#bruce holsinger

[divorce-fiction]

The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger

Opening Tally

Marriages: 2 Divorces: 1 Widows: 1

The Gifted School starts with this POV: a child is taking a test and they show signs of stress. This hook is so boring I nearly put the book in the 'Nevermind' pile. When confronted with prose that makes my eyes glaze over I normally do a Hop-And-Skip reading, taking in enough chunks to understand the basic plot, and then go straight to the end to satisfy that itchy Completionist need. But then I found myself skipping less and less pages. And then I wasn't skipping at all and was reading a fairly grounded story with realistic, character-driven drama that kept enough of a tense and teasing air to get me to the finish line.

The plot is this: 4 families in an affluent neighborhood compete to get their children into a publicly funded gifted school. The appeal of free tuition and accolades is too alluring of a promise to keep these parents from lying, scheming, and attempting to buy their way in. Of the main 6 kids, only siblings Xander and Tessa make the cut in the end.

And let's talk about Xander for a minute. Chess-obsessed and possessing a near photographic memory, his chapters are undeniably from the perspective of a preteen with autism. This is never stated outright, it's never brought up as him being a burden or hindrance, and his misunderstandings of social dynamics are never a major point of contention. He is a natural part of the story, not a 'special' obstacle for his family. It was refreshing, downright RELAXING to see so much care and accuracy put into his portrayal.

The majority of the writing is dedicated to the relationships and stressors between the 4 main mothers (Rose-married, Samantha-married, Azra-divorced, Lauren-widowed). It tries to explore classism in a very modern 'look at your own white guilt' kind of way, but leaves a lot to be desired. A few chapters are from the POV of Atik, the son of a maid, but they feel out of place in the narrative as a whole due to their infrequency.

The best written chapters are from Azra's ex-husband's POV. Beck's world is in constant decline over the course of the story, from alienating the au-pair-mistress-turned-new-wife-and-mother-of-his-baby to mounting financial troubles that he dumps onto credit cards. I can't help but wonder if this was Holsinger's best character because he was 'writing what he knows'.

Beck and Sonja (the au pair) stay married because he starts making an effort.

Lauren continues dating her boyfriend, Glen.

Rose and Gareth (husband) divorce after it's revealed he is the father of Samantha's daughter, Emma (who is best friends with their daughter, also Emma).

Samantha and Kev (husband) stay married, despite the infidelity.

Final Tally:

Marriages: 1 Divorces: 2 Widows: 1

Rating: 3/5 ★★★☆☆

[shafershouse]

The Gifted School

by Bruce Holsinger Released on: Jul. 2, 2019

---

My thoughts: I thought there were way too many characters to try to focus on. I usually like reading from other characters' perspectives, but this didn't really have any thought behind it. Everything seemed scrambled; the characters that I actually wanted to learn more about had very minor parts. The last 30 pages or so felt very rushed. I don't think the book should have ended the way it did for what had occurred.

[diaryoftruequotes]

Love can be sustaining even in the worst of circumstances. Bare life, though, can be passing hard to endure.

Bruce Holsinger, A Burnable Book

[self-made-cages]

Morgan’s 2024 Reading List

Jan 2: The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah (4 stars)

Jan 10: Eragon - Christopher Paolini (re-read)

Jan 12: Eldest - Christopher Paolini (re-read)

Jan 15: Brisingr - Christopher Paolini (re-read)

Jan 19: Inheritance - Christopher Paolini (re-read)

Jan 26: England - Rick Steves (not rating)

Jan 30: Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (2.5 stars)

Feb 16: The Poppy War - R. F. Kuang (1.5 stars)

Feb 18: The Good Part - Sophie Cousens (4.5 stars)

Feb 26: Trust - Hernan Diaz (4.5 stars)

Mar 5: Part of Your World - Abby Jiminez (2.5 stars)

Mar 12: Murtagh - Christopher Paolini (3.5 stars)

Mar 15: The Things We Cannot Say - Kelly Rimmer (3.5 stars)

Mar 31: NW - Zadie Smith (3 stars)

Apr 8: The Sun Sets in Singapore - Kehinde Fadipe (1.5 stars)

April 17: How To End a Love Story - Yulin Kuang (4 stars)

April 30: The Club - Ellery Lloyd (4 stars)

May 5: Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt (3 stars)

May 11: Funny Story - Emily Henry (4.5 stars)

May 16: The Husbands - Holly Gramazio (4 stars)

June 1: House of Earth and Blood - Sarah J. Maas (3 stars)

June 2: The Women - Kristin Hannah (2.5 stars)

June 11: House of Sky and Breath - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

June 15: When He Was Wicked - Julia Quinn (re-read)

June 22: House of Flame and Shadow - Sarah J. Maas (3 stars)

June 22: God Spare the Girls - Kelsey McKinney (1 star)

