Kate’s 2¢: “The exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the fight for women in science” by Nancy Zernike

“The exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the fight for women in science” by Nancy Zernike

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   Kathe Mazur did a good job of narrating this exposé. Rewards should be based on merit, not male/female/ or ethnicity, or other pejoratives.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (December 2016)

Kate Zernike (born December 8, 1968)[1] is an American journalist who is national correspondent for The New York Times, where she has been since April 2000, covering education, criminal justice, Congress, and national elections, and where she covered Hurricane Katrina. She was previously a reporter at The Boston Globe (1995–2000), where she was responsible for covering education and special projects. She is the author of Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America (2010), on the Tea Party movement. Marjorie Kehe of The Christian Science Monitor remarked in 2010 that it was likely that “no other journalist in the United States has devoted as much time to covering the tea party movement”.[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Zernike was born in Stamford, Connecticut,[1] the daughter of Barbara (née Backus) and Frits Zernike Jr.[3][4] Her father was a physicist who emigrated from Groningen, the Netherlands in 1956;[4] and her mother owned the St. Clair Ice Cream Company in South Norwalk, Connecticut.[3] Her paternal grandfather, Frits Zernike, was a Dutch physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953.[3] She has two brothers, Frits Zernike III and Harry Zernike.[4]

Zernike is a graduate of Trinity College[5] at University of Toronto,[6][3] where she obtained her B.A. in history and English[1] in 1990.[1] She later graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism,[6] receiving a master’s in journalism[3] in 1992.[1][7]

Career[edit]

Zernike began her career in journalism at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Massachusetts, where she worked from 1992 to 1995.[1] She then worked as a reporter at The Boston Globe from 1995 to 2000, where she was responsible for covering education and special projects.[6]

Zernike became a national correspondent for The New York Times in April 2000,[8] where she covers education, criminal justice, Congress, and national elections.[9]

She has also taught as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.[7]

Honors and awards[edit]

Zernike was a member of the New York Times team which shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting,[10] which was for reporting on global terrorism and its networks.[11]

She also won the Education Writers Association prize for news feature reporting in 2000, and the Benjamin Fine Award in 1995.[12]

Works[edit]

• Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America, New York:Times Books (ISBN 9780805093483

• The Exceptions: Sixteen Women, MIT, and the Fight for Equality in Science. Simon & Schuster. April 27, 2023. ISBN 978-1-3985-2000-4.[13]

Personal[edit]

In 2005, she married Dr. Jonathan D. Schwartz in a ceremony presided over by a leader from the New York Society for Ethical Culture.[3] Zernike lives in Montclair, NJ with her family.[6][7] She has two sons with her husband.[4]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the fight for women in science DB116717

Author: Zernike, Kate

Reading Time: 14 hours, 32 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Kathe Mazur

Subjects: Science and Technology, Biography, U.S. History

“In 1999, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology admitted to discriminating against its most senior female scientists. It was a seismic cultural event – one that forced institutions across the nation to reckon with the bias faced by girls and women in STEM. This is the story of the women on MIT’s faculty who started it all, centered on the life and career of their unlikely leader: Nancy Hopkins, a noted molecular geneticist and cancer researcher and protégée of James Watson, the codiscoverer of the structure of DNA.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

[New York] : Simon & Schuster Audio, 2023.

Take Action On The exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the fight for women in science

)

Kate’s 2¢: “Across The Ages” by Gabrielle Meyer

“Across The Ages” by Gabrielle Meyer

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   Rachel Botchan did a good job narrating this story for NLS. It was one of seven books on the cartridge sent to me.

   When Caroline went to sleep, she’d wake up in the other life, either 1727 or 1927. It was an interesting way to tell twin stories that were held together with the thread of searching for her mother and answers about why she was so cursed, or was it a gift?

   I enjoyed this book, but I really wanted to stay in 1727. I liked the ending.

 Featured snippet from the web

Gabrielle Meyer lives in central Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River with her husband and four children. As an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society, she fell in love with the rich history of her state and enjoys writing fictional stories inspired by real people and events.

