Reading Women: Through the Looking Glass, 2023 Book Club Reviews

lizzmg77

Jan 17

Every year I participate in a book club with my sorority. At the end of every year we select the books we will read during the upcoming year. It is a mixture of genres, styles, and authors, and it is fun reading books I never would have selected on my own. I like that some are non-fiction and some are written by members of the sorority too. 2023 had a lot of great books and I wanted to share my reviews with you!

January selection: Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging by Julie Ryan McGue: This is a non-fiction selection. I enjoyed this book a lot and was intrigued by the premise of the author's story. It follows a woman who is suffering from some medical issues. She, at almost 50 years old, does not have a complete family medical history, because she and her twin sister were adopted as babies in the late 1950s. While she is experiencing medical issues, her twin is not. It follows Julie's journey to ask her adoptive parents for any information they have, to hiring multiple adoption search agencies to assist in the process of obtaining the family medical history she most desires. I do not know many people who are adopted, and have not heard much about the birth parent search process. It was a lot more challenging and detailed than I ever imagined. I am glad that the twins were indeed able to reconnect with their birth mother. They were able to reconnect with their birth father's children, but he was not willing to meet them. It was sad to see the reactions from both the birth parents and adoptive parents to the twins, but it is understandable due to the stigma around adoption and women who are pregnant outside of marriage in that time period. If you like non-fiction, I would read this book. I rated this four out of five stars.
February selection: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn: Oh how I love historical fiction and Kate Quinn. I believe two other novels by this author were book club selections in the past years (The Alice Network and The Rose Code). Kate Quinn is an incredible author who can paint a picture of the first and second world wars and their aftermaths with ease. She develops these female protagonists to a T and it is almost like reading non-fiction. She is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. The Diamond Eye did not disappoint; I loved following Mila Pavlichenko, the female sniper as she is referred to most often, and reading her harrowing tale in the war between Russia/USSR and Germany/Nazis. It was captivating, interesting, exhilarating, exciting, you name it. I enjoyed the author bringing you from the war in 1941 - 1942 to the propaganda travels of the USSR delegation to the USA in 1942 where we see the point of view of a marksman out to assassinate the president, and the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. It was really interesting to see the war portion with Mila catching up to the happenings in the USA on their travels. I was hoping that the marksman was someone the lady sniper encountered in the war, but it was good nevertheless. I recommend this novel, please read all of Kate Quinn's books, she is awesome! I rated this book four out of five stars.
March Selection: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner: I had heard of this book in the past, but did not know much about it. I was pleasantly surprised that it was a memoir. I liked how the author described food dishes her and her mother loved to enjoy together; each chapter had meals incorporated into it, much like you are shopping or exploring H Mart. If you do not know, H Mart is an Asian market or section of a city where there is a lot of Asian Markets/cuisine that you can eat. The author talks about how she and her mother would visit Asian, typically Korean, restaurants and enjoy the cuisine together. It was how they bonded and what their relationship was formed upon. The author is looking back on her relationship with her mother who passed away in her fifties from cancer. I thought it was well written and painted a picture of their relationship. I appreciate that my book club picks some fiction and some memoirs to have variety. I thought this book was a great choice and I love reading about different upbringings and different cultures. I rated it four out of five stars.
April Selection: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley: This novel… what can I say about this one? I previously read another novel by this author for this same book club, and it was okay. It was not my favorite selection, but I do like a good mystery/thriller/suspense novel. This one started off interesting, a young man, who is a journalist, is living in an apartment when he hears someone breaking into his flat. Throughout the novel it follows his sister, who was planning on staying with him while in town, and her quest to find her missing brother. There are so many twists and turns in this novel, but the many different points of view threw me off a bit. I liked the unexpected plot twist towards the end, finding out who was really killed and the relationship of those living in the apartment building, but I just struggled to enjoy this one. It was good, but not my favorite book pick. I rated it a generous three out of five stars.
May Selection: Everything Beautiful in its Time: Seasons of Love and Loss by Jenna Bush Hager: This was a great selection. The author, Jenna, the child and grandchild of two US presidents, is discussing growing up with her four grandparents and the loss of three in a short period of time. I enjoyed reading about growing up with former presidents and first ladies, how her grandparents' personalities and upbringings not only shaped her parents lives but her and her twin sisters lives as well. I admired her honesty in sharing parts of her life with the reader. I liked the incorporation of letters from her grandparents or to her grandparents, it was cool to read those glimpses into their lives. It was hard losing my grandparents too during my life at various stages of my life, and having one grandmother still alive is wonderful. This was a great selection and I rated it four out of five stars.
June Selection: The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson: This novel was a sequel to another book selection for this book club a few years back. I loved the first book and was excited to read the sequel. The sequel is following, as the title aptly suggests, the book woman's daughter. This was the child the book woman took from two of her patrons after they both sadly passed away when the child was born. These novels follow the Kentucky blue people, a population of Kentucky natives who have a blue tinge to their skin. The main character in this story only turns blue on her hands and feet, so can cover them easily with socks and gloves. I enjoyed reading this novel, although I liked the original better. It was suspenseful at times worrying what would happen to this 16 year old girl, but it showed the resilience of people and especially women to rise above hard circumstances and be strong. I rated this book four out of five stars.
July Selection: The It Girl by Ruth Ware: I do like a good mystery/thriller/suspense novel. This one was pretty good, but honestly I caught on to the twist pretty quickly. A woman looks back on her first and only year of university; her roommate in college was murdered and she has struggled to move past it all this time. Things escalate when the supposed killer dies in jail, claiming his innocence for over a decade. She struggles to come to terms that her testimony may have put an innocent man in jail, but she cannot figure out what really happened and put the pieces together until it is too late. She uncovers a lot of things that happened that year in university and things about her roommate she never knew about before. I thought the twist was a welcome ending, but again I figured it out probably halfway through the novel. I liked it nonetheless. I gave this book four out of five stars.
September Selection: Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets: I thought this was a unique story about two women who are quite different but who are adventurous and are similar in their own way. It starts with one woman who is hunting with two men and gets lost in the wilderness in the dead of winter. The other woman, who helps with search and rescue, is tasked with trying to locate the missing woman. It is a harrowing story about life or death, loss, and failure. I liked reading this novel because it was different from my life and made me think about resourcefulness and tenacity. It was interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat. I rated it three out of five stars.
December Selection: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: I loved this book! It was so unexpected but so amazing. If you have not read this book yet, stop reading right now and go pick it up. When I saw this pick for our 2023 book club, I immediately thought it was a romance novel. It was anything but a romance novel and it was so good. I loved the characters with their quirky personalities, how smart and driven they were, and how practical they became. It had so many nuances and twists that I was not expecting, but they came at the right times and I enjoyed every minute of reading this book. It had heart, sadness, and cooking. I loved how the main character went from a strong smart chemist to a funny and charming cooking show host. I loved how she motivated and lifted the female audience up during the 1950's. It was a great book and I am so glad I read it. I think the book is much better than the show, and the show changed things that I thought were unnecessary. I rated this book five out of five.