What is Throwback Thursday?

I’ve noticed several of these meme on a few book blogs. For example, Susan Loves Books does one, which is (or was originally) hosted by Renee@It’s Book Talk. I also noticed that another fellow blogger, Lorrea @ What ‘Cha Readin’?, was doing this as a monthly meme for her blog. Then there’s Reading Maria who is doing something called “Last Year I Was Reading” where she compares what she’s reading now to what she read a year ago. Finally, recently I noticed that Susan Osborn over at A Life in Books is doing a series of posts called “Blasts from the Past“. In most instances, they use this to share one of their favorite reads or older reviews. Lorrea is doing it for books she enjoyed over the last decade. I also just noticed that Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies was doing what she calls Flashback Friday, and I hope she’s still doing them! UPDATE: another blogger, Kristin Craves Books just started what she calls #ThrowbookThursday, which I thought would be about books I’d like to throw against the wall, but is actually just back list books! There’s also Susan @ A Life In Books, with her Blast from the Past posts, which are reviews of books read and loved, from before she started blogging.

I really like all of these ideas and am essentially stealing it from ALL of them, but with my own twists.

My Twists/Instructions:

• The Chocolate Lady’s #ThrowbackThursday takes place on the Thursday before the first Saturday of every month (i.e., the Thursday before my monthly #6Degrees post).
• My posts will highlight one of my previously published book reviews, and I encourage other participants to do the same.
• If you want to participate but have a new blog that doesn’t have old reviews to highlight, you are encouraged to write a post about anything old that strikes your fancy!
• If you want to tweet or share this post, or someone else’s post, or the reviews being highlighted, please use #ThrowbackThursday!
• Please add the link to your post to the link party, below.
• Please link back to this page on your post.

So… with no further ado, I give you…

The Chocolate Lady’s Throwback Thursday Book Review #39

A Place and a Condition.

My Book Review for “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides.

My review starts thusly: ““I was born twice: first, as a baby girl on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan in August of 1974.” So begins this book and the explanation for this intriguing conundrum comes promptly thereafter, when we learn of the narrator’s ancient genetic mutation, in conjunction with a brief smattering of the contradictions in the speaker’s life that led up to, and immediately followed, this astounding discovery. Fascinating, right – and that’s just on the first pages of this novel.

While the investigation into only this one dramatic life-changing event could easily make an excellent novel, Eugenides also gives us the history of how this mutation came about, with the family’s history starting with her/his grandparents and their escape from Greece. Together we learn the genealogy of Calliope Helen Stephanides and the events leading to her become Cal. While this sounds somewhat cut and dry, Eugenides’ style is such that every piece of the puzzle is artistically drawn and gently fitted together. However, there isn’t much mystery here, since we know from the outset where we are going; but how Eugenides leads us there is what makes this book so amazing.”

Click here to read the rest of this review!

If you like this idea, and want to do your own Throwback Thursday post, please put the link in the comments below.

If you have your own Throwback Thursday or any other type of nostalgia post, you can let me know about your blog post in this link party below. (You can also just post a link to an old review you want us to look at, without making a separate post.) I’ll keep this link party open until my next #ThrowbackThursday post (scheduled for June 1, 2023).