Frankel, Laurie "Family Family"

Frankel, Laurie "Family Family" - 2024

The other members:
Becky from Sydney of Aidanvale
Kate from Melbourne of booksaremyfavoriteandbest - Family Family 
Naomi from Canada of Consumed By Ink
Rebecca from Maryland, USA of Bookish Beck - Family Family 
Kay from Washington State, USA of What? Me Read? - Family Family 

The first I read with the online group "literary Wives" that we re-named "The Marriage Plot"  since not all the books we plan to read are about wives.

As in this case. The topic is adoption.

I was wondering about the title at first. But then I got it. You have families that are just a family on paper. Then you have family that are even not an official family but the people there belong together. And that is a family family. And I think that is a good description. You certainly know families who hardly get on, who don't see each other anymore once the children moved out, but even before, they don't relate to the others. That is not a family family, that's just a bunch of people who seem to live in the same house and (sometimes) carry the same name).

In this case we have a really weird family. A woman who gets two children without being married and gives them up for adoption, to two different kind of parents, a single mother and a gay married couple. But she also adopts two kids who have been abandoned by their mother. So, we have all sorts of relationships.

The woman is an actress and plays in a film about adoption. She claims that not all adoptions are sad and that the film is not a good one. That leads to a big scandal and her adopted kids try to get the whole family together.

I think this is a good book about showing a different side of adoption, one you don't read about that often. And I know families where it worked perfectly.

There are so many different kind of characters in this book, starting with the ten year old adopted daughter up to the grandmother. Every person is so different, as they should be. And they all have a point.

You can tell that the author has experienced this in her own family. A good quote by her (in the Seattle Times):

"Adoption is always offered as this last-resort, second-best thing that you have settled for, ... there are lots of ways to make good families and lots of ways to make crappy ones ... and they are not necessarily dictated by blood and genetics." So true.

From the back cover:

''Not all stories of adoption are stories of pain and regret. Not even most of them. Why don’t we ever get that movie?'

India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward sixteen-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero.

Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do—she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie.

Soon she’s at the center of a media storm, battling accusations from the press and the paparazzi, from protesters on the right and advocates on the left. Her twin ten-year-olds know they need help–and who better to call than family? But that’s where it gets really messy because India’s not just an adoptive mother…

The one thing she knows for sure is what makes a family isn’t blood. And it isn’t love. No matter how they’re formed, the truth about family is this: it's complicated."

And here is the list of all our books.

Evans, Virginia "The Correspondent"

Evans, Virginia "The Correspondent" - 2025

This book has been on the wishlist for our German book club for ages but we first had to wait until it was published as a paperback. In August 2026, we finally managed to put it on our reading list.

I have been writing letters my whole life, I've had penfriends all over the world and when I started to learn Esperanto, it got even more. So, I expected this book to be perfect for me.

I read somewhere that It takes a little while to get settled into Sybil’s life and I totally agree. I couldn't say that the story gripped me from the first page.

However, I was never such an organized letter writer as Sybil. I don't sit down every morning, I write answers to letters I received whenever I feel like I am in the mood to respond. I think the recipient gets a better answer as if I "have to" write now and then. And I have never written to an author, maybe I should do that one day.

However, I do not neglect those people around me, I try to meet them as often as I can. Sybil seems to be more a "letters only" kind of person. What would I have to tell my friends from far away if I didn't have a "real life"?

I did enjoy the book in the end but not in the way I thought I might.

We did have a nice discussion about this novel. We are all senior citizens and thought that was probably one of the reasons why we did enjoy this book. One of our members mentioned that her daughter couldn't get into it. Maybe there is something to it.

In any case, we all agreed that we needed some time to get into all the characters. And yes, there are a lot. The German had a list at the end with all of her correspondents, a little "Who's Who?". That was not included in our English version. I wonder why? As you all know, I love lists.

I found one online though @ The Book Companion
and @ SuperSummary.

And while looking for that, I discovered that a film adaptation is planned starring Jane Fonda as Sybil Van Antwerp.

Lots and lots of books get mentioned in the novel. I will list only those that I have read myself, find the rest here on Goodreads.

Austen, Jane "Pride & Prejudice" - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
Brontë, Emily "Wuthering Heights" - 1887
Du Maurier, Daphne "Rebecca" - 1938
Gabaldon, Diana "Outlander" (UK: Cross Stich) - 1991
Hanff, Helene "84 Charing Cross Road" - 1970
Ishiguro, Kazuo "The Remains of the Day" - 1989
Johnson, Adam "The Orphan Master's Son" - 2012
Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
Rushdie, Salman "The Satanic Verses"  - 1988
Steinbeck, John "Travels with Charley" - 1962
Woolf, Virginia "To the Lighthouse" - 1927

So, eleven of forty books. But I might get to more in future.

And a quote that I agree with 100%:

"... I like president Obama. He's a wonderful speaker, I could listen to him read the phone book."

From the back cover:

"Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be 'a very small thing,' but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read."

Oates, Joyce Carol "Cardiff by the Sea"

Oates, Joyce Carol "Cardiff by the Sea" - 2020

A while ago, one of my blogger friends (Lisa from Captivated Reader) had started a buddy read (Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates). I was late to the party but still managed to join in the conversation. We enjoyed that so much that we decided to start a new one by the same author, one of our favourites (I read 18 of her so far, with this one 19, see here).

