Lucy Jane BledsoeRecensioner

This non-fictional book tells the story of the authors trip and journey to Antarctica, but at the same time it offers a lot of factual information about Antarctica. Some of this information includes survival tips if you plan on staying there, where to look for wildlife and how to identify the different wildlife, and other features of the frozen desert. On almost every page of the book are pictures that the author took herself while on her trip, along with little short stories of the history of Antarctica. I think this book would be great for a 4th or 5th grade classroom and can be used in helping students learn about the different parts of the world and grow their interest in something specific. Maybe a student loves penguins, this book offers some information about penguins that the student might now know yet. The book is 101 pages long.

Some things to recommend this: authentic, atmospheric, dramatic, and such a realistic portrayal of small town intergenerational change and rural life generally.

Ultimately too much basketball/sports for me to recommend it unabashedly. I really struggled with reading the basketball descriptions. Not my thing.

Heart rending and wonderful.

I received this book from LibraryThings early reviewers program. The premise was that Delia returned to her home town for a job as well as to confront and come to terms with her forced attendance at a conversion camp for gay/homosexual/queer teens. Also to come to terms with her relationship with the pastor of the church that held the camp. A parallel plot line was the character returning to her high school as the new basketball coach for the women's team. The chapters alternate from her current coaching to her relationship with two other teens who were at the camp. I wish the book would have held to her return and finding some closure with the camp experience and her relationships with the other teens she met and escaped the camp with. However, the book veered into the plot line of her return to coaching, her relationship with the players, the players back stories, and their quest for a championship. I don't know if the author was trying to draw parallels between the camp experience and the return to basketball, but for me this drug the book down into a basketball story instead of her experiences at the conversion camp and the demons she faced in her life because of it. If the novel would have stayed with only one plot line, I feel I would have enjoyed it more.

3.5 stars This novel focuses on Delia, a basketball coach forced to return to her small hometown where she will have to confront her past experiences at a Christian conversion camp.  I liked the book overall and felt it did a good job at addressing the traumas that many have endured at these camps and other forced conversion "therapies."  But while I appreciated Delia's story, I would have liked to know more of Ernest's and Cal's stories as they seemed to be the ones who bore the brunt of the abuses.

As a teenager Delia was sent away one summer to an anti-gay, conversion therapy camp, an overwhelmingly traumatizing experience. Now, many years later, after having been let go from her position as head coach for a college basketball team, Delia returns to her childhood home in Oregon to coach her old high school team. But coming home will also mean facing people, events, places and emotions from the past.

I was skeptical for the first chapter or two, because I initially detected more "tell" than "show" in the narrative and grew concerned. However, Bledsoe soon found her stride, and by mid-point I was fully engrossed. There is a fair amount of pain and trauma, but there are an equal number of moments of hope and inspiration. Religious bigots may have an abysmal record for successful conversions, but they certainly reign undefeated in cruelty.

I received this ARC via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

The technical review of this book is that it is a well paced, well plotted tale that moves between time periods and perspectives smoothly and effectively.

The less technical review is that this book is engaging. I looked forward to reading the next chapters. It was hard, and gut wrenching. It was funny and sad. It avoided the easy outs but didn't leave you feeling as if all is lost. It was just an honest look at how people recover from extreme trauma.

A thoroughly good book that I would recommend.

Tell The Rest started off strong and just kept going. The characters are well written, the plot is solid, and the emotional turmoil is an easy connection point for readers (even those of us who do not get emotionally attached to sports teams, high school women's basketball or otherwise). My main concern with the book was how basketball-heavy the first few chapters are. It opens with a lot of jargon, but this quickly fades into the background of the characters' lives, and even when it was thickest, it did not detract from my enjoyment or understanding of the overall plot. The worst thing about the novel is that the girls on the team are not given enough time to really stand out as individuals except for maybe three of them. They are not the main focus of the book, so it does not really detract in any way from the plot. I can see reasons for keeping it this way; it presents the main plot in a clearer and more focused narrative, rather than risking losing the thread of the coach's emotional journey in between chapters focusing on the girls. The juxtaposition of Delia's chapters with Ernest's worked well, and the conclusion of their arcs was satisfying because of how well the author wrote both characters. The ending was also a fantastic way to wrap things up, and I enjoyed that final peek into another character's life. Overall, this was an emotionally charged and well written look at the way trauma survivors internalize their experiences and eventually address them in different ways. A well written piece of fiction, I would recommend it to anyone interested in lesbians, the consequences of hating your queer children, or queer characters overcoming their trauma.

