Jeanette's Books

A Time and A Season

2009-10-15T15:13:00.004-04:00

I have come to the rather difficult and painful decision to stop posting over here at my book blog. I have been thinking and debating about this for some time but ultimately decided that shutting it down is what is best for me right now.

I will keep this blog up but will not be posting here anymore or participating in any more challenges (I have completed 15 so far this year so I think I can call it good). :-)
Maybe some day I will have the time to blog again and will start posting here again.

Finished: Non-Fiction Five

2009-09-29T07:52:00.002-04:00

I had some really great books picked out to read for this challenge but of course I did not read them. Instead I read books for bookclub and books that also fit with other challenges.
My final list is a mix of books I did not like at all and books that I really enjoyed.
My favorite was The Journal of Helene Berr and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.
Here is what my final list looked like(with links to my posts):
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein
Posters for the People by Ennis Carter
At Home with Beatrix Potter by Susan Denyer
The Journal of Helene Berr by Helene Berr

Thanks a bunch to Trish for hosting this one!

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

2009-09-28T11:05:00.004-04:00

Title: The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
Author: Rodman Philbrick
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pages: 224
Published: 2009
Date Finished: 11 Aug 2009
My Rating: 4
Challenges: Civil War, Library, 100+

Telling the truth don’t come easy to me, but I will try, even if old Truth ain’t nearly as useful as a fib sometimes (p 7).

I could not help but think of Mark Twain while reading this book. I think Homer P. Figg and some of Mark Twain's more well known creations would have gotten on well. But then again maybe not, since they would always be trying to out lie and out story tell the other.

Homer P. Figg has a difficult time telling the truth. Ask him a simple question and is as likely as not to start telling a very elaborate and mostly made up tale in response.
Even though he is under age, Homer's older brother is conscripted as a soldier into the Civil War. Homer sets off on an adventure to find his brother and get him out of the war before the war kills him.
Kidnapping, runaway slaves, spies, tattooed ladies, being trapped in a pig pin, and riding in a run away balloon are just some of the adventures that Homer encounters on his mission to rescue his brother.
This was a fun romp of a story that still managed to be serious when dealing with war and the Battle of Gettysburg.

Now the only question remaining is how much of Homer's story is really true??

Our Little Surprise

2009-09-16T21:47:00.002-04:00

Baby Brother

8 lbs 10.9 oz

20 3/4 inches

Our little baby joined our family on Sunday. The arrival turned out to be a bit of a surprise as the girl we'd been planning for turned out to be a boy.
Ultrasounds are great but obviously not always 100% reliable. All I could do was laugh because on the way to the hospital I had teased Mike about the baby being a boy and here he was a boy after all. Thankfully I already have a boy and a girl so have all the boy necessities and did not buy more than a few small girl things that can be returned or held on to in case we have another girl some day.
Red and Miss L are both very thrilled about having a new baby in the family. Miss L still calls him baby sister but she'll figure it eventually.

Red Princess: Didn't Finish

2009-09-09T10:49:00.006-04:00

Red Princess by Sofka Zinovieff

I found this book while browsing the new arrivals at the library. Sophy Dolgorouky was a Russian Princess who fled her homeland as a young girl during the 1917 revolution. During the second world war she was imprisoned by the Nazis and discovered communism, embracing the political thought and lifestyle that had changed her homeland and displaced her family.
The book is written by Sophy's granddaughter and is more a tale of her granddaughter's journey to discover her grandmother than it is about Sophy. I did find some of the remarks and details of life during and after the communist regime in Russia interesting but other than that I just could not get into the narrative. It did not take me long to realize that Sophy was probably not going to be a person I would become vested in or care much about.
I applied the 50 page rule and then returned this one to the library.

Silence

2009-09-08T16:47:00.003-04:00

I finished a book yesterday and realized it has been almost a month since I finished a book and just as long since I had posted here on my blog. This break from reading and blogging was not planned but just kind of happened. I have been reading. In fact, I have 4 books going right now which is uncommon for me. I am usually a one book at a time kind of reader.
I just have not been able to devote the time I usually do to reading or blogging. I want to jump back in and get all caught back up but with a baby due in less than 2 weeks I don't have great expectations. I am going to try to catch up on book posts etc but if there is another long absence please forgive me and don't disappear all together. I will be around but life is requiring some adjustments be made right now.

Finished: War Through The Generations: WWII

2009-08-14T08:37:00.003-04:00

Well, once again not a single book that I thought I'd read for this challenge was read. I really expected to read more non-fiction for this challenge so was surprised to find that only 2 out of the 6 I set out to read were non-fiction.
This is a time period I tend to read about fairly often so I still have a lot of titles currently on my TBR list and many that will be added I am sure.
This is a great reading challenge and the hosts have done an amazing job. Just look at the awesome blog they set up. Thanks ladies!

Here are the books I read: (linked to my posts about them)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
Saplings by Noel Streatfield
The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel
The Journal of Helene Berr by Helene Berr

Second Look: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

2009-08-13T19:23:00.000-04:00

Title: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
Author: Laurie Viera Rigler
Genre: Fiction
Pages:293
Published: 2007
Date Finished: 5 August 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, Everything Austen

This is actually the second time I have read this and I have to say I think I enjoyed it more this time around. The first time I read it I was still in a up all night feeding my baby sleep deprived mode, so that might have something to do with my original dislike and confusion (Now I am just in a exhausted from being 8 months pregnant stage). While I still don't consider this a great work I did find myself a little more caught up in the story during my second reading.
There is a lot of Jane Austen fanfic out on the market these days. A lot! And lets face it, a lot of it, I'd wager to say the vast majority of it, is tripe. What I like about Rigler's contribution to the genre is that it is not a continuation of Austen's creations but contains an original character. This is no Elizabeth and Darcy marriage saga, nothing about Mr. Darcy's point of view and no attempt to gather all the characters from all six of Jane Austen's novels into one story. Aside from a sad, as in pathetic, encounter with Miss Austen herself this book does not really have much to do with Jane Austen or her novels. (The title is rather misleading in my opinion, a Jane Austen addict, yes, but where are the confessions?)
Courtney Stone, a self professed Jane Austen addict, wakes up one morning, after being drunk the night before, in the body and life of Jane Mansfield, a woman living in Regency England. Courtney must now learn to maneuver through a life that is not her own and that she has no memory of.
I could be really nit-picky with this about the things that bothered me about this book, and there were plenty but I am going to refrain. This was a quick and mostly fun read which is kinda what I could use right now.
I read this the first time in my pre-blogging days but was already using Goodreads. Here are my thoughts, as posted on Goodreads, after reading it the first time:

The book did not hook me at all. It was a quick read but not an “I can’t put it down” read. I felt it took too long for anything to really happen. There was too much “Why I am here? How do I get back? Ok. I accept that I am here.” And then back to the “why am I here” etc etc. I kept waiting for something to actually happen. I felt like the author kept introducing ideas and plot points that could have been interesting but then never developed them. Like the journal with the names written over and over again and Jane telling James about Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks. About half way through things started to pick up but then just slowed down again.
I did find the meeting with Jane Austen comical if not a bit odd. If you had the chance to actually meet Jane Austen would you really go off about movie adaptations and other things that Austen would have no idea about?
The biggest disappointment was the ending. What happened? Did Courtney wake up in LA without time passing? Had Jane inhabited Courtney’s life while Courtney inhabited Jane’s? How did Jane know about Abraham Lincoln etc? When/where had she learned these things? So much left unexplored or explained.
My favorite part of the book was the start of chapter 14 when Courtney describes why she reads and re-reads Jane Austen."There is comfort in the familiarity of it all, in the knowledge that it will all turn out well..." That is exactly how I feel about reading Jane Austen.