June 25: In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (not rating)

June 25: The Four Winds - Kristin Hannah (1.5 stars)

June 29: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake - Alexis Hall (4 stars)

July 3: Bad Summer People - Emma Rosenbaum (2.5 stars)

July 6: Widowland - CJ Carey (2 stars)

July 12: What’s Mine and Yours - Naima Coster (2 stars)

July 23: The Gifted School - Bruce Holsinger (4.5 stars)

July 29: All the Summers in Between - Brooke Lea Foster (dnf)

Aug 2: Cover Story- Susan Rigetti (4.5 stars)

Aug 7: Family Family - Laurie Frankel (5 stars)

Aug 17: Plays Well with Others - Sophie Brickman (4 stars)

Aug 23: Class Mom - Laurie Gelman (1.5 stars)

Aug 31: The Guncle Abroad - Steven Rowley (2 stars)

Sep 2: Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi (4.5 stars)

Sep 15: Twilight - Stephanie Meyer (re-read)

Sep 16: New Moon - Stephanie Meyer (re-read)

Sep 20: Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer (re-read)

Sep 22: Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer (re-read)

[trans-cuchulainn]

i told my uncle about the parchment discourse and he mentioned seeing this book that came out last year. i haven't read it and i don't know if it's good but it sounds like it would be of interest to the people asking me for recs on things to read about parchment manufacture and its history and impact

[shatar-aethelwynn]

"Is This My Blood? The Medieval Rites of Wine", presentation by Bruce Holsinger for Getty Museum in March, 2024.

[queerasfact]

Hi! I found the podcast through the Hildegard von Bingen ep and have been listening pretty much non-stop since then! I know you're super busy at the moment and the bibliographies go up on the website once they're ready, but would you possibly be able to give one or two main sources you used for her episode? I'm super interested in the topic and am hoping to do some further research on queerness in that period :) Thanks for all your work and I hope you're all well!

Thank you for asking! We have fallen a bit behind on posting our sources, so this is a good prompt to pull these together. For the Hildegard episode I used:

Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life by Sabina Flanagan

This book was a good intro to Hildegard's life and her contributions to various fields.

Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and her World edited by Barbara Newman

Each chapter focusses on a different aspect of Hildegard's life or work, written by an expert in that area.

"The Flesh of the Voice: Emboiment and the Homoerotics of Devotion in the Music of Hildegard of Bingen" by Bruce Wood Holsinger, in Signs (1993)

"In Search of Medieval Women's Friendships: Hildegard of Bingen's Letters to her Female Contemporaries" in Maps of Flesh and Light: The Religious Experience of Medieval Women Mystics by Ulrike Wiethaus

I hope this helps you!

-Alice

[lee-minhoe]

tagged by @facethesuns 💕 thank u em

last song: you move me by psy feat sung si kyung (im obsessed with this song rn, i never listened to psy b-sides before lol)

last movie: oppenheimer

currently reading: the gifted school by bruce holsinger and the myth of normal by gabor maté

currently watching: twinkling watermelon!!!! i love it, it’s funny and cute and touching and ryeoun is super cute…. (and it also has actually good music which doesnt always happen for dramas about music 😂)

current obsession: kdrama osts because see above - i just started listening to a song radio for shining (a song from twinkling watermelon’s ost) and i liked it so thats all my spotify for now LOL

tagging: @agibbangs @ambivartence @baekhyunnybyun @chanrizard @decembermoonskz @seungmoes if you want! <3

[joanreviews]

The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger

Genre: Thriller, Fiction

Pages: 439

4.5/5

This book follows several people who are displaced by a hurricane that hits Florida. This hurricane is believed to be the first and only category 6, demolishing everything it touches. What starts out as a simple storm-based book ends in stories of murder, drug dealing, and money laundering. I loved this book. The only reason I didn’t give it a 5/5 is because honestly the first 10 chapters are not that great. It feels as though another writer takes over after chapter 10, the writing style is so different. But once you get past that, the characters feel real and the situation leaves you emotional. The first book that ever made me cry and audibly gasp.

This book was at my local library and if you request it for your local library, it can be there too. If you would rather have a digital version, I have found multiple sources, all being around $5.

[rachlou86]

Thanks for tagging me @notesonartistry 💕

What book are you currently reading? The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger

What’s your favourite movie you saw in cinemas this year? I haven’t been to the cinema this year. I can’t even remember what the last film I saw in the cinema was! Maybe spiderman?

What do you usually wear? Leggings and a hoodie

How tall are you? 5”11

What's your star sign? Sagittarius

Do you share your birthday with a celebrity or historical event? Not that I know of

Do you go by your name or a nickname? Most people call me Rach

Did you grow up to be what you wanted to be as a child? No, I wanted to be a teacher and then a therapist, I studied psychology at uni but I’m now an accountant 🤷🏻‍♀️

Are you in a relationship? Who's your crush if not? Nope, and I don’t have a crush

What's something you're good at vs. something you're bad at? I think I’m a good listener and give good advice (I’m bad at following said advice though) I’m also good at planning/organising. Im terrible at anything that requires spatial awareness lmao

What's something you'd like to create content for? Erm, does this blog count?

