I really enjoyed this well-researched and detailed biography of Ruth Rappaport, a little-known woman, one who built for herself a remarkably varied and interesting life against all the odds. Things didn’t start well for she was forced to flee Germany and the Nazis when just 15 years old. She eventually got to the US and after a while embarked on a career as a librarian, ending up as a cataloguer at the Library of Congress – with many other jobs on the way. One of the most interesting was her work for the US library service in Vietnam. Who knew such a thing even existed? Ruth was also a Zionist and spent time in Israel. Her peripatetic life makes for some absorbing reading. The author’s fascination with her subject is evident, and she inserts her own story to good effect throughout the book – but I can’t help feeling that some of the research could have been condensed a bit. It’s a long book and certainly some of the librarianship details will pall for some readers. Ruth comes over as a difficult woman and I couldn’t warm to her – but I admire her for making such a success of her life after such an inauspicious start. An interesting woman, an interesting life and an interesting book.

This was a very interesting read and I truly enjoyed learning more about Ruth. Her passion was something I could relate to which made me enjoy the book even more. I would highly recommend this book to others!

Definitely an interesting read - I loved that in addition to learning about Ruth's life, major events in history were featured. Her passion for books is something all book-lovers can relate to!

A biography includes both the personal successes and shortcomings of the person. This book shows us both sides of Ruth Rappaport.
Through her life filled with tragedy and mired with change, the one constant is her love for books. This book will be a bibliophile's joy, to read about someone else's love for books is always joyous. And there is the additional bonus of enjoying a good book as well.

Ruth Rappaport was a Jewish teenager living in Germany when WWII started, although she and her older siblings managed to escape to different countries before her parents were sent to the camps.

She loved books, and while it took her years to graduate from college, she eventually moved on from being a typist to being a librarian. Along the way, she lived in the United States, Israel (before it officially was Israel,) France (for at least a few months,) and Vietnam during the war.

I really wanted to love this book. And I really wanted to love Ruth. Instead, I think I kind of liked both, but I'm still not 100% sure... Ambivalence seems to be a theme both in this book and in my feelings about this book. Ruth didn't do too much. She's not famous or well-known for a good reason: she didn't accomplish a whole lot. She didn't have too many close friends, she never married (although she might have wanted to, but really only to the men who were most unattainable,) she seemed to like some of her jobs but wasn't too thrilled with them either.

On the other hand, as a reader, we get to experience some interesting events that she lived through: trying to get safely into the US during the Holocaust, spending time in Israel during it's formative years, being a librarian for the US Navy during the Vietnam War and living in Vietnam, and being a cataloger at the Library of Congress.

And the author worked well with what she had to work with, especially after a somewhat slow and dry beginning. I think the biggest problem with writing a book like this is that there's not a whole lot of direct material out there to use, which leaves a lot of unanswered questions. (We never find out how Ruth felt about losing her parents because she never wrote about it in her journal. There's a very brief mention of a mental breakdown, but then it's over and never comes up again. Suddenly, she no longer dates after having so much of the first part of the book focused around her relationships.)

So, while well written for what it is, this book was ultimately frustrating at times as a biography, and perhaps not focused enough for a history.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. It has not influenced my review.

A fascinating biography of a woman with a colorful history and one with ambition.

Ruth Rappaport was a child in Nazi Germany. With Romanian origin parents and a passport which helped since it was not a German one, she was a Jew and faced great danger in Nazi Germany. She was fearless and even as a young child was daring and bold. Faced with an uncertain future, she like thousands of others was shipped to Seattle to join a family and to try to live a life without the luxury of parents or family or money.

How Ruth survived the treacherous journeys through Switzerland then to America to Vietnam and back to America all sustained by her love of libraries and books and how she used this to her advantage to seek a life of some sorts despite being without roots, without a home, without a family is an emotional read. For anyone to be not really welcomed, to be just tolerated by family more as an obligation or duty to extended family is a hardship that cannot be endured for long. Ruth had to bear this for a long time because with no money, no education she was dependant on others.

How she carved a life for herself out of her libraries, the work she did in Vietnam setting up a fine system for all the forces stationed there was immense. Even on her return her work with libraries continued and even in retirement she was an active force within the community itself. It makes one life seem very dull and mediocre in comparison!

I'm so glad I was able to read this book. It tells the story of an amazing woman and her life. It tells us how she loved and lived, as well as how she escaped Nazi persecution.

I would like to thank netgalleyand the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Librarian-centric biography of Ruth Rappaport, growing up Jewish with Ukrainian roots in Leipzig Germany, fleeing the Nazi reign of terror, and following her intrepid, international career path. Kate Stewart, author and librarian, writes well and researches tremendously; from the beginning I was struck by how contemporary-sounding teenaged Ruth's diary translations came across, for example "I think my dad was a little bit of a control freak." I think that was a gamble that really paid off in illustrating Rappaport's ahead-of-her-time-ness. Another effect Stewart uses is interjecting herself and her family members sporadically throughout the book, which didn't detract from the biography, but it did have me expecting some kind of Stewart-Rappaport family connection reveal that never was.

As involved as Rappaport was in the Zionist cause, she lived much of her life as a non-conforming outsider, constantly moving and immigrating and ex-patting, dating outside her circle, battling sexism and harassment and discrimination as a precursor to the intersectional feminist. I wish the fact that this book is about libraries and librarians had factored more prominently in the title or cover; it seems almost deliberately hidden. Kate Stewart's delivered on many accounts, great biography, great subject, and I love this introduction to so many new "librarian heroes".

A Well-Read Woman is a interesting and enlightening book that I could not put down. Well researched well written.

This book was interesting, as Ruth Rappaport was around a lot of important historical events. I thought her story was extremely interesting especially since she was a librarian.

A Well-Read Woman: The Life, Loves, and Legacy of Ruth Rappaport by Kate Stewart is a full length, standalone novel.
Ruth Rappaport, who for many years worked in the Library of Congress, lived a life fullfilled and beloved. She was born in Germany, forced to leave Nazideutschland with her family and in the end emigrated to the US.
The author paints the picture of a life, colorful, loved and lived to it's fullest.
A Well- Read Woman is a gripping read that had me captivated from start til the end. I loved the story and the characters and I greatly enjoyed reading the book.