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The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1)

Kim Michele Richardson

Start date: March 1, 2021

Finish date: March 31, 2021

Discussion: March 2021

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March 2021

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Mar 11, 2021 Tina Haigler rated it really liked it

"The librarian and her mule spotted it at the same time."

Review to come :)

My heart lifted, and I smoothed down the thick paper with my palm and penned Lovett to my signature with a hope-filled prayer." ...more

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Dec 10, 2020 Robin rated it liked it · review of another edition

i have seen some comparisons of this book to another book (the giver of stars) with a similar sounding plot line, which ironically is the last book i just finished before this one being that my other book club chose that one. it is kind of weird that both of them picked similar books the same month. after reading them both back-to-back i am pleased to say that although there are some similarities being that they were both about the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, which were women who delivered i have seen some comparisons of this book to another book (the giver of stars) with a similar sounding plot line, which ironically is the last book i just finished before this one being that my other book club chose that one. it is kind of weird that both of them picked similar books the same month. after reading them both back-to-back i am pleased to say that although there are some similarities being that they were both about the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, which were women who delivered books to people in their rural countryside homelands to try to help promote literacy during the Depression era, there were still plenty of differences, too, and it did not feel like i was reading the same book twice.

this book is also about the blue people of Kentucky and how racism affected them because they too were different. the main character was very strong-willed, though at times it seems like she wasn't due to wanting to fit in and be accepted by everyone. the towns folk didn't like that she was different. the hills folk she took the books to all didn't care and liked her because she was a good person who would bring them books and food even whenever she saw anyone was hungry or suffering and she even subjected herself to testing after she realized she could get more food and medications to help her people. she was subjected to many tests and studies as the doctors tried to try to figure out what caused her blue skin and although the doctors did eventually find a way to temporarily flush it from her system, there were side effects that affected her health by taking the medications. and to make matters worse, even when she took them to become more like the rest of the towns folk, they still shunned her and didn't accept her as being normal since they all knew she wasn't always like them. this book was more focused on how different this lady was because she was different from everyone else since she was considered to be colored even though she blue and was not colored like African American people. there was a lot of focus on the blue people and this book didn't have a happily ever after ending. the blue people were not discussed at all in the other book. also, the other book focused more on the women who were part of the library and their lives and friendships and relationship and did have happy endings for most of the characters.

after reading both books i read more about all of the controversy but honestly they are different enough that i don't feel like there is any plagiarism involved. two authors decided to write stories on similar subject matter and since both books are considered to be historical fiction, they are both based on true facts so there are some similarities, but they are still different enough to read both books. i enjoyed learning about the packhorse librarians since i was not very familiar with how much of a role they played in helping promote literacy during the Depression era, nor was i at all familiar with the blue people of Kentucky. my recommendation is just not to read them one right after the other unless you want to compare and contrast. ...more

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