Since Lisa had this one on her TBR pile, it was an easy decision and we both embarked on this journey.

Like most of JCO's books, this is a dark and sad one but highly recommendable.

Before I start with my own review, I want to alert you to Lisa's post. I don't want to repeat everything she wrote, so if you want the full view, have a look on her page.

Unlike most of her other books, this is not one novel but four short stories and I will describe them one by one:

1. Cardiff, by the Sea

Lisa said this was a splendid piece of writing and I totally agree with her. I absolutely loved the first story. JCO makes everythings so suspenseful and you really get under the skin of the protagonists.

Clare is an adopted child who finds out things about her past that leaves her totally totally shocked and confused. I would have been so mad if things like that had been withheld from me.

I think it is good that the author didn't give an explanation about the characters and let us build up our own meaning.  

As to the characters. OMG, there were two aunts whom I could have slapped them. Actually, if I had been Clare, I would have turned back, if not right away on the first day, then definitely when I found out more.

I'm not very keen on ambiguous or open endings. Or maybe I do, as I love JCO so much. I would have liked a more clear ending. Any talks between Clare and her adoptive parents? How much did they know? 

I do believe the Gerard was the killer and would have liked that explained at the end but … it's JCO.

I do agree with a character's explanation about God, though. No, I can't believe he is loving. And even though it says so in the bible (which I have read lots of times), it also shows a lot of instances where they just declare the opposite. Still, I do believe we should be good to each other and try to make this life a little easier for our human beings. Religion makes that sometimes impossible by declaring we will get our reward in heaven.

An individual like Clare does not have much hope of escaping the family's dark gravity. The best thing she can do is leave and start her old life again. Another question that was asked "… why did a loving God allow such horrors to happen to innocent people in this house?" Not just in that house. I ask myself that all the time. Wars are fought, children and innocent people are killed and a lot of them in God's name‽ That can't be right.

I think JCO shares these thoughts.

2. Miao Dao

Another totally interesting story. Mia is eleven years old and her parents are divorced. Lisa describes this best, so I quote her: "It’s an unsettling look at how young girls are forced to navigate terrifying environments far too early."

We loved the wordplay on Meow and Mia. 

I also found a YouTube interview with JCO but haven't had the time to listen to it, yet.

I googled and found that Miao Dao is  a traditional two-handed Chinese saber.

This one ended more like I expected it. I didn't trust the baddie from the beginning, certain remarks told me exactly what was going to happen. 

I mean, I didn't think he would get killed.

But, as always, a very exciting to read.

I have learned that the story is one of seven in the Dark Corners collection of which I hadn't heard before. I found a list:

1. Hannah-Beast (2018) Stephen Graham Jones

2. The Sleep Tight Motel (2018) Lisa Unger

3. There's a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed (2018) Edgar Cantero

4. Miao Dao (2018) Joyce Carol Oates

5. The Tangled Woods (2018) Emily Raboteau

6. The Remedy (2018) Adam Hasler

7. Oak Avenue (2018) Brandi Reeds

However, when googling for the German titles for my German friends, I found that only Miao Dao is by JCO. I added the other authors later.

3. Phantomwise: 1972

But still, we are stuck with the body we are given. We can only do so much in order to improve it. At least we can try and control it ourselves.

I am not a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, neither the animated film nor the book. Therefore, I did not know about the word phantom-wise. But it is very apt.

I know I mentioned pro-life. I used to be very active on Facebook but quite a few people deleted me when I congratulated the Americans to their new president (Barack Obama). Also some told me about the awful Democrats who killed babies (meaning abortion). I told her that I also don't like abortion but as long as we don't help women who get pregnant, there will be abortions, and illegal ones are very dangerous. And that rather than praying for the unborn babies they should pray for their mothers for whom it was the last resort, the only way out. And for those kids who get killed in the schools and on the streets through the gun laws. Educate kids better, give everyone access to healthcare, help single mothers that they don't end up in total poverty, those are the things that avoid abortions, making them illegal only makes it worse. The United States has 3 times as many abortions as Germany (and certainly also other countries). They also have one of the highest known rates of adolescent pregnancy and births in developed regions. Being pro-birth and not pro-life increases abortions. So, pray for the poor girls who are pushed into a situation where they see only one way out and for those who have their children and end up in poverty because of it. And also that those who make the laws will make it better for those girls who do get pregnant and can't help themselves. 

So, let's hope the situation will improve again. 

This novella was ver short but I was glad it wasn't longer. I don't think I could have held out much longer. I am not particularly squeamish but this story really took its toll on me. Poor Alyce. Poor girls.

I understood the ending better than Cardiff, for example. There was an end. Not a good one but an end. Nobody writes like JCO.

4. The Surviving Child

I can see why "The Surviving Child" is Lisa's least favourite. I wouldn't know in which order I'd place them because they were all just as fantastic as they were traumatic. My goodness, what do women have to go through?!

What I liked about the story: It developed slowly. First it's just a woman meeting a widower. Happens a lot and often this leads to a good relationship.

All the female protagonists go through a hard time here, a nightmare, whatever, caused by the men in their lives.

Would I have put up with any of them? Maybe not. But I am strong, I grew up with three younger brothers, I learned to defend myself pretty early.

