New Releases - April 20, 2021

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

5 stars

I adored this book and it was the perfect balm for unpredictable times.  It is about Grace who is young woman who is braver than she thinks.  It is about war and the importance of literature and about found families.  It is heartbreaking and a little bit sappy and a complete pleasure to read.  I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

The Next Everest: Surviving the Mountain's Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again

by Jim Davidson

4 stars

For someone who has never climbed a mountain, I read a ton of mountain climbing memoirs.  It is the surest sign of armchair travel, and a really good one can make you feel the cold winds of mountain peaks.  And this is definitely a good one.  Jim Davidson has been climbing mountain since he was a young man, with the eventual goal of the biggest one.  He finally gets a chance to climb Everest in 2015 but that was the year a tragic and deadly earthquake hit Nepal, killing 19 climbers and many more Nepalis.  He went home sad, shaken and not sure if he would ever go back.  He did go back two years later and did end up reaching the summit.  This book details both expeditions and the whole climbing life.  It also talks about what it means to find that next goal and to persevere past fear and trauma and loss.  I thought this was a fascinating read and probably ranks near the top of the Everest memoirs that I have read.  I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

World Travel: an Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain
4 stars

This book was started before Anthony Bourdain's untimely death and his voice is included in the form of introductory narration on each place.  I'm not sure this book could ever be used as a travel guide.  There is not enough information about each place and Bourdain had a fondness for five star accommodations but there are some wonderful recommendations on places to eat.  I read this entirely for the soothing, mouth-watering descriptions of food dishes and Anthony Bourdain's self-deprecating wit.  Something that I was pleasantly surprised comes across in this book.  I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Three Martini Afternoons ad the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath & Anne Sexton

by Gail Crowther

4 stars

Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton were poets at a time when poetry by women, or really any women's work, was not taken seriously.  They both suffered from mental illness and the pressure of being the perfect housewife and mother on top of trying to fulfill their creative line of work made it much worse.  This book reconstructs their brief friendship and the parallels between their lives.  This really consisted of biographies of both writers side by side so if you have already read heftier biographies of these women, this probably won't be anything new.  If, like me, you only have the vaguest outline of their lives then this is a good place to start.  Since this book is about two individuals who struggled with their mental health and ultimately took their own lives, it might be a good idea to be aware of triggers.  I received digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I Am a Girl from Africa by Elizabeth Nyamayaro
4 stars

Elizabeth grew up in a village in Zimbabwe with her loving grandmother surrounded by family and a close nit community.  When drought comes to the village, she is saved from starvation by a kind woman from the United Nations, which begins her dream of someday working for the U.N. as well.  When the droughts cause the situation to become dire, her grandmother sent her to live with her parents in a suburb of Harare from there she moves around to different situations as she still holds onto her dream of working for the United Nations.  This book alternated between her life growing up, her time trying to make it in London and her experiences and triumphs working for the United Nations and World Bank.  The best parts are her descriptions of Africa which are so lovingly depicted.  This is a beautiful memoir written by a woman who is doing absolutely important work.  I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt
by Audrey Clare Farley
3.5 stars

Ann Cooper Hewitt was born to a wealthy and successful father and a social climbing mother in the early 1900's.  Her life should have been cushioned and easy but her devoted father died early and her mother was horrible, neglectful, abusive and later had her daughter incorrectly deemed mentally unfit and sterilized in order to take her inheritance.  I had never heard this story and it is crazy and very sad.  What I found most unsettling were the chapters on other (from lower classes and different races) women who were also forced into sterilizations by doctors who believed they shouldn't reproduce.  It all started with eugenics and racism and it is a horrible, horrible chapter of our history.  In the author's note, she admits to "creative nonfiction" in order to recreate some of the more personal scenes, which I understand but am also not personally a fan.  I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

Why She Wrote: A Graphic History of the Lives, Inspiration, and Influence Behind the Pens of Classic Women Writers by Hannah K. Chapman and Lauren Burke, Illustrated by Kaley Bales

4.5 stars

I absolutely adored this graphic novel introducing the lives of classic women author's and the why's and how's of their writing life.  Each biographical section begins with a one to two page introduction and the a multi-page snapshot from their lives in graphic form.  It was so interesting that I read it in one day, and now have a list of books to add to my TBR.  The artwork is beautiful and the colors arresting.  My only (small) quibble is that the font used for the speech bubbles was a little hard to read, but that could have been just due to the digital copy that I was reading from.  Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for a complimentary digital copy.