Like I said, I think I enjoyed it a little more this time and was all around less critical. Although many of the same things did stick out as being left unsaid or resolved. All the same, a light hearted romantic little story with some allusions to Jane Austen thrown in. One of the better Jane Austen fanfic books I have read.
So why did I re-read it? Because I am about to read the sequel and did not really remember much about the first one and wanted a refresher. I am hoping Rude Awakenings will answer some of the questions left behind from the first book.

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets

2009-08-10T19:40:00.000-04:00

Title: The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets
Author: Nancy Springer
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Pages: 170
Published: 2008
Date Finished: 29 July 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, Young Adult

In the first Enola Holmes mystery Enola's mother disappeared on her fourteenth birthday leaving behind only some cryptic ciphers. Avoiding the corsets and boarding school that her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock want to send her to Enola runs away to London dressed as a widow. (See my post about The Case of the Missing Marquess.)
In the second book Enola has set up shop as a finder of lost things and continues to hide from her brothers while solving mysteries in a fashion similar to her brother Sherlock (Case of the Left-Handed Lady).
That brings us to book three, The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets. While this book was shorter than the others, it was much more packed with adventure and mystery. And I think had the most interesting plot thus far.
Dr. Watson has gone missing and even though she knows it will bring her into closer contact with her brother Sherlock than she would like, Enola feels compelled to take on the case and help find the missing Watson. When visiting Watson's wife Enola notices a strange bouquet that she is sure was sent as deadly message from Watson's kidnapper. When Sherlock thinks nothing of them Enola knows it is a clue that should not be ignored and pursues the lead.
Relying once again upon her wits and intelligence Enola makes her way through a male dominated Victorian England, putting her life in peril as she searches for Watson.
I read this book in one sitting. It was filled with suspense and had a great story line.
Enola continues to be a great spunky character. I just wish, like Sherlock, that Enola would begin to trust her brother a little. She makes a great sleuth but her name is still "alone" when spelled backwards.
These books are fun, light reads and if you are not reading them, you should!

TSS: Where I Get My Books

2009-08-09T09:23:00.000-04:00

I don't know if this is really interesting to anyone besides myself but several people around the book blogs have been posting about where they got the last 20 books they read from. Most of them were doing it to get a percentage of ARCs that they read and review but I don't do ARCs so I am just doing this to satisfy my own curiosity about some of my reading habits.

Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn- Library book
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy-Library book
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton-Purchased from Barnes and Noble
At Home with Beatrix Potter by Susan Denyer -Purchased from Barnes and Noble
Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein- Library book
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See -Library book
Miss Buncle Married by D.E. Stevenson- Library book through Inter-Library Loan
Posters for the People by Ennis Carter-Library book
Two People by AA Milne- Purchased from Book Depository
The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson- Library book through ILL
A Vicarage Family by Noel Streatfeild -Library Book through ILL
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer - Library book
The Green Bay Tree by Louise Bromfield- Library book through ILL
The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen by Teri Edwards and Serena Thompson-Purchased from Barnes and Noble
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale- Library book
The Five Bells and Bladebone by Martha Grimes -Purchased from Barnes and Noble
The Journal of Helene Berr by Helene Berr-Library book
The Case of the Left Handed Lady by Nancy Springer -Library book
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer -Library book
Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold-Purchased from Book Depository

Not surprising at all that most of them came from the library.
70% came from the library
30% I purchased (20% from Barnes and Noble, 10% from Book Depository)
Pretty simple and cut and dry. Of course, the books purchased percentage is just off the last 20 books I read. I have bookshelves full of books I've bought and not read...I'll be doing something about that next year.
One thing I did find of interest is that ever since I paid for a membership in Barnes and Nobles rewards program last Christmas I have purchased most of my books from them. Before then I rarely shopped at Barnes and Noble...

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady

2009-08-08T19:44:00.006-04:00

Title: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady
Author: Nancy Springer
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Pages: 234
Published: 2007
Date Finished: 28 July 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: Young Adult, Seconds, Library, 100+

***I've tried to leave this spoiler free and concerning this volume I have. However, if you have not read the first volume there might be a little spoilerish detail concerning that book. Make sense?***

The Second installment of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes mystery series finds Enola firmly established in her life of hiding in London. Enola has opened up shop as Dr. Leslie T. Ragostin, Scientific Perditorian (finder of lost things.) Because "Dr. Ragostin" does not actually exist Enola spends her days posing as his secretary Miss Ivy Meshle, meeting with and interviewing any potential clients of Dr. Ragostin. Enola also spends her nights in disguise as a sister who roams the streets of East London helping those in need.
Enola finds herself drawn into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the young Lady Cecily and uses her many identities to try and solve the case.
Still trying to communicate with her missing mother through ciphers placed in the personals of many newspapers Enola has more than one close encounter with her famous detective brother. Through her tenacity and reasoning Enola continues to display how much she and her older brother have in common.
I enjoyed this second book even more than the first. As with many series much of the first book was taken up with setting up the characters and settings etc while this one jumped into the action and mystery much more quickly. Enola has her hands full, trying to evade her brothers, trying to locate the missing Lady Cecily and trying to track down her own missing mother.
I am still thoroughly enjoying accompanying this young sleuth on her adventures through Victorian England.

The Journal of Helene Berr

2009-08-07T15:24:00.005-04:00

Title: The Journal of Helene Berr
Author: Helene Berr
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages:307
Published:2008
Date Finished: 27 July 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: NF-5, WWII, Library, New Author, 100+

"It makes me happy to think that if I am taken, Andree will have kept these pages, which are a piece of me, the most precious part, because no other material thing matters to me anymore; what must be rescued is the soul and the memory it contains."

Helene Berr was an intelligent, caring, and highly talented young woman living in Paris during WWII. She graduated from the Sorbonne with a degree in English Language and literature and would have earned further degrees and distinctions if not for anti-semitic laws that prevented her from doing so. She was a highly accomplished violinist and in 1941 she became involved with a clandestine group established to save Jewish children from deportation.
Helene began keeping her journal in 1942 and kept writing in it, with a few breaks along the way, until she and her parents were deported in 1944. After spending time at Auschwitz Helene was transferred to Bergan-Belsen where she died, just 5 days before the camp was liberated, after being brutally beaten. Her journal is a vivid eyewitness account detailing many of the acts of persecution perpetrated against the Jews living in France under Nazi rule.
Jean Morawiecki, the man Helene probably would have married had she survived the war, said this of Helene, "Beings like Helene-and I'm not sure there are any like her-are not only strong and beautiful in themselves. They spread a sense of strength to others who are able to understand them. For me, Helene was the symbol of strength-a radiant strength composed of attraction, beauty, harmony, persuasion, confidence, and loyalty. It has all vanished. Her death takes away the woman I loved and, even more, a soul that was close to my own. She has taken with her all that I could give her-my confidence, my love, my energy."