I have thought about Sylvia Plath while reading the last novel, just because she was an author who was deeply troubled, like the first wife of the protagonist Alexander. I did understand, that Elizabeth, his second wife, wanted to read her predecessor's writings, I'm sure I would have wanted to in her case. I like that Alexander is described as an "Oatesian villain". I have never heard JCO's name used as an adjective but she totally deserves one. And yes, while Alexander doesn't physically abuse his family (all of them), he is one of the biggest bullies you can imagine. Poor Stefan, who grew up with him, has nothing to counter to that.

We often read about cruel stepmothers in fairy tales. That's because there were so many at the time. Many women died in childbirth and the men had to marry again in order to have someone to raise the children he already had. They would have new children whom they liked better. So, it was not unusual to have stepmothers that were not so nice. Elisabeth is a different kind, as I think/hope most stepmothers today are. 

I hope that Elisabeth finds a way to get out of Alexander's claws. And takes Stefan with her. At least the hope is there at the end.

When searching for some answers, Lisa found this question online:

Has Joyce Carol Oates ever written a truly happy, lighthearted scene?

I couldn't say but that is not the reason I read her. Nor it is her reason to write, I believe. She wants to emphasize the problems this world has, either by pointing out true or almost true stories or by making them up.

 Book Description:

"From one of the most important contemporary American writers, Cardiff, by the Sea is a bold, haunting collection of four previously unpublished novellas. In the titular novella, an academic in Pennsylvania discovers a terrifying trauma from her past after inheriting a house in Cardiff, Maine from someone she has never heard of. Mia, the protagonist of 'Miao Dao,' is a pubescent girl overcome with loneliness, who befriends a feral cat that becomes her protector from the increasingly aggressive males that surround her.

A brilliant but shy college sophomore realizes that she is pregnant in 'Phan-tomwise: 1972.' Distraught, she allows a distinguished visiting professor to take her under his wing, though it quickly becomes evident that he is interested in more than an academic mentorship. Lastly, 'The Surviving Child' is Stefan, who was spared when his mother, a famous poet, killed his sister and herself. Stefan's father remarries, but his young wife is haunted by dead poet's voice dancing in the wind, an inexplicably befouled well, and a compulsive draw to the same gar-age that took two lives.

In these psychologically daring, chillingly suspenseful pieces, Joyce Carol Oates writes about women facing threats past and present."

In October/November, we intend to read "The Accursed" (Goodreads). Let us know if you are interested in joining.

Literary Wives - The Marriage Plot

The members:

Becky from Sydney of Aidanvale
Kate from Melbourne of booksaremyfavoriteandbest
Naomi from Canada of Consumed By Ink
Rebecca from Maryland, USA of Bookish Beck
Kay from Washington State, USA of What? Me Read?
and now me.

The other day, I finished a book (Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus) and was led to the Literary Wives page by one of my blogger friends who had reviewed it before. They read four books a year with regards to wives in the book. I have read a few of them already. And I have more on my list that would be great to discuss with these ladies. So, I decided to join them.

The books:
This is the list of books they read so far, and I am going to add the other books that we are going to read. But you can always find the links to all the comments on the main page: Literary Wives (the links on this one here only get you to my page).

October 2013: Ahab’s Wife: or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund
December 2013:  The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon
February 2014: The Inquisitor’s Wife by Jeanne Kalogridis
April 2014: The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
June 2014: The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
August 2014: The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
October 2014: Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon
December 2014: The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
February 2015: The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson
April 2015: The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison
June 2015: My Father’s Wives by Mike Greenberg
August 2015: The Astronaut Wives Club by Melanie Benjamin
October 2015: The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
December 2015: The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
February 2016: A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante
April 2016: The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun
June 2016: The Disobedient Wife by Annika Milisic-Stanley
August 2016: How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman
October 2016: American Housewife by Helen Ellis
December 2016: Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood
February 2017: The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
April 2017: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Theresa Fowler
June 2017: The Awakening by Kate Chopin
August 2017: On Beauty by Zadie Smith - 2005
October 2017: Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
December 2017: A Lady and Her Husband by Amber Reeves
February 2018: The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
April 2018: The Headmaster’s Wife by Thomas Christopher Green
June 2018: Stay With Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò
August 2018: First Love by Gwendolyn Riley
October 2018: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
December 2018: The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve
February 2019: They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
April 2019: Wait for Me, Jack by Addison Jones
June 2019:  A Separation by Katie Kitamura
August 2019: Ties by Domenico Starnone
October 2019: Happenstance by Carol Shields
December 2019: The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
March 2020: War of the Wives by Tamar Cohen
June 2020: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett - 2019
September 2020: Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen
December 2020: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
March 2021: Every Note Played by Lisa Genova
June 2021: Monogamy by Sue Miller
September 2021: The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
December 2021: The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
March 2022: I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán
June 2022: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
September 2022: Red Island House by Andrea Lee
December 2022: State of the Union by Nick Hornby 
March 2023: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
June 2023: The Harpy by Megan Hunter
September 2023: Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
December 2023: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell - 2020
March 2024: Mrs. March by Virginia Feito
June 2024: Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
September 2024: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
December 2024: Euphoria by Elin Culhed
March 2025: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - 2020
June 2025: The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham
September 2025: Novel about My Wife by Emily Perkins
December 2025: The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor
March 2026: Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell
June 2026: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri - 1999 (Literary Wives) 
September 2026: Family Family by Laurie Frankel - 2024
December 2026: The Eden Test by Adam Sternbergh
March 2027: Wedded Wife by Rachel Lennon - 2023
June 2027: Liars by Sarah Manguso - 2024
September 2027: Brick Lane by Monica Ali - 2003
December 2027: Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages by Phyllis Rose - 1983
March 2028: The Course of Love by Alain de Botton - 2016
June 2028: My Husband (Mon Mari) by Maud Ventura - 2021

I also read the following books with "wife" in the title:
Buck, Pearl S. "The First Wife and Other Stories" - 1933
Hay, Ashley "The Railwayman's Wife" - 2013
Joinson, Suzanne "The Photographer's Wife" - 2016
McLain, Paula "The Paris Wife" - 2012
Shalev, Zeruya "Husband and Wife" (Hebr: בעל ואישה) - 2000
I will probably add one or the other to this list later.

