Erin Blakemore is a writer, entrepreneur, and inveterate bookworm.Her debut book, The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder, includes an exploration of classic heroines (such as Anne Shirley, Jo March, Scarlett O’Hara, and Jane Eyre) and their equally admirable authors (like Jane Austen, Harper Lee, and Laura Ingalls Wilder).
Last month I asked her what she was reading. Her reply:
Right now I'm rereading Madame Curie: A Biography, a book written by Marie Curie's daughter Eve. It's a weird combination of eulogy and biographyVisit Erin Blakemore's website and the official The Heroine's Bookshelf website.that really caught my attention when I picked it up as a little girl (how I got my hands on a gorgeous first edition is beyond me; I have a feeling it was at a library sale). When I was a kid the book represented possibility (discovering elements in a damp shed in an exotic country! Sign me up!) and courage. But this read is reminding me of the perils of biography. It's difficult enough to talk about someone else's life, much less write objectively about your own mother! And yet somehow it still has the ability to transport me to that dusty, inhostpitable shed where a steely woman plodded on even after her dearest companion had died.
The Page 99 Test: The Heroine's Bookshelf.
--Marshal Zeringue
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