Audiobook Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

I wanted to read Their Eyes Were Watching God because it is somewhat of a classic now, and it was part of the English curriculum when I was a librarian.

And for those reasons, I'm glad I read it. I was impressed with the writing. The descriptions are vivid and detailed, if a bit drawn out. But that is the poetic aspect of the book.

I was glad I chose the audio version because I think the dialect would have been tedious to read. The narrator, Ruby Dee, does an excellent job with the dialect as well as the voices. I'm hoping the teachers used the audio version to help the students with it.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is the story of Janie, a black woman in the 1930s. We learn a lot about black traditions, especially when it came to how women were treated. I would recommend -- the audio version -- if you are interested in the subject.

Published by J. B. Lippincott, 1937
Audiobook obtained from libro.fm
297 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2023 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved

Book Review: Seabiscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hillenbrand

After reading Unbroken several years ago, I realized I had Seabiscuit, also by Hillenbrand, and decided I should read it. I'm glad I finally did.

I'm not even a horse racing fan, but I really enjoy the way Hillenbrand tells a story. She has a way of building the tension and excitement that is unique.

We are introduced to the original owners of Seabiscuit and then told how he ended up with the Howards, who eventually were successful. We are introduced to the trainer (Smith), and the jockey (Pollard). And then we follow them through the training, and race by race, through the ups and downs of Seabiscuit's inconceivable career. 

We are also introduced to the atmosphere of early horse racing, where jockeys took their lives in their hands every time they went out. Not to mention the starvation in order to make weight. Pollard suffered several life-threatening injuries, which each time used up all of his savings and then some. During some of this time, Seabiscuit had a different jockey, Woolf, who was also famous. It was a brutal, dangerous life.

Seabiscuit's rise to fame took place during the Depression when the public needed some distraction. And boy was he a distraction. People would come from all over to watch him race and the race tracks were overflowing. If you weren't watching him, you were listening to the races on the radio.

Some sections were perhaps a bit too detailed for me, but most of the time, I couldn't put Seabiscuit down. Like I said, it's the way she tells the story. So if you are a fan of Hillenbrand, even if you aren't a horse fan, you should consider this book. Even without the horses, it's a fascinating look at a unique aspect of the Depression.

Published by Random House, 2001 
Copy obtained from my library (not sure where I got it)
347 pages

Rating: 4/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2022 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved

Audiobook Review: The Four WInds, by Kristin Hannah

The Four Winds was a mesmerizing book about the Dust Bowl, once it got going.

The characters were amazing, the setting -- well -- unbelievable. The Four Winds puts you in the middle of the dust bowl, but also in California, where thousands of people went to find work during The Depression. As you can imagine, it didn't work out well for them.

It's one of those "I can't believe this happened in the USA" stories. And they keep bringing up that point as they are living through the horrors. You get an interesting take on Communism and the Red Scare, as these "Communists" tried to unionize the workers to help them get a living wage. I mean, they literally could not survive on what they were paid, even when the men, women, and children were all picking. The huge growers would cut wages on a whim. They had their own company stores where people could get credit, and of course, they could never get out from under the debt.

Elsa was an amazingly strong woman and no one could not become attached to her and her family. My only complaint is that the beginning was slow. There was too much time spent on Elsa's childhood and life with her parents. I get that her background makes her who she is, but I still thought it went on too long. So the message is:  don't give up. This is a minor complaint, and it is well worth the effort to get through that part. I also would have rather had a different outcome for Elsa. That's all I'll say.

I would recommend The Fours Winds to anyone. The audio version is excellent, although my listening kept getting interrupted by audiobooks that I had on hold at the library. (You only get them for three weeks.) So when another one became available, I borrowed The Four Winds book from my sister and read the last 60 pages.

Published by St. Martin's, 2021. Audio by Macmillan
Audiobook purchased from libro.fm
464 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2022 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved

Book Review: The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

I enjoyed The Paris Bookseller very much. It's not my usual read, and I'm not sure where I got the recommendation. But I'm glad I read it.