There is also a Facebook page here.

After 13 years it was decided that we needed a new logo as none of the members mentioned on the old one is still around. Also, we don't just talk about "wives" but want to explore marriage further, hence the new name and the new pictures, thanks to Becky for the name The Marriage Plot and for Rebecca for the design of the new picture.

Here is the old one:

Baldursdóttir, Kristín Marja "Karitas untitled"

Baldursdóttir, Kristín Marja "Karitas untitled" (Icelandic: Karitas án titils) - 2004

None of us had read many books from Iceland before, so we decided to choose this one for our book club.

Iceland 100 years ago. A widow with six children. That's certainly not easy even today, but a hundred years ago it was incredibly difficult everywhere. But Steinunn Olafsdóttir not only manages to raise her children during those hard times, she also provides them all with an education, even the girls, which was very unusual back then. Of course, everyone has to pitch in, otherwise it wouldn't be possible.

The youngest daughter, Karitas, even becomes a painter; she has great talent and is given the opportunity to study in Denmark. But even she can't escape the customs of the time.

A highly interesting novel about a life we ​​know very little about.

It was nice that there was a map of Iceland in the book. It wasn't so nice that the places mentioned in the book are hardly ever shown on the map.

We had a really nice discussion about this book, even though we all basically agreed. But everyone was able to take something different away from it or noticed something different, which greatly contributed to our understanding.

Personally, the scenes with elves and ghosts bothered me a little, but one member suggested that they were partly hallucinations of the protagonist. That's quite possible, and I'm glad someone saw it from a different perspective.

We also really liked that there was a matching drawing by the "ice painter" (German title) for each chapter.

We discussed this book in our local book club in February 2026.

Book Description:

"A portrait of an artist trapped by convention and expectations but longing for the chaos that can set her free. Growing up on a farm in early twentieth-century rural Iceland, Karitas Jónsdóttir, one of six siblings, yearns for a new life. An artist, Karitas has a powerful calling and is determined to never let go of her true being, one unsuited for the conventional. But she is powerless against the fateful turns of real life and all its expectations of women. Pulled back time and again by design and by chance to the Icelandic countryside―as dutiful daughter, loving mother, and fisherman’s wife―she struggles to thrive, to be what she was meant to be. Spanning decades and set against a breathtaking historical canvas, Karitas Untitled , an award-winning classic of Icelandic literature, is a complex and immersive portrait of an artist’s conflict with love, family, nature, and a country unaccustomed to an untraditional woman―but most of all, with herself and the creative instincts she has no choice but to follow."

Chevalier, Tracy "The Glassmaker"

Chevalier, Tracy "The Glassmaker" - 2024

I have read quite a few novels by Tracy Chevalier and they were all highly interesting, always about different people in different areas at different times.

But this was special. From the descriptions, I first thought this was a little like the stories by Edward Rutherfurd who guides us through centuries by introducing several people from several families. Well, this was a little different. The story starts in 1494 Orsola Rossa, the protagonist, lives in Murano with her family of glassmakers. After 500 years, she is in her sixties and has lived through a plague, several wars, many changes in the lives of people, especially women.

While I was first a little dismayed by this way of telling the story, I really loved the people in Murano and Venice. Not all, but most of them. And the story of the family and how they got through all the upheavals, was also fantastic. 

You can tell, that Tracy Chevalier put a lot of time and effort into the research. I especially loved to learn about all the details of glassmaking. Well done.

I doubt I will ever get to see Venice but this is a good substitute.

From the back cover:

"Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here – like the glass the island’s maestros spend their lives perfecting.

In secret, Orsola Rosso learns to craft glass. As a woman, she must flout convention to save her family from ruin. We follow her through hundreds of years of war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss.

Skipping like a stone across the centuries, The Glassmaker is a virtuoso portrait of a woman, a family and a city that are as everlasting as glass."

Garmus, Bonnie "Lessons in Chemistry"

Garmus, Bonnie "Lessons in Chemistry" - 2022

A member of my German book club had suggested this book  but despite everyone agreeing to it at first, it wasn't chosen in the end. But I had already ordered the book, so I wanted to read it.

It certainly would have been a good choice to discuss. I doubt I would have chosen it, had I only seen the cover. On the other hand, I suppose those people who are looking for a romantic chick lit, might be disappointed.

It's hard to describe this book. I would probably declare it as chick-lit though it has some deeper meanings. However, I did like the protagonist a lot, I wish I would have had an Elizabeth Zott in my life when growing up. Even though I am certainly about a decade younger than her, all those obstacles that were placed in the way of women were still around. And there was nobody, absolutely nobody who supported me in my education, not my parents and definitely not my teachers (except for the one in elementary school but he wasn't there anymore later). On the contrary, all I heard was "you will get married and don't need a job". And my boss got a guy in from outside instead of promoting me. For the same reason.