I believe Helene's words express who she was better than I could ever attempt to do. Here are a few samples of her writing from her journal.
A friend of Helene's made the comment "I can't stand seeing people with that on" referring to Helene's yellow star of David that the Jews had recently been required to wear. Helene wrote in her journal, "I realize that: it offends other people. But if they only knew what a crucifixion it is for me. I suffered there in the sunlit Sorbonne courtyard, among my comrades. I suddenly felt I was no longer myself, that everything had changed, that I had become a foreigner, as if I were in the grip of a nightmare. I could see familiar faces all around me, but I could feel their awkwardness and bafflement. It was as if my forehead had been seared with a branding iron."

On why she continued to write even though it was difficult for her at times Helene wrote, "I have a duty to write because other people must know. Every hour of every day there is another painful realization that other folk do not know, do not even imagine, the suffering of other men, the evil that some of them inflict. And I am still trying to make the painful effort to tell the story. Because it is a duty, it is maybe the only one I can fulfill...So I must write to show people later on what these times are like. I know that many others will have more important lessons to teach, and more terrible facts to reveal. I am thinking of all the deportees, all those in prison, all those who set off on t he great adventure of escape. But that should not make me a coward; each of us in our own small sphere can do something. And we can, we must."

"On the metro today I wondered: Will anybody ever be able to understand what it was like to live through this appalling tempest at the age of twenty, at the age when you are ready to grasp life's beauty, when you are completely ready to trust in humanity?"

I would have preferred some additional foot notes to help me know what some of the events and incidents that Helene referred to were. A couple of times I found myself googling the date to find out what was going on in Paris at that time. I also think it would have helped to read the two sections at the end of the journal about Helene and Paris during the war before I read the journal. Having that background information would probably have enhanced my reading.
The Journal of Helene Berr is well worth a read through by just about everyone.

Decades Challenge Wrap-up

2009-08-07T07:21:00.003-04:00

I did this challenge last year and barley squeaked by in finishing it so I am glad to have it completed a little earlier in the year this time around.
The goal was to read 9 books in 9 consecutive decades. Here is my final list:

1990s-Emperors of Chocolate by Joel Glenn Brenner
1980s-Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
1970s-84, Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff
1960s-A Vicarage Family by Noel Streatfeild
1950s-Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
1940s-One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes and Saplings by Noel Streatfield
1930s-Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild and Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson
1920s-The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
1910s- Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
1900s-The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

This is always a fun one. It is interesting to see which books I read will work for this one. I made a tentative list from my TBR list before I started but I don't think any of them made the final cut, so to speak.
Thanks to 3M for hosting this one.

The Actor and the Housewife

2009-08-05T11:03:00.000-04:00

Title: The Actor and the Housewife
Author: Shannon Hale
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 339
Published: 2009
Date Finished: 19 July 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Pub, Library

Meh. I liked this book alright. I've decided I am not a big fan of Shannon Hale's adult novels and I've only read 1 of her YA novels so I don't think I can draw a conclusive decision on that front.
The story of Mormon housewife Becky Jack becoming best friends with her Hollywood fantasy was funny and witty and on many levels enjoyable. It was also kinda slow and often repetitive. How many times was Becky going to struggle with her decision whether to be friends with Felix or not?
There were also certain plot points that just had me thinking "really? That is the direction the story is going? Okay..." I didn't necessarily like it but I went with it and kept reading.
Oh, most of the story was outlandish and unbelievable (Becky writing a screenplay on a whim, selling it and becoming best friends with Hollywood heartthrob) but that did not bother me so much because, well, it is a novel and really how many of the novels I read are realistic when looked at from a real world perspective? (The book I am reading right now is about a woman who time travels to Regency England and inhabits the body of someone else. Even more unrealistic than Hale's premise but still an enjoyable read.)
Before reading this I came across many people who said the book made them cry, a lot. So I was on guard and could see what was going to happen a mile away. I wasn't going to cry. Especially considering I am not one of those people. You know, the ones who cry when they are reading a book or watching a movie. I rarely cry over books and movies etc.
I bawled. Like a little girl. And it would not stop. My tear ducts were relentless. I blame it entirely on pregnancy hormones. Ok, and maybe a little on Hales ability to really get at your emotions.
As a Mormon housewife myself (although I've never lived in Utah) I thought it was interesting and fun to read a mainstream novel with a Mormon woman as the main character with lots of little idiosyncrasies of the LDS faith and lifestyle included. The story just seemed to get too bogged down at times and had me wishing something (preferably something I had not already read about 5 times) would happen.
I have to say I am glad things ended the way they did. I was a little worried for awhile and if the book had ended any differently I would have been very tempted to throw the book across the room (but would have refrained since it is a library book). There were lots of things about the plot and story development that I did not like but I think in the end Becky stayed true to herself and that made for a happy ending in my book.
Oh, the book was funny and witty and many people do and will love it but for me it was just alright.

Reading With My Kids: Chicka Chicka

2009-08-04T08:32:00.007-04:00

For a few years now Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 have been favorites with my son. We usually have one or both checked out from the library. Sometimes we even get the read along version so he can listen and read on his own. My 2 year has now decided she likes them too so they are frequently being read aloud in our home. They are such favorites that I really should break down and buy them one of these days.

In Chicka Chicka Boom Boom the lower case letters of the alphabet are racing to the top of a coconut tree. Unfortunately that coconut tree soon begins to bend under the pressure of so many letters.

Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 is pretty similar only now it is numbers racing up an apple tree.
Both are great rhyming books and are helping my 2 year old learn her ABCs and 123s.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 are written by Bill Martin Jr and illustrated by Lois Ehlert.

Warning: If you watch this video with your young children you run the risk of them asking you to play it again and again and again and again....

Looking Back, Looking Forward (August 2009)

2009-08-03T07:12:00.004-04:00

Looking Back
July was another pretty good reading month for me. By the last day of the month I had completed another 11 books. I don't think I'll be able to but I'd like to keep that pace up for the rest of the year. I have a feeling my reading will drop off dramatically next month when my baby girl arrives.
A few interesting stats from July. Of the 11 books I read I rated 3 with a 5 star, 5 with a 4 star, 2 with a 3 star and only 1 with a 2 star. So I'd say it was a month of enjoyable reads.
As far as where I read goes, I spent most of my reading time in England with 7 of the books I read taking place there. 2 had settings in France and 2 had settings in the United States (one was actually split with settings in both France and the USA.)
I've only written posts for 5 of the books I read in July but the other 6 will be coming along shortly. I did manage to get all my June reads written up though. Yea! I'm trying to keep on top of things but I often find it is easier to squeeze in reading time versus writing time.
July 2009 Reads:
The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson (5)
A Vicarage Family by Noel Streatfeild (4)
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer (4)
The Green Bay Tree by Louis Bromfield (2)
The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen by Teri Edwards and Serena Thompson (5)
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale (3)
The Five Bells and Bladebone by Martha Grimes (3)
The Journal of Helene Berr by Helene Berr (4)
The Case of the Left Handed Lady by Nancy Springer (4)
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer (4)
Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold (5)

The Book I'd be most likely to force on a friend saying "You must read this!"
Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold
I have not posted about this one yet so here is a little blurb from the publisher.
Alfred Gibson's funeral has taken place at Westminister Abbey, and his wife of twenty years, Dorothea, has not been invited. The Great Man favours his children and a clandestine mistress over his estranged wife. Dorothea revisits their early courtship before the birth of too many children snapped her vitality, and discovers the devious nature and hypnotic power of this celebrity author. Now she needs to face her grown up children, and worse, her nemesis of ten years, the charming Miss Ricketts. This is a re-telling of the lives of Charles and Catherine Dickens.

