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justagirlwithabook's reviews
432 reviews
the day I was born by Eugene Richards
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Oral histories matter.
The best part about being a school librarian is working with history teachers that know the value of this and continue to work towards building a curriculum that tells stories, that shares truths, and that lifts voices.
“the day I was born,” by photographer, writer, and filmmaker Eugene Richards, is an oral history collection from Earle, Arkansas and tells the history of this small town through oral histories and photographs from the Arkansas Delta.
Earle, Arkansas has a history of Civil Rights Movement activism and violent white resistance, and through the interconnected stories of Jospeh Perry, Jr., Stacy Abram, Jackie Greer, Lovell Davis, Jessie Mae Maples, and Timothy Way, we learn about the build up to the riot that took place on September 10th and 11th, 1970 (the Earle Race Riot), and its aftermath. But their stories don’t only touch on the riot; they discuss systemic racism, poverty, Black history, abuse, and identity, struggles from “a little out-of-the-way place that most people haven’t heard anything about.”
To say the very least, these stories are powerful and leave an impression. Do some research and invest in your own local and regional oral histories when and where you can; these voices are invaluable and should be treasured.
—
I was gifted this book through the Zinn Education Project and a very generous donor who made this book freely available to teachers and librarians who want to use the book for Arkansas history, U.S. history, and/or approaches to oral history.
Circe by Madeline Miller
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
I might’ve tear-cried a little bit as I finished the last page to this story. I have thoughts rolling around everywhere but the most prominent is that “This was SO GOOD.”
If you’re interested in Greek gods and goddesses, especially the stories of the lessers who aren’t as widely discussed, this is a book for you. While it’s told entirely from Circe’s point of view, there are so many other lives that are woven into her story. Madeline Miller lifts the veil and allows her readers to imagine how their stories might’ve played out while everyone else’s eyes were fully occupied with the “heroes of renown.”
5 stars all around. Highly recommend.
If you’re interested in Greek gods and goddesses, especially the stories of the lessers who aren’t as widely discussed, this is a book for you. While it’s told entirely from Circe’s point of view, there are so many other lives that are woven into her story. Madeline Miller lifts the veil and allows her readers to imagine how their stories might’ve played out while everyone else’s eyes were fully occupied with the “heroes of renown.”
5 stars all around. Highly recommend.
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I really loved Lynda Blackmon Lowery’s story. As a junior high librarian, this book is a wonderful pairing to John Lewis’ March for middle grade - junior high students to read about the March for Civil Rights from multiple perspectives, this one being from someone who was their age when she marched! Her story was inspiring and her message of being a history-maker would’ve resonated with me as a younger reader (as I hope it does with our younger readers today!). Highly recommend especially where civil rights and equality are topics of discussion in curriculum — this is a valuable perspective that should have a seat at the table among other civil rights greats!
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Sing, Muse, he said, and I have sung.
I have sung of armies and I have sung of men.
I have sung of gods and monsters, and I have sung of stories and lies.
I have sung of death and of life, of joy and of pain.
I have sung of life after death.
And I have sung of the women, the women in the shadows.”
This is the story of the Trojan War told by “the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story.” The cast is large but focused and intentional. The beginning was a bit more slowly-paced, but once I got settled in, it picked up. This was also a very character-driven story, which is often not my choice (and explains that slow feel), but the format helped drive the story for me and it really worked. I read it quickly within two sittings and have to say that this one will likely sit with me for a long while.
What (and who) I loved most:
+ Calliope and her desire to give a bard an epic tale but on her terms or not at all.
+ Cassandra, blessed by Apollo to know the future but cursed in that no one would ever believe her ramblings ... her story was the most interesting to me, and I don’t know that I could tell you why. Perhaps because she held so much potential to make an impact but was forever overlooked and alone.
+ I loved that every chapter was a different perspective. Some women we never heard from again (though many were referenced again in other gjhs others), while other women were revisited frequently as they continued telling their stories. (This ultimately I think helped with the pace - I am grateful for it).
+ I loved that this story, these stories, challenged the way we’ve perceived the traditional stories of the Trojan War. Not all heroes fight with swords and leave bodies in their wake, and those who choose to fight without swords and without bloodshed should be praised all the more.
What I didn’t love:
- The pace was a bit slow to start, which is to be expected as this is a much more character-driven story than plot-driven (which isn’t my first choice).
