Marianne’s Comments (group member since Nov 16, 2023)

Marianne’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

Thanks!

Thanks, Kris. After typing in a bunch of keywords, I'm about 90% sure this is the book. Is that enough to mark this as solved?

The only way I could get that 90 to 100% would be to find the syllabus for a class I took back in the late 80s.

Kris wrote: "A guess - Cuba: Twenty-Five Years of Revolution, 1959-1984 by Sandor Halebsky & John M. Kirk (editor)?"

This might be it. The picture on the front cover of the early editions rings a bell.

I think there was some historical background provided, but mostly was trying to show what daily life was like for Cubans in the 70s or 80s.

Kris, no, I've tried to remember more, and I just can't. I've looked on Google Scholar and saw some that might be it, hoping reading some sample pages would spur recognition, but nothing so far.

I read this book for an anthropology class in the late 80s. I don't know when it would have been published, but probably in the 80s and probably written by a cultural anthropologist who was likely American or Canadian. I don't remember any details about the book itself aside from that it was quite a positive look at Cuba.

I read this book sometime in the early 80s and I may be combining two books. The main character (female) has an older sister and possibly a brother. The older sister is very determined. She wants to be a writer, so she moves away to Hollywood and near the end of the book we find out she has become a TV writer. We might find this out through a letter. I feel like the book covers several years, and the characters grow from late childhood/early adolescence to young adults. Someone is named Marta, but I can't remember who. I'm pretty sure the family is Jewish or at least lived in Europe during the Holocaust.

This is the one. Thank you!

Solved: Beautiful Girl by Elisabeth Ogilvie

Capn wrote: "Dinah and the Green Fat Kingdom comes up, rather unexpectedly, by keyword search. Very focused on beauty (and fatness), "handsome is as handsome does" is said by her father, and there..."

This book isn't the one I'm remembering, but I just read the whole thing. Really well-written and enjoyable, and surprisingly not dated in some of how it handles Dinah's weight issue.

It was mass market. It can't remember whether the cover was a photo or a drawing of a girl.

bookel wrote: "Shelter on Blue Barns Road by C. S. Adler
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16029...

If you need me by C. S. Adler
The girl doesn't thin..."

These aren't it.

None of the titles by Betty Cavana ring a bell. A couple of titles by Bianca Bradbury do, but I don't think they're it. The book I'm trying to remember had a very 80s feel, and the one that I was wondering about - Laurie - was published in the 60s.

Another detail: She meets a boy who is not impressed or intimidated by her beauty. He doesn't seem to care, and he also seems to not like her. That intrigues her. I don't remember if they start dating or not.

(Writing about this book has me realizing how very full of damaging misogynistic tropes it was!)

bookel wrote: "The shy ones/Lynn Hall is on openlibrary.org if you wanted to check (free to borrow)."
Thank you! I will.

bookel wrote: "Any of these?
Dog training in children's/young adult fiction, non-fiction
https://www.librarything.com/list/546..."


I don't see it on here. Thank you.

Now I'm wondering if I've conflated two books. The Shy Ones sounds familiar, so I probably read it decades ago. I may have read one about a shy, very pretty girl who struggles to make friends around the same time. Maybe there's no dog training in it after all! One part I clearly remember is that her parents are very focused on not letting her define herself by what she looks like. The mom frequently says, "Handsome is as handsome does," (possibly pretty or beautiful is substituted for handsome).

bookel wrote: ""No friends because she's beautiful"???
No idea at the moment but will suggest The Shy Ones by Lynn Hall."

I looked at The Shy Ones and I don't think that's it. Yeah, it's a weird premise, and I read it 40 years ago, so who knows if I remember it correctly? I think it's a first person narrator, and maybe that's how she perceives her situation. I think I do remember that she's also very shy.

I read this probably around 1982.

Kris wrote: "Glad you found your book, Marianne. Here's the link - Kabul by M.E. Hirsh."

Thank you!

Solved. The book is Kabul by M.E. Hirsh.

That's it! Thank you again, Rainbowheart!