Tag: Normal Women

Sunday Summary – 20th April 2025

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Happy Easter friends! It may be a bank holiday weekend, but I’m not taking any breaks in content! Today’s Sunday Summary has plenty to update you on. Make yourself a cuppa and get settled in, because I have a few books to share with you!

Firstly, though, let’s catch up on the content I’ve shared with you so far this week.

The first post I published earlier this week was my book review of Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder. If you enjoy science fiction, thrillers, or ideally both, Soul Identity is a great book to try. I really enjoyed this first instalment to the three-part Soul Identity series, and I’m excited to read the next. If you haven’t already read my review, check it out using the link above.

Next, I shared my latest instalment to my Shelf Control series on Friday. In Friday’s post, I featured a courtroom thriller I’m keen to try. The book may not be for everyone given the subject matter, but I am intrigued by the synopsis.

 

Books Read


Normal Women

Progress with Normal Women by Philippa Gregory remains slow but steady.

Over the course of this week, I’ve read another fifty pages or so. I’m now moving into the life of women in the 18th century, and it’s not great. Women’s rights are pretty atrocious at this point in history, so it makes for infuriating reading. It’s no fault of the book at all – it’s thoroughly researched, and there’s a lot of information and aspects of women’s lives covered. It’s how badly women are treated and controlled that angers me.

Hopefully, in the next week, I’ll get to a more positive period of history for women?!


The Perfect Wife

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I was around halfway through my audiobook copy of The Perfect Wife.

Over the last six days, I’ve listened on and subsequently finished this book. It’s a relief to have it read well in advance of our book club meet in the beginning of May. It wasn’t difficult to achieve though – the story was compelling, and as the revelations and mysteries started to come together, I was drawn to read on.

Having recently read another thriller, I wasn’t sure if I’d find The Perfect Wife more of the same. However, the books were vastly different, and I enjoyed reading from the thriller genre again!


Elektra

A book I forgot to talk about last week was Elektra by Jennifer Saint. I was looking for a smaller physical read to take around and about with me. Normal Women wasn’t practical to carry around, so I grabbed my copy of Elektra and read about 30 pages.

Picking up from there this week, I’ve read a further 100 pages. As of this Sunday Summary update, that puts me  just shy of 50% through the book.

Elektra is certainly a Greek Mythology story that focuses on the women’s perspective. Throughout, we see chapters from Elektra, Clytemnestra, and Cassandra. All three female characters’ lives are impacted by the war with Troy, and I’m enjoying the often overlooked view. Too often, we can read of the glory of men, but not the suffering of the women. If you like books around this topic, The Silence of the Girls is another great book.

I’m looking forward to reading more of Elektra in the next few days. I hope you can join me for next week’s Sunday Summary post to see how far I get.


Books Discovered


The delight my wallet had at not purchasing a copy of Vulture Capitalism last week ended up short-lived. In my defence, I was allowed in a local bookstore unsupervised and spotted it. So, I got it!

I also picked up 24 Hours in the Viking World and The Twentysomething Treatment because they sounded interesting…


Coming Up…

I have some great posts lined up for you in the next week.

First and foremost, I’m looking forward to sharing a Top Ten Tuesday post. It’s been a while since I shared one of these posts. This week’s theme is books that surprised me – and that can be good or bad. I’ll likely end up going down the positive route as I won’t have many negatives.

On Friday, I’ll be back with a First Lines Friday feature. This week, I plan to set myself a challenge for this post. In this week’s feature, I’ll share a non-fiction book on my TBR. I commit to that here and now but without a set book in mind. Wish me luck finding a suitable book to feature!

Finally, I’ll be back the same time next week with another Sunday Summary update. In that post, I’ll get you up to speed on the books I’ve been reading over the week and let you know where I get up to.

Until next time, have a great week and happy reading!

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Sunday Summary – 13th April 2025

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The end of another week is upon us, so that can only mean one thing! I hope you’re ready to dive into this Sunday Summary update and catch up on the books I’ve been reading this week.

Before that though, as I always do, let’s take a recap of the blog posts I shared earlier this week. Technically, last week’s Sunday Summary post went live on Monday morning to accommodate a blog tour post on Sunday.

Next, I shared my list of five authors I will always buy books by. If you are a regular reader, the authors featured on this list shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. If you are new here though, you can get a feel for some of my favourite authors by checking out this post!