What's something you're currently obsessed with? Buying cute baby things for my new niece who’s due in May

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? I can’t think of anything this year

What a hidden talent of yours? I don’t think I have any talents, hidden or otherwise

Are you religious? Not really, but I was raised Catholic and it’s difficult to shake some of it (that’s a whole different conversation though)

What's something you wish you had at this moment? Tickets for the Eras tour 😭😭😭

[ciltilladeltilla]

- Bruce Holsinger, "Cushion, Kernel, Craft" in How We Write: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blank Page

[sunlitglycerin]

books of 2024!

key:

💥 many thoughts; not all praise

🌔 reread

🪹 no thoughts no praise

🌊 i have to emotionally recover from this

🫧 lovely

🌷 enjoyable

january

1. early morning riser by katherine heiny 🪹

2. sirens & muses by antonia angress 🌊

3. the best american short stories 2023 edited by min jin lee 🌊

4. woman eating by claire kohda 🌊

5. true biz by sara nović 🌷

6. confessions of a forty-something f### up by alexandra potter 💥

7. the ballad of songbirds and snakes by suzanne collins 🌊

8. the unbearable lightness of being by milan kundera 🌊

february

9. the break-up book club by wendy wax 🪹

10. unless by carol shields 🌊

11. the collected schizophrenias by esmé weijun wang 🌊

12. sugar, baby by celine saintclare 💥

march

13. asking for it by louise o’neill 🌔

14. the gifted school by bruce holsinger 🌔

15. sad girl novel by pip finkemeyer 🪹

16. on fragile waves by e. lily yu 🌊

17. naked brunch by sparkle hayter 🌷

18. trick mirror: reflections on self-delusion by his tolentino 🌊

19. brutes by dizz tate 🪹

april

20. the nakano thrift shop by hiromi kawakami 🫧

21. more than less by étienne lopa 🌷

22. boy parts by eliza clark 🌊

23. i’m an artist! now leave me alone - poetry by étienne lopa 🌷

24. big swiss by jen beagin 🫧

25. screen queens by lori goldstein 🌔

may

26. all the lovers in the night by mieko kawakami 🌔

27. the things we do to our friends by heather darwent 🌷

june

28. wasted by marya hornbacher 🪹

29. recipe for a perfect wife by karma brown 💥

30. butter by asako yuzuki 🌊

july

31. piglet by lottie hazell 💥

32. no longer human by osamu dazai 🫧

august

…

september

girlfriend in a coma by douglas coupland 🌖

[self-made-cages]

Morgan's 2023 Reading List ✨📚 

Jan 2: Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty (1 star)

Jan 4: True Biz - Sara Nović (4.5 stars)

Jan 15: Spare - Prince Harry (4 stars)

Jan 20: Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan (re-read) (3 stars)

Jan 23: This Time Tomorrow - Emma Straub (3.5 stars)

Jan 25: The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave (3.5 stars)

Feb 2: Beartown - Fredrik Backman (5 stars)

Feb 5: The Hawthorne Legacy - Jennifer Lynn Barnes (4 stars)

Feb 6: The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes (3.5 stars)

Feb 19: Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting - Clare Pooley (4 stars)

Feb 19: The Unsinkable Greta James - Jennifer E. Smith (2.5 stars)

Feb 28: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple (5 stars)

Mar 15: A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

Mar 20: A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas (5 stars)

Mar 23: A Court of Wings and Ruin - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

Mar 25: The Quarantine Princess Diaries - Meg Cabot (2.5 stars)

Mar 26: A Court of Frost and Starlight - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

Mar 31: The Mutual Friend - Carter Bays (4 stars)

April 5: From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout (3.5 stars)

April 9: A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire - Jennifer L. Armentrout (4.5 stars)

April 15: The Crown of Gilded Bones - Jennifer L. Armentrout (3 stars)

April 19: The War of Two Queens -Jennifer l Armentrout (3 stars)

April 23: The Reading List - Sara Nisha Adams (3 stars)

April 30: Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus (5 stars)

May 6: Happy Place - Emily Henry (4.5 stars)

May 10: Everything Beautiful in Its Time - Jenna Bush Hager (not rating)

May 13: Well Met - Jen DeLuca (3 stars)

May 21: The Last Mrs. Parrish - Liv Constantine (2.5 stars)

May 25: The Displacements - Bruce Holsinger (4 stars)

May 27: Rock the Boat - Beck Dorey-Stein (4.5 stars)

