Showing posts with label feminism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label feminism. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts ~ Audiobook Review

 

A HAUNTED HISTORY
OF INVISIBLE WOMEN
True Stories of America's Ghosts
by
Leanna Renee Hieber
& Andrea Janes
Narrated by Linda Jones

Nonfiction / Supernatural History / Gender Studies
Tantor Audio
10 hours, 45 minutes
Publication Date: September 27, 2022

BUY NOW WITH MY AFFILIATE LINKS
and help fund my retirement!
(I get a small commission when you click & buy from here.)



FROM THE TBR PILE. This came across my radar in 2022, and I just thought it sounded cool, so I added it to my audiobook library, where it has sat until now -- because retired! Whether you believe in ghosts or not, the stories exist, and who doesn't love a ghost story? (Rhetorical.) And don't we all just want to believe them? (Rhetorical.) Read on...

ABOUT THE BOOK: From the notorious Lizzie Borden to the innumerable, haunted rooms of Sarah Winchester's mysterious mansion this offbeat, insightful, first-ever book of its kind explores the history behind America's female ghosts, the stereotypes, myths, and paranormal tales that swirl around them, what their stories reveal about us--and why they haunt us...

Sorrowful widows, vengeful jezebels, innocent maidens, wronged lovers, former slaves, even the occasional axe-murderess—America's female ghosts differ widely in background, class, and circumstance. Yet one thing unites them: their ability to instill fascination and fear, long after their deaths. Here are the full stories behind some of the best-known among them, as well as the lesser-known—though no less powerful.

Tales whispered in darkness often divulge more about the teller than the subject. America's most famous female ghosts, from "Mrs. Spencer" who haunted Joan Rivers's New York apartment to Bridget Bishop, the first person executed during the Salem witchcraft trials, mirror each era's fears and prejudices. Yet through urban legends and campfire stories, even ghosts like the nameless hard-working women lost in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire achieve a measure of power and agency in death, in ways unavailable to them as living women.

Riveting for skeptics and believers alike, with humor, curiosity, and expertise, A Haunted History of Invisible Women offers a unique lens on the significant role these ghostly legends play both within the spook-seeking corners of our minds and in the consciousness of a nation.

MY AUDIOBOOK REVIEW


HALL WAYS REVIEW: AUDIOBOOK REVIEW. I was intrigued by this cover and title the first time I saw it, so I got a copy of A HAUNTED HISTORY OF INVISIBLE WOMEN back when it first published in 2022. I finally moved it from TBR to finished -- only took me two years!

To be clear: A HAUNTED HISTORY OF INVISIBLE WOMEN isn't a book of ghost stories so much as it is the history of the real women behind the ghost stories. The two authors alternate points of view and present readers/listeners with stories about a variety of famous, not-so-famous, and infamous women including maidens, witches, Jezebels, crones, mothers, wives, widows, and spinsters. Oh, and full out "bad girls." 

They not only explore many of the commonly used tropes when it comes to ghost stories, they dive deeper. In pointing out that most ghost stories are about women, they then examine the truths behind the stories and point the lamplight on the suppression of and societal prejudices against women. By grouping together these stories, it's much easier to see what the tragic figures have in common and how that common thread is found in most ghost stories. And it left me thinking about how some groups profit from the tragedies of others. 

While the true stories of the murders and deaths of the women are harrowing, this isn't a book that gave me spine tingling chills. The focus isn't on telling ghost stories but enlightening readers as to why they persist and pointing out discrepancies between the truth and the ghost story. It's much more an academic investigation than anything else, very well researched, and it was certainly a fresh approach and perspective I'd not considered. 

ABOUT THE NARRATION: Narrator Linda Jones's delivery is even, but it was a bit slow for my enjoyment so I bumped to listening at 1.25x speed.  Her voice fit well with the subject matter, and listening is much like hearing a speaker at a conference. However, there are more mispronunciations than there should be and too many misplaced pauses that took me out of the narration. 