In Friday’s First Lines Friday, I featured a recent release that’s part of a series I adored as a teenager and I want to re-read. If you’re curious to see what that book is and sample the opening lines, take a look at that post here.


Books Read


Normal Women

With no carryovers from last week, I returned this week to Normal Women by Philippa Gregory.

I put down this book a few weeks ago in order to prioritise blog tours and other books of a more time-sensitive nature. Now that I’ve got those commitments out of the way, I’ve picked up this non-fiction again. The focus of this book is on women in society as a whole, as opposed to specific individuals.

I haven’t read a whole lot of this book this week given I only picked it up again for the first time on Saturday. However, I have made 40 pages progress and I’m looking forward to reading more over the next week.


The Perfect Wife

Today, I started listening to the audiobook of our book club pick that will be discussing in early May. In last week’s Sunday Summary, I shared that the contenders for this month’s read were All the Light We Cannot See, The Anxious Generation, and The Perfect Wife. In order to avoid a conflict, I didn’t vote in this month’s selection; it would have resulted in a draw. Instead, our other members chose The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney.

I have to say, although this wasn’t my first choice, I am enjoying the book. So much so, I have listened to just under half of this audiobook today. I like audiobooks because they are convenient to listen to whilst running errands. It certainly makes a trip to Tesco more bearable anyway…

That’s now I’m reading this book and it’s a good listen so far!


Books Discovered

I confess that I added one book to my reading list earlier today. However, my wallet can be satisfied because I didn’t purchase it.

In the world of finance and in light of the turmoil we’ve seen in markets this week, a book called Vulture Capitalism caught my attention. Whilst I’m not particularly informed on the content of the book to make an assessment on whether it’s true or not, journalist and author Grace Blakeley certainly seems to be. Would I be surprised at corruption within our capitalist society? Absolutely not.

It’s a completely different subject to what I would normally read, but that’s precisely why it’s caught my attention.


Coming Up…

My first post of the week will be a book review. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder.

On Friday I’ll be back with another instalment in my Shelf Control feature. In this series, I take a look at upcoming books on my TBR and share why I’m excited to read it!

Finally, this time next week I’m back with another Sunday Summary update. I hope you can join me to see all my latest reading updates and goings-on.

Until next time, happy reading!

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Monthly TBR – April 2025

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April comes with no set theme in mind. Rather, this month I’m looking to pick up books that I haven’t gotten to in the last couple of months, as well as pick up some reads geared around the Goodreads challenges. Shall we take a look at the books on this monthly TBR that I’ll be picking up in April?


Fixed Reads


Enemies of the Crown

The first book I’ll be picking up in April is for a blog tour review. It was a natural decision to sign up for this one, given that I’ve already read prior books in the series. That, and I want to keep up with the series anyway. I’ve really come to love Peter Gibbons’ The Saxon Warrior series and I’m invested in the personal journey of the main character Beornoth.

As of this monthly TBR, I’m already making progress with this book. And it’s a good job —my review for this one is due on Sunday!

 

The Weight’s Over

I’m currently reading a newly released book called The Weight’s Over by Sandra Roycroft-Davis. I’ve seen a lot of adverts on Facebook for a slimming programme she’s developed, Slimpod. The reason I’ve picked up this audiobook is that I want to understand some of the science behind weight loss and why our bodies are designed for us to fail.

As of this monthly TBR post, I’ve almost finished listening to this book. It was only a little under 7 hours anyway, and I have just 45 minutes to go.


Normal Women

Normal Women is a carryover from March’s TBR. It’s a current read, and one I expect I’ll be chipping away at over the month of April.

As of this monthly TBR, I’ve already read a healthy 30% and I’m looking forward to reading more. I’m especially looking forward to seeing changes to women’s rights for the more positive— in what I’ve read so far… we’ve gone backwards!


Work Book Club

Although we have yet to christen the chosen book for this month, I’m keeping a placeholder here so that once we’ve selected a book, I’ve dedicated time to read it. At the moment, we have a poll going to choose the current book. The options are The Perfect Wife, The Anxious Generation, and All the Light We Cannot See.

Once we’ve christened the book mid-next week, I will let you know which we will be reading.


Mood Reads


The Poppy War

For a good few months now, I have been intending to start this series by R.F. Kuang. I originally received a copy of this book well over a year ago now. However, I received a special edition copy for my birthday recently. Receipt of that gift has inspired me and reminded me that I am really interested in picking up this fantasy series. So, that’s what I plan to do.