May 31: Damn Few - Rorke Denver (not rating)

June 14: A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas (2 stars)

June 25: Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall (not rating)

June 27: A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas (reread)

July 2: Pineapple Street - Jenny Jackson (4 stars)

July 5: Once More With Feeling - Elissa Sussman (2 stars)

July 13: It All Comes Down to This - Therese Anne Fowler (3.5 stars)

July 15: Mad Honey - Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan (4 stars)

July 27: The Secret History - Donna Tart (3 stars)

July 29: The Comeback Summer - Ali Brady (4 stars)

July 30: The It Girl - Ruth Ware (4 stars)

August 5: The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (4 stars)

August 6: Educated - Tara Westover (not rating)

August 9: The First 90 Days - Michael D. Watkins (not rating)

August 11: This is How it Always Is - Laurie Frankel (5 stars)

August 20: Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver (4.5 stars)

August 27: A Soul of Ash and Blood - Jennifer L. Armentrout (1.5 stars)

August 30: The Alice Network - Kate Quinn (3.5 stars)

September 4: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab (4.5 stars)

September 15: This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (4 stars)

September 17: Hotel Laguna - Nicola Harrison (2 stars)

September 24: We're All Adults Here - Emma Straub (5 stars)

September 26: A Bend in the Road - Nicholas Sparks (1.5 stars)

October 5: The Celebrants - Steven Rowley (2.5 stars)

October 8: Anxious People - Fredrik Backman (3.5 stars)

October 9: Born a Crime - Trevor Noah (not rating)

October 14: The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer (4 stars)

October 16: Counting the Cost - Jill Duggar (not rating)

October 18: Love and Other Words - Christina Lauren (2.5 stars)

October 22: Rules of Civility - Amor Towles (4 stars)

October 29: Maybe You Should Talk To Someone - Lori Gottlieb (not rating)

October 30: Troublemaker - Leah Remini (not rating)

November 2: Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen (3.5 stars)

November 7: Good Girl Complex - Elle Kennedy (1.5 stars)

November 23: Modern Lovers - Emma Straub (2 stars)

November 25: Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros (3.5 stars)

December 3: Daisy Jones and The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid (2.5 stars)

December 6: Know My Name - Chanel Miller (not rating)

December 10: Girl in the Blue Coat - Monica Hesse (2.5 stars)

December 15: The Circus Train - Anita Parikh (2 stars)

December 20: Catch and Kill - Ronan Farrow (not rating)

December 22: Today Will Be Different - Maria Semple (4 stars)

December 27: Iron Flame - Rebecca Yarros (4.5 stars)

December 29: Vampire Academy - Michelle Mead (1 star)

December 30: Percy Jackson: The Chalice of the Gods - Rick Riordan (5 stars)

[shafershouse]

Books Read: 2019

January

The Silent Patient (Alex Michaelides)

February

Pillow Thoughts (Courtney Peppernell)

A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)

March

The Age of Light (Whitney Scharer)

The Winter Sister (Megan Collins)

April

Daisy Jones & The Six (Taylor Jenkins Reid)

The Kremlin Conspiracy (Joel C. Rosenberg)

The Municipalists (Seth Fried)

Nature (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Miracle Creek (Angie Kim)

May

The Light of the Fireflies (Paul Pen)

Beyond The Point (Claire Gibson)

June

Lost and Wanted (Nell Freudenberger)

July 

The Flight Portfolio (Julie Orringer)

The Golden Hour (Beatriz Williams)

A Nearly Normal Family (M. T. Edvardsson)

August

September

Summer of ‘69 (Elin Hilderbrand)

October

The Gifted School (Bruce Holsinger)

November

The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson)

The Whisper Man (Alex North)

December

The Turn of the Key (Ruth Ware)

[nevinslibrary]

Mystery/Thriller Monday

Thriller more than a Mystery this week. An earthquake hits Los Angeles. Dessa was out on the town, a rare night away from her daughter Olivia (who’s three years old, and home with a babysitter hopefully). Beegie doesn’t really want to go ‘home’ to her foster parents. The cell towers are down, the roads are destroyed, people are, let’s go with not being their best selves. The teen and the single Mom sort of team up so that they can both make it home, as well as simply surviving.

Yeesh, every time I thought that this was the most intense the book could get, it upped the ante. The characters leapt off the pages, and, I most definitely had to keep turning those pages to see what would happen next. It was intense, and sometimes a little hard to read, but, it was also such a great story with so many levels. An awesome read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay, The Displacements by Bruce W. Holsinger, or The River by Peter Heller

Just Get Home by Bridget Foley

[katefishernyc]

I read 35+ books in 2020, not including the ones I partially read and reread with students (honorable mentions: Song of Solomon, Kindred, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and There There), but could sadly fit only six on this page. Here were some of my favorites, and there were many more.