Category: book club

Categories
book club Book review history reading Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “The Only Woman in the Room” by Marie Benedict

Our book club’s latest pick was written by Marie Benedict, a fellow Pittsburgher.

The Only Woman in the Room is the story of the 1930s film star, Hedy Lamarr. She not only possessed stunning beauty but a brilliant mind.

A young, Austrian-born, Hedwig Kiesler is gifted numerous bouquets of flowers by an Australian arms dealer, Fritz Mandl. At the encouragement of her parents they meet. Hedy marries him but soon discovers that he only wanted her as a pretty face to accompany him to social engagements. During the abusive marriage, Kiesler and her husband host many dinners and social engagements involving high government officials. When Kiesler overhears the Third Reich’s antisemitic plans, she devises a plan to escape. Her escape lands her in Hollywood where she became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.

Hedy Lamarr made many movies, but what I found most interesting is how she enlisted the help of a composer to create an invention and attempted to patent it. This patent is the basis of modern cellphone technology. She is dubbed the “mother of Wi-Fi” and other wireless communication such as GPS and Bluetooth.

I found this book very interesting.

Some other books by Marie Benedict are: The Other Einstein, Carnegie’s Maid, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, and Lady Clementine.

Categories
book club Book review fiction

Read and Review (R&R) – “The Madwoman Upstairs” by Catherine Lowell

Samantha Whipple, the last living Brontë descendant is used to stirring up speculation wherever she goes. Since her eccentric father’s untimely death, she is the presumed heir to a long-rumored trove of diaries, paintings, letters, and early novel drafts passed down from the Brontë family – a hidden fortune never revealed to anyone outside of the family, but endlessly speculated about by Brontë scholars and fanatics. Samantha, however, has never seen this alleged estate and for all she knows, it’s just as fictional as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights.

But everything changes when Samantha enrolls at Oxford University and long-lost objects from the past begin rematerializing in her life, beginning with an old novel annotated in her father’s handwriting. With the help of a handsome but inscrutable professor, Samantha plunges into a vast literary mystery and an untold family legacy, one that can only be solved by decoding the clues hidden within the Brontës’ own works.

I’m all about scavenger hunts, but found this novel to be a slow burn. I did find Samantha’s wisecracking wittiness entertaining and I kept reading as my curiosity demanded to know would she find a fortune, and would her and her professor get together. No spoilers here, but if you read/enjoyed the Brontës, this might be the book for you. Friends that have read the Bronte books tell me that they enjoyed the references and theories about Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I have been told it is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre.

This book came out in 2016 and as of this writing, I don’t see any other books by this author.

Categories
book club Book review psychological thriller thriller

Read and Review (R&R) – Verity by Colleen Hoover

Have you read Colleen Hoover?

This is our book club’s second read by her. The first was “It Ends With Us.”

Colleen Hoover has a huge, loyal following of fans on various social media sites and I recently saw on Instagram that her sales this year have topped Dr. Seuss and she has sold more books than James Patterson and John Grisham combined.

Below is the synopsis taken from the back of Verity –

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

What did I think of Verity?

Page-turning tension!

It was an easy, creepy read and I read all 314 pages in three days. You can sense the danger pulsing all around in this book.

A dark and disturbing erotic romantic thriller with an ending twist I did not see coming and is still messing with my brain!

There is a lot of sex in Verity and without giving out any spoilers, this book had some very graphic descriptions and touched on some subjects that as a mother I had a hard time reading, but that being said, kudos to Colleen Hoover for her writing and book successes.

Will I read another Colleen Hoover book? Yes, but not for a while.

Once I get this book out of my head, can someone please suggest a funny cozy mystery?