Interestingly enough, the authors are believers and have had their own ghostly encounters. Somehow, for me, that gives them more credibility when they debunked and denounced some in how they approached the book.  Because of the amount on information that's shared, I think I'd like to have a print copy of this one in order to re-read some sections and utilize the bibliography and authors' notes I imagine are there (but weren't in the audiobook, which is the norm.)

I recommend this for readers who enjoy the stories behind the stories and for those who entertain the possibility of spirits who walk among us. 




Friday, September 18, 2020

Queen of the Owls ~ Book Blog Tour, Guest Post, & Giveaway!

QUEEN OF THE OWLS
BY BARBARA LINN PROBST

Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +),  307 pages
Genre:  Upmarket Women's Fiction
Publisher:  She Writes Press
Release date:   April 2020
Content Rating:  PG-13
Includes situations and discussions of adult subject matter.
 
"A stunner" — Caroline Leavitt, best-selling author

"A must-read"
— Barbara Claypole White, best-selling author

"Nuanced and insightful" — Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times
best-selling author

 
Book Description:

A chance meeting with a charismatic photographer will forever change Elizabeth’s life. Until she met Richard, Elizabeth's relationship with Georgia O’Keeffe and her little-known Hawaii paintings was purely academic. Now it’s personal. Richard tells Elizabeth that the only way she can truly understand O’Keeffe isn’t with her mind―it’s by getting into O’Keeffe’s skin and reenacting her famous nude photos. In the intimacy of Richard’s studio, Elizabeth experiences a new, intoxicating abandon and fullness. It never occurs to her that the photographs might be made public, especially without her consent. Desperate to avoid exposure―she’s a rising star in the academic world and the mother of young children―Elizabeth demands that Richard dismantle the exhibit. But he refuses. The pictures are his art. His property, not hers. As word of the photos spreads, Elizabeth unwittingly becomes a feminist heroine to her students, who misunderstand her motives in posing. To the university, however, her actions are a public scandal. To her husband, they’re a public humiliation. Yet Richard has reawakened an awareness that’s haunted Elizabeth since she was a child―the truth that cerebral knowledge will never be enough. Now she must face the question: How much is she willing to risk to be truly seen and known?
 
 
⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬
Guest Post:
Why there are no owls in Queen of the Owls
by Barbara Linn Probst



When I published Queen of the Owls and started talking with readers, people inevitably asked, “Where did you get the idea for the story?” It’s a natural question. So why was I having such trouble answering it?

I finally understood that it was because there were so many answers. Here are three of them.

#1. Panic. I’d signed up for an expensive year-long writing program that was meant to guide and support us through the process of completing a novel, start to finish. The problem was that I came home from the first all-day session and realized that I had no story. The story I’d intended to use for the program was, in a word, crap. It was my latest attempt to resurrect a manuscript that hadn’t worked the first four times I tried, but I hated to throw it away. I was hoping for a magic do-over that would turn this pig’s ear into a silk purse.

But it was obvious, finally, even to me. I sent the instructor a frantic email with eight exclamation marks in the subject line after the words: Help! I have no story.

She—and other well-meaning friends—offered prompts and ideas. Open the newspaper at random. Pick an object and imagine the person it belonged t. Et cetera. Nada. That wasn’t my way of finding the story I needed—or, rather, the story that needed me.

All I can tell you is that out of this pit of desperation, Queen of the Owls found me.

#2. Bill Kingery, my seventh grade heartthrob. When I was a too-tall, frizzy-haired, twelve-year old A student, I asked my best friend to ask Bill Kingery what he thought of me. His words crushed my adolescent heart. “Barbara? Oh, she’s a brain.”

Thus was born my decades-long question about whether I was doomed, as a woman, to be either sexy or smart, fox or owl. It took me a long time to understand that I could be both. And that’s what Elizabeth, protagonist of Queen of the Owls, must come to understand too.

#3. The flat-screen TV my ex-husband took. When my ex and I split up—ten years before I started writing Queen of the Owls—he took the great big flat-screen TV that he’d mounted over the fireplace. I was almost as glad to see that thing go as I was to see him go. I’d always hated the way it—like him—dominated the living room.