I have high hopes for this book given that I’ve heard a lot of good things. I’m also looking forward to reading something within the fantasy genre and going back to a genre I know and love inside out.


Elektra

Another genre I enjoy is Greek mythology, so Elektra seems a natural choice to pick up. It’s been a little while since I picked up a Greek-inspired story. I also like the idea of picking up Elektra because it follows on nicely from last month‘s theme that focuses on women.

Elektra is a powerful female character in Greek mythology. It’s also quite a short book, so Elektra should hopefully be a nice palate cleanser and give me a chance to pick up something a little different in between larger books.


Eve

I like to keep a non-fiction book on my reading list. This book is a non-fiction account about the biology of women’s bodies and how they shaped human society as we know it. On the off-chance The Anxious Generation isn’t picked for this month’s book club read, at least I have another non-fiction I’m already interested in on the list!


Summary

Am I likely to get to all the books on April’s Monthly TBR? Probably not. However, I may yet surprise myself! I prefer to set ambitious goals. If I finish a TBR or don’t set one, I find the lack of a goal demotivating and I tend to read less.

Are you planning on picking up any books in April? What are you reading?

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Monthly Wrap-Up – March 2025

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The end of March has come and flown by! Where is 2025 going? Regardless of how I feel about being a quarter of the year already, time waits for no man (or woman). And so, it’s time to share my monthly wrap-up for March 2025.

I did pretty well with my TBR for March. I didn’t get to all the books, as I often don’t nowadays. Still, I got to most of them and enjoyed the books I read. That’s a big improvement from February! Shall we take a look at what those were?


Books Read

Woden’s Spear

The first book on my TBR for March was a blog tour commitment. For the first time in a long time, I agreed to take part in some blog tours and help out where they lacked support and needed filling. Woden’s Spear was the first of two books I committed to – the second is coming up later this week. It was also a new author to me. I said yes to it because I liked the setting and genre it falls into.

After weeks of not much luck with the books I’d chosen to read, Woden’s Spear made a refreshing… return. I enjoyed going back to something familiar that I know I like. It kickstarted my reading again in the best of ways. I’d even go so far as to say that having the deadline changed the dynamic and got my focus back on books!

If you want to take a look at my full review of Woden’s Spear, here’s a link to that post.


A Promised Land

A Promised Land was an audiobook carryover from February. It was the one book on my February TBR that surprised me in a good way. I didn’t finish it that month due to the length – over 29 hours total!

As of the beginning of the month, I carried over the final 12 hours of A Promised Land and finished the book 11 days later. A Promised Land was an eye-opener for me in that previously, I’ve avoided politics. It’s not a subject of particular interest to me, but it was good to get out of my comfort zone. Arguably, Barack Obama is one of the few political figures I don’t mind – they’re very few and far between! That made a huge difference to the listening experience. That, and Barack narrating the book himself, made it a lot more personal!


The Housemaid

Next, I listened to The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. We picked up this book for our book club, which met on the last day of the month.

It’s the first time I’ve opted to read our workbook club pick in audio format, but it worked! Admittedly, I found myself frustrated with Millie when I first started the book. She didn’t half put up with some bad behaviour; there’s a good reason why, but as someone who wouldn’t, it got to me. However, the book got A LOT more interesting as the narrative moved on, and the second perspective changed the book entirely.

Thriller fans – no spoilers here… but I can’t recommend the book highly enough!


Calamity

One last audiobook I squeezed in before the end of the month is Calamity by Brandon Sanderson. I literally finished this on Monday, squeaking it in just in time.

I picked up Calamity as it’s the final book in Sanderson’s The Reckoners series. After a long break, I picked up the second book earlier this year. I was determined to finish it soon and not leave it years again before finishing the series. The great news is that I have a completion under my belt to go towards my resolutions for the year. The bad news is that the series is done, and there aren’t any more books with these characters…


Normal Women

Finally, the last book I have to share with you in today’s monthly wrap-up is one I’ll carry forward into April.

Normal Women by Philippa Gregory came onto my radar after I listened to a podcast based on the research for this book. I really annoyed that podcast – and I’m enjoying the book too.

It’s a bit of a slow read though, so it’s one I’ll likely end up chipping away at. Throughout March, I read the first few chapters and as of this monthly wrap-up, I’m a couple of hundred pages into Normal Women.

