By Her Own Design (Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register) by Piper Huguley *****

Ann Lowe’s fictionalized biography by Piper Huguley traces her rise from a cabin in Clayton, Alabama to own couture shop, Ann Lowe’s Originals, on Lexington Ave in NYC. Along the way, she designed Jacquline Kennedy’s wedding dress. Her Grandma Georgia was a slave, so this was quite an accomplishment against the odds. She navigated the racist world of Jim Crow with the aid of a few white women and her work ethic and talent. A positive story of race relations in the mid-20^th century.

Annie was raised by her mother and grandmother. Both were dressmakers for white clients. They were good and made dresses for the First Lady of Alabama. However, Annie's adult life started on the wrong foot, when 12-year-old Annie married a man “nearly three times” her age. He was abusive and exploitative. Fortunately, Mrs. Lee, the wife of a citrus magnate, rescued her and took her to Tampa where she thrived. Annie and her infant Arthur lived in Mrs. Lee’s home. Mrs. Lee sent her to a design school in NYC.

The design school did not want to accept an African American. They put her in a room where she could hear the lecture on the other side of a coat closet and glimpse at the blackboard. Nonetheless, she excelled and graduated early.

That was the story of Ann Lowe. Appreciation for her skills and snubs because she was African American. A balanced presentation of Jim Crow America versus a very talented Ann Lowe and a few helpful rich white ladies.

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The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson *****

 FABULOUS. READ IT. The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson is about two young women fighting their way out of poverty. Ruby’s mother was fifteen when Ruby was born. She was raised by her Grandma Nene and her Aunt Marie. Her only hope to escape poverty was to go to college. She was selected for a program where the top two students would get college scholarships - her only chance for a better life. Eleanor grew up in a small Ohio town. Her working-class parents saved all their lives so she could go to college. Both girls worked hard to not lose their small advantages.

Ruby fell in love with a boy whose family owned several businesses in town. Eleanor chose a medical student from a family with old money. Both families felt that these girls were below their sons. Both girls became pregnant and both boys wanted to marry them. What could make Ruby’s and Eleanor’s lives more challenging? They were African American. Regardless, this is an optimistic book.

Ruby is sent to a punitive home for unwed mothers. Eleanor marries her doctor, but the marriage is difficult, his mother is meddlesome, and her pregnancies end in miscarriages.

The story takes place in 1951 at Howard University. Eleanor wanted to join the (fictional) Alpha Beta Chi sorority (the ABCs), but she was turned down because her skin was too dark, and her family was too poor. One of the themes of this book was the division between rich (high yellow) light-skinned families and poor, dark-skinned families.

Ruby’s boyfriend was Shimmy (Simon Shapiro). He was Jewish. His father owned the tenement where Ruby lived. The Jews were as racist as the high-yellow blacks.

Two historical African Americans were in the book. Charles Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He developed techniques for blood storage and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. Dorothy Porter (May 25, 1905 – December 17, 1995) was key to building up the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University as one of the world's best collections of library materials for Black/African history and culture.

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The 9th Girl (Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska Book 4) by Tami Hoag****

The 9^th Girl by Tami Hoag opened on New Year’s Eve when a dark sedan hit a Minneapolis pothole. The trunk opened. A mutilated woman flew out. A party limo ran her over. Sergeant Nikki Liska and Detective Sam Kovac connected the case with a serial killer known to abduct young women on holidays and torture them. They named him Doc Holiday, and this latest victim, Zombie Doe. In addition to the Doc Holiday story, Penelope Gray, a goth, sensitive, poet, was in conflict with popular, mean girl Christina Warner—complicated by the engagement of Julia Gray to Michael Warner. A thrilling combination of teenage angst and brutal murders.

Sergeant Liska's 15-year-old son attended a writers’ workshop in the summer with Penelope Gray and Brittany Lawler. They became friends and got “acceptance” tattoos. When they returned to school, Brittany abandoned her summer friends to join Christina Warner’s mean-girls clique, abandoning RJ and Penny. RJ fought with Aaron Fogelman (Christina’s boyfriend and a bully).

Eventually, Kovas and Liska learn that Penny is missing. They pursue the Doc Holiday case and the missing Penny case, all the while hoping that they are not connected even though the evidence suggests that they are.

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Thanksgiving by Janet Evanovich *****

 Are you sad that there aren’t more Stephanie Plum books? Before the first Stephanie Plum book, there was Megan Murphy, a feisty potter, who worked in Colonial Williamsburg on the weekends, had been engaged three times (once at five years old), and had sworn off marriage (but not sex). Her life is full of surprises and challenges, but nothing slows her down. Megan Murphy in Thanksgiving by Janet Evanovich is a romance for Stephanie Plum fans. Enjoy.

The story starts when Tibbles (the rabbit) chews a hole in Megan Colonial Williamsburg costume, and she meets the pediatrician, Patrick Hunter. One thing leads to another, so when Tilly Coogan leaves her infant Timmy with Patrick, Megan agrees to split the babysitting responsibilities with Patrick. You can imagine what happens when two single people, who can’t even cook, attempt to care for a small child. It's worse than that and hilarious.

Next both sets of parents, eager for a wedding, show up for Thanksgiving. Remember that these two cannot cook. Imagine the hi-jinx again. It’s better.

Throughout the book, I was reminded of Stephanie Plum.

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So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (H2G2 #4) by Douglas Adams ****

 So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams is the fourth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. Like everything else connected to H2G2, it requires a suspension of logic. The title is about fish, but the story is about dolphins–not really, but dolphins are mentioned. This is a love story about Arthur Dent and Fenchurch. You can start the H2G2 series at the beginning or jump in here. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

The book is full of wry, satirical observations.

Arthur reached out for the bedside light, not expecting it to come on. To his surprise it did. This appealed to Arthur’s sense of logic. Since the Electricity Board had cut him off without fail every time he paid his bill, it seemed only reasonable that they should leave him connected when he hadn’t. Sending them money obviously only drew attention to himself.

There is a feeling which persists in England that making a sandwich interesting, attractive, or in any way pleasant to eat is something sinful that only foreigners do.

Their mood gradually lifted as they walked along the beach in Malibu and watched all the millionaires in their chic shanty huts carefully keeping an eye on one another to check how rich they were each getting.

But the reason I call myself by my childhood name is to remind myself that a scientist must also be absolutely like a child. If he sees a thing, he must say that he sees it, whether it was what he thought he was going to see or not. See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.

The book's highlight is the story of the biscuits (abridged here) …

“Ah. I know the type. What did he do?”

“He did this. He leaned across the table, picked up the packet of biscuits, tore it open, took one out, and …”

“What?”

“Ate it.”

“What?”

“He ate it.”

Fenchurch looked at him in astonishment. “What on earth did you do?”

“Well, in the circumstances I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do. I was compelled,” said Arthur, “to ignore it.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, it’s not the sort of thing you’re trained for, is it? I searched my soul, and discovered that there was nothing anywhere in my upbringing, experience, or even primal instincts to tell me how to react to someone who has quite simply, calmly, sitting right there in front of me, stolen one of my biscuits.”

…

“There is that. So. When the empty packet was lying dead between us the man at last got up, having done his worst, and left. I heaved a sigh of relief, of course.

“As it happened, my train was announced a moment or two later, so I finished my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper …”

“Yes?”

“Were my biscuits.”

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