This is a fictionalized telling of the life of Coco Chanel, and it strives to give a complete picture of the legendary designer. I admit to knowing next to nothing about her before I read the book, and it was quite fascinating to read how she managed to rise from poverty to become an icon in fashion. Born Gabrielle Chanel, she and her siblings were split apart after the death of her mother and abandonment of her father. During her schooling by nuns, she […]
Life lesson from Uncle Stevie: You always — always, always, always — fall from the topmost grid of the ceiling that you’re using for a ladder in the hall of the maximum security prison that has gone sliding down the unstable remains of a former coal mountain.
Sleeping Beauties is a gigantic, door-stopping tome that tells the story of a world without women. What would happen if suddenly all of the world’s women were suddenly asleep, and the men were left to their own devices, without supervision and guidance from the fairer sex? How long until guns are used to make every single decision? As it turns out, less than a week. Uncle Stevie and his son Owen are trying something interesting here, but it mostly didn’t work for me. Here’s what […]
This head witch needed more training
Set in high society Edwardian England, The Midnight Witch is the story of a young witch who faces the choice between love and loyalty to her coven… This blurb makes the book sound a lot more fascinating than it really was, in my opinion. Lady Lilith Radnor, daughter of the Duke of Radnor, is as young and beautiful as one expects the heroine to be; she’s also a witch. She is engaged to a fabulously handsome young man, who is also a witch. Her father […]
The Ugly Cry Book
Code Name Verity is fantastic. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it (or crying about it) since I finished reading it. It is an unexpectedly powerful story of friendship and confronting one’s worst fears. It is also an ode to the brave and often nameless women who flew and fought alongside men in World War II as part of the Special Operations Executive, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and Air Transport Auxiliary. The first part of the book is narrated by Julie and is […]