Women War Photographers in WWII and Vietnam
THE WOMEN WHO WROTE THE WAR by Nancy Sorel (1999) AND YOU DON’T BELONG HERE by Elizabeth Becker (2021) June 2021 I dedicate this month’s blog to the memory of murdered Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and to the courage of jailed Belarussian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich. Earlier this year I saw an interview with Elizabeth...
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020) May 2021 Nora Seed’s life was on a downhill trajectory. She was being professionally treated for “situational depression,” but it wasn’t really helping. She lost her job and her only paying piano student, so had no income. Her best friend was 10,000 miles away in Australia. Her brother, upset over her...
LITTLE BOY by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
LITTLE BOY by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2019) April 2021 Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti, perhaps the best-known American bookstore owner/publisher of the second half of the 20th Century, died on February 22, 2021 at the age of 101. He was also a poet, novelist, artist, iconoclast, WWII veteran, self-described “dissident romantic or romantic...
Courageous Librarians
THE GIVER OF STARS by Jojo Moyes (2019) and THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK by Kim Richardson (2019) March 2021 How exciting that we have TWO BOOKS to read about this month! By some gift from the Universe, both books about the same obscure subject were published within months of each other. I’ve found no evidence that Moyes and Richardson...
HONORING BOOK WORLD PASSINGS
HONORING BOOK WORLD PASSINGS February 2021 This month I’m deviating from my usual book review to honor two special people in the book world who passed away recently. One was a famous author known throughout the world. The other was a bookseller none of us here have heard of, but whose story reflects the courage and commitment sometimes needed...
BECOMING by Michelle Obama
BECOMING by Michelle Obama (2018) January 2021 Young Michelle Robinson had carefully planned her life: good education, career, home ownership, children. While she did achieve those goals, it was done in a way that she never could have imagined in her wildest dreams. In fact, her life took a path that wouldn’t even have been available to her...
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS by Jodi Picoult (2020) December 2020 We finally made it to the last month of 2020, a year that has seemed like a decade with all its changes and upheavals. As we take time to reflect upon what we did and what remains to be done before 2020 ends, we should also look ahead to contemplate what we want to accomplish in 2021. ...
The Butterfly’s Daughter
THE BUTTERFLY’S DAUGHTER by Mary Alice Monroe (2011) November 2020 It’s November! That means our beloved monarch butterflies are returning to the Pismo Beach Butterfly Grove on their annual wintering pilgrimage. Thousands of visitors come to the Grove to enjoy their beauty every year from November to February. No one can truly explain their...
Little Fires Everywhere
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng (2017) October 2020 I intended to read this very popular book long ago, but never could find a copy available when I was in the mood for it. Now, though, with monumental fires burning in the West and smoke everywhere…what could be more timely than Ng’s second book? I can tell you it was worth the wait. In...
A Long Petal of the Sea
by Isabel Allende (2020) “A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exiles, and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea shows Isabel Allende at the height of her powers.” I cannot disagree with this assessment from the cover of this book. Isabel Allende has been a popular writer for decades, and has even been named the most widely read South...