Can be a challenging read for those who underwent conversion therapy. An important book that shows how mistreatment of youth by the church is felt way into adulthood.

When I first started this book I was hooked. But I also had to put it down because it was emotional from the start. When I picked it up again to start reading again I thought it was a different book. It was more cold. Because Delia had grown up and was so, removed. She had rage and sex but it seemed like it was someone else rather than her own emotions.
As the author introduced characters and pieces of Delia came into view I felt I understood why we had such an abrupt change from that child at the beginning to the woman we were learning about.
This was heartbreaking, endearing, frustrating and I at times, wanted to throw the book and hug almost all the characters. It made me ask, how do we hate so thoroughly while spouting righteousness. How do we hurt each other so easily.
The last chapter of this book crushed me.

This is a solid novel; it was hard to put down.

This is the story of a personal struggle against the past and how childhood trauma can affect the future adult. Character development was good, plot was good. It is a decent all around work.½

I received the book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Excellent. Could not put the book down.

Believable characters and plot twists. The story had a great ending and handled the subject matter with sensitivity.

Uplifting. Positive message. A must read.

I loved the way the threads of Delia's life - basketball, lesbianism, her friend William the poet, conversion therapy, coaching (but especially her role as a basketball coach) - were woven throughout the book. It made it so much more interesting than what I expected, a blow-by blow horrifying account of her time at the conversion therapy camp. This tapestry propelled the plot, making for a compelling read. She's a very good writer except for very occasional overwriting ("their sneakers squeaking out tears of rainwater"), but given all her awards I'm sure she knows more about writing than I do, so all in all five stars.

I received this book for free from the early reviewers program at Library Thing. This book is about two teens who were sent against their will to a Christian conversion camp, and how that experience reverberated throughout their lives. I really loved the characters and story and thought the author did a great job discussing such a brutal experience and how it impacts those who have gone through it. I was worried at one point that this was going to just be a Christian bashing book. As a therapist, many of my LGBTQ+ clients struggle with faith, but do find loving Christian communities in the end. But the author then does a great job of providing a sympathetic and loving pastor character that does show that not all Christians are right-wing bigots and provides hope that for those who wish to still interact with faith communities, they are out there. All in all, this book is lovely and definitely worth a read!

Virtually unputdownable. And I cried happy tears at the end. Compelling characters and effective pacing. Also it shows rather than merely telling that friendship, love, compassion, are more important than respect for authority, which is a very good moral indeed.

(NB: I read an advance reading copy given to me by the book's publisher.)

CN: enormous amounts of homophobia, including so called "conversion therapy", slurs, and abuse; religious coercion; rape and sexual coercion; child abuse of multiple kinds; violence; suicide; bullying; defiant child treated unfairly by adults; a cat runs away and you don't know for a while if she's ok or not (but she is).

good - Katrina

This was a fascinating book, but also one that had me hopping around to other nonfiction resources to fill in my own educational gaps. (How did I miss knowing about Shirley Chisholm?) For that alone, so long as it works seamlessly with the plot, I'll always give a novel bonus points, and in this case it most certainly worked.

Based on the author's experiences, Louisa Carmichael loves to play basketball. Her sport-crazy school offers boy sports only. Seen as a leader, she's invited to speak at an event offering youth perspective when Gloria Steinem comes to town. This experience propels her into growing activism about getting her school to follow the Title IX law and offer sport teams, specifically basketball for girls. This is not well met by the coaching staff at the school and her words are frequently twisted. She's dealing with some things in her personal life - dating, friendship, family illness.
A compelling read with a glimpse into the 1970s and realities for girls.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. If I am being honest, I don't usually read sports books. They aren't something that I find particularly interesting. But I really enjoyed this book! The characters were likable yet still relatable, and their growth arcs were moving and intriguing. It almost felt like I was just hearing a story from a friend. I heavily recommend and look forward to future works from the author.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is everything young adult fiction should be - characters and plot that feel real and don't try to coddle the reader along the way. I saw a lot of my teenage self in Louisa; I, too, was basketball-obsessed, still trying to figure out my own feelings about sexuality and love, and I couldn't help but root for Louisa throughout. The peripheral characters are all very distinct, and Bledsoe seemed to perfect the art of making each one unique without distracting the reader from the larger storyline at play considering the sheer amount of characters for such a short book.

