reading all books referenced on Gilmore girls

I read this book for my book group and was hesitant solely because of the cover art. I am sooooo over books about women (especially kick ass, brilliant women) being all watercolors and pastels, with a generic, faceless woman staring wistfully into the distance. Over it. But my feelings on trends in cover art aside, this book was a good read. In it, we get to learn about the famous Albert Eintein's decidedly less famous (because... vagina) first wife who was a genius in her

That cover. Blech. But, I'm committed to my beloved bookgroup so I powered through my distaste for the pastel-washed art and the overuse of curlicues. And I'm pleased that I did. The thing I wasn't expecting was that the pages inside this cover housed the life of one bad ass bitch. The first female horse trainer in Africa. The first woman to fly across the Atlantic by herself. But unlike her unimaginable firsts, she was also completely relatable. Beryl Markham was a deeply

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald I love all animals. I'm the one saving spiders in danger of drowning with a conditioner bottle as I'm taking a shower. I'm the one who was treated like a leper after loving-up on a bunch of starving, mangey dogs on the streets of the Dominican Republic. My husband always tells people that he is 99.9% certain that I will one day die by animal mauling. But I HATE birds. Their beady little eyes, their talons, their can-opener sharp beaks? NO

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll This book had my stomach tied up in knots, so in my world, that means it did its job. So much of this book was difficult to read, which proves to me that Jessica Knoll adequately charcterized the trauma suffered by the main character. It may not have been a feel-good read, but it was an important one. The most interesting part of this was the development (or lack thereof) of the "lucky girl". In my book group (the reason I read this boo