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Lessons in Chemistry

Bonnie Garmus

Start date: August 14, 2023

Finish date: August 16, 2023

Discussion: August 2023: Moral Dilemmas

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August 2023: Moral Dilemmas

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By Anita · 1 post · 16 views

last updated Aug 01, 2023 10:42AM

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - James McBride - 5 stars
By Booknblues · 28 posts · 88 views

last updated Dec 04, 2023 05:31AM

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What Members Thought

Nov 22, 2022 Anita Pomerantz rated it liked it

On the plus side, this author has a super sharp wit. I loved her sense of humor. It had some of the best one liners I have ever read.

Unfortunately, beyond that, it wasn't really my kind of book. The story follows a female chemist who literally encounters every type of sexism she could possibly encounter. Desperate for work, she stars in a cooking show where she becomes iconic. The plot explores her love life, her career, her role as a mother . . .all with scathing wit.

But like say a beach read, ...more

29 likes · Like · see review

Nov 13, 2023 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, california, historical-fiction, book-club, concierge, dogs, science, library, grief, strong-women

Book on CD performed by Miranda Raison
4.5**** rounded up

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist, but in 1960s America her intellect is not valued. After a series of life-altering events, she winds up the host of an afternoon television cooking show. But Elizabeth refuses to bend to the rules of entertainment and insists on treating her audience the way she wants to be treated – with respect for their intellect.

This is basically a fairytale, with many improbable coincidences, a strong heroine (with little ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2022 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, only-reading-because-of-the-buzz, historical-fiction, wouldnt-normally-read, lotsa-buzz, everyone-loved-it-except-me, era-mid-20th-c, ohno-its-magical-realism, womens-day

It's funny how some books just become The Book. That Book that everyone, simply everyone, is talking about. Sometimes it's not at all clear why. It's some kind of perfect storm: the perfect marketing campaign, perfect page-turning writing, and a topic that meshes perfectly with something that just happens to be floating in the air at the moment.

This book was a really fun read, but I also, perhaps perversely, hated it. At times I was angry at all the buzz that convinced me to read it. I shou ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2022 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Elizabeth Zott forever!

6 likes · Like · see review

May 08, 2022 Annie rated it really liked it

Don't let the cover fool you. This is NOT an fluffy beach read, rom-com or whatever you think it is, lol. I actually don't know why they chose the cover they did for this book.

Set in the 1960s, it follows the journey of a female scientist who becomes an overnight TV cooking show sensation by combining her love of science and food.

This book has a ton of depth, emotion and snark.

It can be dark at times (TW: sexual assault and work place harassment) but the way Six Thirty, the main character's d ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2023 Olympia rated it it was amazing

Loved this book! Elizabeth Zott you will stay with me for a long time! I hope there’s a book two! Hint hint! Everyone go out and read it ! My copy was from library! Best place for a great book!

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Sep 20, 2022 Tea73 rated it it was amazing

I could remove stars because the book is anachronistic, or too much of a polemic, or veers between tragedy and comedy, or that the kid is too smart, and the dog, well lets just say I think the dog in The Knife of Never Letting Go (“The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say.") is more realistic. But I don't care, I read this romp of a novel compulsively. I've met enough women scientists from that generation, that I know much of it is all t ...more

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Sep 06, 2022 Mary Ellen rated it it was amazing

Cartoonish and one dimensional, but the story intrigued me enough to want to finish. Exactly what I thought more than halfway into the book. Then some whispering takes place in a library, and from that point on I fell in love with Lessons in Chemistry. Every major character stole my heart. One of the best books I read this year.

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2023 Jael rated it liked it

Not at all what I was expecting. I like the concept, the independence, the trying to prove who you are in a time where it was not possible or well seen. Even though I was not at all in agreeance with some of the ideas presented. The love story was phenomenal.

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