In truth, I think this book would be easier for me to listen to than read. I tend to prefer listening to non-fiction. Even still, it’s been quite informative so far. My perception of history being unfavourable to women isn’t always true – women lost a lot of rights by the time Henry VIII secured the throne.

Here’s to continuing with this book in the next few weeks!


Summary

Thankfully I have better news to share in this monthly wrap-up and reading progress has been better.

If you’re still with me, thanks for reading today’s monthly wrap-up. Have you picked up any good books recently? Do you have any recommendations for me?

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Sunday Summary – 23rd March 2025

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Happy Sunday readers – welcome to this week’s instalment of my regular Sunday Summary feature! Have you picked up any good books lately? I sure have, but before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a minute to go through what else I’ve shared on my blog this week!

My first post of the week was a book review of the illustrated novel, Rise of the Dragon by George R. R. Martin. If you’re interested in the backdrop to the world of A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones), this is the approachable edition. Should you like more hardcore lore, go for Fire and Blood instead. If you’re watching House of the Dragon, this is a fantastic book to explain events.

Next, in this week’s Shelf Control post, I feature a graphic novel retelling – The One Hundred Nights of Hero. It’s unlike a lot of books on my TBR, and it’s for that reason I want to give it a go!


Books Read


The Housemaid

Earlier this week, I finished the final couple of hours of audio of The Housemaid. It took a turn I wasn’t really expecting – and the ending was worth the wait!

I really enjoyed this thriller, and if this is a genre that appeals to you, please read this one. My favourite aspect was the characters and dynamics of the story so much. I wasn’t originally planning on picking up the subsequent series… but I am now!


Normal Women

Picking up where I left off last Sunday, I’ve read another 100 pages of Normal Women this week.

I like how the book recaps how the rights and living conditions of women change across time. The chapters are broken down into recognised periods of history and cover a broad range of topics affecting women. From  legal rights to how they had relationships with each other, Normal Women covers a wide spectrum.

This isn’t the type of book I can binge, so I’ve ended up reading this in multiple short bursts. However, I’m engaged to keep coming back, so I’ll be chipping away at this one in the next few weeks.


Calamity

Finally, I started my next audiobook. I recently listened to Firefight by Brandon Sanderson. Whilst events are fresh in my mind, I wanted to listen to Calamity and finish the trilogy.

So far I’m a little under 3 hours, or just shy of 25%, into the audio. I’m listening to the audiobook at x1.2 speed, so I’ve got just under 8 hours left to listen to.

I don’t think I’ll listen to a lot early next week as I’m off work. However, once I’m back into normal routine later in the week there will be opportunities to keep going and see if Calamity can live up to the rest of the series to date.


Books Discovered

The only book I’ve added this week is The Housemaid’s Secret, the sequel to The Housemaid. I’ve decided to stick with the audiobook format for the series and thankfully I had a credit I could use towards it.


Coming Up…

Next week, I’m leaning into enjoying my time off before another busy stretch at work. I’ve decided that next week’s posting schedule is going to be quite light.

I’ll be back this time next week for another Sunday Summary post, but that’s all. I’m going to enjoy the last few days of my annual leave without obligation to post here and pick up my reads and hobbies as much as I can. That way, I’m fully recharged to pick up again and catch you up on my latest reads in next week’s Sunday Summary.

Until next week, I hope you have a good one!

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Sunday Summary – 16th March 2025

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Good evening friends and welcome to another Sunday Summary! It’s been a fun week and I’ve picked up some good books.

Before we get into that though, let’s take a look at the blog posts I’ve shared this week. First, I shared a blog tour review of Woden’s Spear by Donovan Cook. It feels weird talking about this in this post because I drafted that post this time last week. However, it went live on Monday… so it counts.

Later in the week, I shared my First Lines Friday post. This week’s feature is one of my current reads. I decided to feature this book having started it this week and really enjoyed the book. The intro really caught my attention, even if I wasn’t reading this for book club, it would have made it onto my reading list anyway.


Books Read

 

A Promised Land

I’m pleased that I can finally report the completion of A Promised Land by Barack Obama this week!

It’s been an interesting read and opened my eyes to perspectives I didn’t imagine. If there was any book on my February TBR that I expected to not finish, it was this one. However, I’d say it was probably one that I enjoyed the most.