My second pick from July would be The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson. I've also really enjoyed reading Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes mystery series.

Looking Forward
Like I said, I have ambitions to keep my 11 books a month pace up and maybe even surpass that this month. The closer I get to my due date the more time I am apt to spend laying on the couch with a book so we'll see how the month goes.
Here is a little visual of some of the books I'd like to read in August. Looking at last month's picture I realized that I read all but 3 of the stack. 1 I am reading now, On Gold Mountain by Lisa See, 1 found it's way into the stack for this month and 1 had to go back to the library before I got to read it. I am sure it will show up again in a future stack. (That second stack kinda hidden in the back is the stack of July books I need to post about still.)
Anyway, enough of my ramblings. It is time to go put my swelling feet up and read!

Saturday's Poem: The Red Cross Nurses

2009-08-01T08:17:00.001-04:00

The Red Cross Nurses
Out where the line of battle cleaves
The Horizon of woe
And sightless warriors clutch the leaves
The Red Cross nurses go.
In where the cots of agony
Mark death's unmeasured tide-
Bear up the battle's harvestry-
The Red Cross nurses glide.

Look! Where the hell of steel has torn
Its way through slumbering earth
The orphaned urchins kneel forlorn
And wonder at their birth.
Until, above them, calm and wise
With smile and guiding hand,
God looking though their gentle eyes,
The Red Cross nurses stand.
-Thomas L. Masson (from: A Treasury of War Poetry, 1917)

Finished: Numbers Challenge

2009-07-31T16:42:00.003-04:00

The goal for the Numbers Challenge was to read 5 books that had numbers in the title. It was fun picking out and finding books for this challenge.
Here are the books I read:
-One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
-The Five Bells and Bladebone by Martha Grimes
-84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Haff
-The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson
-Two People by AA Milne

That is a pretty good list of books. I enjoyed them all especially One Fine Day and The Two Mrs. Abbotts.

At Home with Beatrix Potter

2009-07-29T17:25:00.002-04:00

Title: At Home with Beatrix Potter
Author: Susan Denyer
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 144
Published: 2000
Date Finished: 18 June 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Non-Fiction 5

Any fan of Beatrix Potter's work should read this book. The author, Susan Denyer, worked for the National Trust and was involved in the restoration of the interior of Potter's Hill Top Farm house. She also set up the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead. Denyer knew what she was writing about when she put this book about Beatrix Potter's beloved Hill Top Farm together. And what a lovely book it is.
Filled with gorgeous photographs and artwork this book takes the reader on a very detailed tour of Hill Top Farm and surrounding areas. In addition to the very intimate look at the interior of the home the reader is also taken on a tour of the gardens and learns about some of the many other properties that Potter purchased in the Lake District. Beatrix Potter spent years of her life working to preserve and protect the landscape of the Lake District. Throughout the book you also see and learn about many of the farms, buildings and rooms that were the inspiration for many of Beatrix Potter's drawings and stories.
Just a beautiful and interesting book. Makes me eager for the day I will be able to visit Hill Top Farm and the Lake District myself.

Two People

2009-07-28T20:55:00.005-04:00

Title: Two People
Author: AA Milne
Genre: Fiction
Pages:277
Published:1931
Date Finished: 30 June 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Numbers

The tag line for Capuchin Classics is "Books to Keep Alive." Their purpose, according to their website, is "reviving great works of fiction which have been unjustly forgotten or neglected. This founding ethos - restoring a richness to the canon in an era of relative blandness - is coupled by a sprinkling of well known favourites to form a series which holds wide appeal."
I've enjoyed reading books from Persephone Books and several other older, out of print or out of popularity books this past year so was interested in trying a few books from Capuchin. I spent some time looking through their catalog of titles and settled on Two People by AA Milne as my first to try. I thought the book sounded interesting and being the uneducated American that I am I had not realized that Milne had written books for adults. I've long loved the Winnie the Pooh series and knew he was a playwright but had never come across any of the novels that he had written.
However, I have been putting off writing about this book because my feelings are so split about it. On many levels I really enjoyed the book but on some levels I really didn't enjoy it all that much.
The book is clever and witty and there was a lot of humor and laughs. Reginald Wellard has written a book and his foray in the publishing and literary world produces some very funny situations as does his encounters with his neighbors and his trips to London to see if anyone is buying or talking about his book. Much of the novel had a very appealing feel and tone and just seemed very British to me. (Makes sense that it would considering Milne was British.)
However, the book is purported to be a study of marriage and in particular how two people with little in common can make a relationship work. I feel calling this novel an accurate portrayal of marriage to be a statement painted with a pretty broad stroke. There was much about Reginald Wellard and his attitude towards his wife that I found difficult to stomach. I felt the little feminist voice inside me wanting to rise up and give the man a talking to a number of times. (And that voice is really very small because I am not really much of a feminist.) It seemed to me that all Reginald cared about was how beautiful his wife was but than got frustrated when she was not intellectually stimulating enough for him. I think he gave Sylvia the short end of the stick. I don't think she was as dim witted as he perceived and if he would have taken the time to actually talk to her instead of muse so much about how beautiful she was than he might have noticed.
There was one incident in particular when they were at a dinner party where the host related a tale of lost love that I think illustrates my point. Reginald, through the reactions and body language of another guest at the party realized immediately that she was the lost love his host spoke of. Guess who was the only other person in attendance at that party who was able to come to the same conclusion? Reginald's wife Sylvia. I believe there was more behind her beauty than Reginald was willing to see and I believe many of their friends and acquaintances saw more to her as well but for some reason Reginald remained unseeing.
But then on the other hand Sylvia never really did much to encourage her husband to see beyond the surface.
So yes, there were many aspects of the novel that bothered me and I did find Reginald to be rather pompous at times but there was still plenty to enjoy. The book was a humorous look at how the simple lives the Wellards were living in the country was upset by Reginald's success as an author. As any one who knows me or my reading tastes knows, I like wit, charm and humor and this book had plenty of all three.
If for no other reason it was worth reading just to get a different look at Milne and his writing.

The Five Bells and Bladebone

2009-07-27T22:24:00.003-04:00

Title: The Five Bells and the Bladebone
Author: Martha Grimes
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 328
Published: 1987
Date Finished: 22 July 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Numbers

It has been more than a year since I last had a visit with one of my favorite detectives, Richard Jury. The 9th book in Martha Grimes mystery series has Jury heading off for a little R&R in Long Piddleton with friend and sidekick Melrose Plant. Of course, his vacation quickly comes to an end when a body is found inside a desk just acquired by a local antiques dealer.
All of the regular characters are back in this book, with perhaps just a little less of Sergeant Wiggens than I would have liked but that is just my personal preference for his character. :-)
This installment was a little slow and I felt a little detached from the story throughout most of the book. Martha Grimes does manage to keep things interesting but this was not my favorite in the series.
It is difficult for me to write much about mysteries because I don't want to give anything away and since I am 9 books into the series, I've pretty much already covered my thoughts on the characters and Grimes writing.
If you enjoy mysteries or would like to give the genre a try go and find The Man with a Load of Mischief, the first book in the series.