Same as Elizabeth, I had the feeling my whole life that I worked for men less intelligent than me.

The books is described as humorous and there are certain aspects of humour in it, but overal, the sadness is more important and stays more in our memories.

Maybe this story speaks more to a younger audience, it just brought too many bad memories for me. (Although that speaks in favour of the book.) I wouldn't say I disliked the book completly, but it brought me back to a time I'd rather forget. I would have loved to discuss it with my book club and hear what the other women have to say about it.

And last, but not least, some things have changed but not enough. What do you think???

From the back cover:

"Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fuelled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. Soon, a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time."

"Lessons in Chemistry" has been chosen favourite book of the year 2022 by the German Indepent Book Shops.

Larsen, Nella "Passing"

Larsen, Nella "Passing" - 1929

I had never heard the expression "passing" in this sense. A "black" woman who is white enough to be considered "white" and "passes" as "white". While I totally understand that in such a racist world, a women (or a man) would do that, I don't see the need why they should have to. First of all, to me it really shouldn't matter what skin colour someone has. But, if you distinguish between "black" and "white", shouldn't someone who looks "white" be considered "white". There is something I don't get. Or rather, that I really don't want to get. In what kind of world are we living???

Anyway, I found this book because it was mentioned in "The Vanishing Half" by Britt Bennett where a similar situation is described.

As we can read in the book description, the novel is about two different women, both light-skinned, both considered "black". But, whereas one of the women lives officially as a black woman, the other one didn't even tell her husband about her ancestry. He is extremely racist. Which is another thing, why do you marry someone like that? Oh, right, some people marry for money. And, as most characters, who do that, they have to pay the price at some point.

The author has used a lot of material from her own life, apparently.

This rather short novella could have been longer for my taste but we have been given a lot of food for thought here. Great book.

From the book cover:

"This Signet Classics edition of Passing includes an Introduction by Brit Bennett, the bestselling author of The Vanishing Half.

Irene Redfield is a Black woman living an affluent, comfortable life with her husband and children in the thriving neighborhood of Harlem in the 1920s. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Clare Kendry, who is similarly light-skinned, Irene discovers that Clare has been passing for a white woman after severing ties to her past--even hiding the truth from her racist husband.

Clare finds herself drawn to Irene's sense of ease and security with her Black identity and longs for the community (and, increasingly, the woman) she lost. Irene is both riveted and repulsed by Clare and her dangerous secret, as Clare begins to insert herself--and her deception--into every part of Irene's stable existence. First published in 1929, Larsen's brilliant examination of the various ways in which we all seek to 'pass,' is as timely as ever."

Bennett, Brit "The Vanishing Half" - 2020

Bennett, Brit "The Vanishing Half" - 2020 

"You can escape a town, but you cannot escape blood …"

I wasn't too sure about this book when I first saw it. It was a present by one of my sons and they usually know what I would like. This one won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2021 (and several other book prizes), and they are usually quite good. But the cover. Too pink, too "sweet" for my usual liking. And then the mentioned hymns of praise by authors whose books I haven't enjoyed much. Not a good outlook.

And the beginning was a little like that. Too many stereotypes. But the story keeps growing until, in the end, we get a pretty decent book about the life or women, the problems with racism, bringing up children, etc.

Is this going to be my favourite book of the year or even the month. No.

Will I read another book by the author? Probably also not. There are far better authors around. I saw her compared to Toni Morrison. In my opinion, the only things they have in common is that they are women, their skin colour and they published books.

From the back cover:

"Stella and Desiree are identical twins, growing up together in a small, Southern black community. Until, at age sixteen, they run away…

Years later, everything about their lives is different: their families, communities and racial identities. One sister lives with her black daughter in the same Southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her husband knows nothing of her past. Still, separated by many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen in the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?"

Harris, Kamala "107 Days"

Harris, Kamala "107 Days" - 2025

This is one of the great women of our time, the great people of our time. If she were a man, she would have won, I am sure of that.

Whenever I see an article of Kamala Harris or see her on TV or on the internet, she always has something important to say. She is so smart and caring.

What a shame she came against such an ignoramus, someone who isn't just uneducated and, well, everything but smart. He said it himself, he loves the uneducated. And he does everything so that the rest of the nation stays like that so they will carry on voting for him.

Obviously, you can get really mad when you learn about the tactics with which he convinced uninformed people.

Well, enough about that guy. Let's get on to the subject of this book, Kamala Harris.

I just imagine what this world would have looked like if they had real elections in the States and nothing of this gerrymandering and "popular" votes etc. If she had won fair and square.

One thing is sure: this world would be such a better place if there were more Kamalas and fewer Donalds. I hope many young women will read this and find encouragement and inspiration in her doings.

Book Description:

"For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.

Your Secret Service code name is Pioneer.

You are the first woman in history to be elected vice president of the United States.

On July 21, 2024, your running mate, Joe Biden, announces that he will not be seeking reelection.

The presidential election will occur on November 5, 2024.

You have 107 days.

Written with candor, a unique perspective, and the pace of a page-turning novel, 107 Days takes you inside the race for the presidency as no one has ever done before."

This was a present from my son who knows how much I love her.

