Books I Read on My Summer Vacation

[kcobweb]

True North: A Memoir by Jill Ker Conway. This is actually the sequel to The Road from Coorain, which I haven't read. Road is about her childhood in Australia; True North starts with her leaving Australia for graduate school (at Harvard). This was fun reading - it's not just a straight memoir, because she mixes in bits of stuff that interests her: about her dissertation (on Jane Addams and women reformers), about social mores of the 60s, and about colonial attitudes in Australia (which she later compares to those in Canada). The last part of the book does get bogged down a bit in university politics (she becomes an administrator at a Canadian university), and I skimmed that part a bit. Great narrative voice. I definitely want to read the first one, about her childhood - there were some hints throughout of a few aspects of it, and I want the whole scoop.

The Girls, by Edna Ferber - this book seems to be hugely out of print: I can't find it listed anywhere online, even used. (Edna Ferber's bio on Wikipedia mentions the book, but the link goes to a song of the same name.) My copy is a discard from a library, I think. I LOVED this book. (I seem to have a thing for OOP stuff that hardly anyone else would be able to find a copy of.....) Anyway - this book was written in 1921, and is about 3 old maids in Chicago: an old maiden aunt, her 30-something niece, and *her* 18-year-old niece (who isn't exactly an old maid yet). The first part of the book is flashbacks to the abortive Civil War romance of the oldest woman, and then moves forward to the fin-de-siecle youth of the 30-something niece. Then everything moves into "modern" times - 1916, on the cusp of the War - and goes forward from there. Basic theme here was Live your own life for yourself, and don't let other people control you. Fabulous detail of life in those eras, funny bits, great characterization - I definitely want to read more Ferber (and some of her books *are* still in print, so I'm in luck!).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling - um, you all know what happens, right? Mostly, just as I expected. I *LOVED* Neville's bitty arc - hooray for the geeky underappreciated underdog coming into his own!! Nothing else intelligent to say about this. :)

Good Family by Terry Gamble. This was just okay. A daughter comes to her family's summer home in Michigan as her mother fades into death after a long illness. It started okay, but I got impatient with it, and had to skim to the end just to find out what happened (not too much). Eh. (Lots of incestuous cousin stuff, which I just can't relate to. I don't really like any of my cousins well enough to keep in touch beyond Christmas card level, so I can't imagine being so obsessed with them and wrapped up in their lives, much less being attracted to them. Ick.)