Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own in Our Shared Shelf

Apr 10, 2015 Kate rated it it was amazing

I absolutely loved this book and I will pass it to all of my female friends. Do not be put off by the historically off-putting term "spinster". This book was an ode to women who have carved out their own suitable, beautiful life, often against convention. Kate Bollick is a reflective and lyrical writer. High high praise for this one! ...more

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Nov 08, 2015 Alyssa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american, womens-lit, biography

I gobbled this one up as soon as it arrived from the library. Smartly written and incredibly intellectually stimulating--Kate Bolick has a voice worth listening to. Humorous, thoughtful, sometimes a bit self-deprecating.

And for those of you who aren't single...don't be put off by the title. This book should be read by all. Kate does a wonderful job of opening up a discussion towards the end that is relevant for men and women of our generation as we continue to dialogue about gender/identity/pla ...more

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May 21, 2015 JaNel rated it really liked it

Shelves: interest

Virginia Woolf..."women's lives are like rooms--with whom will you share it? and upon what terms?...For the first time in history you are able to ask, and for the first time, you are able to decide for yourselves what the answers will be." Professions for Women, 1931

p. 64 Women "ought not find themselves, by birth, in a place so narrow, that, in breaking bonds, they become outlaws." Margaret Fuller, 1845, women in the 19th Cent.

p. 65 "...my inchoate aversion to prepackaged heroines...our culture ...more

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Jul 06, 2016 Kathy rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was a nice mix of a modern woman discovering her own path and of women in the past working out the same. I feel the book is misnamed and that her trying to make the word spinster fit no matter what her situation made some of her points conflict. Still, it is an interesting look at some of the ways being an independent woman can look.

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