Chunkster Challenge: Completed!

2009-07-24T07:59:00.000-04:00

The blog for the Chunkster Challenge has not been updated since January so I am not sure if it is still officially open but I signed up for it and I met my goal so I am posting about it and counting it as a completed challenge.

I've read 3 books of 450 pages or more.

1. Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Stacy Cordrey (590 pages)
2. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (884 pages)
3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (493 pages)

The Green Bay Tree

2009-07-23T13:50:00.004-04:00

Title: The Green Bay Tree
Author: Louis Bromfield
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 390
Published: 1924
Date Finished: 15 July 2009
My Rating: 2
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Library

The publication of Louis Bromfield's first book in 1924 turned him into a literary celebrity. The book, The Green Bay Tree, was an instant critical and popular success. Bromfield made enough money off that first book to move his family to Paris where he wrote full time and ran in the same circles as other famous Lost Generation writers.
The Green Bay Tree focuses on the lives of 3 women in the Shane family. Widowed matriarch Julia Shane becomes more and more of a recluse the older she gets, never leaving her stately home surrounded by the mills of a booming city.
Her daughter Lily does not want to live the conventional life that society dictates she should and since she has money and independent means sees no reason why she should. She leaves home and establishes a life for herself in Paris.
Younger daughter Irene is devoted to religion and wants nothing more than to become a nun and live a life of seclusion. When her mother forbids her to become a nun she instead devotes her life to helping the poor foreign mill workers in her town.

After visiting Bromfield's home at Malabar Farm in Richland County Ohio and learning all about this once popular author turned farmer who was friends and contemporaries with the likes of Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, I was more than willing to read some of his books.
Unfortunately, as I told my husband while reading this book, I can see why Bromfield has fallen into obscurity. The Green Bay Tree bored me into a near reading coma.
Bromfield's writing style did not engage me at all and I never managed to care one bit for any of the characters.
I did enjoy this paragraph, which I think sums up fairly well the theme Bromfield was going for.
"Life is hard for our children. It isn't as simple as it was for us. Their grandfathers were pioneers and the same blood runs in their veins, only they haven't a frontier any longer. They stand...these children our ours...with their backs toward this rough-hewn middle west and their faces toward Europe and the East and they belong to neither. They are lost somewhere between."
I think at its heart The Green Bay Tree was a story about the growth of industrialism and it's effects on agriculture and people but it was tied up in the strange narrative of the Shane women. The Shanes home had once been surrounded by meadows and field that had been conquered by John Shane and other pioneers. Now the home was surrounded by a different sort of progress, mills and factories. Old Mrs. Shane is the last hold out, refusing to sell her home to developers.
This book just turned out to be much more of a chore than I thought it would be to read.

There are 3 other books that are interrelated with the Green Bay Tree and for one of them, Early Autumn, Bromfield was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. I guess I am a bit of a glutton for punishment because I will probably at least read Early Autumn one of these days.

On a somewhat ironic note, I am reading the journal of a young Jewish girl living in Paris and attending the Sorbonne during WWII. In the first few pages of her journal she mentions she is reading and very captivated by one of Bromfield's books. He was popular in his day, that is for sure.

The Case of the Missing Marquess

2009-07-22T19:32:00.004-04:00

Title: The Case of the Missing Marquess
Author: Nancy Springer
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Pages: 216
Published: 2006
Date Finished: 13 Jul 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: Young Adult, New Author, Library, 100+

I have to admit that the cover and the name of the heroine are what led me to pick up this book. Just look at it. How could any discerning reader pass that cover up? And Enola Holmes. Great name, especially when you realize that Enola spelled backwards is alone.
It helped that the premise of the book sounded pretty good too.
Enola Holmes is the much younger sister of Sherlock Holmes and has not seen either her brother Sherlock or Mycroft since she was 4 years old, at their father's funeral. On her fourteenth birthday Enola's mother disappears and after her famous brothers are unable to find her, Enola realizes that it is up to her to track down their mother. Using ciphers and money that her mother secretly left behind Enola disguises herself as a widow and sets off for London on what she believes will be a fairly easy and straightforward task. Only things do not go at all as Enola plans and she finds herself mixed up in the kidnapping of a young marquess, while trying to outwit and outrun her detective brother.
Another confession. I am not a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I've read a few of the books over the years but have never been really enthralled with what I read. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this creation of Sherlock Holmes younger sister.
Things started out a little slow and even Enola herself was a little slow at figuring things out at first. (Hello Enola! Your mother gave you a book of ciphers the day she disappeared. Maybe have a crack at them.) But Enola turned out to be pretty smart and resourceful. Yes, she managed to get herself tangled up in a few sticky situations, but she was also brave and resourceful enough to figure a way out.
A fun mystery and a great heroine. I am on to the 2nd book in the series soon.
Oh, and I enjoyed the ciphers. There is even one on the cover, another reason I loved the cover so much.

A Vicarage Family

2009-07-20T11:58:00.004-04:00

Title: A Vicarage Family
Author: Noel Streatfeild
Pages: 246
Genre: Autobiography
Published: 1963
Date Finished: 11 July 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: Decades, Library, 100+

A Vicarage Family is the somewhat fictionalized account of Noel Streatfeild's life growing up in a vicarage during the years leading up to WWI.
In this novelization of her early years Noel becomes Victoria, the rebellious daughter who found life growing up in a vicarage to be very restricting. The middle of 3 sisters, and one brother, Victoria was often misunderstood or overlooked. Her older sister Isobel was artistic, meek and gentle. Louise, the younger sister was considered the beauty of the family and Vicky? She was the odd one out, plain with seemingly little talent.
Fortunately as the story progressed Vicky started to find her footing and began to realize that she might not be so plain or talentless. (And as we know she went on to become a talented actress and popular author.) While her mischievous streak left her family frustrated and concerned, I found Vicky to be a highly misunderstood, caring, fun and smart girl.
For me Victoria's story was a little different but also similar to the experiences of others in the years leading up to WWI. Like most young people of the era Vicky was really unaware of all that was brewing in the world around her, specifically the events that would lead to war. However, I think living a sheltered life in a vicarage perhaps made Vicky and her family even more naive than some of her contemporaries.
I really enjoyed this book and found all the characters to be very distinct and interesting in their own way. I often found myself wondering what her family members thought of the story and her not always necessarily glowing descriptions of them. Streatfeild addressed this dilemma herself:
"How does the autobiographer handle a brother and sisters? A father and mother? How they looked, how they appeared to me as persons- yes. But what they were like inside?
It is because of my awareness that my portraits of the rest of my family are probably faulty that I have used no real names. The thin shield of anonymity helped me feel unselfconscious in drawing them, and in approaching the facts of my own life."
Her mother, in particular, I found to be rather beastly at times. But Streatfeild made it clear that in later years the two become much closer than they were when she was a child.
In the end I was left wanting to know more about this family and in particular what becomes of the 3 sisters. There are two more autobiographical novels that Streatfeild wrote but unfortunately I am having a difficult time tracking down copies. If I find them, I will read them.