The Paris Bookseller is Sylvia Beach, an actual historical figure. Sylvia moves to Paris in the 1910s, mostly because it is a more tolerant environment for a lesbian. She ends up opening a bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, which is the first in Paris to sell English books. She gains quite a clientele of ex-pats, including famous names such as Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.

James Joyce becomes one of Sylvia's best friends and when his book, Ulysses, is banned in the United States, Sylvia decides Shakespeare and Company should publish it. Sylvia works very hard and sacrifices much to see this book published.

The story moves slowly but is written well, so I enjoyed getting to know Sylvia intimately. She also develops a romance that gets her through many trials.  I enjoyed getting to experience Paris during the twenties and into the thirties, with the difficulties of the Depression. I wanted to know about Ulysses and even read the first three (of eighteen) sections. It is very "stream of conscious" and contains so many allegories that I didn't understand that I quit. I get the idea, although didn't read enough to understand why it was banned.

It helped me to know that The Paris Bookseller is basically a true story. Only a few characters are fictional. Everything that happens really happened, although the timeline was altered slightly in a few spots. Beach is a fascinating character, flaws and all. Honestly, I'm not sure I would have been very interested in this book if it weren't based in truth.

If you are at all interested in Sylvia Beach or the Paris literary scene during the 20s, pick up The Paris Bookseller.

Published by Berkley, January 11, 2022
eARC obtained from NetGalley
336 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2022 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved

Book Review: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek depicts a time and a place that I knew little about. I found it touching and compelling. And I'm a sucker for books about librarians...

In the 1930s, in the deep hills of Appalachia, Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project hired women to deliver library materials to the most remote and isolated people in the state. Cussy is one of these librarians.

Her father is determined that Cussy get married since he is her only family. Cussy knows that she will lose the job she loves since married women can't be packhorse librarians. She also knows that no one will want to marry her since her skin is a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. She is the last of her kind, one of the blue-skinned people of Kentucky.

Cussy survives many hardships, many having to do with the discrimination against the blues, but also just because she is poor. Her father's life is a horrific one, working in the coal mines every day.

The depiction of Cussy and the people she meets is eye-opening and fascinating. Minor characters are a bit muddled-I had a bit of trouble keeping track of who was who-but I needed to find out what happened to all of them. And some of it is very sad.

I'm still thinking about Cussy and her life (and feeling thankful). I think that says a lot about a book. If you are interested in history, and in particular the hardships endured by these people, you should check out The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

Published by Sourcebooks Landmard, 2019
eBook purchased
320 pages

Rating: 4/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2021 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved

Book Review: A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

I've only read a couple of Isabel Allende's books, but I enjoy her style. A Long Petal of the Sea is well researched and taught me much about a period of history I knew virtually nothing about. Enjoyable -- as predicted.

The book begins in Spain, during the Civil War in the late 1930s. Victor Dalmau is a medic fighting for the Republican government, which ends up being overthrown by Francisco Franco and his Fascists.  Roser is pregnant with Victor's brother's child, and she flees over the mountains into France.

They end up on a ship bound for Chili which has agreed to take some Spanish refugees. The ship has been chartered by Pablo Neruda, the famous poet. In order for Victor and Roser to be included on the ship, they must be married. So they get married, vowing to get a divorce as soon as possible. Turns out divorce is illegal in Chile, and anyway, Victor has vowed to be a father to his nephew, Marcel.

The rest of the book, ending in 1994, covers Victor's and Roser's lives, through repression, separations, government uprisings, friendships, and romances. All the time they hoped they could return to their beloved Spain at some point. (Franco didn't die until 1975.) I won't tell you if they ever did.

I feel rather stupid, because as a high school student I hosted an exchange student from Chile in early 1980, and had no idea of the political climate of that country. I don't remember asking her a thing about it. Who cares when you are 17 years old??? She wanted to be a journalist, and I do remember that it was probably a very dangerous career to choose at that time. I heard from her in 1982, and then never again...

