June CATWoman: Books Set in Cities by Women Authors

For June, we will be reading books by female authors which are set in cities and probably feature women. The books can be either fiction or nonfiction.

Here are a few suggestions:
Fiction:
Novels or short stories by Edith Wharton such as Age of Innocence, House of Mirth, or The New York Stories of Edith Wharton
Paris Stories by Mavis Gallant
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Faust (Philadelphia and New York)
The Foundling by Stacy Halls (London)
The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas (Paris)
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue (Dublin)
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue (New York -- immigrants from Cameroon work for a upper class family)
Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear (London) -- probably most of these
Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood (Melbourne, Australia) -- probably most of these

Nonfiction:
Twenty Years at Hull-House by Jane Addams (Chicago)
Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (Amsterdam)
The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free by Paulina Bren (New York City)
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (London)
Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie : the extraordinary story of the founding mothers of NPR by Lisa Napoli (Washington, DC)

Please remember to post your readings o the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/CATWoman_2022#June:_Set_in_Cities_.28sal...

I am looking at Necropolis: London and Its Dead by Catharine Arnold and Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem. I may read others and find they would fit but without specifically choosing them for this challenge.

Leaving this to chance because surely something I read in June by a female author will turn out to be set in a city. So far in May there are two: Old Baggage in London, and The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas in Paris.

By a woman author set in a city, but not "starring" a woman! I may find something else as I search my shelves: The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller.

>4 Tess_W:. The book can certainly "star" a woman; in fact, I think most books would be about a woman/women. I added a phrase to my original message to feature women.

I'm planning to read The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free by Paulina Bren (New York City) for this challenge and perhaps something else.

>2 Robertgreaves: I have Necropolis on my shelves as well, so maybe I'll pull that one out for this challenge.

I have a library loan that will fit because it's set in London: Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans.

I have Ponti on my shelf, set in Singapore.

I was planning on reading Feminist City by Leslie Kern, but I'm finding I'm taking part in so many challenges that it's disrupting the spontaneity of reading, so I think I'm going to sit this month out. Maybe if I'm in less of a funk by the end of the month I'll squeeze it in.

I am planning on reading City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin. Set in Berlin the story revolves around the plot to pass Anna Anderson off as Anastasia.

I am planning to read Plum Bun.

I might read Rape of Nanking.

>13 Kristelh: I read that last year and enjoyed it immensely.

I finished The Lady With the Gun Asks the Questions, which is mostly set in Melbourne.

I read Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella (London)

This is my favourite Kinsella book. I'm no connoisseur of ghost stories and if I'm honest, may not have picked this up if I'd known. What a loss that would have been because I loved the story, one that made me laugh out loud many times. When aunt Sadie died at 105 years old the family attended the funeral although they had neglected her for years, and in Lara's case they had never even met. Suddenly Sadie's ghost appears to Lara during the funeral demanding her dragonfly neckace be found before the final step is taken. Lara is shocked into taking drastic action to pause the procedure. The 1923 version of Sadie is utterly enchanting and she just wants to have fun dancing, dressing up, drinking cocktails. A warm fuzzy story that is perfect for lifting the spirits (pardon the pun). This is chick lit at its best.

This challenge is the perfect excuse to finally read The Personal Librarian, set in New York in the early 1900's. While I grew up in the South and had heard about African-American's "passing," I had no idea that it caused such friction and heartache.

Interestingly enough, I visited New York City for an exhibit about J.R.R. Tolkien featuring his writings and his artwork. There were plenty of both! And they were housed in the Morgan Museum that even included a round door at the entrance to the exhibit. I understand now about the numerous medieval pieces I saw in and around the museum proper, including a tiny gold-leaf triptych with incredible detail. It may have been a foot high? With beautiful detailed paintings inside the outer gold leaves (I forget the proper name for them).

I just read Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen, the first volume in the Molly Murphy Mystery series and enjoyed it. It's about Molly Murphy, using an assumed name, accompanying two young children to find their father in New York City. Molly, an Irish country girl, runs into a lot of problems in that large city at the turn of the 20th century. A good description of city life there.

The Brass Queen is set mostly in Sheffield, England. I listened to the audiobook from NetGalley and I think it should have been two or three different books.

I just finished Business as Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford, which is a slice-of-life novel about a young woman working at a department store in 1930s London.

I've just finished The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin. She brings the city of New York to life in such an interesting way here. Really enjoyed this one. It also worked out, completely by accident, that one of the stories that I just finished in the collection I've been working on, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2017, seems to have been the catalyst for this book, The City Born Great.

I have finished Mary Barton which is set in Manchester.

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey is set in Columbus, Ohio, specifically German Village. She does mention a few landmarks, including The Book Loft, which I'm dying to visit now! It's always nice to read a contemporary American novel that's set in a city other than New York or LA.

I went to the Book Loft back in 2000 with my mom! Crazy to think it has been so long.

I read both Witches of Brooklyn and What The Hex?! by Sophie Escabasse. They are part of a graphic novel series about, you guessed it, witches in Brooklyn. The main character is still in school, so this is MG or YA.

