Christine

Easy and light. Not my usual kind of book, but a nice change of pace in that it was entertaining, steamy, and fun. Kind of a cross between Virgin River and Gilmore girls. I agree with another reviewer that Libby was not adequately developed, but I think the main event was supposed to be Nora and Charlie all along. The sister bond was a good idea, but not how real sisters behave, I'd say. But some willing suspension of disbelief made the book a good escape.

I appreciated this examination of an area about which I know too little. The research here is astounding. She tells the stories with such detail of women who were banished from Paris – for “crimes” they did not commit (really, they were mostly guilty of being very poor) – and how they built lives eventually when they got to Louisiana around 1720.

My big takeaways are that the difficult origins in this area strongly resemble how I think about Jamestown – a mess of disease, violence, and poor support from England/France. I didn't realize how terrible the French colonies were here for their first couple of decades. Law was the Frenchman credited with/blamed for with directing the bleak settlement, but he was focused on growing tobacco, which never took off. Men in France wanted to sell French goods to the inhabitants, but they were too poor and desperate to buy the imports and they had little to export. The women – whom she restores to our narrative with such detail and surprising breadth and depth – usually married, had children, and (many) survived to old age, much longer than they probably would have in France.

I was curious about the history of Ship Island, where they had to stay for a while at the beginning. Sounds like a bad episode of “Naked and Afraid.” (p. 193 ish)

The main settlements she describes include Biloxi (grim!), Mobile (better – many resourceful women did well there, but a hurricane shifted the focus to New Orleans in 1722 (p. 242 ish), New Orleans (did better; I skimmed), and then parts further north to Illinois (where they grew wheat and benefited from bear oil!) Toward the end here she gets into more conflict and contact with the indigenous people, and I did find myself wondering why they weren't more present and important in the early parts of the book. She indicates that they were already largely diminished by disease. In this later section, I appreciated her discussion of the fate of the Natchez people in a French land grab and the conflict among indigenous people exacerbated by French-English conflicts (something I discuss in class & an AP theme).

By the end of the century, Napoleon was ready to let go of the colony, she says BEFORE the revolution in (today's) Haiti. (I teach that Haiti made him realize he couldn't maintain the region, but perhaps I should look into that.) After a century of difficulties – tobacco's flop there, slave uprisings, conflict with Native Americans, etc. – Napoleon made the LP sale.

I did wish for a bit more on the history of slavery in the region, as well as the indigenous people, but that wasn't the main point of the story. Overall, I learned a lot, and was struck by the level of detail and extensive research required to write this important and impressive book. I'm eager to read something else by her – perhaps her study of the ideas about Sappho.

(This is long because I wrote for my own teaching & lecture notes)

I enjoyed this a lot. The personalities were funny and easy to imagine. I was sad about the ending, but anyone who has been through this sort of thing can see it happening easily. I want to recommend to friends, but feel I should warn them, which would spoil it.

Funny and helpful overview of key philosophers and moral dilemmas we face each day. If you like Good Place, this is perfec

I got this through the library easily last weekend, and it has kept me listening for several days of errand running and chore doing. I appreciated the twists and turns, but the storyline is pretty dark without much of the Paris environment to entice or soften those sharp edges. I don't think it was as fun as her first book because of the different gloomy apartment setting, but definitely enjoyable and interesting.

DNF. I liked the premise, but I got too stressed out by the slow conflicts evolving. Then, there was an animal cruelty, for which I have very little tolerance. I was also frustrated with a couple of the characters, although I know that will be resolved by the end. Perhaps I will come back to it.

Familiar but very important messages here about gratitude, perspective, agency, and hope. The first half was hard for me to read because it brought up so much fear and medical anxiety, but I appreciate the way that he initiates the reader into the club of people who have experienced trauma, loss, fear, and medical surprises. I liked the second half a bit more about savoring the park with his dog, or his political observations in 2020. He is a thoughtful and smart man. He also opened my eyes, no pun intended, to the visually impaired and otherwise disabled, in a way that I appreciate.

This is an outstanding accomplishment... excellent history, Herculean research, and juicy storytelling. I have to admit that I had to skim the last half, as I simply don't have the mental bandwidth to absorb it all right now, in the midst of work. I highly recommend the book to anyone with the patience and time to work through the many subjects, who's who, and interpersonal twists and turns terms of her subjects. This book gives you a front row seat to Europe, and other parts of the world, in the 1920s and 1930s, thanks to these intrepid, and mostly forgotten, journalists.

