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Reader’s CornerHave you read a fabulous book recently? Would you like to share your find with your classmates? Please send a note to the webmaster with the title, author, category (fiction, non-fiction, hobby, business, etc.) and a short recommendation (if you like). We’ll post them to the class website. All topics, genres are welcome. |
Also, consider participating in the Alumnae Association’s Online Book Club. Mount Holyoke Alumnae Online Book Club connects through a private forum to discuss the current book and network with each other. The book club chooses and reads one book every two months. Membership is completely free for alumnae.
Non-Big Store Sources of Books:
- A source of great books – many about women or by women and reviewed largely by women. It’s a bookseller-by-post called Bas Bleu [Fr: for Blue Stocking – aka a literary woman]. www.basbleu.com; 800-433-1155 per Elizabeth Eiss
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Bookshop.org is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. They believe that bookstores are essential to a healthy culture and we are a benefit corporation, a company dedicated to the common good. Discover new books and learn more about how you can get involved. Recommendation per Avice Meehan
For our 45th Reunion, we made a list of book recommendations. It is too extensive to list below. You can download it by clicking here.
| Book Name | Author | Recommended By |
| What Every Parent Needs to Know About College Admissions Our own Christie Horn Barnes has recently written this book. The book hit #1 Best Seller for Education Research releases in the first week. Check it out if you have children, grandchildren, or know others getting ready for college admissions. |
Christie Horn Barnes ’77 | Christie Horn Barnes’77 |
| Hamnet NYT listed Hamnet as one of the 10 best books of 2020, and Maggie O’Farrell doesn’t disappoint. In this fictionalized account of the death of Shakespeare’s 11 year old son, the reader is immersed in O’Farrell’s imaginative vision of William Shakespeare’s 16th century England. The universal themes of grief and empathy are woven throughout. This is not a typical genre for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. |
Maggie O’Farrell | Susan Granahan Colgan |
| And the Stars Kept Watch Novel My brother’s first book is here! It’s a moving story of loss, love, forgiveness and moving forward. You can order it now directly from him at www.Peterfriedrichs.net or pre-order it from Amazon. He’s also happy to talk to your book group! |
Peter Friedrichs | Nancy Friedrichs O’Sullivan |
| The Four Winds Excellent book about a family’s struggles through the Depression, living through Texas Panhandle and the Dust Bowl, and then in California as migrant farm workers. A good story about bravery and resiliency. |
Kristin Hannah | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| Endless Waters It’s the fictional story of a renowned Israeli author who heads to Amsterdam to promote his books and eventually discovers the truth about his mother’s wartime years there leading to a shocking family secret. It’s an intellectually interesting and deeply moving read. |
Emuna Elon | (Deborah) Ellen Boyle |
| This Tender Land | William Kent Krueger | Deb Perry |
| Where the Crawdads Sing This was a great book, combining “coming of age” story with a beautiful focus on the natural world. The imagery is wonderful, the characters are vey well defined, and the story includes a mystery that keeps you engaged. |
Delia Owens: | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| The Girl with the Louding Voice This was such an inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself. Despite what seems like insurmountable obstacles, the main character never loses sight of her goal of escaping the life of poverty she was born into so that she can build a different future for herself – and help other girls like her do the same. |
Abi Daré | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| American Dirt This was such an eye-opening book about how a middle-class, well-educated woman living in Acapulco suddenly becomes a migrant running for her life with her 8-year old son. And her goal is to get to America, but the challenges she and her son face on this incredibly challenging journey make for a very engaging, fast-reading book. More about this book can be found here: www.vulture.com/article/american-dirt-jeanine-cummins-book-controversy.html |
Jeanine Cummins | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| The Vanishing Half, (A MHC ALUMNAE BOOK CLUB CHOICE) This is a very interesting concept about choosing the life you lead. Its about twin girls who grow up together in a small, southern black town, but because their skin is so light colored, they can secretly pass as white. One chooses this “disguise”, one does not. The story weaves together 3 generations of this family and the challenges each person faces, based upon the choices they make. |
Brit Bennet | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| Half of a Yellow Sun, (A MHC ALUMNAE BOOK CLUB CHOICE): I loved this book, which takes place in Nigeria at the time that Biafra was struggling for independence. This is a complex story, combining history, politics, colonialism, class and romance within many characters whose lives are all interwoven. The characters were very well developed, and the writing is excellent |
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| Just Mercy, (A MHC ALUMNAE BOOK CLUB CHOICE) Many of you may have seen this movie (which is great), but the book, written by the lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, will be eye opening for many. It includes many real examples of our unjust judicial system, and the fight to defend the poor, the incarcerated, and the wrongly condemned. The book includes many stories of people sentenced to the death penalty, and the battle to gain their freedom. It should be a must-read for all Americans. |
Bryan Stevenson | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| The All Souls Series | Deborah Harkness ’86 | Nancy Mathiasen |
| The Nickel Boys, Based on the true story of the Dozier School for Boys, this is the story of a promising teenager who, because of a stroke of exceedingly bad luck, ends up at a reform school. The story is both horrifying and important, especially given its basis in truth and where we are today as a nation dealing with racism. I highly recommend it. |
Colson Whitehead (2019) | Susan Saxe |
| Out Stealing Horses | Per Petterson | Susan Pardo Hardy |
| The Book Thief about a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany, also won award for Young Adult literature |
Markus Zusak | Liz Lewis Gershon |
| The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Set just after the end of WWII in London and Guernsey (yes, where the cows come home), this book is a love story to writing, reading, and friendship. (fiction / history) |
Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows | Betsy (Coward) Miller |
| How do you work this life thing anyway Ok, unabashed promotion of my niece, but this really fun book even covers the etiquette of your roommate’s after-hours romantic guests. Wish we’d had it back in the day! (etiquette for the college / post college set) |
Lizzie Post | Betsy (Coward) Miller< |