28:100 A Great Task of Happiness: The Life of Kathleen Scott by Louisa Young

Kathleen Scott was the widow of Captain Scott who died in Antartica and has been a largely misunderstood footnote for her husband and their son, Peter Scott.  Louisa Young, the author, is the granddaughter of Kathleen Scott and wanted to show the world a different side of her.  Her unwavering devotion to seizing life and all it had to offer and to always choose happiness.  The author does stress these points at every opportunity as well as giving long lists of the famous people in whose company she was often found but it felt more like laundry lists than anything else.  While I admire the things that she did accomplish, especially as a woman during that time, I felt that much of the more interesting accomplishments were given very short mentions.

This is a huge issue with this book.  The depth is lacking in so many areas.  Places where it would have been really interesting to know more about.  Her helping with recreating the faces of wounded soldiers.  Her relationships with so many of the artists that she knew.  But it was just mentioned and then quickly moved past.

I also found that the fact that there would be years in the chapter titles and then stuff from all over the place would get mentioned in that chapter so it was jumping time all over the place regularly very frustrating.

And then there is Kathleen Scott herself.  I understand that the author wanted to help get better information about her out there but honestly, she came across as a misogynist, self-centered, and emotionally needy and controlling to me.  I was mostly frustrated and just didn't find her likable at all.  Apparently in real life she was but this book did not bring that across to me.



Page count: 320p/6,962p ytd/317,847p lifetime

119:120 Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irma Carmon & Shana Knizhnick

I've always had a fascination with strong females in my history although I tended to hyperfocus on a few (*cough* Eleanor of Aquitaine *cough*) but again with my working to learn more and spread myself out, I've been picking up biographies of others and as I had been learning more about Justice Ginsburg through these memes, I saw the book and knew I needed to read it. 

It did not disappoint and neither does she.

Her tenacity and commitment are something amazing to behold as are the obstacles to equal rights  that she has helped break down.  The book is well written with lots of information, including excerpts from her briefs, opinions, and dissents, tons of pictures, and interviews with friends, family, co-workers, clerks, and the lady herself. The author does a phenomenal job of keeping it fast-paced and easy to read.  I think my only objection is the timeline where the author chooses to use a grouping method rather than a straight timeline so I'd be reading something and then realize that it took place before something I had read in a previous chapter but she did do a good job of trying to make sure relevant pieces were together.  Definitely recommended.

Page count: 240p/22,282p ytd/292,685p lifetime

43:120 The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher recently found her old journals written during the filming of Star Wars: A New Hope and that wash of memory led her to write this, an intimate look at her thoughts during that time and what was happening behind the scenes.  It includes many excerpts from her diaries during that time which offers an incredible look at her thoughts in an uncensored way.  She writes with wit and humor about her naivete but with candor about her relationship with her co-star, Harrison Ford (ok, a lot of naivete there as well) and all of that when writing about how being Leia changed her life and what those changes meant.  Having grown up with Star Wars (I was 2 when it came out in theaters) and looking up to Princess Leia as my role model through my childhood, I loved hearing from her directly about her thoughts on the experience.


Page count: 267p/9,396p ytd/283,799p lifetime

17:120 Lorraine Hansberry: Award Winning Playwright and Civil Rights Activist by Susan Sinott

In 1959, in just her late 20s, Lorraine Hansberry was finally able to get the play out of her head and onto paper and A Raisin in the Sun was born.  It had been rattling around in her head for a while but once it found its time and place, it took off and took America with it.  Lorraine had grown up fairly middle-class in Chicago, or as middle-class as a black family was to be, to parents who were in at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.  She learned much watching them that did not truly germinate until she was a young woman and able to truly appreciate what they had done and what her generation still needed to do.  A Raisin in the Sun allowed her to start finding her outer voice although it seems a shame that so much of its message went askew at the time. It is a shame that she died so young with so much left to give to society.

I admit, before this year I had heard of this play but had never seen it or had any idea even what it was about.  I didn't know the name Lorraine Hansberry.  My 10th grader is doing theater and needed to do a biographical research paper so we decided to combine the assignments and do it on a playwright and Ms. Hansberry had been coming up a lot in the standards and his theater curriculum so I suggested her because I did not want to deal with yet another Shakespeare thing (don't get me wrong, I enjoy Shakespeare but researching him is so overdone and I wanted to learn about someone new).  He agreed and this book was the source of most of his information.  It was very informative, simply-written but engaging at the same time.  I'm definitely glad to have learned more about her.


Page count: 147p/3,790p ytd/278,265p lifetime