My Year In Books

I am in 2 ½ book clubs which makes me always behind with my reading! For this blog entry, I thought it might be interesting to do a summary of one of the book clubs.  This club focuses on Historical Fiction. This year, we read ten books.

Time periods: Three took place in the 1800’s, the other seven in the 1900’s (with one dipping into the 21^st century

Locations: Three in Europe, one each in Israel, Canada, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and three in the US.

Main Characters: *All* of the main characters are female. I am only just realizing this now!

Themes: War (twice), Abortion, Murder (twice), Business, Dictatorship/Politics (twice), Biopic, and Music

Most Interesting/Surprising Thing I Learned: I’ve detailed this below for each book.

Exodus

-        1940’s

-        Israel

-        Depicts the founding of the state of Israel, primarily focusing on the story of Jewish immigrants fleeing to Palestine after World War II and the struggles they faced against British rule and Arab opposition while fighting for a new nation.

-        Takeaway: That between 1946-1948, the British government intercepted more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors seeking to resettle in Palestine and they interned these survivors in detention camps established on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. I do not recall ever learning about this.

Looking for Jane

-        1971, 1980, 2017

-        Toronto, Canada

-        Tells the story of the illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its secret code name “Jane”. The story covers three women in three different generations and the various ways abortion touched their lives.

-        Takeaway: A stark reminder of how much times have changed (and changed again) in a relatively short period of time.

Murder by Degrees

-        1875

-        Philadelphia

-        A pioneering doctor who is one of the first women to graduate the new Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania investigates the disappearance of a young patient who is presumed dead.

-        Takeaway: Loved learning about this time period and this college.

Park Avenue Summer

-        1960s

-        New York City

-        A fictional young woman from the Midwest lands a job at Cosmopolitan magazine under the real-life groundbreaking female editor-in-chief, Helen Gurley Brown. She is witness to the glamorous yet tumultuous world of the magazine while facing office politics, sabotage attempts, and personal challenges

-        Take Away: Although I shouldn’t be shocked, I was blown away by how male management really set Helen up to fail. And yet, she prevailed.

In the Time of Butterflies

-        1938

-        Dominican Republic

-        The story of the four Mirabal sisters who actively resisted the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.

-        Take Away: Prior to reading this book, I did not know anything about the politics of the DR, so this was very enlightening.

Good Night Irene

-        1941-45

-        Europe

-        Irene Woodward is a woman who escapes an abusive fiancé in New York during World War II and joins the Red Cross to serve as a "Donut Dolly" on the European frontlines. She and other women operate mobile kitchens called "Clubmobiles" providing food and camaraderie to soldiers facing the horrors of combat, including D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.

-        Take Away: Again, never even heard about Donut Dollys who were not drafted -- so basically these women signed up to work long hours in the cramped quarters of a food truck, emotionally comforting men while trying not to get sexually abused or shot.  Unsung heroes in my mind.

Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

-        1900s

-        US mostly

-        Book about the life of Marjorie Post, the daughter of C.W. Post. (C.W. Post was the inventor and founder of Grape Nuts and Post Cereal.)  Marjorie starts off her incredible journey as a young girl apprenticing with her father as he builds his business.  She does many incredible things in her life including, but not limited to, running a very large corporation, overseeing the building and decorating of many homes and yachts (including Mar-A-Lago.  Yes, *she* built it!), opening up soup kitchens during the depression, and building and stocking a hospital ship to serve American soldiers during WWII.

-        Take Away: Marjorie Post accomplished many amazing things in her life, and she did it “backwards and in high heals” as Ginger Rogers is attributed with saying.

Next Year in Havana

-        Today and 1950s

-        Florida & Cuba

-        A Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution.

-        Take Away: Never really knew the developments of the Cuban revolution.  Struck me as eerily similar to the Dominican Republic one, though.

Briefly, a Delicious Life

-        1813

-        Mallorca, Spain

-        The book primarily revolves around the time that George Sand and Frédéric Chopin stayed in a monastery. Fun technique in that it is told by a ghost who has been haunting the place since her death at the age of 14 in 1473.

-        Take Away: Learned a lot about Chopin.  I’ve always listened to his music, but up until now I did not know anything about him as a person – including that he was a sickly and irascible guy.

A Most Agreeable Murder

-        1810s

-        England

-        Beatrice Steele is a young woman living in a strict English society and is secretly obsessed with true crime. Of course, she finds herself thrust into a murder mystery when a wealthy bachelor dies unexpectedly at a grand ball she is attending.

-        Take Away: The tale is told in a quirky and ironic way, and it is not based on any real people, so the only thing I got out of this one was a refresher on the Regency Era. But fun nonetheless!

Happy reading!

Eve