Murrin, Alan "The Coast Road"

Murrin, Alan "The Coast Road" - 2024

A friend had read this book and lent it to me. It sounded quite interesting, stories about Ireland often are. But, this story really could have taken place almost everywhere. There are people like that in every village. I grew up in a Catholic village in the sixties and seventies, and life there was almost like that. Actually, there are still people around who act similar. However, these characters didn't come across very likely and likeable.

So, an easy read for anyone who is looking for that. Since I usually don't, I didn't enjoy this book that much. Not my thing.

From the back cover:

"It's 1994 in County Donegal, Ireland, and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley - the writer, the bohemian, the woman who left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship with a married man in Dublin. But now Colette is back, and nobody knows why.

Returning to the community to try and reclaim her old life, Colette quickly learns that they are unwilling to give it back to her. The man to whom she is still married is denying her access to her children, and while the legalisation of divorce might be just around the corner, Colette finds herself caught between her old life and the freedom for which she risked everything. Desperate to see her children, she enlists the help of Izzy, a housewife and mother of two, and the women forge a friendship that will send them on a spiralling journey - one toward a path of self-discovery, and the other toward tragedy."

Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England"

Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England: How our ancestors lived two centuries ago" (aka "Jane Austen's England) - 2013

Part of my #Reading Austen project is to read a book by the author in the uneven months and a book about the author and/or her books in the even ones. This is my October read.

And it was a very interesting and detailed book. We get several maps right at the beginning where we cannot just see where Jane Austen lived during her lifetime but also some other contemporary characters with a similar background. Something that always adds to the explanations in any book, fiction or non-fiction.

But it's not only that. They explain how the pounds, shillings and pennies were divided, how the weights and measurements were calculated, all those nitty-gritty bits that are in the books of that time but not explained because the readers would have known what it was. The same as what it meant when someone had £10,000 pounds a year. 

They tell us everything about weddings at the time, about the aristocracy and who was who, education was as much talked about as what was going on in home and kitchen. The fashion of the time (of which we read a lot in Jane's books) is described, the religion, work and hobbies, crimes, illnesses, just everything that was important to the people of the 19th century.

So, if you want to know more about Jane's life, this is the book for you.

From the back cover:

"Jane Austen, arguably the greatest novelist of the English language, lived from 1775 to 1817. Her fiction focuses on the gentry and aristocracy, and her heroines are young women looking for love. Yet the comfortable, tranquil country that she brilliantly devised is a complete contrast to the England in which she actually lived. For twenty-nine of Jane Austen's forty-one years, the country was embroiled in war.

Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England explores the real England of that time. Roy and Lesley Adkins vividly portray fascinating aspects of the daily lives of ordinary people, from forced marriages and the sale of wives in marketplaces to boys and girls working down mines or as chimney sweeps, this book eavesdrops on the daily chore of fetching water, the horror of ghosts and witches, Saint Monday, bull baiting, sedan chairs, highwaymen, the stench of corpses swinging on roadside gibbets and the horrors of surgery without anaesthetics.

Giving a voice to these forgotten people and revealing how they worked, played and struggled to survive, Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England is an authoritative and gripping account that is sometimes humorous, often shocking, but always entertaining."

Vreeland, Susan "The Passion of Artemisia"

Vreeland, Susan "The Passion of Artemisia" - 2002

I read "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" by this author a couple of years ago and really loved it. I always wanted to read something else by her. Now, I came across this book and it's about a female paper from the Baroque period. I had never heard of Artemisia Gentileschi even though I love art. Typical, women are never acknowledged much.

To start, I really like the note by the author. She mentioned that any work of fiction about history or a historical character ist still a work of imagination, not of reality. Based on known evidence, she spins her story. She used actual works of the artist and actual occurrences. I loved that.

Her style or writing is very vivid. Her descriptions are very detailed. We could see how people at the time lived, what were their hopes and fears. How did the church impact their lives?

Through this novel, I got to know a wonderful woman, a keen and gifted painter who struggled with the constrictions of the time but who nonetheless created some beautiful art.

I will look for more books by Susan Vreeland. Let me know if you've read one.

From the back cover:

"From extraordinary highs - patronage by the Medicis, friendship with Galileo and, most importantly of all, beautiful and outstandingly original paintings - to rape by her father's colleague, torture by the Inquisition, life-long struggles for acceptance by the artistic Establishment, and betrayal by the men she loved, Artemisia was a bold and brilliant woman who lived as she wanted, and paid a high price."

Ephron, Nora "Crazy Salad"

Ephron, Nora "Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women" - 1975

I absolutely love Nora Ephron. Shes was a fantastic author as well as a fantastic human being. Everything she says is close to my heart and I felt nodding along, no matter what I was reading about. If you ever felt like the odd one out, as if nothing you did would be acknowledged by others and they would always find a new excuse why, this is the book for you.

Of course, this book was written in the Seventies, at a time where we had no internet and not as much information about what was going on across the pond as it is now. I remember a game I played with some American friends  about thirty years ago where we had to guess celebrities and I had never heard of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She just wasn't in our news until then. Neither were many of the women in Nora Ephron's book, some of them I read about in the meantime (Gloria Steinem, for example) but others I had never heard about. So, I had a lot of extra reading to do but that was alright because it gave me a larger insight into the US of A of the time.

So, whether you are American or not, if you are a fan of "When Harry Met Sally", you would want to read this.