- Other aspects that I didn’t love are just elements of an epic and tragic tale, and without them, it wouldn’t have been the same (I wish there hadn’t been such tragedy, but that is the nature of this story — just prepare yourself for few, if any, happy endings).
I have sung of armies and I have sung of men.
I have sung of gods and monsters, and I have sung of stories and lies.
I have sung of death and of life, of joy and of pain.
I have sung of life after death.
And I have sung of the women, the women in the shadows.”
This is the story of the Trojan War told by “the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story.” The cast is large but focused and intentional. The beginning was a bit more slowly-paced, but once I got settled in, it picked up. This was also a very character-driven story, which is often not my choice (and explains that slow feel), but the format helped drive the story for me and it really worked. I read it quickly within two sittings and have to say that this one will likely sit with me for a long while.
What (and who) I loved most:
+ Calliope and her desire to give a bard an epic tale but on her terms or not at all.
+ Cassandra, blessed by Apollo to know the future but cursed in that no one would ever believe her ramblings ... her story was the most interesting to me, and I don’t know that I could tell you why. Perhaps because she held so much potential to make an impact but was forever overlooked and alone.
+ I loved that every chapter was a different perspective. Some women we never heard from again (though many were referenced again in other gjhs others), while other women were revisited frequently as they continued telling their stories. (This ultimately I think helped with the pace - I am grateful for it).
+ I loved that this story, these stories, challenged the way we’ve perceived the traditional stories of the Trojan War. Not all heroes fight with swords and leave bodies in their wake, and those who choose to fight without swords and without bloodshed should be praised all the more.
What I didn’t love:
- The pace was a bit slow to start, which is to be expected as this is a much more character-driven story than plot-driven (which isn’t my first choice).
- Other aspects that I didn’t love are just elements of an epic and tragic tale, and without them, it wouldn’t have been the same (I wish there hadn’t been such tragedy, but that is the nature of this story — just prepare yourself for few, if any, happy endings).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Rape
Still Life by Louise Penny
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Golem by David Wisniewski
challenging
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
The Savage Instinct by M.M. DeLuca
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Savage Instinct takes on a really interesting feminist perspective of the woman and events surrounding Mary Ann Cotton, a tried and convicted English serial killer from the mid-late 1800s. The story is told through the perspective of a fiction character, Clara, whose husband is really absolutely everything that any self-respecting woman would completely despise: he's misogynistic, abusive, manipulative, and self-seeking. His marriage to Clara is simply a means to an end; she is to be a doting, perfect wife and fulfill all her wifely duties with obedience and without complaint, and when her grandmother dies, he'll come into a large inheritance and his life will be perfect as he climbs the social ladder. Any actions on her part that are contrary to this vision, and she's accused of being mental unstable and threatened with the asylum.
At the start of the story, we discover that Clara has suffered through her own kind of trauma and reacted in a way that anyone would. As she arrives home from a few stints in a couple different asylums, her carriage is greeted by a crowd which, in turn, is welcoming the arrival of Mary Ann Cotton, a woman who supposedly killed many of her own children and husbands in an effort to claim insurance money and thus better her life. Clara's curiosity gets the better of her, and in the guise of being charitable, begins visiting with Cotton. Clara's husband's actions and manipulation come to light, and she begins to embark along a path that she won't be able to turn back from (with the guidance of Cotton).
What I didn't love:
- The first part of the story was a little bit bumpy, writing wise; it could've used an editor's hand in smoothing out some of the disconnect and disjointed descriptions. I continued to read though, and as the story moved along, it seemed the author had found their groove and the writing flowed a bit more naturally.
- Clara's character was also a bit bumpy at the start -- we see her as a very delicate and meek woman at the start, very traumatized by her experiences, but there are times throughout the story when her actions are contradictory to the character we were introduced to. She seems to go from meek to courageous in waves and I think her development could've been better written over the course of the story.
- There was a small blurb towards the end about Victorian England and Mary Ann Cotton but it was very brief and followed by a list of recommended reading, which is great, but I would've appreciated a bit more on what aspects of the story truly were historically accurate (including general historical information on the inequality of women, the role of asylums in society, etc.) and what things were written with a bit of liberty.
What I did love:
+ I did know some about Mary Ann Cotton before diving into the story and really enjoyed seeing this historical character from a different perspective.