Gabrielle Meyer – Harlequin.com

Harlequin.com

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Across the ages DB126352

Series: Timeless

Order in Series: 04

Author: Meyer, Gabrielle

Reading Time: 12 hours, 58 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Rachel Botchan

Subjects: Religious Fiction, Historical Fiction, Family

“Caroline lives in two eras simultaneously–disguised as a pirate in 1727 and hunting down mobsters during Prohibition. The secret to her time-crossing gift lies with her mother, who disappeared in the Caribbean. While searching for her, Caroline finds more questions than answers as she embarks on a perilous journey through time”– Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

Minneapolis, Minnesota : Recorded Books, Inc., 2024.

Take Action On Across the ages

Kate’s 2¢: “The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again (02): A Novel” by Nancy Thayer

“The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again (02): A Novel” by Nancy Thayer

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   Susan McInerney did a good job of narrating this entertaining story.

   Years ago I read the original Hot Flash Club book and thoroughly enjoyed it and only recently came across “the HFC Strikes Again”.  I found much of this book resonated with me, just as the first one did. It is age appropriate for the seniors and near seniors.

A few take-aways:

–What a mystery people are to each other. Old age is so hard on our vanity.

–All that comfort food made her feel uncomfortable.

–We must take risks now ans then if we don’t want to end up as dust bunnies in the corners of our lives.

–How do you help someone die without intruding  

–The problem with with planning the rest of our lives, is that we don’t have any role models. Our age group is the first to be living so long with health.

–How miserable human beings make life for the ones sthey love.

–In the end, children grew up and moved away…open her heart and accept her child’s choice.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nancy Thayer (born December 14, 1943) is an American novelist who has written thirty-one books.

Personal life[edit]

Thayer is the daughter of Jane Patton and was born on December 14, 1943, in Emporia, Kansas. Thayer married her second husband, Charles Walters, a music store owner, in 1984.[1] They live in Nantucket, Massachusetts,[2] and have two children: Joshua Thayer and Samantha Wilde, who is also a novelist.[3]

Career[edit]

Thayer published her first novel when she was close to forty and already the mother of her two children. She has published regularly since. Her novels focus on contemporary social issues coupled with interesting plots and characters.[4]

Her books have been translated into Dutch, Italian, German, Danish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, Romanian, Hebrew and Finnish.[4][5][6]

From NLS/BARD/LOC”

The Hot Flash Club strikes again: a novel DB60898

Series: Hot Flash Club

Order in Series: 02

Author: Thayer, Nancy

Reading Time: 13 hours, 5 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Susan McInerney

Subjects: Humor and Humorous Fiction, Psychological Fiction

Marilyn, Faye, Alice, and Shirley, original members of The Hot Flash Club (DB 59327), engineer the creation of a new foursome. Polly, Julia, Beth, and Carolyn, who met at Shirley’s Hot Spot Spa, understand one another’s problems with meddlesome in-laws. Some explicit descriptions of sex and some strong language. 2005.

New York : Ballantine Books, c2005.

Take Action On The Hot Flash Club strikes again: a novel

Kate’s 2¢: “The Horse: A Novel” by Willy Vlautin

“The Horse: A Novel” by Willy Vlautin

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   Willy Vlautin did a good job of narrating this book  that he wrote.

   By using numerous flash-backs, and rooting the horse in the present, enabled the author to cover a lot of ground. The ending left me with a breath of hope that all would be well eventually.

A few take-aways:

–Hate it here? Just disappear into a song.When you write a good tune andyou haven’t played it for anyone, it’s like holding hope in your pocket and the hope has a heart.

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.willyvlautin.com

Willy C. Vlautin (born 1967) is an American author, musician and songwriter. He was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of Portland, Oregon rock band Richmond Fontaine (1994–2016) and is currently a member of The Delines. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, he has released 14 studio albums since the mid-nineties with Richmond Fontaine. He is the author of several novels, including The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, The Free, Don’t Skip Out On Me, The Night Always Comes, and The Horse.