Book Description:

"The classic Crazy Salad by screenwriting legend and novelist Nora Ephron, is an extremely funny, deceptively light look at a generation of women (and men) who helped shape the way we live now. In this distinctive, engaging, and simply hilarious view of a period of great upheaval in America, Ephron turns her keen eye and wonderful sense of humor to the media, politics, beauty products, and women's bodies. In the famous A Few Words About Breasts, for example, she tells us: 'If I had had them, I would have been a completely different person. I honestly believe that.' Ephron brings her sharp pen to bear on the notable women of the time, and to a series of events ranging from Watergate to the Pillsbury Bake-Off. When it first appeared in 1975, Crazy Salad helped to illuminate a new American era - and helped us to laugh at our times and ourselves. This new edition will delight a fresh generation of readers."

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook"

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007

Part of my #Reading Austen project is to read a book by the author in the uneven months and a book about the author and/or her books in the even ones. This month, it was a book about her time with a lot of background information to why some characters acted the way they did. There were a lot of lovely illustrations and even more funny allusions to the novels.

I can heartily recommend this little book to any Jane Austen fan. Whether you have read her books or watched them on TV or in the cinemas (hopefully both), you will be delighted by this. And if time travelling was a thing, you could even learn how to behave in Regency times without anyone noticing you're from the future.

From the back cover:

"Jane Austen published her first novel in 1811, but today she's more popular than ever. Film adaptations of her books are nominated for Academy Awards. Chick lit bestsellers are based on her plots. And a new biopic of Austen herself Becoming Jane arrives in theaters this spring.

For all those readers who dream about living in Regency England, The Jane Austen Handbook offers step-by-step instructions for proper comportment in the early nineteenth century. You'll discover:

How to Become an Accomplished Lady
How to Run a Great House
How to Indicate Interest in a Gentleman Without Seeming Forward
How to Throw a Dinner Party
How to Choose and Buy Clothing

Full of practical directions for navigating the travails of Regency life, this charming illustrated book also serves as a companion for present-day readers, explaining the English class system, currency, dress, and the nuances of graceful living."

Pierce, Patricia "Jurassic Mary"

Pierce, Patricia "Jurassic Mary: Mary Anning and the primeval monsters" - 2006

Ever since I read "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier, I've been interested in the life of Mary Anning who lived from 1799 to 1847 and was the first person who discovered dinosaur bones.

And this was on my wishlist, so my son bought it for me. It was just as nice as I had hoped.

A thorough account of the life of a young girl who would become one of the most important figure in discovering dinosaurs. But, because she was only a woman, she didn't have a lot to say. Even though there were some men who acknowledged her, most of them only used her findings for their won. She didn't really get any recognition. What else is new?

From the back cover:

"Spinster Mary Anning, uneducated and poor, was of the wrong sex, wrong class and wrong religion, but fate decreed that she was exactly the right person in the right place and time to pioneer the emerging science of palaeontology, the study of fossils. Born in Lyme Regis in 1799, Mary learned to collect fossils with her cabinet-maker father. The unstable cliffs and stealthy sea made the task dangerous but after her father died the sale of fossils sustained her family. Mary’s fame started as an infant when she survived a lightning strike that killed the three adults around her. Then, aged twelve, she caught the public’s attention when she unearthed the skeleton of a ‘fish lizard’ or Ichthyosaurus. She later found the first Plesiosaurus giganteus, with its extraordinary long neck associated with the Loch Ness monster, and, dramatically, she unearthed the first, still rare, Dimorphodon macronyx, a frightening ‘flying dragon’ with hand claws and teeth.Yet her many discoveries were announced to the world by male geologists like the irrepressible William Buckland and Sir Henry De La Beche and they often received the credit. In Jurassic Mary Patricia Pierce redresses this imbalance, bringing to life the extraordinary, little-known story of this determined and pioneering woman."

Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays"

Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Greek: Lysistrátē/Λυσιστράτη) - 411 BC

For the Classics Spin #41, we received #11 and this was my novel.

I had found this book a while ago in a used book sale. I am grateful for that because that way, I only paid €1 for it.

My edition included not just "Lysistrata" but also "The Acharnians" (Acharnes) and "The Clouds" (Nephelai).

As you can see in the description, they praise the author's "ribald humour". Ribald it was indeed but I couldn't find humour in that, it was far too rough, coarse and crude. Probably the times. I wouldn't be surprised if this book was on the banned book list in the States.

But the stories itself also weren't too interesting. I think one must see this and not read it. Someone told me that the play is indeed hilarious and that the costumes added a lot to that. Well, Aristophanes didn't explain that. LOL

Book Description:

"Writing at the time of political and social crisis in Athens, Aristophanes was an eloquent yet bawdy challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. The Achanians is a plea for peace set against the background of the long war with Sparta. In Lysistrata a band of women tap into the awesome power of sex in order to end a war. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged.

For this edition Alan Sommerstein has completely revised his translation of these three plays, bringing out the full nuances of Aristophanes’ ribald humour and intricate word play, with a new introduction explaining the historical and cultural background to the plays."

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Groff, Lauren "Matrix"

Groff, Lauren "Matrix" - 2021

A member of our book club tried to convince us that this would be the best novel for our next book choice. But some members were not really convinced that they wanted to read it. So I "took pity" (LOL) and volunteered to be a guinea pig.