I'll admit I requested this one for the historical context. Basketball may have been the most important thing in my life for a time, but I didn't really give a passing thought to Title IX or how recently it had actually been implemented in practice when I was playing in the mid-2000s. As an adult now, it seems all the more important to be able to look back and appreciate what real-life Louisas have done for the rest of us, and Bledsoe does a fantastic job of doing just that.

I'd recommend this book to any school athlete, any former school athlete, or readers interested in historical fiction with a feminist lens. It's a great representation of the genre, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it and cheer Louisa on from the sidelines.

Title IX was passed two years ago in 1972, but Louisa’s high school still only has golf and tennis available for girls. Louisa really wants a basketball team that is funded through the school. After hearing Gloria Steinem speak at an event, Louisa knows she’s got to be the one to get the girls team going.

But after speaking with her principal about making a girls basketball team, Louisa is soon targeted by male coaches at her school telling her to back down, lied to by the school board, dismissed as being a “bra burner”, and misquoted by the newspapers. On top of all of this, Louisa may be finding love, or love(s), her best friend suddenly becomes MIA, and her grandpa’s dementia is getting worse. Based on the author’s true story, No Stopping Us Now shows what it means to have the courage to stand up for what is right.

I don’t usually do sports books, as I’ve never really been passionately into sports. But I really liked the story for this and had no idea what Title IX was so I wanted to learn. And boy did I learn a lot from this book. Mostly about women’s sports, like how crazy different the rules used to be for women’s basketball and what Title IX was and how long it took some cities and states to adhere to it… it’s all crazy. It is a sports book for sure, but it was also way more than that.

I loved Louisa as the main character and narrator of this story. She was a strong willed girl with so much drive and passion that I was rooting for her from the beginning. The relationship with her grandfather was also super cute and adorable and reminded me of my grandmother who also has dementia and comes and goes.

There is love in this story, but it’s really not the main focus at all, and it kind of makes me love Louisa even more for it. I’m also glad for the storyline with Carly, Louisa’s best friend, and what she goes through and how Louisa, even though she feels like she was left behind/forgotten, doesn’t give up on Carly.

This historical sports novel based on true events of the authors is a great read for basketball lovers and non-basketball lovers alike. It’s about standing up for what is right and having the courage to possibly be standing alone. I highly recommend this book to everyone who would like to know more about sports history as well.

*Thank you Three Rooms Press and LibraryThing for the advanced readers' copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I received an advance copy of this book from LibraryThing and I have really enjoyed it.

Louisa loves basketball and plays with her own startup team in Portland Oregon in 1974. But unlike the boy's team, they have no coach, no uniforms,no transportation to games. The girls only get access to the gym in early morning before classes. They have only five on their team and you get to know each one's personality and problems.

The main character, Louisa meets Gloria Steinman at a meeting and learns about Title IX which bans discrimination against gender. I wish that we had Title IX when I was in high school in the 1960s. I could have taken shop instead of sewing and been told that I could something else than a nurse or teacher. We would not have to have special permission from the principal to wear slacks instead of dresses and skirt in sub zero weather!

Louisa, asks her principal to start an official girl's team, presents her idea to the school board. Th.y lie to hera and the male coaches put her down, and do not show respect for her. Louisa knows that it would easy to give up but their treatment of her only makes her more determined.

This is an inspiring story of a girl who would not give up her dream

I am very lucky to have received an advanced copy from LibraryThing! This story takes place in Oregon in the 1970s. Louisa is a forward-thinking girl at a time where many people were closed-minded. Louisa loves basketball and finds it unfair (understandably) that the boys have any sport they wish to play available to them and the girls don’t. She voices her concern amidst everyone not taking her seriously.