Career[edit]

Music[edit]

Vlautin first found success as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter in alt-country group Richmond Fontaine.[2] They recorded eleven studio albums and toured extensively in Europe, where they have a particularly strong following, as well as in Australia and the US, before splitting in 2016. Vlautin is currently a member of The Delines.[3] In December 2008 he had released the spoken word EP A Jockey’s Christmas, followed by his debut solo album, The Kill Switch, in October 2019.[4]

Numerous references to Richmond Fontaine songs later appeared in Vlautin’s prose work. His novel Northline is named after a song from their Winnemucca album, and the protagonist is named for “Allison Johnson”, the title of a song on Post to Wire. Both his lyrics and fiction feature Reno’s Fitzgerald Hotel as a recurring location.

Writing[edit]

Vlautin’s first book, The Motel Life was published in 2007 and received critical acclaim.[5][6] It was an editor’s choice in the New York Times Book Review and named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Washington Post. Polsky Films released a film adaptation, starring Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson, in November 2013. The film was praised by critics across the US and won three prizes at the Rome International Film Festival: Audience Choice, Best Screenplay, and Editing.

His second novel, Northline,[7][8] was also critically hailed. George Pelecanos chose it as his favorite book of the decade.[9][10] The first edition of this novel came with an original instrumental soundtrack, performed by Vlautin and Richmond Fontaine bandmate Paul Brainard. Like his songwriting, Vlautin’s fiction is highly evocative of the American West; all three of his novels being set in and around Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico. His books explore the circumstances and relationships of people near the bottom of America’s social and economic spectrum, itinerant and often alcoholic.

Vlautin’s third novel, Lean on Pete, is the story of a 15-year-old boy who works and lives on a rundown race track in Portland, Oregon, and befriends a failed race horse. The Sunday Herald stated, “Lean on Pete confirms his status as one of the most emotionally charged writers in America…” Eileen Battersby of the Irish Times stated “As one boy’s journey, Lean on Pete is as real as blood: as a novel it is remarkable. Willy Vlautin, romantic and realist, has written something special that will make you shudder, weep, rage and wonder at how such things happen and do, and how some individuals such as Charley can suffer them, absorb the grief, and somehow survive. How good is contemporary US fiction? This good: catch your breath good.”[citation needed] Cheryl Strayed of The Oregonian states “By the time ‘Lean on Pete’ reaches its sweet but unsentimental end, Charley Thompson isn’t a character in a novel, but a boy readers have come to love. ‘Lean on Pete’ riveted me. Reading it, I was heartbroken and moved; enthralled and convinced. This is serious American literature.”[citation needed] Lean on Pete won two Oregon Book Awards: the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and the Peoples Choice Award. A movie based on the book was released in 2017.

Influences[edit]

Vlautin has cited writers such as John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Barry Gifford, Sam Shepard, and William Kennedy as influences.[11] As a songwriter, he has been inspired by the work of Tom Waits, Shane MacGowan, John Doe, and Australian musician Paul Kelly.[12]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The horse: a novel DB123711

Author: Vlautin, Willy

Reading Time: 5 hours, 55 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Willy Vlautin

Subjects: Psychological Fiction, Animals and Wildlife, General Fiction

“Willy Vlautin explores loneliness, art, regret, and hard-won empathy in this poignant novel–his most personal to date–that captures the life of a journeyman musician unable to escape the tragedies of his past. Al Ward lives on an isolated mining claim in the high desert of central Nevada fifty miles from the nearest town. A grizzled man in his sixties, he survives on canned soup, instant coffee, and memories of his ex-wife, friends and family he’s lost, and his life as a touring musician. Hampered by insomnia, bouts of anxiety, and a chronic lethargy that keeps him from moving back to town, Al finds himself teetering on the edge of madness and running out of reasons to go on–until a horse arrives on his doorstep: nameless, blind, and utterly helpless. Al hopes the horse will vanish as mysteriously as he appeared. Yet the animal remains, leaving him in a conundrum. Is the animal real, or a phantom conjured from imagination? As Al contemplates the horse’s existence–and what, if anything, he can do–his thoughts are interspersed with memories, from the moment his mother’s part-time boyfriend gifts him a 1959 butterscotch blonde Telecaster, to the day his travels begin. He joins various bands–all who perform his songs once they discover his talent–playing casinos, truck stops, clubs, and bars. He falls in love, and finds pockets of companionship and minor success along the way. Never close to stardom or financial success, he continues as a journeyman for decades until alcoholism and a heartbreaking tragedy lead him to the solitude of the barren Nevada desert. A poignant meditation on addiction, heartbreak, and the reality of life on the road in smalltime bands, The Horse is a beautiful, haunting tale from an author working at the height of his powers.”– From publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