The Housemaid

After finishing listening to A Promised Land, I moved on to The Housemaid by Freida McFadden.

This is our book club read for March, and I decided to pick it up in audio format as I’m getting through audiobooks a bit quicker than regular ones at the moment.

It’s been a good choice! Although I am spending a good deal of the narrative questioning the actions and reactions of some of the characters, it’s an interesting story. As of this Sunday Summary post, I have listened to the vast majority of The Housemaid and I only have a couple of hours also left.


Normal Women

I’ve picked up Normal Women a couple of times over the course of this week. I haven’t made a lot of progress with the book, but I have moved on from the 20-odd-pages I’d read last week to just over 100.

I like the idea of this book, and I’m looking forward to reading further into more familiar modern history. If you’re unfamiliar with the book, it looks at how women in society shaped Britain’s modern history, even when they were talked about in the history books. It’s not about the famous individuals, but rather women as a whole.


Books Discovered

I haven’t added anything new to the reading list this week, so nothing to update you on here!

 

Coming Up…

The first book post I share next week will be another book review. I confess that as of the point of drafting this post, I haven’t decided which book it is that I will feature all. However, it’s 25 to midnight locally; I’m not going to spend the time looking through my reading list to see what’s coming up next. It’ll be as much a surprise for you as it is for me! 😂

Friday, I’m back with my regular Friday feature, Shelf Control. In this series, I take a look at upcoming books on my reading list, and I’m excited to read them.

Finally, next week, I’m back with another Sunday Summary post. I’m excited to share some more bookish completions with you, so stay tuned!

A fairly quick update from me this week in the interest of time and getting this out on time.

What are you reading?

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Sunday Summary – 9th March 2025

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It’s the end of yet another week, friends! You know what time it is. I’m here today to catch you up on all the details in today’s Sunday Summary update. Grab a cuppa and make yourself comfortable.

Before we get into the books I’ve read over the course of this week, let’s recap the blog posts I’ve shared. The first of those posts was my monthly TBR for March. In that post, I shared my hopes for a more successful reading month than I had in February. This month, I have a few carryovers, a blog tour commitment, and a book club pick that I need to prioritise. Outside of that, though, I’m looking to read around the theme of Women’s History Month.

Next, I shared a Shelf Control post on Friday. In this regular Friday feature, I shared my excitement to pick up the second book in a sci-fi space opera series. I started a number of years ago. If you’re intrigued to find out which series this is, there’s a link to that post so you can check it out for yourself.


Books Read


A Promised Land

Listening progress with A Promised Land has been much better this week than in the last couple combined. As of this post, I still haven’t quite finished this book, but I only have 2 hours and 20 minutes left.

Listening to A Promised Land has been a great experience. Before reading this book, I have typically stayed away from politics. However, it’s helped open my eyes to some of the issues that being in politics creates and why it feels like things often don’t get done. That’s always been one of my bugbears about people who take this kind of office. However, having seen a lot of the in-fighting and often childish ways politicians block each other, it makes more sense now what happens (even if I want to smack my head against the brick wall for why they’re doing it!).


Children of Virtue and Vengeance

In last week’s Sunday Summary, I shared my hopes that this book wasn’t going to be another DNF. Unfortunately, though, after reading a little bit further into the book, I made the decision to put it down.

Honestly, I was struggling to connect with the characters and the storyline. I wasn’t invested in where it was going. Rather than try to slog through yet another book I wasn’t wild about, I took the decision to put it down and instead refocus my efforts on the books in March’s TBR.


Woden’s Spear

The first book on March’s monthly TBR is a book that I am due to review tomorrow. With that in mind, reading this book has been my focus for the week.

I think it’s helped having a deadline. Having had so many books where I’ve not been successful with reading them, and then the one book I am reading in full taking so long, it’s been refreshing to have a quick read. It’s also been great to go back to a genre I know and love. An element I’ve enjoyed historically in the genre is characters who don’t necessarily fit into the setting. I’ve enjoyed that through Octa’s perspective. I don’t want to go into too much detail here and spoil my review tomorrow. You’ll just have to check in for that!


Normal Women

Tonight, just before publishing this post, I started Normal Women by Philippa Gregory. I haven’t got a whole lot to write about given I’m only 26 pages in. However, I wanted to let you know that this is my next read and that you’ll be hearing more about it next week.


Books Discovered

Earlier this week, I was recommended a book called Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. When talking books with a work colleague, I shared that one of the things I try to do with our work book club is read as diversely as possible. Gloria recommended these books to me as she reads from a lot of African writers and she enjoyed these books.


Coming Up…

There is no rest for the wicked, as my first blog post next week lands tomorrow morning. Woden’s Spear has been an enjoyable historical fiction to pick up and I’ll be sharing my full thoughts on the book in that post. Behind the scenes, I’ve actually scheduled this already so I have an easy ride early next week as I’ve no immediate posting commitments.

Later in the week, I will return with a First Lines Friday feature. I’m not going to set myself any particular challenge for this post. Sometimes, it’s nice to leave things open and see what inspires me nearer the time.

Lastly, next week’s Sunday Summary update is my last post on the agenda. Fingers crossed I can finally share a finish of listening to A Promised Land, as well as some more successful reading updates.

I hope you can join me for these posts. Thanks for checking out today’s Sunday Summary and I will see you in the next one!

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Monthly TBR – March 2025

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March‘s monthly TBR had better go better than February’s. I don’t think I’ve ever DNF’d half of a reading list before. It wasn’t even anything really to do with the theme of Black History Month.

That’s why I’m not apprehensive about going into another month of topical reads. March is Women’s History Month, and I’ve been planning to pick up a few books on this topic for a while!

Shall we take a look?


Fixed Reads


Woden’s Spear

For the first time in a long time, I’ve got a blog tour coming up!

I’ve not taken part in a tour for around a year now. Initially, I didn’t want to take on the commitment whilst things were up in the air in my personal life. However, now that things have settled down, I have the ability to do the odd one or two of the tours again.

When Rachael asked for my help to fill in some spaces on a historical action adventure novel, I was persuaded. I love the genre and time period this book is set in. You’ll be hearing more on this book very soon, as I’m set to review it early next week.


A Promised Land

Given the length of this audiobook, it shouldn’t surprise you that Barack Obama’s A Promised Land is carried over into March.

Throughout February, I listened to 17 and a half hours of this 29-hour-long audio. I made a good dent. This month, I hope to finish it pretty soon!

A Promised Land was the one book on my February TBR that I thought at risk of DNFing. That it was actually one of my favourites of the month is both a surprise, but also a testament to how diverse my reading can be.


Children of Virtue and Vengeance

My second carryover from February is Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. I’ve picked up this series for the first time in a long time.

I confess, as of this monthly TBR, I’m undecided how I feel about the book. I’m yet to feel the same spark of enthusiasm about it as I had for the first. Still, I’ll stick with it a bit longer yet. It may come to me as I get more immersed in the story.


Normal Women

One of my Women’s History Month picks for this monthly TBR is Normal Women by Philippa Gregory.

I originally discovered this book when I featured Philippa’s podcast of the same name on my blog as part of a limited series. The subject generally is a topic of interest, but the podcast episode I listened to went into some of the research Philippa undertook when writing the book. The podcast piqued my attention, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book and the other broad span of topics covered.


Narratives: The Stories that Hold Women Back at Work

At 254 pages, Narratives is the shortest book on this monthly TBR. Also fitting into my Women’s History Month topical reading, I’m looking forward to seeing if I can relate to any experiences within. Naturally, I hope not. Equally though, if I’m informed on ways women can be held back at work, the better I can approach the situation.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a career woman. I love clocking out at the end of the day and getting into my PJ’s for a relaxing evening. I still have some ambition to push myself and maybe take on a leadership role in time.


Eve

The potential last Women’s History Month book on this TBR is Eve.

Leaning into some more non-fiction, Eve looks at the ways in which the female body has evolved and shaped humanity as we know it. It’s a little out of my comfort zone, but equally I’m hopeful the book includes a lot of humour and insight that keeps me engaged.


Work Book Club Pick

Lastly, I’ll be picking up one final ‘fixed read’ for our work book club. However, as of this post, that hasn’t been decided. Members had until the end of today to vote from three contenders; I’ll be looking at the results and announcing the winner to members tomorrow.

So, I can’t tell you which it is in this monthly TBR. You’ll have to stay tuned on the blog to see what it is!


Mood Reads


Calamity

I only have one mood read on March’s monthly TBR. Outside of my carryovers for the month, it’s the only book not fitting the theme of Women’s History Month that isn’t another reading commitment.

I recently got back into the series when I listened to Firefight in January. Now that I’m so close to finishing the trilogy, I want to power on and get it finished!


Summary

I have a lot of books to cover this month, but I’m optimistic I can avoid the same reading funk that spoiled February’s monthly TBR.

Here’s to a more successful reading month!

What are you planning on reading?

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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #16 – Normal Women

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In today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post, I knew I wanted to feature a podcast. I have gotten out of the habit of listening to them. This post felt like the perfect opportunity to dive back in, find a show/topic that I really enjoy… and feature it! And that I did! In today’s post, I feature Philippa Gregory’s podcast, Normal Women.

The show discusses various topics relating to women throughout the last 900 years. The content stems from research Philippa has undertaken in writing her upcoming book of the same name.

The topic I took particular interest in relates to women, and whether they have been perpetually underpaid for their labour in society.

 

The Statistics

The gender pay gap between young women, whilst it does exist, it far less dramatic than women in later life.

I discovered via this podcast that by the time women are in the 50-59 age bracket, they are paid 80p for every £1 earned by a man. That’s a huge difference! Not covered in the podcast, but when you consider women often lose out on pension contributions if they take a career break to have and raise children – that’s quite a disadvantage!

 

Domestic – Work?

Domestic work used to be classified as work by political scientists (aka economists) in British censuses, even if it wasn’t paid for.

Women either typically worked at home, or assisted their husbands in the labour market. For example, women were the backbone of upholding miners and their labour in the 19th century. They often performed tasks for their husbands that enabled them to do their jobs – mending kit, laundry etc. So much so, wives of miners often experienced more health complications than the men who performed the labour in the dangerous conditions.

Other examples include women working for their husband’s businesses and not being paid equally. As assistants, they were paid for assisting other paid workers… but for some reason, not their husbands. It was also customary to hire men for positions and assume that women would take up ancillary roles (headteacher/matron, priest/pastoral care) to name a couple of examples.

Nowadays, domestic work isn’t taken into account in the modern census even though it’s believed to make up 60% of GDP.

 

History

It may surprise you to learn that there are glimmers of times in history when women could earn as much as men.

 

14th Century

The podcast stated that the Black Death wiped out between 45-60% of the British population in 1340’s. The consequences of that meant that demand for labour skyrocketed. Women not bound into existing working contracts and able to take up casual labour capitalised on the opportunity. They demanded equal pay. Sounds like we’re going in the right direction, doesn’t it? Well, just a few years later in 1351, the government stepped in. To prevent women from being able to demand a fair share, they introduced the Statute of Labourers. This prevented anyone from demanding a wage higher than they earned prior to the epidemic. For women, that meant putting them back ‘in their place’ behind men.

 

16th Century

It’s not the only time the government introduced laws that directly disadvantaged women. The Statute of Artificers 1562 Act meant that anybody, including women doing domestic work around the house, could be called to perform agricultural labour. They couldn’t refuse without suffering imprisonment. Further, women had to be employed year-round – they couldn’t work for themselves. In principle, the law was brought about to control trade and encourage training in skilled professions. In practice, it meant that women were ‘apprenticed’ to domestic chores they were already doing, and not paid a penny for their efforts.

 

Skills women contributed to the economy were also frequently replaced by advances and technology. As they were unable to obtain mortgages or take out loans, they were prevented from starting businesses of any kind of industrial scale like their male counterparts. Their manual labour wasn’t required, and they couldn’t share a slice of the pie either. 

Only in 1919 was UK law was changed to allow women to enter legal professions. Previously, they had been barred from the opportunities for the required education and also to practice.

 

Present Day

Historically, women have been underpaid and severely disadvantaged. Whilst women have significantly more rights than they ever did before, that’s not to say that we’ve caught up.

Normal Women highlighted that in the modern labour force, women hold the majority of low pay jobs even when working – the care sector particularly.

Women are being actively recruited into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professions, providing opportunities for specialisation that hasn’t always been available. However, statistically, it has been proven that when women are brought into a profession, the remuneration for these jobs goes down over time. It’s proof of women being paid less than their male counterparts, otherwise the average wouldn’t come down!

 

Summary

If you have enjoyed the content of the podcast and this post, then keep your eyes out for Philippa Gregory‘s book of the same name being published in February 2024.

If you’re interested in other books on this theme, I can also recommend Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez.

 

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