+ I enjoyed how Mary Ann Cotton's character fed us information that led us to really doubt what was true, what had really happened, and what was just lies and manipulation.
+ I, for the most part, was able to envision this Victorian London decently well and, though I find myself fuming at the male characters and the things they said and did, this remained true to the time period. (I would never wish to ever travel back in time to this time period - I don't know how it could've been anything but miserable for the vast majority of women or anyone really who wasn't a wealthy white man).
Mixed feelings (Spoilers!)
~ I had some mixed feelings about the end of the story. I didn't love this cyclical nature of the ending ... finding ourself in the same place we were to begin with. Clara tried to do what she could to escape under an authoritative husband and live as a free woman in society, but instead, she ended up in the same position as she started: in need of a husband to provide for her. I was hopeful that Clara would be the one to get out, to truly be free. Her husband's death felt a bit like a cop-out. Part of me thought, "Well, that was sort of nice (?) of Mary to sort of 'help out her friend, Clara' even after she was gone, in her own way." But then I also thought that this was just an easy way to dispose of her husband so Clara could free herself, sort of, without having to also resort to murder ... but then we find ourselves at the end where she's basically set her mind to resorting to murder. I sort of liked that twist, but then at the same time just felt sad for her. Like I said, mixed feelings.
Overall, this was a fast-paced and I think an interesting read. I'd probably rate it anywhere between an arbitrary 3-4 stars.
Thank you to Inkshares and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
At the start of the story, we discover that Clara has suffered through her own kind of trauma and reacted in a way that anyone would. As she arrives home from a few stints in a couple different asylums, her carriage is greeted by a crowd which, in turn, is welcoming the arrival of Mary Ann Cotton, a woman who supposedly killed many of her own children and husbands in an effort to claim insurance money and thus better her life. Clara's curiosity gets the better of her, and in the guise of being charitable, begins visiting with Cotton. Clara's husband's actions and manipulation come to light, and she begins to embark along a path that she won't be able to turn back from (with the guidance of Cotton).
What I didn't love:
- The first part of the story was a little bit bumpy, writing wise; it could've used an editor's hand in smoothing out some of the disconnect and disjointed descriptions. I continued to read though, and as the story moved along, it seemed the author had found their groove and the writing flowed a bit more naturally.
- Clara's character was also a bit bumpy at the start -- we see her as a very delicate and meek woman at the start, very traumatized by her experiences, but there are times throughout the story when her actions are contradictory to the character we were introduced to. She seems to go from meek to courageous in waves and I think her development could've been better written over the course of the story.
- There was a small blurb towards the end about Victorian England and Mary Ann Cotton but it was very brief and followed by a list of recommended reading, which is great, but I would've appreciated a bit more on what aspects of the story truly were historically accurate (including general historical information on the inequality of women, the role of asylums in society, etc.) and what things were written with a bit of liberty.
What I did love:
+ I did know some about Mary Ann Cotton before diving into the story and really enjoyed seeing this historical character from a different perspective.
+ I enjoyed how Mary Ann Cotton's character fed us information that led us to really doubt what was true, what had really happened, and what was just lies and manipulation.
+ I, for the most part, was able to envision this Victorian London decently well and, though I find myself fuming at the male characters and the things they said and did, this remained true to the time period. (I would never wish to ever travel back in time to this time period - I don't know how it could've been anything but miserable for the vast majority of women or anyone really who wasn't a wealthy white man).
Mixed feelings (Spoilers!)
~ I had some mixed feelings about the end of the story.
Overall, this was a fast-paced and I think an interesting read. I'd probably rate it anywhere between an arbitrary 3-4 stars.
Thank you to Inkshares and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, and Murder
Minor: Blood, Child death, and Confinement
The Bat by Jo Nesbø
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Did not finish book.
Did not finish book.
So. Slow.
A third of the way in and nothing is really going on. We have a family who has moved the countryside to an industrial area of England and the main character is wanting to stand up for workers rights, in short. Painfully slow and enough for me to tap out at this point. I’ll likely read through Shmoop chapter summaries (enough to say I’ve read it and get the gist) and call it a day.
A third of the way in and nothing is really going on. We have a family who has moved the countryside to an industrial area of England and the main character is wanting to stand up for workers rights, in short. Painfully slow and enough for me to tap out at this point. I’ll likely read through Shmoop chapter summaries (enough to say I’ve read it and get the gist) and call it a day.