Posters For The People: Art Of The WPA

2009-07-18T08:09:00.001-04:00

Title: Posters for the People: Art of the WPA
Author: Ennis Carter
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 216
Published: 2008
Date Finished: 25 June 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Library, Non-Fiction 5, Art History

The largest agency that President Franklin D. Roosevelt created as part of his New Deal program was the Works Progress Administration. The WPA employed millions of Americans in a wide variety of civic projects across the nation. One arm of the WPA was the Federal Art Project which employed artists and writers to create and perform in various entertainments.
The Poster division of the FAP was charged with producing posters to raise awareness and promote programs, basically on many levels it was government propaganda.
The posters highlighted in this collection range from posters about health and safety, preservation and conservation, community events, war and defense and the theater to name just a few.
This book gave me an interesting introduction to an art form that I'd never really thought much about, poster making. And of course, I loved the historical aspect of these posters that were created in the 1930s and 40s. Some of them made me laugh and I must admit there were a few that confused me.
The book listed a website that was supposed to have an online database with all the posters but when I went to look at it, there were no posters. I did find the Library of Congress American Memory web site that highlights their collection of WPA posters. It is worth a little browse if your would like more information about the project or to see some of the posters.

Read Your Own Books Wrap-Up

2009-07-17T10:30:00.004-04:00

With this challenge I made a goal to read 15 books that I own. I made a list at the beginning of the year of the 15 books on my shelf that I wanted to read. Of the 15 books I listed, I read 2. 8 of the 15 books I read were purchased since the start of the challenge. So while I did meet my goal of reading 15 books I own, I did not really get too far in scaling down the number of books I own that I have not read.
Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm is only reading books that she owns this year. She is not buying new books or checking books out from the library. I think that is a brilliant idea, only I don't know if I could do it! I'm sure I have enough unread books on my shelf to fill a year of reading but it would be really difficult and my list of books to purchase/check out would be huge by the end of the year. Maybe I will pick a few random months in the year and spend a month at a time reading only books I already own. I will have to ponder on that some more.

Here is my list of books read from my shelves (so far) this year.
1. Mountain Home
2. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
4. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff
5. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
6. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
7. Saplings by Noel Streatfield
8. Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
9. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
11. Because You Died by Vera Brittain
12. Remembrance by Theresa Breslin
13. The Rain Catchers by Jean Thesman
14. Up a Country Lane by Evelyn Birkby
15. In the Garden with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson

The RYOB challenge was hosted by MizB. Thanks!

Fred Astaire

2009-07-16T21:45:00.004-04:00

Title: Fred Astaire
Author: Joseph Epstein
Genre: Biography
Pages: 198
Published: 2008
Date Finished: 21 June 2009
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Library, Non-Fiction 5

Silly me. I picked up this book titled Fred Astaire thinking it would be about, well, Fred Astaire. But you see, it is really more about Joseph Epstein than Fred Astaire. I'll be honest, I'd never heard of Joseph Epstein before I picked up this book but now I know more about him than I could possibly care to know. Even how tall he is and how big his ears are. I don't know about you but when I pick up a biography I expect to learn about the subject of the biography and not so much about the author. In fact, I don't want to know anything about the author.
The tone of this book just made me want to stop reading from almost the first paragraph. Too many of the author's personal opinions and feelings (and too many little aside comments set in brackets that I can only assume were meant to be funny but were just generally annoying.)
The book was set up as a collection of essays about Jos, I mean, Fred Astaire covering such topics as his looks, his clothes, his dancing partners and singing. All of which could have and should have been interesting if only there was less of the author left in the mix.

The Two Mrs. Abbotts

2009-07-15T07:34:00.009-04:00

Title: The Two Mrs. Abbotts
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 282
Published: 1943
Date Finished: 5 July 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, Numbers

What can I say? I simply adore Barbara Buncle/Abbott. My only complaint about this book would be that there was not enough of Barbara featured in the novel. Thankfully the other characters were just as fun and charming to read about as Barbara herself.
From the opening page I found myself smiling and laughing and enjoying this book as much as I did the first Miss Buncle book. The lighthearted tone, charm and humor were all present and accounted for.
This 3rd and final book in the Miss Buncle series finds Barbara in the midst of World War II raising two children. Even with the war raging and duties of motherhood Barbara is able to find time to try her hand at matchmaking or undoing matches, as the case may be. All done in her innocent way of course.
Much of the book actually focuses on the second Mrs. Abbott, whom we met in Miss Buncle Married. Jerry Abbott's home is being taken over by a military regiment and war refugees and she has her hands full keeping up the home and like the other Mrs. Abbott, trying to play matchmaker. I felt that Jerry lacked some of the charm and subtlety that Barabra possessed but the other characters who make up her home are almost all delightfully fun to read about.
This book saw the return of many characters from the previous novel and even one from Miss Buncle's book. There were also new characters and plenty of matchmaking and hidden identities to create a very humorous and gentle look at life in this small English village during World War II.
I'm a little sad to have reached the end of the Miss Buncle books. Luckily for me D.E. Stevenson was a rather prolific writer and my library has a good selection of them on the shelf still. I think I will start in on the Mrs. Tim Christie series next.

Finished: In Their Shoes

2009-07-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

This was an interesting challenge. There is only one book on the list of books I read that I had planned to read for this challenge and I still have several bios or memoirs on my TBR list that I am hoping to read this year.
The books I read:
1. Lincoln: A Photobiography
2. Alice Roosevelt Longworth
3. The Lincolns
4. The Other Half
5. Up a Country Lane

I found The Other Half to be immensely interesting and eye-opening and Up a Country Lane was just great. The others were interesting as well but those two are my favorites from this list.

Visit the In Their Shoes Challenge blog to see what other readers have been reading this year.

Miss Buncle Married

2009-07-07T19:43:00.000-04:00

Title: Miss Buncle Married
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 323
Published: 1936
Date Finished: 25 June 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, Seconds

Miss Buncle Married is the sequel to the delightfully charming Miss Buncle's Book. I found Miss Buncle Married to be almost as delightful as the first.
Miss Buncle is now Mrs. Abbott but marriage has done little to stop her from finding herself mixed up in little humorous scraps and trying to, innocently, sort out other people's lives.
I think Barbara's husband, Arthur Abbott, does the best job of summing up Barbara. "The strangest thing about Barbara, Arthur reflected, the strangest thing about this strange woman who was now his lawful wedded wife was that although she understood practically nothing, she yet understood everything....she certainly had an extraordinary power of getting underneath people's skins. Without being conscious of it herself she was able to sum up a person or situation in a few minutes. People's very bones were bare to her-and she had no idea of it. "
In this second installment of the Miss Buncle books Barbara and Arthur are setting up a home in a new town and are surrounded by a whole new cast of quirky and interesting neighbors whom Barbara is struggling not to pick up pen and write about as she is rather happy and does not want to have to move again.
I enjoyed this book a great deal but do feel it lacked some of the charm of the first book. Some of the secondary characters just lacked the humor and interest I felt for the characters in the previous book.
I did enjoy the little twist at the end, just when you thought things were going to play out a certain way, Barbara and the reader are thrown for a fun little loop.
I am not done with Miss Buncle or D.E. Stevenson. They are great books for a relaxing, enjoyable read.

