It's always fun to look through my TBR stacks and see what treasures are awaiting me that I've forgotten about. Both of these novels have been sitting around for a while, and I was happy I finally found the time to get to them. I loved them both!
The Only Woman In The Room by Marie Benedict - Benedict wrote The Other Einstein which focused on Albert Einstein's wife, a brilliant scientist who did not receive the accolades she deserved because Albert took all the credit. I loved that book, and was excited to read Benedict's latest, which is the story of Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr. Hedy grew up in Austria as Hedy Kiesler, a Jew. Her acting gained the attention of a powerful and wealthy munitions dealer with ties to Mussolini and Hitler. After her marriage to this man, she begins to listen to his business conversations and plotting to escape to the United States. Lamarr arrives in Hollywood just as World War II was starting, reinventing herself and beginning her career in the US, while still trying to help Austria and the Allies defeat Hitler. I found this entire story to be fascinating. Her marriage and eventual escape from her husband were suspenseful - and nearly unbelievable. Fictionalized biographies are one of my favorite types of books to read, and this one was fantastic.
The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin - Fiona Skinner is a famous poet, interviewed in the year 2079 about her poem The Love Poem. Skinner tells the story of her family's past. The story begins when her father died suddenly in his thirties. The four children in the family (Fiona is the youngest) are deeply affected by this, but their mother seems unable to go on. This begins the time in their lives they refer to as The Pause. With little adult supervision, the siblings are bonded together. As life eventually returns to normal, they all grow up and make lives for themselves, yet each is still affected in some way by the events of their childhood. This is a family saga that spans decades (I love this type of story). There are ups and downs throughout the years, but their connection to each other remains. When I first cracked this book open and saw it was set in 2079, I very nearly closed it right back up. However, the 2079 setting is really the set-up for the entire novel. It is the place and time where Fiona reads her famous poem and is then interviewed. At this point Fiona is over one hundred years old, and she is looking back on her life and career. Almost the entire novel is Fiona's recollection of her life, which I very much enjoyed.
We've got more snow heading our way, which means I might find a little more reading time in my future. While all these snow days and late starts are fun in the moment, the fact that our school year is continuing to be extended with each day off now is definitely not good news. There is no one (student or teacher) who feels motivated to learn weeks after we were meant to be enjoying summer.
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