories of three different people who moved out of the South. They moved at different times, arrived at different places, and came from various locations and social strata. But their personal stories humanized the enormous numbers involved in the migration. Wilkerson also included enough big picture information that you could understand the context of the individual stories.

Ida Mae Gladney was probably my favorite person in the book. She left Mississippi with her husband and two kids, pregnant with a third, in the fall of 1937. They were sharecroppers under a relatively fair (for the time) white farmer, but they decided to leave after Ida Mae was threatened and a cousin was badly beaten by some white men because they thought (wrongly) that he'd stolen some turkeys. They didn't want to live under that violence and fear anymore. Ida Mae was a hard-working, sweet woman who cared deeply about her family. She met Barack Obama when he was a state senator and came and spoke to her Chicago neighborhood. I wish she had been alive to see him become President.

George Starling lived in Florida. He'd wanted to graduate from college, but his father wouldn't pay for more than one year. George found himself picking fruit in the plentiful Florida groves. But he wasn't satisfied with the bad working conditions and measly pay--especially during the war when workers were scarce and fruit prices were high. Starling and two of his friends helped to organize the pickers and request higher wages. Some days this worked, but it was dangerous to defy white people in Florida. Starling heard that men were planning on killing him, and he fled to New York City in 1945.

Robert Pershing Foster grew up in the tiny town of Monroe Alabama. His father was principal of the local school, and his mother was a teacher. His brother went on to become a doctor and Robert faced similar expectations for himself. Robert went on to marry the daughter of the President of Morehouse College, putting himself in the middle of Black high society in Atlanta. Robert felt a great need to live up to his father-in-law's expectations. Robert also could not face the constant disregard and disdain he faced in the Jim Crow South. In 1953, Robert drove across the country to Los Angeles, California to start his medical practice. Eventually he became very successful, bringing his wife and daughters to come live with him and becoming very prosperous. Ray Charles was one of his patients. Robert definitely had his demons, though. He cared very much about image, controlling his wife and nephew down to what they should wear. And he was big into gambling. I would have liked to know more about what was going on inside his head.

Wilkerson presents the migrants almost as immigrants from another country--giving up almost everything for a chance at a better life. In some ways life was better up North. They didn't have to "sir" and "ma'am" all the white people or step off the sidewalk. They also voted, and were encouraged to vote. However, there was still plenty of racism. Black people were forced to live in a very small area of the city. If they tried to live in a "white" neighborhood, they faced incredible opposition and violence. Thus, housing in Black neighborhoods was significantly more expensive and of lesser quality. 

The Warmth of Other Suns is pretty long and goes into a lot of detail, both about the individual stories of Ida Mae, George, Robert, and other migrants, as well as conditions and circumstances of the time. It is impossible to even mention everything covered in this book or do justice to it in a book review. It is much better just to read it for yourself. Highly recommended.

#3 [2021/CBR13] A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore

I began Dunmore's books with Bringing Down the Duke (2019) when NPR recommended it last year. I was very happy with it and quickly moved on to A Rogue of One's Own (2020) this year. The time, place, and characters are familiar from Bringing Down the Duke, where four women worked together for women's rights and the passage of the Married Women's Property Act. This time, Lucie is our protagonist. She's very dedicated to the cause and has been estranged from her family for over ten years. Fortunately, she has a small amount of money that allows her some comfort and independence. She shares a small duplex with a widow for the sake of appearances.

Tristan is the rogue of the story. He's been familiar with Lucie since they were kids because Tristan's and Lucie's mothers were good friends. They both spent summers on her family's estate. However, they never got along. Tristan hounded Lucie with pranks throughout their childhood, and she still resents him. Tristan has now grown up, spent some time in the army (after being forced by his father) and built himself a reputation as an incurable rake. But now Tristan's father is insisting that Tristan grow up, get married, and produce an heir.

Lucie and the suffragists have been plotting to take over a publishing company in order to publish the real data of how unhappy women can be in marriages where they hold no assets and no power. Tristan ends up buying the other half of this company because he is the anonymous writer of poetry and needs some independent income in order to get out from his father's draconian fist. This forces the two together, and Lucie is not very happy about it. 

Tristan has had a thing for Lucie since they were kids. Half in jest, he offers to let her be the majority shareholder if she sleeps with him for one night. Lucie takes him up on his offer, and they both enjoy it more than they expect--starting something of a relationship. The problems are that Lucie has no interest in marriage and losing everything she has. In addition, Tristan's father would be horrified by the match and Lucie's cousin is intent on having Tristan for herself.

