Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is part memoir, part microhistory. It’s an examination of single women’s status and reputation throughout history, and the effects of that history on women today, framed with anecdotes from the author’s various romances. In Spinster, Bolick studies her – not always conscious – decision to remain unmarried using the lives of other, similar women as a lens. It’s an interesting, and somewhat unique, approach, but one that never seems out of place or ill-applied. Continue reading →