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Book Review

Review: The Boston Girl

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The Boston Girl

The Boston Girl
By Anita Diamant
Scribner Book Company, Paperback, 9781439199367, August 2015, 336pp.

The Short of It:

This is a story about a young Jewish woman, trying to make a life for herself in Boston during a time when women were just beginning to forge careers for themselves.

The Rest of It:

Addie Baum lives with her family in Boston. As Jewish immigrants, her parents have trouble assimilating to the world around them and prefer to live with the “old ways” and beliefs that they’ve known all their lives. With three daughters, they believe that to be truly successful in life, they must marry well and marry young.

This doesn’t bode well for the Baum girls. Particularly Addie or her troubled older sister. As the three girls make their way through life, we are introduced to a host of supporting characters. All of them interesting but perhaps not all necessary to the story.

Let’s talk about the story a little. I found it to be well told but not terribly exciting. Oddly enough, I managed to read it in just a couple of sittings. It flowed well but it’s really all about Addie’s coming of age which as you can imagine, has some highs and lows. I liked the family dynamic and felt that the author portrayed an immigrant family well.

It wasn’t immediately obvious to me that Addie was telling her story to her grand-daughter until the final pages. I don’t usually care for devices like this but it seemed to work well here.

I haven’t read any stories about immigrant families in a long time so this was a nice change of pace. This was a book club pick but I had a family emergency and was not able to attend the meeting so I have no idea how the discussion went. I imagine it went well. Seems like potentially there would be plenty to discuss but I did feel as if the author was a little light-handed with some of the topics.

If I had to compare this book to Diamant’s other book (The Red Tent), I’d have to say that I enjoyed this one quite a bit more.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Bookish Talk

Bookish Habits

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Bookish Habits

We all have them, don’t we? We like to read a specific way with specific things around us and although I can read anywhere, and have been seen reading in some odd places (like the labor and delivery room), I tend to like things a certain way.

Here are a few of my bookish habits. Feel free to add yours in comments!

  1. I prefer to read while lying on my stomach.
  2. Couch reading requires a soft throw, even when it’s hot out.
  3. I. Cannot. Bend. A. Page.
  4. My Kindle font is so large people across the room can read the darn thing.
  5. My TBR (to be read) shelf is arranged in the order I plan to read.
  6. I have four library cards to different systems so I am never without the book I need. Well, rarely.
  7. The only time I eat and read is while at work.
  8. People think I read 24-7 but I only read about an hour a day.
  9. I can read the most gruesome horror and not bat an eye but child molestation, rape and sometimes terminal illness does me in every time.  I avoid these subjects.
  10. After accidentally wiping out my entire Kindle library, I never turn it off for fear of doing it again.
  11. I keep a Goodreads list, a Library Thing list and a Google Docs list of books I’ve read/reviewed. I think I am afraid of losing that data even though it’s published content on the blog.
  12. I do not need silence to read in but I prefer it.
  13. I prefer to tackle challenging books with other people.
  14. I prefer chunksters over shorter books.
  15. I do not own many books. I only keep books that are special to me. The rest are given away or donated.
  16. I can read on my Kindle with e-ink technology but I cannot read on a tablet without getting a splitting headache.
  17. If someone is reading a book in public, I go out of my way to see what they are reading. I’ve mastered the over-the-shoulder-glance.
  18. I like to re-read my favorite books from time to time.
  19. I’ve been known to transport my books around in a zip lock bag to keep them nice.  Put in bag, toss in purse.
  20. In the past, I’ve used tape flags in my books but I hardly ever go back to what I’ve highlighted so now I snap pics of passages to keep them handy.

Now it’s your turn. What bookish habit can you share with us?