Shanghai Girls

2009-07-06T11:21:00.004-04:00

Title: Shanghai Girls
Author: Lisa See
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages:314
Published: 2009
Date Finished: 23 June 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Pub

Shanghai Girls tells the story of two sisters, Pearl and May, living in the Shanghai of the 1930s, the Paris of Asia. The sisters live a modern and carefree life as models until a series of events begin to unfold that will transform their lives. After being sold as wives to two young Chinese Americans, Pearl and May are forced to leave their beloved Shanghai for America.
The novel, which is told from Pearl's perspective, chronicles the close but sometimes volatile relationship between the sisters as well as their struggles to escape worn torn China, the struggles they face in America at the Angel Island detention center and their new lives with a new family in America.
I found both Pearl and May to be fascinating characters who each in their own way adapted to the upheavals in their lives, even if they did not understand each others choices and motivations leading to more tension and misunderstanding.
Shanghai Girls is a very intriguing historical fiction novel that that gives the reader a look at life and culture in pre-WWII China and the life and culture of Chinese people living in the United States in the 1940s and 50s.
I loved the lead up to the end, very tense and climatic but I am just not sure how I feel about the actual ending...

There were a number of traumatic events that Pearl and May experienced, which while not necessarily graphic in nature, were not easy for me to read. I never thought of myself as overly sensitive but there were times I had to set the book aside and take a break from reading. Reading accounts like this one, based on actual events, just leaves me feeling a little depressed about the horrid ways people can treat others.

Finished: Classics Challenge

2009-07-06T08:28:00.004-04:00

Last year I made a list with about 10 classics that I wanted to read that year. I did not read a single one. So I just took the list, scratched out the year 2008 and wrote 2009. I still have not read a single one of those books. It is not that I am not reading any classic books, it is just that I am not good at sticking to lists especially when there are just so many books that sound so interesting to me out there.

So, here is the list of books that I did read for the classics challenge this year:
-Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
-Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
-Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
-Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

The publication dates on these books range from 1872, Under the Greenwood Tree, to 1943, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The settings are as diverse as England in the Middle Ages to Victorian England and America around the turn of the 20th century. A pretty good mix of interesting books.
I really enjoyed almost all the books I read. The only one that I really did not care for was Black Beauty. My favorite was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Trish for hosting The Classics Challenge.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T07:31:00.004-04:00

Hope you are able to fit some reading in amongst all the BBQ, fireworks and fun.
I don't know how much reading I'll get done. We have plans for a day of geocaching and then fireworks tonight.
Happy 4th!

For my readers else where in the world, well, I hope you all have a great Saturday and that you too find some time to read.

Everything Austen

2009-07-02T23:53:00.004-04:00

Well, I've buckled. I love the idea of this challenge and don't want to miss out on the fun. I just don't know how challenging it will be, because as any one who knows me probably knows, I am just a bit of a devoted Jane Austen fan.
Stephanie from Stephanie's Written Word has put together this really fun Everything Austen Challenge (with prizes). All you have to do is pick 6 Austen-themed things you want to finish before the end of the year. That includes movie adaptations, sequels and fan fiction, works about Austen and of course Jane's work itself.
I am leaving my list open for now because I am such an on the whim reader. I do have some new (to me) bios I want to read and I've only done one Austen read this year (1! I usually try to read all 6 every year and I've only done one this year. Such a slacker). I am sure I won't have too much trouble coming up with six things to read or watch!

1. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Save Ohio Libraries

2009-07-02T14:30:00.004-04:00

Looking Back, Looking Forward (July 2009)

2009-06-30T14:35:00.007-04:00

Looking Back
After a few slow months June was a busy month for me on the blog. I (pretty much) caught up on reviews by posting about 14 books this month. It was nice and stress relieving to see the stack of books I needed to write about dwindle down to almost nothing. Of course, I've gone and slacked off again this last week and so my stack is back up to 6 books.
As far as reading goes, I read 11 books in June. I ranked only 3 of them below 4 stars, so I would say it was a pretty good reading month.

Looking Forward
Here is a glimpse at some of the books I am hoping to read in July.
I have a few holds coming in at the library that will be added to the mix as well. I love everything about my library except the length of time it takes them to process new books. I am first in the request Q for Shannon Hale's The Actor and the Housewife and Laurie Viera Rigler's Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict. I am pretty eager to read both books and wish my library would hurry up and get them processed.

You might notice that in that whole stack of books there is only one that is not a library book. Unfortunately, the libraries in Ohio are about to have their funding cut by 50%, which will be devastating. I am pretty disappointed in many of my state's politicians right now. I understand that cuts in the budget have to be made and I know that the libraries across the state understand that and they know that cuts to their budgets will happen but 50% is huge and as I said, will be devastating to the libraries in this state.
Fortunately, there is a great grass roots campaign going on all across the state to save the libraries. Hopefully it will help.

Victorian Challenge Wrap-Up

2009-06-26T08:08:00.001-04:00

For the Victorian Challenge I took a drink at Whitechapel and read three books from the Victorian Era.
The books I read are:
-Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
-Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
-Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

This was a fun reading challenge and if it is hosted again I'll probably be signing up.

In the Garden with Jane Austen

2009-06-24T14:31:00.004-04:00

Title: In the Garden with Jane Austen
Author: Kim Wilson
Genre: Non-Fiction, Jane Austen
Pages: 114
Published:2008
Date Finished: 30 April 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, RYOB

"Jane Austen loved a garden. She took a keen interest in flower gardening and kitchen gardening alike. The Austens grew their own food whenever they could and had flower gardens wherever they lived, at their parsonage at Steventon in Hampshire, their town gardens at Bath and Southampton, and when they returned to Hampshire, at their cottage garden at Chawton. In Jane’s letters to her sister Cassandra, we see her planning the details of these family gardens, discussing the planting of fruit, flowers, and trees with enthusiasm. "

In the Garden with Jane Austen takes the reader on a tour of all things to do with Georgian and Regency gardens. You come across gardens that Jane herself would have worked in or visited or at the very least knew of. Cottage gardens, manor house gardens, town gardens, and public gardens are all brought to life in wonderful detail and through beautiful photography. We also learn what Jane's favorite plants were as well as other interesting bits of information like how people tried to disguise or hide their outhouses.
The book features information on several gardens that are still in existence and open to the public today as well as sections on the gardens featured in Jane Austen movie adaptations and a chapter on how to re-create Jane Austen's garden yourself.
A lovely little book filled with beautiful pictures and drawings, as well as fitting quotes from Jane Austen's novels and other contemporary sources.