I wanted to put something in its place that symbolized the woman I wanted to be now, so I went to an art store and flipped through the oversized posters in the rack. As soon as I saw those glorious orange poppies, I knew this was the image I wanted on the wall to fill the space and proclaim: Here I am. Bold and beautiful and womanly.

I hadn’t particularly thought about the artist who was, of course, Georgia O’Keeffe. I simply lived with the poster. It wasn’t until a decade late—in a different home, doing a Zoom interview for Queen of the Owls with that very poster on the wall behind me—that I suddenly made the connection.

There are other reasons that I don’t have space for. The #MeToo Movement, which influenced the plot. A discarded bit from that old manuscript that stayed with me and bloomed into an evocative story element. A weird coincidence or two.

You’ll notice that none of the answers has to do with owls.

The second most frequent question I get asked is, “When did you start getting interested in owls?”

The answer is: I’m not. There are no owls in the book, nor are there any queens. But if you read Queen of the Owls, I think you’ll understand the meaning of the title. 

It’s about me, and you, and how we can be the whole and authentic women we’re meant to be.
⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬⬮⬬

Meet the Author:

BARBARA LINN PROBST is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, living on an historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her debut novel QUEEN OF THE OWLS (April 2020) is the powerful story of a woman’s search for wholeness, framed around the art and life of iconic American painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Endorsed by best-selling authors including Christina Baker Kline and Caroline Leavitt, QUEEN OF THE OWLS was selected as one of the twenty most anticipated books of 2020 by Working Mother, a debut novel “too good to ignore” by Bustle, and "one of the best new novels to read during the quarantine" by Parade Magazine and Entertainment Weekly. It won the bronze medal for popular fiction from the Independent Publishers Association, placed first runner-up in general fiction for the Eric Hoffer Award, and was short-listed for the $2500 Grand Prize. Barbara has a PhD in clinical social work and blogs for several award-winning sites for writers.

Connect with the Author
 
Enter the Giveaway
Autographed copy of QUEEN OF THE OWLS
and gift basket. 
(USA only; ends October 2)


Tour Schedule:
Sep 9 – Rockin' Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sep 9 - Locks, Hooks and Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 9 - Working Mommy Journal - book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 10 – My Fictional Oasis – book spotlight
Sep 10 - Bookish Paradise – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sep 10 - Book Corner News and Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 11 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 14 – Pen Possessed – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 15 – Lamon Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sep 15 – fundinmental – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 16 – I'm Into Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 16 - Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sep 17 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 17 - Library of Clean Reads - book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 18 – Hall Ways Blog – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sep 21 – Sefina Hawke's Books – book spotlight
Sep 22 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sep 22 - Deborah-Zenha Adams - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sep 22 - Sylv.net – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 23 – StoreyBook Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sep 23 - Alexis Marie Chute Blog - book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sep 23 - Books for Books – book spotlight
Sep 24 – Mystery Suspense Reviews – book spotlight / guest post
Sep 25 - Novel Escapes  - book spotlight
Sep 25 - 100 Pages A Day – book spotlight / giveaway



 

 

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Almost A Minyan Book Blog Tour, Review, & Giveaway!

ALMOST A MINYAN
by
LORI S. KLINE

  Genre: Picture Book / Jewish Traditions
Publisher: Sociosights Press  Facebook  Twitter 

Date of Publication: April 5, 2017
Number of Pages: 40

Scroll down for Giveaway!


Will she be the one to take Grandfather’s place?

According to Jewish tradition, a quorum of ten adults is required for public worship. Almost a Minyan traces the story of a young girl whose father and grandfather are regular participants in the town’s minyan - until her beloved Zayde passes on.

Without him, it is even harder for her father to find enough people to make a minyan. Then one day, he brings Zayde’s tefillin to his eldest daughter. A striking new addition to the diverse books movement, Almost a Minyan shares important Hebrew terms and religious concepts through a compelling and beautifully illustrated story for children.

