So here’s another book that has two story lines separated by about 30 years in time. The narrator of the story is Odelle who has come from Trinidad to London to pursue her desire to be a writer. It is 1967. As the book opens she is working in a shoe store when she gets a job at the Skelton Institute of Art. Her new boss is Marjorie Quick (a Bondian sort of name, no?) is enigmatic, wealthy a nd upper class. She takes […]
Difficult Women Persist
So after starting and not finishing two books, I decided it was time to tackle a book of short stories. If I have chosen novels or a biography poorly, I like short stories. It’s like eating salt and pepper Kettlechips, before you know it you’re at the bottom of the bag, licking your fingers and wanting more. I read Difficult Women thinking about the title. Why the word difficult? All of the stories are told by women. The stories range from a story of two […]
What We Become is Old
What We Become reminds us that we become nostalgic as we get older. Picture an ocean liner out of Europe in the 1920’s. This isn’t a boat holding thousands of people playing in pools all day and gorging themselves at buffets in the evening. It is elegant. People wear furs as they wave from the first-class deck. Dinner is formal, dancing is optional, smoking is compulsory. Max is a ballroom dancer who entertains unaccompanied women, or those whose partners don’t dance. As the book opens […]
Apparently We Can’t All Get Along
As previously noted by Bonnie, Hillbilly Elegy has been promoted as the book you must read to understand Trump voters. If that’s what you’re looking for, I think you will be disappointed. This book is mostly personal memoir with a liberal amount of social and political observation included. Given the fact that he’s worked in the Senate and written for David Frum, I wouldn’t be surprised if J.D. Vance is planning a political career in the future and this is his first autobiography telling his […]