I love reading historical novels, especially about women and their fights against the prejudices of their times. So, I expected something really interesting. Many girls were sent to nunneries against their wishes and a few were quite successful in that world.

I tried to read more about the protagonist and found that the book is not really based on anything known from reality. It is what it says: pure fiction.

I thought I could learn more about the history of a person that was important in her lifetime. Unfortunately, I didn't. If you are looking for a novel without being interested in the background or whether that person existed, you might like this better. I was disappointed.

Overall, the novel was too superficial for me.

There are no footnotes or links to research pages that might support at least some of the stories.

From the back cover:

"Seventeen-year-old Marie, too wild for courtly life, is thrown to the dogs one winter morning, expelled from the royal court to become the prioress of an abbey. Marie is strange - tall, a giantess, her elbows and knees stick out, ungainly.

At first taken aback by life at the abbey, Marie finds purpose and passion among her mercurial sisters. Yet she deeply misses her secret lover Cecily and queen Eleanor.

Born last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, women who flew across the countryside with their sword fighting and dagger work, Marie decides to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. She will bring herself, and her sisters, out of the darkness, into riches and power.

MATRIX is a bold vision of female love, devotion and desire from one of the most adventurous writers at work today."

Hornby, Gill "Miss Austen"

Hornby, Gill "Miss Austen" - 2020

As I mentioned before, as part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club has started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month, and I want to do read something Austen-related by her in between.

In April, I read a German book by Catherine Bell, "Jane Austen und die Kunst der Worte" [Jane Austen and the Art of Words].  I was not impressed, I probably read too much about Jane Austen before and this one could have been written by any Jane Austen fan without doing any more research. Such a pity.

Mind you, "Miss Austen" wasn't all that much better, only a little. The Miss Austen mentioned in the title is not Jane but her sister Cassandra. We hear about her last self-given task, the intention to destroy the letters her sister had written that contained something Cassandra didn't want anyone to know, that would look bad on her sister's legacy. But, since those letters were destroyed, we don't know what it contained and the author just invented them.

I don't like people writing a sequel to a book where the original author died. I never did and I doubt I ever will. So, I guess my next book about Jane Austen (in August) will be a non-fiction again.

From the back cover:

"1840 : Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury.

She knows that, in some corner of the vicarage where she is staying, there is a cache of letters written by her sister Jane.

As Cassandra recalls her youth, she pieces together buried truths about Jane's history - and her own ; secrets which should not be revealed.

And she faces a stark choice : should she act to protect Jane's reputation?

Or leave the letters unguarded to shape her legacy..."

Nguyễn, Phan Quế Mai "Dust Child"

Nguyễn, Phan Quế Mai "Dust Child" - 2023

An interesting topic. I've read books about soldiers' children before, and they weren't welcomed anywhere. In Germany, these were mostly children of black fathers during World War II; with the others, it wasn't so noticeable unless you lived in a village and everyone knew about it.

This is about the children of Vietnamese women and American soldiers. Regardless of whether the fathers were black or white, it was immediately noticeable. And the children suffered greatly. In this book, they not only grew up with the certainty of having a foreign father but also that their mother didn't want them and they had to grow up in an orphanage with no family to support them.

It was good to learn more about the topic, but I wasn't entirely thrilled with the book and the writing style. Again and again, she switches to Vietnamese, often translating it afterwards, but not always. And even in the former case, it disrupts the flow. Overall, the writing isn't very fluid; many things remain completely unclear. Sometimes you don't know what she's even talking about. It's nice to learn something about Vietnamese culture, but she assumes too much. Perhaps it's clear to people who speak Vietnamese or know Vietnam, but for others, it's still very confusing.

There are also several errors in the book that a native English speaker should have filtered out. A shame.

On Goodreads, someone recommends also reading Bao Ninh's book "The Sorrow of War" (Goodreads), the story of the war from the perspective of a Vietnamese soldier. And the author's first book "The Mountains Sing" (Goodreads) which takes place during the war.

Although I've often read that the first book is much better than this one, I'm not sure if I want to read another book by Phan Quế Mai Nguyễn anytime soon.

The quote she gives on page 267 is also not exactly correct:

"We are the unwilling
Led by the unqualified
Doing the unnecessary
For the ungrateful."

This is the correct one:

"We the unwilling 
Led by the unknowing
Are doing the impossible
For the ungrateful
We have done so much
For so long, with so little
We are now qualified to do
Anything with nothing,
Forever."
Konstantin Josef Jireček

However, most members of our book club enjoyed the book quite a bit, especially because they learned something about the people of Vietnam and the impact of the war on their lives. We also discussed the different perspectives held by people in Asia and Western Europe.

I read this with my German book club in May 2025

From the back cover:

"It is 1969, and sisters Trang and Quynh watch helplessly as their rural village is transformed by the outbreak of war. Desperate to help their impoverished parents, they head to the thronging city of Sai Gon and join the women working as 'bar girls', paid to flirt with American GIs. What follows will test their sisterhood in ways they could never have foreseen.

Decades later Viet Nam is thriving, successfully emerging out of the shadow of war. But Dan and Phong, two men whose lives were transformed by their experiences on different sides of the conflict, are struggling to leave the past behind.

But what happens when these four characters unexpectedly come together once more, and each is forced to grapple with the legacy of decisions made in the past – decisions that continue to reverberate through all their lives

Dust Child is their unforgettable story."