Gena's Reads

I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Willam Powers at a reading he did at our local independent bookstore. He was very excited to be touring and sharing his new book “12×12 A One-Room Cabin off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream” with small groups all across the country. I am glad I met him before reading the book. I know he is not a gloomy cynic as I could imagine him at times while reading the book. The book points…

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It’s not often I find books written by Mexican women, so it was a rare treat to read Reyna Grande’s Dancing with Butterflies. It is about 4 women involved with a Mexican Ballet Folklorico group based in LA. Some are illegal immigrants, others born in the US, some dancers, one director, one costume maker, all struggling with their own issues. The plight of Mexican women and the beauty of Mexican Art-especially Folklorico are subjects close to my heart and are beautifully…

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Historical fiction by and about women is my favorite genre, so I was looking forward to reading The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Conner McNees.  I enjoyed this book. The author did a lot of research about Louisa May Alcott’s life and sets the story during a summer she spent with her family in New Hampshire after being forced to leave Boston due to lack of funds. It imagines a love affair Louisa may have had during…

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I will start by saying that I did not like this book, although I think that goes against popular opinion.Whenever I get talked into reading a book by a male author I seem to remember why I don’t read them very often. I’m sure this goes against popular opinion as well. Little Bee by Chris Cleave is a book about a Nigerian girl who has suffered greatly in her short life, and the British woman who happens to meet her…

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The Persia Cafe by Melany Neilson is a book that is set in the exact same time-early sixties, same place-small town Mississippi-dealing with the same issues of rascism-as The Help. But this is, in my opinion, a  better book. The protagonist is Fannie Leary, cook and owner of  The Persia Cafe in Persia, Mississippi. The tale that unfolds of murder, rascism and trying to understand yourself and your place in a small rural town in the south, amongst people you’ve known…

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a book we read recently in my book club. After so long on the best seller list, it seemed like a book worth checking out. It is based in Mississippi in the early 60’s and it is written from the perspective of a white woman detailing the plight of black maids at that time. I did enjoy reading it. It held me and kept me wanting to find out what would happen next. However,…

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I just finished Stephanie Kallos‘ new novel Sing Them Home. It is a huge sweeping novel taking us back and forth through the lives of 3 now adult children and their mother who was lost in a tornado when they were young. It is set in a small Welsh town in Nebraska’s tornado belt. I loved reading about the customs and songs of the Welsh people and trying to read their language with no vowels. Stephanie Kallos is a wonderful writer…

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Since I love historical fiction, especially by and about women, I was immediately drawn to this little book- The Blind Contessa’s New Machine by Carey Wallace. I had no idea the typewriter was invented so a blind woman could write letters. It’s a fascinating little piece of history woven around the story of the young Italian Contessa who is going blind, her family who doesn’t believe her, and her eccentric neighbor and friend-the inventor, who does belive her and falls…

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The latest book we just read in my book club is called The Devils Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks by Susan Casey. This is the fascinating true story of pioneering shark research done in the shark’s own habitat near the Farallon Islands just off the coast from San Francisco. The Farallones are so inhospitable (unless youre a shark or a bird) that it is a miracle the 2 biologists in this book could spend so much…

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Since I’m meeting now with my knitting group as the days get shorter and colder, I thought it would be fun to read another book from The Elm Creek Quilt Series by Jennifer Chiaverini. A Quilters Holiday seemed the perfect thing leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, I found it  all a little too good to be true and theres nothing special about the writing, but theres nothing really wrong with it either. I enjoyed it for what it…

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