New York, NY : HarperAudio, [2024]

Take Action On The horse: a novel

Kate’s 2¢: “Courage rising: the Bregdan chronicles book 15” by Ginny Dye

“Courage rising: the Bregdan chronicles book 15” by Ginny Dye

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   This down-load from BookShare™ was electronically read.  The narrative arc spanned a length of time during the post-Civil War era and mostly focused on the Cromwell Plantation, where Blacks and Whites work together to share in the profits of the plantation from tobacco crops and the horse breeding program. It also covers the issue in Virginnia when the Black teacher, Rose, is told she may not teach the White students or even have them in her school house on the plantation.

   At times, it was hard to tell who was Black and who was White…maybe that was the intention of the e-reader. Perhaps the NLS version with narrator Mare Trevathan would have voice inflections to let the listener know who was speaking.  

A few take-aways:

–History is the story of people’s lives…reflecting the consequences of their choices.

–Bregdan is the Gaelic term for weaving, braiding.

–The news is supposed to report what has happened, not support someone’s agenda.

–The whole country seems to be going crazy right now.

–Scared is what you’re feeling; brave is what you’re doing.

–Courage isn’t having the strength to keep going. Courage is keeping on going when you don’t have the strength.

–It was good guilt if it made me do what I needed in order to be true to myself.

— What good is the 14^th Amendment giving Blacks equal rights if they’re if they’re not going to be given equal opportunity?

–Knowledge is the greatest power we have.

–Intelligence is important, but wisdom is more important.

Featured snippet from the web

She has lived all over the United States, exploring every state and having wonderful adventures along the way. She has managed horse ranches in Texas and Oregon; worked with teenagers all over the country (she love them!), and has hiked, biked, rafted and played in every locale she could.

Ginny Dye is an American author of fiction. She has also written books under the pen name Virginia Gaffney. She was born in North Carolina and has lived all …

From BookShare(tm(

Synopsis

The newly formed Bregdan Clinic must close. Carrie deals with another loss. Florence and Silas must return to the United States. Rose and Marietta face life-changes and heartache. And much more.

Copyright: 2019

Book Details

Book Quality: Excellent

Book Size: 523 Pages

Publisher: Bregdan Publishing

Date of Addition: 12/22/25

Copyrighted By: Ginny Dye

Adult content: No

Language: English

Has Image Descriptions: No

Categories: History, Romance, Literature and Fiction

Submitted By: Sister M. Dolores Dean

Proofread By: Tomoko Miles

Usage Restrictions: This is a copyrighted book.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Courage rising: the Bregdan chronicles book 15 DB104651

Series: Bregdan chronicles; The Bregdan chronicles; Dye, Ginny Bregdan chronicles series

Order in Series: 15

Author: Dye, Ginny

Reading Time: 12 hours, 48 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Mare Trevathan

Subjects: Historical Fiction, Romance

1871. Carrie joins hands with Janie and Elizabeth as threats against their medical clinic become reality. Meanwhile, Jeremy and Marietta embrace the historic beginning of blacks’ right to vote, only to lose someone who has become very precious to them. Strong language and some violence. 2019.

Bellingham, WA : Bregdan Publishing, [2019]

Take Action On Courage rising: the Bregdan chronicles book 15

Kate’s 2¢: “We begin at the end” by Chris Whitaker

“We begin at the end” by Chris Whitaker

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   I enjoyed listening to George Newbern narrate this story. There is a lot of sadness in this story of a girl’s growing up; however, she does make it with a little help from her friends.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chris Whitaker is a British author known for his books Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, We Begin at the End, and The Forevers.

His debut novel, Tall Oaks, won the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award in 2017.

Personal life[edit]

Before becoming an author, Whitaker worked as a trader. He was born and raised in London,[13] and now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and three children.[14] He also worked part-time at Bishop’s Stortford Library.[15]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

We begin at the end DB102654

Author: Whitaker, Chris

Reading Time: 10 hours, 33 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: George Newbern

Subjects: Bestsellers, Suspense Fiction

Thirteen-year-old Duchess Day Radley considers herself an outlaw, but she’s responsible her five-year-old brother Robin and her mother Star. Chief Walk Dubois tries to watch out for Star and her family, but is tormented by sending his best friend Vincent King to jail. Now Vincent’s back in town. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2020.