I find Allende's use of the third person to be effective. Often, I have difficulty getting into the story if it isn't in the first person. But somehow, even with many passages about history, I find myself fascinated.

A Long Petal of the Sea is a long book (it seemed longer than 336 pages), but if you are interested in history and an epic family story, you will surely enjoy it.

Published by Ballentine, January 21, 2020
eARC obtained from NetGalley
336 pages

Rating: 4/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2019 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved

Book Review: American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt, by Stephanie Marie Thornton @BerkleyPub

What a character Alice Roosevelt was, and American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt did such a good job of telling her story. I was captivated.

I love historical novels.  American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt starts out when the Roosevelts find out that Theodore is president because of the assassination of President McKinley. They really had fun in The White House. Alice was the oldest, the only child of Theodore's first wife, who died two days after Alice was born. Because of this, she and her father weren't very close, because she reminded him too much of his first wife. Alice was a rebel and very outspoken, without much thought of the consequences. Alice was also extremely intelligent and politically savvy.

She fell in love with a congressman, Nicholas Longworth, who eventually became Speaker of the House. I could go on and on and tell you all sorts of juicy stories about her life. She lived to be 96, so there was a lot to tell. Lots of cheating husbands (and wives), backstabbing, political maneuvering, and secrets to keep you entertained. It reads like a soap opera, and it's pretty much true. Another tidbit to whet your appetite -- she had an illegitimate child!

At the end of the book, Thornton explains the parts that were not precisely true. She messed with the timelines a bit, some quotes were credited to the wrong people, a few minor characters were combinations of people, etc. But mostly, it is all true. You will learn so much about the Roosevelts and the general politics of the time. Alice attended the Bicentennial State Dinner at The White House in 1976! Just think of everything she lived through, like two world wars and the depression, to name a few.

It was a coincidence that my husband wanted to start watching the Ken Burns documentary, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History while I was reading this. We have only watched the first episode, but I am excited to watch the rest and compare. If you are at all interested in this historical time period, don't miss this one.

Published by Berkley, March 12, 2019
eARC obtained from NetGalley
448 pages

Rating: 5/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2019 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved

Book Review: Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

Out of Darkness is not really a book about the school explosion that happened in east Texas in 1937.  It's a story about a family in turmoil before and after the explosion. It was just a bit unexpected. Granted, the blurb says "a multilayered tale," but I don't usually pay too much attention to descriptions.

We experience the horror of the explosion at the beginning of the book, then we are taken back about six months to get to know our victims.  Naomi has just been brought to live with her stepfather, Henry.  She has a sister and brother who are twins and are biological children of Henry.  Her mother died shortly after the twins' birth and they have been living with grandparents.

Henry is doing well digging for oil and he has found God.  He is convinced by his preacher that God wants him to bring his children to live with him, so he does.  There are separate schools for black and white kids.  Since the twins and Henry are white, Naomi, who is Mexican, goes to the white school. She meets an African American boy named Wash.  He begins spending a lot of time with the twins, and eventually, he and Naomi begin a secret romantic relationship.

Things get more and more complicated for Naomi and Wash, and that's pretty much all I want to say about the plot.  At about 300 pages, the explosion occurs and we get more details about it, but we still move on from that very quickly.

This is not a happy book.  Throughout the entire narrative, Naomi is struggling.  And we know what is coming.  And when it comes, don't expect a "happily ever after."  It's been a long time since I've read a book that really had no uplifting qualities.  It was written well, and the characters and situations were interesting.  But I am really glad to be finished, and I find myself a bit angry at   Pérez. I need to move on.  I woke up early this morning thinking about this story,  and I still feel a bit sick when I do.

So, do I recommend Out of Darkness? Well, given the previous paragraph, I'll leave it up to you.

Published by Carolrhoda, 2015
Copy obtained from the library
401 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

---

Back to Annette's Book Spot Homepage Copyright © 2017 Annette's Book Spot. All Rights Reserved