>1 sallylou61: Thank you SallyLou, for suggesting Behold the Dreamers, I promptly checked it out as an ebook from Multnomah County Library. Library ebooks have been such a blessing in helping bibliophiles survive during these pandemic years! LibraryThing has been a great boon as well, because I am picky (or discerning) and am always looking for great books. Thanks again!

I have finished Ode to a banker which gives us a nice picture of Ancient Rome.

The Lacuna / Barbara Kingsolver
1 star

I have no summary: Washington, Mexico, servants?, politics, something about the Soviet Union, communism, Trotsky, something with art?

I have never given 1 star before. This would have been my 3rd ever (I think – maybe 2nd) DNF if I wasn’t reading it for a challenge. As I do with books I’m not liking, I ended up skimming, hoping something would catch my attention, but it didn’t happen. Sadly, this is an author I usually like.

I just finished reading The Barbizon: The Hotel that Set Women Free by Paulina Bren. It's the story of a 20th century hotel for women in New York City which catered to young single women. Many young women, particularly from the midwest who were not used to cities, came there to find jobs (and husbands). However, the focus of the book is on several programs such as the Katharine Gibbs secretarial school which housed its students there, young women who came hoping to be models or actresses, and particularly on the Mademoiselle guest editors (GE) program in which chosen young college women spent a month working as a guest editor under the supervision of a department head. Many names of famous women were mentioned in the book. However, the most attention is focused on some writers such as Joan Didion, Gael Greene, and particularly Sylvia Plath whose The Bell Jar is based on her experiences at the hotel.

The Barbizon could be a very lonely place for many women. A chapter describes these women and shows how the hotel tried to hide information about suicides.

There is much repetition in the book, and no index.

>27 LibraryCin: I would never have thought this either, LibraryCin, of this author. I wonder what happened that this book came out so differently from her others.

I finished The Personal Librarian and what a great book. I was really struck by the power Belle was able to wield against the backdrop of increasing racism as it spread throughout the US. And the opulence of the collection! What a gift that the library/museum is to future generations.

And July's thread is up:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/342418

I finished Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End, the last book in Jennifer Worth's trilogy. This last book included sections on combating venereal disease, a family devastated by tuberculosis, illegal abortions, poverty in London's East End and difficult birth situations. Worth shows much love and respect for all her fellow midwives, patients and families.

I read Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska, which is set in New York City’s Lower East Side in Manhattan. The old world versus the new. Excellent.

I have completed City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin. This was a wonderful novel of historical fiction and mystery set in 1920s and 30s Berlin. Set against the rise of the Nazis, the author has cleverly woven a murder mystery around the real woman who claimed to be Anastasia, Anna Anderson.

Lies That Comfort and Betray / Rosemary Simpson.
4 stars

This is the 2nd book in a series. In 1888, Prudence is working as a private detective along with lawyer friend, Geoffrey. When Prudence’s sometimes-maid (and friend from when they were kids) turns up not only murdered, but “gutted” (similar to Jack the Ripper over in London), people wonder if the Ripper has moved to New York or if this is a copycat. The police want to solve the case quickly, so they arrest the fiancee, but Prudence and Geoffrey don’t think he did it. Then another, then another young woman turn up with a similar MO.

I am really enjoying these mysteries. Prudence is much more assertive than most women of her time and “station”, but I like her. Realistic? I don’t know, but the entire atmostphere/setting of the book is done really well, I think. With how these murders are happening, there is some gore, but that doesn’t bother me. There was more going on than the murders in this book, so even when things appeared to be drawing to a close, there was more to come.

I read Old New York: 4 Novellas by Edith Wharton. The novellas included: "False Dawn", "The Old Maid", "The Spark", and "New Year's Day", and were labeled as being about the Forties through the Seventies (1840s through 1870s) respectively. Two of the stories, "The Old Maid" and "New Year's Day", featured women and the other two featured men. The labeling of the decades seemed unnecessary and was not very accurate. For example, in "The Spark" (1860s) the Civil War was continually talked about as being many years ago although it had occurred in 1860-1865. The stories showed how characters were breaking away from the customs and practices of "Old" New York, as portrayed by the upper classes.

"False Dawn" -- a young man is sent to Europe by his father with the instructions to buy a collection of original art works. Instead he buys works which he likes by unknown artists. Upon his arrival home, his father disowns him, leaving him a small amount of money and all the art works in his will. The son opens a gallery which very few people visit.

"The Old Maid" -- two female cousins raise a young girl who is the illegitimate daughter of the unmarried one by a man both the women loved. They tried to keep the father's name a secret. There is conflict between the cousins as to which one is really the mother.

"The Spark" -- Narrated by a young man who takes an interest in an Hayley Delane, older man who is mistreated by his wife. He admires Mr. Delane, who strikes an owner who beats his own horse, and who later cares for the father of his absent wife until the father's death. He discovers that the Mr. Delane was injured in the Civil War and who he was cared for in the hospital. (I could not make the spoiler feature work.)

"New Year's Day" -- a woman, who enjoys being with men, is unfaithful to her ill husband. The story shows why she behaves this way.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge this month. I hope that most of you enjoyed your reading. Sorry that LibraryCin did not >27 LibraryCin:. The Lacuna was a DNF for me several years ago.

>37 sallylou61: No worries! I got it off the tbr. :-) And I did really enjoy the 2nd one I read and just finished a couple of days ago.