The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel

I finally finished The Red Leather Diary. I had to! It was due back at the library and someone else had put it in on hold.

To be honest I'm not sure why it took me so long. It just wasn't a book that I couldn't put down. I thought the most interesting part of the book was the story on how Koppel found the diary and then found the diarist, Florence. Florence's life seemed untouchable. Growing up in the 1920s and 30s in a household where she wanted for nothing materialistically. She definitely was an interesting person but I got the feeling that I wouldn't have been friends with her had I been one of her peers. I didn't form any sort of emotional bond with Florence and I think that was the great downfall. Not Koppel's fault -- the book was well written. I just didn't really like Florence the character.

The next book on my list is In the Land of Invisible Women by Quanta A. Ahmed.

a complex world readers will find fascinating and at times repugnant. After being denied a visa to remain in the U.S., British-born Ahmed, a Muslim woman of Pakistani origin, takes advantage of an opportunity, before 9/11, to practice medicine in Saudi Arabia. She discovers her new environment is defined by schizophrenic contrasts that create an absurd clamorous clash of modern and medieval. - From Publishers Weekly

I'm looking forward to it. I have it on hold at the library. Once I sink my teeth into it I'll let you know how it tastes.

Red Leather Diary

Last night I finished reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and I think I am going to request the movie from Netflix. I'm usually disappointed in the movie version of a good book but I'll give it a try.

I was anxious to finish because I picked up a new book from the library yesterday, Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel. I read the first few chapters and put the book down in sheer jealousy.

I am jealous of Koppel. I'm jealous she graduated from Barnard, that she lived on the Upper West Side, that she writes for the New York Times, that she's in her early 20s, that she got the opportunity to rifle through dozens of steamer trunks from the early 1900s on her very sidewalk, and, most of all, that she got ahold of this amazing diary and wrote a book about it.

I'm not going to lie -- I threw myself a little pity party for awhile thinking, "That should be ME! I want to find something so special! I want a plethora of steamer trunks to rifle through!"

I'll get over it. I'm already intrigued by the story and Koppel's writing style. The book, which already seems to have a life of it's own, is being turned into a movie. Check it all out here.