[New York] : Macmillan Audio, [2021]

Take Action On We begin at the end

Kate’s 2¢: “The heart goes last: a novel” by Margaret Atwood

“The heart goes last: a novel” by Margaret Atwood

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   Cassandra Campbell and Mark Deakins did a really good job of narrating this intriguing story. There are numerous topics touched upon during the narrative arc that we should seriously look into for their future moral and ethical implications.

A few take-aways:

–Look on the bright side…What’s the use of complaining…What’s the use of anything?

–All those things we never appreciated until we didn’t have them.

–The over-all message must be tightly controlled…The outside world must be assured  the project is working.

–Be the person you’ve always wanted to be.

–Try to believe the positive, cause believing in the negative gets you depressed.

–You make your own reality aut of your attitude.

–The human mind is infinitely suggestible.   

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children’s books, two graphic novels, and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Her best-known work is the 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood has won numerous awards and honors for her writing, including two Booker Prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Governor General’s Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award for literature, and the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Awards.[2] A number of her works have been adapted for film and television.

Atwood’s works encompass a variety of themes including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and power politics.[3] Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from a very early age.[4]

Atwood is a founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Writers’ Trust of Canada. She is also a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto. She is the inventor of the LongPen device and associated technologies that facilitate remote robotic writing of documents.[5][6][7][8][9][10]

Early life and education[edit]

Atwood was born on November 18, 1939,[11] in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the second of three children[12] of Carl Edmund Atwood, an entomologist,[13] and Margaret Dorothy (née Killam), a former dietitian and nutritionist from Woodville, Nova Scotia.[14] Because of her father’s research in forest entomology, Atwood spent much of her childhood in the backwoods of northern Quebec,[15] and travelling back and forth between Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto.

She did not attend school full-time until she was 12 years old. She became a voracious reader of literature, Dell pocketbook mysteries, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Canadian animal stories, and comic books. She attended Leaside High School in Leaside, Toronto, and graduated in 1957.[16] Atwood began writing plays and poems at the age of 6.[17]

As a child, she also participated in the Brownie program of Girl Guides of Canada. Atwood has written about her experiences in Girl Guides in several of her publications.[18]

Atwood realized she wanted to write professionally when she was 16.[19] In 1957, she began studying at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, where she published poems and articles in Acta Victoriana, the college literary journal, and participated in the sophomore theatrical tradition of The Bob Revue.[20] Her professors included Jay Macpherson and Northrop Frye. She graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts in English (honours) and minors in philosophy and French.[16]: 54 

In 1961, Atwood began graduate studies at Radcliffe College of Harvard University, with a Woodrow Wilson fellowship.[21] She obtained a master’s degree (MA) from Radcliffe in 1962 and pursued doctoral studies for two years, but did not finish her dissertation, The English Metaphysical Romance.[22]

Personal life[edit]

Atwood has a sister, Ruth Atwood, born in 1951, and a brother who is two years older, Harold Leslie Atwood.[23] She has claimed that, according to her grandmother (maiden name Webster), the 17th-century witchcraft-lynching survivor Mary Webster might have been an ancestor: “On Monday, my grandmother would say Mary was her ancestor, and on Wednesday she would say she wasn’t… So take your pick.”[24] Webster is the subject of Atwood’s poem “Half-Hanged Mary”, as well as the subject of Atwood’s dedication in her novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985).[25]

Atwood married Jim Polk, an American writer, in 1968, but they divorced in 1973.[26][27] She formed a relationship with fellow novelist Graeme Gibson soon afterward and moved to a farm near Alliston, Ontario, where their daughter, Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson, was born in 1976.[26]

The family returned to Toronto in 1980.[28] Atwood and Gibson were together until September 18, 2019, when Gibson died after suffering from dementia.[29] She wrote about Gibson in the poem Dearly and in an accompanying essay on grief and poetry published in The Guardian in 2020.[30] Atwood said about Gibson “He wasn’t an egotist, so he wasn’t threatened by anything I was doing. He said to our daughter towards the end of his life, ‘Your mum would still have been a writer if she hadn’t met me, but she wouldn’t have had as much fun'”.[31]

