|
What's the purpose of this website????
I have always been an avid reader, ever since I was introduced to the magic world of books through Dick and Jane. In my reading journey, I found myself most often searching for books about real women--women who really existed and from whom I could learn about life. As a young girl, I can remember reading about Russian ballerinas and envisioning myself dancing in Swan Lake! The first specific book I remember reading was Karen by Marie Killilea. This is a classic written in 1952. Somehow it spoke to me and I have been on the hunt ever since to read about women who once walked on this earth. Through the years, I have made lists and lists of the books I have read. I have always wanted to share this resource with others who wanted to know more about real live women. I retired in the summer of 2011 from a long career in education and now have the time to do so. This website is the compilation of those lists. At this time there are approximately 230 books for you to investigate and enjoy! I add more as I read them. There is a contact link on the home page for you to send me your comments and/or suggestions for books to add. I would love to hear from you!
About Me
My name is Diane Burke and I am retired from a long career in education both in K-12 and higher ed. I currently live in Chesapeake, Virginia with my husband, Joe.
Looking for specific book or woman?
Type in the name below and see if you can find it on this website. If you can't, send me an email on the comment page and I'll see if I can find her! 
|
How this site is organized
No book is exclusively about one topic alone. My challenge was to decide to how to categorize the books so that you, the reader, could access them in some organized way. The ten categories listed on the home page are the ones I decided on. Each category has a home page with a list of the books and then a page that follows with a copy of the cover and an annotation about the book.(My apologies to all librarians who read these pages for the lack of the most accurate bibliographic annotations.) The second page in the home section lists all of the books currently listed on the site. Although I have read all of the books on the website, I did not write the annotations. They are from Amazon.com and are attributed to the author as stated on Amazon. 
Check out previously recommended books in the MORE section of the website!
February Monthly Book Feature
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. 
January Monthly Book Feature
Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans Rachel Held Evans is widely recognized for her theologically astute, profoundly honest, and beautifully personal books, which have guided, instructed, edified, and shaped Christians as they seek to live out a just and loving faith. At the time of her tragic death in 2019, Rachel was working on a new book about wholeheartedness. With the help of her close friend and author Jeff Chu, that work-in-progress has been woven together with some of her other unpublished writings into a rich collection of essays that ask candid questions about the stories we’ve been told—and the stories we tell—about our faith, our selves, and our world. This book is for the doubter and the dreamer, the seeker and the sojourner, those who long for a sense of spiritual wholeness as well as those who have been hurt by the Church but can’t seem to let go of the story of Jesus. Through theological reflection and personal recollection, Rachel wrestles with God’s grace and love, looks unsparingly at what the Church is and does, and explores universal human questions about becoming and belonging. An unforgettable, moving, and intimate book. 272 last edited 2-5-22
|