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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Good Summer Reading?

I finally have a little time for some light summer reading. I picked up a book at the local library the other day, and Monday evening I settled down on the couch to read.

Darn. I was disappointed. The book (Divining Women by Kaye Gibbons) did not live up to the cover blurb. It sounded good--a story set in 1918 against the backdrop of the end of World War I and the beginning of the flu epidemic, had the makings of a a good read.

Maybe I'm losing patience or getting old and cranky. I want women to be strong and able to speak up and get out of rotten situations on their own. I just could not feel sympathy for the two women who seemed rudderless and spinelss, allowing themselves to be pushed around be everyone from parents to servants to a husband. I tried to tell myself, this is then, not now, and women were different. But it didn't work. I just got more aggravated with the two heroines with every page I turned.

So I'm still looking for a good read. Can anyone recommend something to this librarian that will pull me into a really good, strong story where the characters have...well, character?

3 comments:

  1. I just listened to "Restless" by William Boyd on CD as I drove across Kansas. Good story, interesting women (and men).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Priscilla! I miss my car CD player. It burned out around 125,000 miles, and I thought why fix it when the car probably wouldn't last much longer? So here I am, 100,000 miles later...

    I'll look for your recommendation. I trust your judgment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you're into mysteries, try reading Agatha Christie's "The Man in the Brown Suit". It's set in post WWI England & Africa (mostly Africa) and has one helluva heroine in it! She leaves England on a whim, with 25 pounds, on a voyage through the Atlantic to Africa, where she meets all these interesting characters - and dangerous situations she has to get herself out of. I'm a big Christie fan, and this book is definitely near the top of my list.

    ReplyDelete

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