Although she is an accomplished writer, Atwood says that she is “a terrible speller” who writes both on a computer and by hand.[32]

Atwood maintains a summer home on Pelee Island in Lake Erie.[33]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The heart goes last: a novel DB82599           

Author: Atwood, Margaret

Reading Time: 12 hours, 13 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins

Subject: Science Fiction

Charmaine and Stan agree to participate in a social experiment. They receive jobs and a home in exchange for living in a prison cell every second month. As time passes, however, the couple develops an unhealthy obsession with the couple that occupies their house during their prison months. strong language and descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

[New York] : Random House Audio, 2015.

Take Action On The heart goes last: a novel

Kate’s 2¢: “Living vicariously in Wyoming: stories” by Abbie Johnson Taylor

“Living vicariously in Wyoming: stories” by Abbie Johnson Taylor

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   Lisa Downey did a good job of narrating this collection of human interest stories.

   Abbie and I are colleagues in Behind Our Eyes. Inc, an organization of writers with disabilities.

   Having known her for quite a while via internet meetings, I detected many kernels of auto-biographical material.

   Write on, friend.

Featured snippet from the web

Abbie Johnson Taylor is the author of three novels, two poetry collections, a memoir, and a collection of short stories. Her work has appeared in various journals and anthologies. She is visually impaired and lives in Sheridan, Wyoming, where for six years, she cared for her late husband, Bill.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Living vicariously in Wyoming: stories DBC11819                 

Author: Taylor, Abbie Johnson

Reading Time: 4 hours, 28 minutes

Production: Perkins Library, Perkins School for the Blind

Read by: Lisa Downey

Subject: Short Stories

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper. The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts or not. Adult. Some strong language. Unrated.

Self-Published, 2025.

Take Action On Living vicariously in Wyoming: stories

Kate’s 2¢: “Deadliest sea: the untold story behind the greatest rescue in Coast Guard history” by Kalee Thompson

“Deadliest sea: the untold story behind the greatest rescue in Coast Guard history” by Kalee Thompson

 NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

  Ray Childs did a good job of narrating this non-fiction story of rescue in the freezing cold Bering Sea.

   I suspect the “fish observer” should have reported the frayed outer door seals. It is amazing how the rescue crews were so ably skilled in their respective duties. Kudo to them.  

From the WEB:

Kalee Thompson: books, biography, latest update – Amazon UK

Kalee Thompson is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in a wide range of publications including Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Inc., Runner’s ..

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Deadliest sea: the untold story behind the greatest rescue in Coast Guard history DB73020

Author: Thompson, Kalee

Reading Time: 11 hours, 19 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Ray Childs

Subjects: Adventure, Travel

Details the March 2008 Coast Guard rescue of forty-two fishermen from the Bering Sea as their factory trawler, the Alaska Ranger, sank. Describes the tactics of helicopter crews and rescue swimmers, who battled snow squalls, ocean swells, and gale-force winds to save the shipwrecked men. Some strong language. 2010.

New York, NY : William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers, c2010.

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Kate’s 2¢: “The Compound” by Aisling Rawle

“The Compound” by Aisling Rawle

NOTE: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ shares her thoughts about what she’s read. In her opinion…

   Lucy Boynton did a good job narrating this story. This story is very similar to the TV show (Survivor) and somewhat to “The Hunger Games”.

   It gives an inside peek to how the participants are manipulated by the producers.

From the WEB:

Aisling Rawle was born in 1998, originally from a very small village in Leitrim in the west of Ireland, but now living in Dublin. She works as an English teacher in a secondary school. She loves working with kids, and teaches piano in her spare time. The Compound is her first book.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The compound: a novel DB130769

Author: Rawle, Aisling

Reading Time: 10 hours, 7 minutes

Production: National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress

Read by: Lucy Boynton

Subjects: Suspense Fiction, Psychological Fiction

“”Lily — a bored, beautiful twenty-something — wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams — but what will she have to do to win?” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

New York : Penguin Random House, 2025.

Take Action On The compound: a novel