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ClareR (6256 KP) rated Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker in Books

Oct 14, 2025  
Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker
Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker | 2025 | Biography
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fearless and Free is a really interesting memoir, told through the interviews that journalist Marcel Sauvage had with Josephine Baker. And what a life she had!

Born in 1906, mixed race, Josephine made it from St. Louis to New York and then on to Paris - and she was still a teenager. She became famous in Paris for her banana dress in the Danse Sauvage, and she was also a jazz singer and an actress. During WW2 she was a spy, she loved animals, adopted children and donated to many causes.

This memoir ends in 1949, so we don’t get any details about her involvement in the Civil Rights movement, but we do see what happens when she travels home to the US - and it’s not good. Her reception is the complete opposite to the way she’s received in Europe.

When reading this, Josephine’s voice shines through. Her vivacious, fun, tenacious personality is there throughout, which does make up for the non-linear accounts.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
  
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ClareR (6256 KP) rated Our Evenings in Books

Nov 2, 2025  
Our Evenings
Our Evenings
Alan Hollinghurst | 2024 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is a beautifully written, thoroughly captivating read. I seem to have collected a number of Hollinghurst novels on my shelves and not read them - because I just knew I would love them. I did love Our Evenings, and now I need to get to it and read the others!

This is a coming of age story, and follows the life of Dave Win, a half Burmese actor. It starts when he wins a scholarship to a top boarding school. His widowed mother, a dressmaker, would never be able to afford to send him. The world is opened up to Dave - or is it?

This is a story of class, privilege, racism and Dave growing up to understand his homosexuality in a time where it was illegal. The contrast of his old school mate/ bully’s life of affluence and privilege as an MP, and his as a struggling actor (because of the lack of parts for mixed race actors) is stark.

It really is an excellent read and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, put it down.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2621 KP) rated Europa in Books

Mar 4, 2026 (Updated Mar 4, 2026)  
Europa
Europa
James Ponti | 2026 | Children
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Race to Find the Target
Since the City Spies have relocated from Scotland to London, it means they can get some special training from those higher up in MI-6. The first such session involves looking at a coded message the agency has recently gotten. The City Spies quickly realize that the agents who had looked for it missed one thing - the targets are in Paris. But which of the potential targets is the real one? Can the team figure it out in time?

This is another excellent book in the series. While I didn’t feel there was a spotlighted character, each did get a moment to shine and grow, and the team shone as a whole. The plot slowed down a time or two early on, but it was never for long. Instead, I got caught up in the action multiple times. And the humor continued to make me smile and laugh. I also appreciated that the code brought in Renaissance painters and Shakespeare without really slowing things down. This is another book that all ages will enjoy.
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Apr 16, 2022  
Christian romantic suspense fans, read an Excerpt from THE CATCH by Lisa Harris on my blog, and enter the fantastic giveaway for a chance to win all three books in the U.S. Marshals series (The Escape, The Chase, and the Catch) as well as a tote bag!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2022/04/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-catch-us.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Everything hidden is eventually found.

After a harrowing attempt on a judge's life at the courthouse, Deputy US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn are tasked with finding a missing woman and an endangered child in connection to the murder of the judge's wife. What seems like a fairly straightforward case becomes hopelessly tangled when the marshals discover that the woman they are searching for is not who they think she is.

Madison and Jonas are forced into a race to find the woman and the child before the people who want her dead discover her location. And in a final showdown that could cost her everything, Madison will come face-to-face with the person who murdered her husband.
      
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David McK (3857 KP) rated Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14; Witches #4) in Books

Oct 30, 2022  
Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14; Witches #4)
Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14; Witches #4)
Terry Pratchett | 1992 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.3 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
As a character, Granny Weatherwax first appeared in the third Discworld novel Equal Rites, which was about, well, Equal Rights for both sexes. She then re-appeared (and beacem the unofficial head of her coven) in both Wyrd Sisters (where the broad outline of the plot bears a striking resemblance to certain Scottish play) and Witches Abroad (fairytales as you've never heard them before!). This is thus the fourth Discworld novel to include her as a main character, this time taking its inspiration from another Shakespeare play: A Midsummers night dream.

In this, and unlike the Elves of most comtemporary literature (Elves = good), the Elvish race are a foe to be reckoned with! This quote from about half-way through sums it up:

'Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They creat fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake ...
No-one ever said Elves are nice.
Elves are bad.'