This is a meditative and unconventional novel. I appreciated the many gems of wisdom, and even took pictures of a few pages. The story was a bit slow at times, but I think that is part of the point. This is one that I could pick up from time to time, read a page or two, and feel a bit calmer and closer to the rest of humanity. It would be nice to discuss with friends to make sure that I didn't miss things, as that seems quite plausible.
While I appreciated reading the text, and being able to capture powerful sentences, the narrative may have gone more quickly if I had been listening.

Smart. Good history. Can't wait to discuss.

Love Tyler. This one left me sad, tho, as others have observed too. Mercy is unlikable, especially with one shocking and selfish act. I wonder why Tyler chose that.
She's almost redeemed herself by the end.
The opening chapter doesn't really get explained well, but the multigenerational and multi year saga is compelling. The ending in the pandemic felt truthful and heartwarming.

Fun and funny with some serious and difficult topics. I enjoyed. Book club pick. I listened. That was good.

I gobbled up this one. Listened. Quite enjoyable and provocative, especially for academics. Not sure about the ending.

I'm reluctant to decide on stars for this... Maybe because it is a short story collection. Halfway through, I was captivated, and wondering why I don't read short stories more often. I didn't want to go on to the next one without savoring what I had just read. But about 2/3 of the way through, some of them started to drag me down a bit.

This was a book club read for me, and I'm grateful to have read it. Numerous passages were so moving and insightful that I saved them on my Kindle and now my phone. She begins with the slow and painful loss of her father (and also the loss of many small things, like keys and wallets, which was funny and truthful) and ends with finding her partner and wife. Schultz is a beautiful writer, and feel as though I was at her wedding because I can see it so clearly in my mind's eye.
I did not like so much her ardent atheism, the defense of which seemed excessive and distracting to this non-atheist. But I appreciate how she writes of her wife's faith with such respect. I also did wish for the middle to move along a bit more quickly. There were places where I had to make myself finish the chapter, or I would just skim to the end of it, because her lengthy discussions got slow for me. Perhaps a more patient reader would just bathe in the words and the ideas.
All in all, a lovely piece with moments of brilliance.

I read this on Kindle, and I wish I had a hardcopy to flip back to occasionally. She had good ideas, especially for someone like me. I feel inspired, and don't want to lose that.

May be a bit too soon, but I appreciated the reminder of norms early in the pandemic. I appreciate it also the characters, the setting, and the authors obvious research. There were a few things undeveloped, in my opinion. Looking forward to a book club discussion of it.

Lovely start and clever. But I started to get restless to know the ending.

This was a beautiful story of love, friendship, art, London & Florence, family, music. I highly recommend for anyone who wants a slow, lovely, patient, and touching story. It reminds me of an afternoon in Florence spent people watching, sipping good wine, and sharing simple but delicious food with close friends. A balm for the weary soul.

I listened to this one, and I loved it. So much truth and beauty and love and humor.

Quite smart and a lot to like, especially the female friendships and characters. However, too close to reality to “enjoy.”

I wanted to read this as soon as I finished Joella's more recent (second) book, but this one didn't grab me by the first couple of chapters. They were quite sad, and I needed something different, so I stopped. I may come back. He gets his characters, and I appreciate the author's compassion.

I learned a great deal in this book, and I appreciated that I felt like I had Angela next to me for days. One of my colleagues has suggested that the book dramatically minimizes her responsibility for Putin's recent aggression in Ukraine. I agree that the book is quite positive about her overall. (And it concludes with 2019.). I'll be looking at some of the reviews next. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, and understand this leader and her worldview much better now. I already knew that I liked her, but now that respect and affection is deeper still.

This was a brilliant accomplishment, and a fascinating window into the life of Thomas Mann and his family. I learned a great deal, and enjoyed the detail and insights. It did read more like non-fiction, but that was fine for me. I also wondered if it could've been a bit shorter, but perhaps I felt this way because I was listening. The narration was excellent.

Amazing and beautiful and sad. I don't think I'm in a good place right now for reading a book that is this heavy, but it is astonishing and impressively complex and stunningly creative. Perhaps I will come back to it when I can savor it without feeling weighed down.