Lauren Marino

this is pretty fantastic. little biography vignettes of women writers through history (unfortunately largely white women until more recent history, for obvious reasons). it's really nice to see them in context of each other and how the ones who came before influenced the ones who came later.

i know she said in the intro that she couldn't include everyone and had to make some hard choices. i still think it's a pretty big oversight to exclude n k jemisin, who was the first black person to win a hugo award for best novel, and then won it again the next two years as well.

still, this is a treasure of a book.

"'We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home.' -- Hildegard Von Bingen, 1098-1179"

"'The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.' -- Jane Austen, 1775-1817"… (mehr)

What Would Dolly Do? How to Be a Diamond in a Rhinestone World is Lauren Marino's homage to Dolly Parton.

Super fan Marino draws upon Parton's stories, interviews, articles, songs, Parton's autobiographies, appearances and more to "curating and culling what I can only call the Dolly Parton philosophy as I see it."

Marino ponders 'What Would Dolly Do?" in chapters exploring happiness, style, love and marriage, money and business, home, creativity, philanthropy and many more.

I have always enjoyed Dolly's career, but had fun finding out more about this iconic star. There are lots of life lessons and snippets that anyone can take inspiration from. Text boxes throughout the book summarize ideas, philosophies etc. It's a fun little read, easy to pick up and put down, reading a chapter and coming back later. (Photos of Dolly would have been a nice addition.)… (mehr)