Sunday, April 3, 2022

March 2022 Books Read

 

March rolled in like a lion here in Montana and I'm not sure Mother Nature really knows what season it is.  Good thing I have books to keep me sane until it's actually spring or summer....sprummer.  That's a thing, right? It is in my world so let's get on with the reason you're here.......

*2022 Audiobook Challenge* : The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs: I am so glad I decided to do something different with my reading this year.  This audiobook challenge has been a wonderful way to remind myself of so many reasons why I fell in love with a book when I read the hard copy.  This month's book was like coming back to an old group of friends. It has to be close to 10 years since I read The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  I found the book while thrifting with my sainted sister-in-law in Denver, CO.  It was a freak find and I mostly liked it because the cover was gorgeous (remember how I'm a total sucker for good cover art?) While I listened to this book I was reminded of the quirks and endearments of each of the characters that struck me when I read it, but in the same thought process, how much more applicable they are to me 10 years later.  I was especially drawn to the ages of the women and how close they are to my actual age and how fitting their struggles are for my current chapter in life.  This book is Rated PG for difficult adult themes and some mention of sex, but nothing that blows your hair back.  Book 2 is probably a bit more PG-13, but I'll cover that in another month! 

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland: This was an intriguing coming of age book centered around a family who has a love for swimming.  I wasn't prepared for death and grieving to happen in the first 3 chapters so be prepared.  Once the family gets through the initial shock I really enjoyed the themes of moving forward, making the best with what's in front of us and stepping outside the social norms.  This book presents some really good moments to consider racism and religious inequality plus social class and how all three affect people's lives intimately.  It was really compelling and I felt like the ending did it justice and tied up nicely for me.  This book is rated PG-13 for difficult life events surrounding death and grief and sexual references.  

The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas:  Another feel-good read about a group of women who come together every week to make quilts.  It's set during the depression and is more of a day-to-day telling of the lives of women and their families in a small town in Kansas.  I loved the characters and how they were always there for each other.  I also learned that the term "Persian Pickle" is another way to refer to a paisley print.  This book is not very long so it's a good book for a lazy day at the park or on vacation.  This book is rated PG for mild adult themes, but nothing that remotely pushes it to the PG-13 level.  

The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister:  I loved this book.  It was heavy on the law and courtroom dialogue mixed with harrowing tales of a group of women who go to Alaska in attempts to find a lost expedition of men.  The plot is centered around some true events and it was a great book to listen to while driving all over the state for my job.  It is a well-written alternating POV book and bounces back and forth between the court proceedings in Boston and the day-to-day adventures of a group of women who are so uniquely different from each other, but all out there trying to overcome the last frontier.  Books like this help me remember I can also be a bad ass woman when I feel like giving up and that is why I keep reading/listening to them.  This book is rated PG 13 for some crazy recounts of women in the wild tundra of Alaska and everything that came along with it including death and near-death experiences.  

My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows:  Book number 3 in this fabulous series came at the perfect time! I needed funny and light after the previous book and this fit the bill.  This is a retelling of Mary Queen of Scot and has some vague connections to the first book, "My Lady Jane." It was also my "Green Cover Challenge" for St. Patrick's Day! I enjoyed reading this book a lot and it was still as clever as the other two books.  However, I still firmly hold "My Lady Jane" as the best book and the natural break until the next book comes out in the fall is a good thing.  The authors are so good at making the story funny and engaging, yet suspenseful.  This book is rated PG for mild adult themes.  It is also a young adult fiction book which is suitable for teens.  

Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander:  I LOVED this book! It is a historical fiction based around the real life events of an incredible woman named Josephine Napoleon Leary. Jo was one of the first black women to pave the way in real estate development in North Carolina.  It was very well written and the author did a lot of research in the women's history archives at UNC - Chapel Hill to compile her story.  I'm not afraid to claim my feminist spin on things and I ESPECIALLY love reading stories about women who are also minorities who get shit done and take names.  Jo was just that lady and I'm so glad I took the time to listen to this book.  This book is rated PG-13 for some difficult topics and relationship struggles due to alcoholism, racism and domestic altercations. 

The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich:  Ok friends...this is the book I'm not going to make friends talking about because so many of you raved about it when I shared on Facebook.  I wanted to love this book and I just didn't.  This book was choppy and didn't make a ton of sense to me.  I felt like the title alluded to more singing and how that would bring together a group of immigrants, but it didn't.  This book also made my eyes cross because the print was very small and the margins narrow.  My Aunt Holly and I talked about how we both fall in the snob category of font and margins have to be perfect or we don't read it.  Well, I suffered through this one thinking the plot would outweigh and it didn't.  This book is rated PG-13 for heavy life themes and crappy font and margin formatting.  ;o)

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict:  My last book of March was also historical fiction about a real life person.  Mileva Maric was the first wife of Albert Einstein and the main character of this book.  Mileva was a genius in her own right and a mathematician when being nerdy and female was frowned upon.  She catches the eye of Albert Einstein when they are at university and eventually get married.  You can Google the real story about the first Mrs. Einstein and read that she offered a lot of critical math equations in papers that all credit went to her husband.  Old Mr. Alby was an ass hat and I'm going to venture to say he was un-diagnosed narcissist and maybe even high functioning autism.  My raging feminist heart broke for her and I celebrated when she finally said, peace out bro, I'm done.  This book is rated PG-13 for asshat Alby and all the horrible things he put Mileva through during their marriage.

March was another good reading month in the cozy book nook.  Spring is starting to peek out and the days are getting longer so I am happier.  Reading keeps me grounded and reminds me of the many people before I was born who had to fight for the basic rights of existing as a woman with a brain who has control of her money and uterus.  

The moral of the story: Girl power hasn't always been a given.  Respect the history of women and what it mean to your life.  I know I do every single day!

Until next time, my lovelies,
-R