I enjoyed this book, and I routed for Louisa the entire way. She is an inspiration to even today’s youth, as girls and women are still fighting to be seen as equals

the title of this book is terrible, but just about everything else about it is done right. the writing is excellent, and even the title means much more than it seems like it does, in the end.

it feels like a post-apocalyptic book, but it's really just a post-natural disaster book that is actually quite realistic. if the infrastructure collapses, what remains, and what do people rebuild, and how do they organize? it's probably similar to a lot of post-apocalypse books in this, but i really liked the philosophy and science thrown in here. plus there's betrayal and trauma and loneliness and connection. some of the questions that come up about survival are pertinent with the climate changing the way it is, and mirror discussions i've had in my own life. so it felt realistic. the crux, though, and what the title refers to, more globally - if both violence and compassion are natural to humans, maybe we make love and altruism the successful traits in passing on to offspring, and we actually evolve love. and then more personally - the main character has to change her idea of what love is, from safety in comfort to maybe something more powerful, even if a little unknown.

she covers a lot here, and i think she does it well. it's not super-ambitious, but it's not as straightforward a story as it seems at first, either. i liked just about everything she did and i was willing to let her take me anywhere because the writing is so good.

"'...anyway, I've begun to believe that the best thing that could happen, certainly for the planet, but maybe even for humanity, is our extinction. Or near extinction, anyway. We've made a mess of this planet. Maybe recovery is only possible without us.'"

"Two lines, long parentheses, enclosed his mouth, like his smile would be a secret."

"'I love stories. Sometimes I think they might be the only thing that can save a culture.'"½

When I finished this book, I thought, "Holy moly, this is a good book."

The premise of this book is a hook that draws you in: author Lucy Jane Bledsoe is writing about the life of her aunt and namesake, Lucybelle Bledsoe. She didn't know her aunt well because Lucybelle perished in a fire when Lucy Jane was nine. However, when trying to learn more about her aunt as an adult, she learned that Lucybelle had had a remarkable life, and one with quite a lot in common with Lucy Jane.

The aunt was a science writer who played a key role in seminal climate research - part of the first team that pulled ice cores down to bedrock in Greenland and Antarctica. These ice cores started climate science and are still used today. Lucybelle was an Arkansas farm girl smart enough to pass the bar exam without ever having attended law school who moved to Greenwich Village in New York just as fast as she could. And, during the McCarthy era, she was a lesbian, all while working on this then-top-secret government project.

The author explains her research process at the end of the book - how some information online led her to her aunt's work life, which led to interviews with former co-workers, and finally to parts of her aunt's life slowly being uncovered. The author says about half of the story is based on facts she was able to learn, and the other half was filling in the holes, how the author imagined her aunt felt between those facts.

The novel, or fictionalized memoir, or some combination thereof, covers the roughly ten-year period from the mid-50s to mid-60s where Lucybelle worked for the lab run by the Army Corps of Engineers that studied Arctic ice cores. Her work takes her from New York to a new life in Chicago and later New Hampshire. While work is the key that led the author to information about her aunt's life, the novel is really about what Lucybelle's life may have been like outside of work. The friendships and relationships, the hidden life of being a lesbian, and even her responses to the Civil Rights movement happening at the same time.

Lucybelle was a remarkable woman and this ode to her life from a beloved niece is a lovely. But it is also an ode to queer history. The story of what it was like to be a queer woman living in the McCarthy era, when so much had to be hidden and suppressed, is striking and moving. I was moved by Lucybelle's bravery (and certainly much of that was true to life), and the bravery of queer people living honestly in those closeted and fearful times. And I was also full of gratefulness all the way through that, despite backlash against progress, I can live my queer life openly and honestly without almost any fear. To my family, at work, with all my friends, holding my wife's hand walking down the street, kissing her good-bye at the bus stop in the morning. Yes, I live in Seattle. But this book helped me see/remember oh how very much times have changed.

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Two fave quotes:
"One time they held hands while walking along the lake. Their joined palms felt like a fuse in an outlet, as if their touch was the source of everything that mattered, as if by doing this, holding hands in public, they'd be able to make better photographs and write better stories. Make better love. The power of those few minutes of not hiding felt like it could fuel an entire country." p. 161

"'It's not exactly my pond. I have Trout Brook to thank for delivering the water caught in the form of snow by Smarts Mountain. Not to mention the recession of the last glaciers twelve thousand years ago.'
'I hadn't meant to imply that you dug and filled the pond.'
'I realize that. But I don't even think that I own a part of it. I'm squatting here.'
'You have a cabin.'
'Yes. Agreed. But I'm only dwelling here. Fleeting, temporary.'
'We still haven't become mature enough to think of ourselves as only a tiny part of a vast and incredible universe.'
'Ah. You understand.'" p. 249