This book had some good parts, but I definitely preferred Bringing Down the Duke. I didn't even like Tristan at first. He did not seem like a good person--into blackmail and indiscriminately sleeping with anyone regardless of their feelings. He also treated Lucie badly when he was younger. I wish Tristan and Lucie had bonded when they were younger, then grew apart, and then they would have more to work with when they saw each other again. It was hard to see why they liked each other at first. Once they got together, I enjoyed the book much more. However, I also wish the homosexual character had been more realistic and less of a villain.

Although this book was a little disappointing compared to Bringing Down the Duke, I'm sure I'll be reading the next book (Hattie's story) when it comes out.

#31 [2020/CBR12] "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

I first found Ta-Nehisi Coates when my friend recommended The Beautiful Struggle to me. I found it very moving and have since read every book Coates has written. I'm also using The Water Dancer for Cannonball Bingo. It is filling the "Repeat" square. I am repeating "Uncannon" since Ta-Nehisi Coates is not an old, white man.

In a story about slavery, Coates uses the words "Tasked" and "Quality" instead of slave and master. Hiram Walker is one of the Tasked. His life is relatively comfortable compared to some of the Tasked because his father is the master of Lockless--the Virginia tobacco plantation where he lives. He is put in charge of taking care of his half-brother, Maynard--a spoiled, stupid man and heir to the plantation. But there are bigger problems. The ground in that entire area has been over-farmed and productivity has decreased significantly. Tasked are being sold West to Natchez, Mississippi, tearing apart families for money as the plantations fall apart.

Hiram's mother was sold when he was a child, and he can't remember anything about her. But he's experienced a couple of strange happenings with a blue light where he ends up in a different place. We see Hiram grow up on the plantation, yearn for escape and experience capture. Hiram eventually manages a kind of freedom but devotes himself to the work of freeing others.

I wasn't sure what to expect with The Water Dancer (2019) since it was Coates's first published book of fiction. I finished it with some mixed feelings. There was some beautiful writing and some really great characters. Coates did an amazing job with the psychological toll of slavery, and it's interesting to see Hiram's changing perspective as he grows older. When he's young, Hiram wants his father's love and attention, but when he grows older he realizes that there really aren't any options for him. Hiram has shut down his feelings so much to survive that he finds it difficult to open up when he finds freedom and true friends. In addition, the dynamics between Hiram, his father, and his half-brother, Maynard were complex, hypocritical, and infuriating.

I also really liked the portrayal of the characters of Thena and Sophia. Their relationships with Hiram felt intense and real, but they also had their own struggles and needs. Finally, there were moments when Coates' quiet depictions showed the inhumanity of slavery in powerful ways that felt original.

On the other hand, I did not enjoy the magical realism elements of this novel. It was hard to get through the first chapter because I could not understand what was happening and it did not feel grounded in reality. For me, the light and conduction did not add anything to the novel. My favorite parts of the novel were the people and their relationships. It also felt random and unnecessary to put Harriet Tubman in the middle of the magical element of this narrative.

***SPOILERS***
In addition, I had a hard time understanding Corrine and her role in this book. The entire section after Hiram is jailed after his escape attempt was confusing. I thought Corrine needed more backstory to be believable as a militant abolitionist. I also had a hard time believing that she could turn her entire plantation into a hidden military post without the slightest rumor. No one in society had happened upon strange happenings at her place? There was no one who let the secret slip? Did she really need to put Hiram through the nightly hunting? She felt like an ominous, shadowy character that doesn't really make sense. I also wondered why Hiram was never blamed for driving the horse and carriage into the river in the first place.
***END SPOILERS***

I really tried to wrap my head around how the magic of conduction in the narrative could make this book more emotional and powerful. The ability to use conduction is somehow tied to water, family connection, and the stories of ancestors. A recurrent theme throughout the book is the constant breakup of families by the Quality--thus taking away the only connection the Tasked has left. So only a couple of people were able to retain the conduction and bring more people to freedom. I'm not sure if this was Coates's intention, but it is a powerful idea. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work for me. Although I was very impressed by many parts of this book, I would have preferred it without the magical realism.

#30 [2020/CBR12] "Bringing Down the Duke" by Evie Dunmore

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore was a historical romance novel that I first saw on NPR's Best Books of 2019. I've found some fun and different romance novels on this list, and I was happy to try another. And I liked this book. This was one of my favorite romance novels in awhile. It definitely fulfilled all historical romance expectations, but the female characters felt a little more realistic for their time. They weren't simply women transplanted from the 21st century back in time. It also hit a lot of strong, feminist points without being too obvious or lecturing. "What a gift this was, a room of her own." (33)

Annabelle Archer is a poor daughter of a country vicar. After her father's death, she was put under the thumb of her cousin Gilbert where she helped to care for and educate his children. With some hard work and quick thinking Annabelle procured herself a place in the first women's class at Oxford. Gilbert begrudgingly gives his permission because he believes her education might help his kids in the long run.