* * *

PRAISE FOR ALMOST A MINYAN:

“A warmhearted introduction to coming-of-age in a worship community.” -- Kirkus Reviews

“A story of inclusion, belonging and equality. I loved the modern, egalitarian, and traditional values shared in this meaningful story. This is a wonderful modern story for our children and grandchildren!”       -- Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray
Congregation Shir Shalom, CT
Founder of the Women Cantors’ Network

“A delightful read for girls and boys alike, this poetic family tale brings a wonderful sentimentality to daily Jewish prayers. Moreover, the beauty of the illustrations contributes additional warmth to this snapshot of Jewish life. A nice addition for all libraries and all ages.”    -- Rabbi Jimmy Kessler, DHL, DD
Congregation B’nai Israel, Galveston
  

HALL WAYS REVIEW: ✪✪✪✪✪ What a magnificent story of Jewish tradition, the circle of life, and a young girl finding her place in the world.  I am not Jewish, so the words and traditions were completely unfamiliar to me; however, author Lori Kline provides a short glossary of terms at the end of the book, so I just started there! (Side note: at first, when I saw the word “G-d’s,” I thought it was a typo. When I saw it again, I decided to do some research and learned even more about Jewish tradition. The incomplete spelling is indeed intentional.)

The book cover was just chosen for an upcoming cover of Publisher's Weeklyand I am not surprised. Susan Simon's artwork (and I am calling it artwork, not illustrations for a reason) is precious. Her pages are full of color and emotion, evocative, and just feel good. There is a comfort in looking at the pages. Simon gets just the right expressions on the characters' faces, and their eyes perfectly reflect Kline's words. Simon uses colors and textures to create the changing moods from scene to scene, all in harmony with author Lori Kline's lovely words.  (So harmonious, in fact, that I teared-up by the beauty, sadness, and familiarity of one part.)

Almost A Minyan is told through rhyme, and readers will hear the voice of our main character, who is never named – perhaps because she represents all females on the verge of taking steps towards bigger things? The rhyming sentences are well-written and flow so that there is a definite rhythm and cadence to the book. It would be a wonderful read-aloud story, but I also can see how readers of any age would like to experience it alone (and I’d recommend a print copy for maximum enjoyment and easy flipping back and forth to the glossary). I disagreed with some end punctuation in a place or two and spotted a capitalization error, but I am doubtful most readers will notice, and it certainly didn’t affect my enjoyment of this thoughtful, informative, sentimental book.  

Thank you to Lone Star Book Blog Tours and Sociosights Press for providing me an eBook in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.


Lori Sales Kline heralds from Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, PA, which hosts a wonderfully rich Jewish community that fueled her love for Jewish tradition, ritual and practice at home and at, “the shul.”  Following her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Texas in Austin, Lori chose to make Austin her home, largely due to the spiritual connection she felt in the close-knit Austin Jewish community.  In her spare time, Lori enjoys camping, celebrating Judaism with her husband and son, and friends. She previously authored the children’s picture book,  Josiah’s Dreams.

WEBSITE     FACEBOOK

Susan Simon’s illustrations feature expressive children, humor, sweetness, and imaginative whimsy. She has illustrated seventeen children's books. Susan lives in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, with the saguaro cactuses, the coyotes, the Catalina mountains, and her husband, D.B., a music theory professor at the University of Arizona.

As a very young child, Susan both learned from and fell in love with the goodness and beauty readable in some children’s book illustrations. Without having words for it, she understood very young the power of a picture to inform deeply. When she’s not trying to give her all to share with children that kind of quality in her own work, she enjoys walking her two beloved rescued mutts - Oatcake and Peach - riding her giant green bicycle, and playing her growly old accordion.Website     Facebook     LinkedIn

---------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
One Signed Copy of Almost A Minyan
March 24-April 7, 2017
(U.S. Only)

CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
3/24
Illustration Preview 1
3/25
Review
3/26
Author Interview 1
3/27
Review
3/28
Guest Post
3/29
Promo
3/30
Review
3/31
Illustration Preview 2
4/1
Review
4/2
Author Interview 2
4/3
Review
4/4
Excerpt
4/5
Illustration Preview 3
4/6
Review
4/7
Author Interview 3
 

blog tour services provided by: