Our group read this month is On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. I’m starting it today. Anybody else started it yet? Our zoom discussion is 17th July.

Our group read is On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. which is about a trio of singing sisters in 1950s San Francisco. (Our Zoom discussion is on 17th July. See the calendar for details.) Which of these historical novels about music have you read? Would you recommend any? https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/books/historical-fiction-books-about-music-chart-topping-reads I haven't read any on this list, but one that I loved was Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles

Even well-loved, super-popular, award-winning books have their serious haters! 😂 This is historical fiction. All guesses are encouraged (no googling, though!). This is meant to be fun. Don't be dismayed if you disagree with the review. Any spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors are copied directly from the review. I’ll post the correct answer tomorrow (25th June 2026). ⭐ There was so much potential in this story and all of it was unfortunately ruined by poor writing and quick cleanup and just...uuuugggghhhhhh. I kinda want to throw this book in the trash. I really enjoyed [Character 1]’s and [Character 2]’s stories, but [Character 3]’s was so ridiculous. [Character 3]’s character was immature, clueless, and terribly underdeveloped. Actually, I hated [Character 3] throughout the book but by the end, I wished she’d jumped off the bridge instead of [Character 2]. • [Character 3] can’t remember the emergency number in England to help her sick husband, but instead of asking her new English friend who’s right in front of her face, she instead decides to run back to the hotel, thereby wasting precious time. • [Character 3] applies to Cambridge Univ online one night and the next day begins making plans on how to divorce her husband, quit her job at the family business, secure student housing, etc. She’s an American. Does Cambridge accept foreign graduate students that quickly? PROBABLY NOT. • She blabbers on throughout the entire book about being a historian then ends up choosing a grad degree in British Literature - a subject that is NEVER mentioned in the book but once, and only as an aside. • And maybe because she chose to be a Brit Lit major, this is why she feels like it’s appropriate to fling the vial back into the Thames and keep certain things to herself...BECAUSE HISTORIANS CANNOT DO THAT. EDITED TO ADD: [Character 1], the 18th-century feminist apothecarist, keeps a ledger of the names of all the women who’ve come to her for assistance in taking out the men who’ve wronged them. And I’m okay with that. Except when she knows the end is near and the police are closing in on her...so she decides to leave the ledger OUT to be discovered? Claiming that not acknowledging the women publicly erases them from history, but not considering that those women could all be hanged if their crimes are discovered???? That’s cowardice, not feminism.

A member mentioned this idea to me a while ago, but I've forgotten who. Sorry I don't know who to credit for the idea! I'm not at all into number-based reading challenges (e.g. read 50 books in a year or whatever). If others enjoy them, that's great! Just not my cup of tea. BUT I am interested in us doing other kinds of challenges. For example, it could be to read a historical novel that meets a certain criterion each month, e.g. in translation, featuring a lesbian main character, written by an Indigenous author, a Pulitzer Prize winner, set in a period you've never read before, etc. Obviously, it depends on the details, but is this something you'd be open to doing in here?

I *think* this one is easier than last week's. We shall see... Even well-loved, super-popular, award-winning books have their serious haters! 😂 This is historical fiction. All guesses are encouraged (no googling, though!). This is meant to be fun. Don't be dismayed if you disagree with the review. Any spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors are copied directly from the review. I’ll post the correct answer tomorrow (17th June 2026). ⭐ Man, after the pitch I've heard about this book from basically every (female) reader I've ever met, I was expecting something that was NOT THIS. Fairly offensive, needlessly graphic, and smutty in that skeevy way, rather than the hot way. At one point, [character 1] punishes [character 2] for disobeying him by literally spanking her - which was treated as perfectly understandable, and was quickly dismissed. I know that I cringed throughout the entire thing, and found it hard to believe that any relatively modern woman would have put up with it, especially as [character 2] is supposed to be extremely well educated, capable and professional. I honestly find it hard to believe that there's five more books of this, and that people read them. That said, I have read worse romance books, but the fact that [author] dragged the novel out across nearly 900 pages just makes me cranky. UGH. ⭐ What do you think? What's the book? (In this case, if you can think of only the title, but not the author, that's ok!)