Tag: library books

The Operator

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Life in a small town is like no other. Guaranteed someone knows your business, even the secrets you do not know. It doesn’t matter you live in a tiny English village straight off a biscuit tin, a New England mill town, a seaside hamlet or a Midwest town. And I am not immune to secrets and revelations so when I heard about a 2020 novel called The Operator? I was interested enough to take a screenshot and see if the local library carried it.

According to the author bio on the back flap of The Operator, this is Gretchen Berg’s debut novel. Seriously? Because unlike another debut novel I took a chance on earlier this spring I had absolutely no problem diving into tiny 1950s Wooster, Ohio even with the spouse braying at the antics of whatever Minecraft Let’s Play video he was watching. The first page sucks you in, you are right there with Vivian, wearing old winter boots on her way to work.

A 1950s woman…working? Weren’t all women housewives being supported by their husbands. Not exactly. Vivian’s work at the telephone company makes life nicer, paying for the things her husband’s salary cannot quite cover. And Vivian likes her work, she loves knowing the ins and outs of what is happening in her town and being a telephone operator is a great match. Until Vivian learns a secret about herself.

Giving away the secret takes away the fun of reading The Operator but let’s say Vivian doesn’t die, it’s a whopper with nesting boxes of whoppers. And Vivian is very relatable. She doesn’t curl up in a ball and give in even if some of her decisions are made from social pressure. She keeps on going and a bit at the end has me tearing up because that part of journey touches on something in my own mother’s life. Go Vivian go!

The Operator is a fine book club recommendation (I have book clubs on the brain at the moment having just joining a site wide book club at work) and between you, me and the World Wide Internet if the trade paperback edition has one of those book club suggested discussion questions I need to see “When did you realize CHARACTER NAME was THING I DIDN’T FIGURE OUT BECAUSE I AM THAT DIM” because I can’t be the only one this dim. Also The Operator would make nice Paramount Plus show because Vivian and her pluck remind me of Ginnifer Goodwin in Why Women Kill. Get cracking out that Paramount Plus.

I can give The Operator a firm Essie Hi Maintenance (Revlon’s Fire and Ice looks dreadful on me) thumbs up. Grab it from your book source, find a comfortable spot (I recommend not on the other side of the couch from your spouse) and spend a few hours with Vivian Dalton and the secrets of Wooster, Ohio.

Confident Women

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

I’m at the doctor’s office…again. Over a week of poking, prodding and I’m beyond tired, in a gown doing my best to read one handed waiting. And when Doctor Awesome finally does rap on the door, I’m engrossed in a tale almost too over the top to respond right away. Remember I am in a doctor’s office, a place I fear more than a Great White suddenly appearing in the pretty reservoir I drive by twice a day, more than the vivid tsunami dreams that have me waking up in a full body sweat most nights. Books have a grip on my life but this isn’t just any book.

Doctor Awesome does her thing and I’m fighting back the urge to discuss what I just read with a human being. How could an author I remember filling shelves at Barnes & Noble AND Borders lose just about everything to a con person? Granted I never read a single one of her books because romance isn’t my favorite genre but you have to have some sort of smarts to write all those best sellers right? Who wants to discuss wound care and prescriptions when you have the craziest real life story to get back to?

You want to know which romance author I’m babbling about? Sorry, you have to read about it yourself. In this book please. Yes Google is your friend but authors have to eat too. Read this book. Support authors mini lecture OVER. Back to the review.

Sadly Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion had to be tucked back into my bag because I still had go back to the office to finish my work shift and run errands before I could dive back in properly. Adulting sucks.

Remember several years back when the awesome historical ladies sub genre really came into it’s own. Usually a trade paperback volume of profiles across history, rebels, princesses/royals, feminists and criminals? Some excellent and some so poorly researched it made my historian heart cringe. Most of the current offerings are focused on a single individual to explore as an icon but you can still find the classical formula.

Enter Tori Telfer. Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History was a terrific book to stumble across in the stacks of the Very Posh City Main Library AND in my local Working Class City of Hard Hitting. Women who I knew a great deal about, women I had heard about in passing and women who were brand new to me written in a clear, sharp voice that you want to sit down with and just discuss cases until your fancy tea went cold? Yes please!

Of course when I was at Very Posh City Main Library and found Tori Telfer’s Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion it was a no brainer I was checking it out. The only issue was devour it as soon as I got home or save it for my doctor’s appointments because as compelling as each entry is, you can put it down long enough to do the medical stuff. I really appreciate that in a book, I truly do. And you can focus on the whiskey tango, how did people fall for this and oh good golly Miss Molly I want to shake Scammer X until her teeth rattle bits when you need to distract yourself from the poking and prodding bits.

Hopefully I don’t have to keep going back to see Doctor Awesome every few days. And really hoping to see another Tori Telfer collection in the next few years.