Annabelle has earned a scholarship to help fund her education, but in return for the money, she must support the suffragist movement and help to get the 1879 Married Women's Property Act passed. Although Annabelle knows and feels the disadvantages of her sex clearly, she is not particularly excited about going out in public and proclaiming more equal rights for women. With it comes the immediate disapproval of many around her, the possibility of scandal, the risk of getting kicked out of Oxford, or her cousin Gilbert finding out and rescinding his permission. However, after a run-in with Duke Sebastian Montgomery, she is assigned as the most likely suffragist to change his opinion.

Sebastian is a very powerful man in England and one of the queen's closest advisors. After his alcoholic father lost many of their estates and assets, he is on a driven mission to get them back and bring them back to prosperity. He has no patience for his younger brother who seems to be following in their father's footsteps. But Annabelle immediately grabs his attention. And when Annabelle finagles an invitation for her and her friends to one of his house parties, they are able to get to know each other.

Annabelle struggles with her studies, her work with the suffragists, and earning enough money to survive. Sebastian has to decide if he wants to get past his single-minded goals and have real relationships with Annabelle and his brother. I generally liked the relationship between the two leads. The Duke manages to balance the line between his autocratic character and not being too domineering. The two have a good relationship, and the book had me feeling real emotions.

I almost thought this book went on too long, but then I got into it all over again. I have Dunmore's second book, A Rogue of One's Own (2020) on hold at the library.

"She would have to cause a scene. She would have to dig in her heels and it would cause a scene, but she couldn't end up alone with this randy giant." (147)

"It felt too good to be seen. His kisses had lifted a loneliness off her she hadn't even known she carried." (178)

"Of course, facts hardly convinced people whose emotions wanted it to be otherwise." (188)

#9 [2020/CBR12] "One Day" by Gene Weingarten

I discovered One Day by Gene Weingarten on NPR's Best Books of 2019 List. It looked interesting, but I wasn't sure I had the time to read it. When I found it available at my library on audio, I decided that was the perfect solution. I'd listen to the book in my car. For me, listening to a book is a very different experience from reading it. I generally prefer reading, where I can easily glance back if I find I've stopped paying attention or want to confirm a name. Because this book consists of a number of relatively short, non-fiction stories, I was hopeful I would be able to pay attention.

Gene Weingarten is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and columnist at The Washington Post. He and a friend came up with the idea for this book. They would pick a day at random, some time between 1960 and 1990 (or something similar, I can't remember), and write a book about that day. Weingarten wanted the date far back enough in history that he could see further developments, but he didn't want it so far back that there would be nobody left to interview. He had a family in a bar pick out the numbers from a hat, and he ended up with December 28, 1986. Apparently the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's is a notoriously slow news day, but Weingarten couldn't change the date without nullifying his premise that you could find newsworthy stories at any time.

And Weingarten came up with over twenty chapters, each a story around the country that is unique, interesting, and occurred on December 28, 1986. Some of the stories involve fire, murder, and lives changed forever while others show a little glimpse of what was going on in the eighties. This includes the AIDS epidemic and the beginnings of Instant Replay in the NFL.

There can be a little bit of fudging with the date even though it is always a date with some importance. For example, once December 28, 1986 is the date of a marriage, although the real story happens some years later when that marriage is falling apart. Another time, the date is when a young girl wins a video game, but it is only later that she becomes a famous blogger. Anyway, I like the idea that there are interesting stories everywhere if you only look hard enough, and I appreciated the gimmick.

The story that most captured my attention was a true-crime tragedy that involved the murder of a 20-year-old San Diego State University student, Cara Knott. Her body was found about six a.m. by her family on a lonely freeway exit that was no longer in use. Her car, with the keys inside it, was located nearby. This one was very disturbing and stuck with me for quite awhile.

My only complaint is that a couple of times it felt like Weingarten was actually writing this book in 1986. He made a couple of comments that had me wondering if I'd heard the reader correctly. Once he stated that a famous surgeon coming to visit a hospital was very touchy-feely with the nurses and laughed it off like the surgeon was another adorable old man. Another time, ***SPOILER*** Cara Knott's murderer turned out to be a California Highway Patrolman that liked to pull blondes over on deserted highways and use his power of authority to talk and flirt with them for over an hour--sometimes petting their hair or shoulder. Weingarten called this behavior "harmless" until it led to Knott's killing. Yes, congratulations, until the murder the CHP officer did not assault anyone, but his actions were far from harmless.  And the murder was more than a misunderstanding. ***END SPOILER***

Sometimes I have problems with books of short stories because it's hard for me to keep identifying with new characters over and over again with nothing tying them together. I found all of these stories interesting, but with over twenty of them, they were hard to keep in my head or feel that they worked together. However, I liked the book, and I was consistently entertained. Recommended.