Women in their own Words

I took some books on vacation with me last week and found that two of them were memoirs of ordinary women. I don't read a great deal of non-fiction so I was surprised to realize the two memoirs were the best of all the books I brought with me. Meghan Daum wrote about her obsession with houses in Life Would be Perfect if I lived in That House. I love to watch HGTV shows on finding, selling, and redecorating houses so I could relate to her mania, especially when it was presented so amusingly. There was no humor in Saddled by Susan Richards but it was engrossing. Richards finds herself rescued from alcoholism and an abusive marriage by her love for a horse. Both of these books which were fascinating glimpses into the lives of ordinary women reminded by of another book I enjoyed this year, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen. When Rhoda's husband left her for another man and she was badly injured in a car crash she retreated to the safety of her parent's Mennonite home. This book is not so much about the Mennonites but rather what it is like to return home to pull your life together. It is salted with Mennonite trivia and a great deal of humor. I had a hard time putting it down, it read like a novel at times. 

Sometimes ordinary women have extraordinary stories.