If you’ve always thought that a clean, simple frock is better than low-rise jeans, that you would enjoy living in the time of Charlotte Bronte, or that the centuries before ours were simpler and better…this book is not for you. Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners will disabuse you of the…
Category: Review
Review: Crocodile on the Sandbank
Miss Amelia Peabody, bluestocking and self-proclaimed “spinster,” has left England to pursue her passion for Egyptology. It’s 1884 — on the cusp of the 20th century — and she’s determined to spend her inheritance doing what she enjoys. En route to Cairo, Amelia meets Miss Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young woman with a shameful secret. Amelia…
Quickie Reviews: Personal Stories
My 2017 reading started off slow, but I’ve kicked things into high gear in the last few weeks. So of course I have a review backlog. Let’s hit the high (and low) points, shall we? Work Rules! The subtitle on this is a mouthful: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and…
Review: The Scarlet Sisters
Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claftin were two of the children of a backwater snake oil salesman. The sisters spent their childhoods telling fortunes and handing out quack cures. They were not destined for great things. But the Gilded Age had a habit of propelling the least likely people to unimaginable heights. In a time when…
Review: Love, InshAllah
Finding love is hard, no matter who you are. But it might be a bit harder for American Muslim women. The 25 women who contributed essays to Love, InshAllah are planted between two worlds that seem very different on the surface. They are independent American women with careers and ambitions; they are also Muslim women…