books Archives

Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady

We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby Author: Kate Summerscale Victorians – they’re just like us! Oh sure, they addressed their spouses by last name and wore organ-squeezing corsets and showed affection by exchanging clumps of hair, but the big stuff doesn’t change: we idealize the institution of marriage but make ill-considered, passionate matches; we act shocked and disgusted at infidelity, but secretly want to hear every juicy detail; and we love a high-profile court case that makes headlines. Unfortunately for Isabella Robinson, we don’t get to choose the ways we make history, and that’s why her name will forever be [...]

Stephanie Perry2022-07-04T06:24:22-07:00August 31st, 2012|Tags: books, divorce, kate summerscale, mrs. robinson's disgrace, reviews|

Lifeboat, The

Dead Calm Author: Charlotte Rogan Let's play a word association game. When I say "shipwreck survival," you think... "exciting"? "Action-packed"? "Heroism"? WRONG. Correct answers — at least, if you're preparing to read Charlotte Rogan's The Lifeboat — include "tedious," "dull," and, "Who is that character again? Were they in the boat this whole time?!" It's about as much fun as an actual shipwreck, although you probably won't have to eat raw seagull to survive. Probably. In 1914 (two years after the Titanic), Grace Winter and her new husband Henry are sailing from England to the U.S. on the luxury cruise [...]

Stephanie Perry2022-03-05T00:29:30-07:00August 29th, 2012|Tags: books, charlotte rogan, reviews, the lifeboat, titanic|

A Different Kind of Amazon

Nine times out of ten, if I'm saying "books" and "Amazon" in the same sentence, I'm talking about the kind with free super saver shipping. But this time, I just finished a double header of books about the Amazon jungle — and the horrors I encountered therein have convinced me to keep my ass planted firmly on the couch for the remainder of my sedentary but not-eaten-by-crocodiles life. First I read Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, in which a team of research scientists studying a native tribe's miracle fertility drug disappears into the jungle for months, then years. The pharmaceutical [...]

Stephanie Perry2016-12-31T17:59:10-07:00August 28th, 2012|Tags: amazon, ann patchett, books, brazil, state of wonder, the unconquered, yanomami|