Up a Country Lane

2009-06-22T08:53:00.005-04:00

Title: Up a Country Lane
Author: Evelyn Birkby
Genre: Memoir, Cookbook
Pages: 254
Published: 1993
Date Finished: 24 April 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: 100+, RYOB, New Author, Shoes

Up A Country Lane is part memoir and part cookbook. Through stories and photographs Evelyn shares what life was like living on a farm in rural Iowa during the decade following WWII. Neither Evelyn or her husband Robert were farmers but like many young couples from the era they were eager to rent a farm, put down roots and build a meaningful life on the farm. Evelyn shares everything from the sense of community, gardening,the ritual of grocery shopping and the use of meat lockers to raising chickens, milking, haying, harvesting, schools, social clubs and so much more.
Evelyn does not shy away from the reality of life on a farm and shares stories of drought, ruined crops, sickness and accidents. "A family on a small farm could have more than its share of isolation, loneliness, and constant need for hard, physical labor. So the memories of simple, happy events and celebrations must realistically be tempered by the struggles endured."
Many of Evelyn's stories made me smile but some were also heartbreaking.
If there was one thing that could bring a farming community together it was food. Potlucks, club luncheons, harvest feasts and holiday gatherings were all occasions to pull out platters, bowls and pie plates. At the end of each chapter Evelyn shares many simple recipes that were favorites in her family and many neighboring families as well. These are recipes that people really made and ate, recipes that the people were connected with.
One of the recipes I've tried was Curried Beef and Rice and let me tell you that was one hearty, filling meal. Beef, potatoes lots of vegetables and seasonings all served over rice. It was delicious but like I said very hearty and filling and I can see why a hard working farm family would enjoy that meal.
I love that every time I make a recipe from this book I can flip through the pages and read some of Evelyn's stories again. A treasure of a book. I'm glad I stumbled upon it.

TSS: Summer Reading with the Kids

2009-06-21T10:36:00.004-04:00

If there is one thing I am passionate about it is reading to your kids. It is one of the most beneficial things a parent can ever do for their children.
We have two "scheduled" reading times a day. The first one is in the morning following breakfast and the second is at bed time. But those two times are far from the only times we read to our kids. My son or daughter will bring me books to read throughout the entire day. They both love books and even when not being read to either one can often be found sitting on the couch or floor with a pile of books surrounding them. Often when my (almost) 2 year old has wondered off somewhere and I call her name to find out where she is I hear her holler at me from her room "I'm reading!"
On the first day of Summer Reading at the library I trotted my kids across the street to sign them up. I told the librarians I had two pre-readers and was told I had to read 20 books to them during the next 3 months to be entered in the grand prize drawing and to receive a few other prizes along the way to 20.
20 books? In my head I was thinking we'll be done by tonight. The library we did Summer Reading at last year required that I read closer to 60 books and even that did not take too long.
So we went home and I started writing down the title of every book I read to the kids that day. Not counting books I read more than once that day I read 17 books to my kids in one day. I don't normally keep track of the number of books I read in one day so it was interesting for me to take the time to write them all down and count them up. That's a lot of reading. I also read at least 1 chapter from a chapter book to my son in the afternoons while his sister is napping. Every book read and every minute spent reading to my kids is well worth the small amount of effort I put into it.

Here is the list of books I read that first day for the Summer Reading Program:

Lizard's Home by George Shannon
My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis
Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli
My "e" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
Lentil by Robert McCloskey
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
D.W. Go To Your Room by Marc Brown
Arthur and the True Francine by Marc Brown
My "h" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
My "k" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
My "o" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown
The Underground Gators by Tina Casey

Read to your kids!

The Last Lecture

2009-06-20T08:15:00.000-04:00

Title: The Last Lecture
Author: Randy Pausch
Genre: Non-Fiction, Self-help
Pages: 206
Published: 2008
Date Finished: 28 May 2009
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Library, Non-Fiction 5

Self-help/advice books are the last genre of book I really have any interest in reading. I doubt I would have ever picked this book up if it had not been picked by my book group to read.
Why don't I like self-help books? Because in my opinion to often they take a one-size fits all approach to life. Do this, follow my advice and all your problems will be fixed, blah, blah, blah, etc, etc. Life is not a one-size fits all and there are many paths to happiness or fulfillment in life.
So why didn't Pausch's Last Lecture blow me out of the water and leave me feeling inspired to change the way I live my life? For starters, I don't think any of his advice or life lessons were all that new or revolutionary. Hasn't it all been said before? Didn't a lot of what he said equal common sense?
Secondly, there seemed to be an undertone of arrogance through out the book that just kinda bothered me. A lot of "look at how smart I am and what I've done with me life. I can carry $200 cash in my wallet all the time." But I think that arrogant tone is often a part of self-help books, a reason I don't like them. And frankly, there was a lot of advice he gave that I did not agree with.
Will I get struck by lightening for not loving this book and everything written in it? Am I a horrible person for saying bad things about a man who is dead? Maybe. But this book did not change my life or even make me think much about what he said beyond the conversation during book group. But then, I am pretty happy with my life even though I am not a genius, don't have lots of money, am not a famous professor and like to repair my cars when they are in accidents. The fact that I take care of the things I own does not make me materialistic or mean that I focus on unimportant things.
Do I think it is sad that Pausch died, leaving behind a young family? Of course. Do I think his optimism in the face of imminent death was pretty amazing. For sure. Self-help books just rub me the wrong way. Maybe if I'd read his story as a novel I would have been more moved.

Spring Reading Thing Wrap-up

2009-06-20T07:20:00.000-04:00

Even though it has felt like Summer for awhile now, at least in my neck of the woods, Summer is just now ready to make its official start.
I made a personal goal for myself this spring to read between 30 and 40 books. Right now I am sitting at 31 so I guess I just made it.
For the official Spring Reading Thing Challenge I set a goal of 10 books that would help me accomplish other reading challenges that were ending during the spring or shortly thereafter.
I am happy to say that I read all 10 books and as of right now I have completed 7 reading challenges this year.

Here are the books I read for the Spring Reading Thing:

Black Beauty Anna Sewell
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Behind Rebel Lines by Seymour Reit
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Lots of good books on this list, as well as a few duds. My favorites were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Under the Greenwood Tree and Ethan Frome.

The Spring Reading Thing was hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days. Thanks Katrina!

Ethan Frome

2009-06-19T21:09:00.004-04:00

Title: Ethan Frome
Author: Edith Wharton
Genre: Classics, Fiction
Pages: 99
Published: 1911
Date Finished: 19 June 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Decades, Dewey's Books, Classics, Spring

The bleak New England setting of Ethan Frome helps set the tone for this rather bleak little novel.
Ethan Frome is a poor, down trodden, and in my opinion weak willed farmer. He is married to Zeena, a hypochondriac, uncommunicative, rigid, complaining, manipulative (I could go on...) woman.
When Zeena's destitute cousin Mattie Silver moves in with the Fromes Ethan quickly becomes enamored with the young, happy woman who seems to be the exact opposite of his wife in every way. Ethan finds himself being pulled between doing the right thing and what he thinks will make him happy.
It is a tragic story filled with a strong sense of pessimism, depression and hopelessness but written in a good way, i.e. not overly melo-dramatic.
A brilliant novel. Maybe just don't read it when you are looking for something happy and uplifting.

Under the Greenwood Tree

2009-06-16T19:52:00.005-04:00

Title: Under the Greenwood Tree
Author:Thomas Hardy
Genre: Fiction, Classics
Pages: 237
Published: 1872
Date Finished: 16 June 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: Spring, Victorian, Classics, New Author, Library, 100+

Under the Greenwood Tree begins as a humorous and somewhat charming look at a simplistic group of church musicians who are about to be disbanded to make way for an organ. Along the way the story morphed into the strange and still often humorous love story between Dick Dewey and the village's new school teacher, Fancy Day. As a couple I found the pair rather mismatched but it did lead to some fun reading.
This is my first Hardy novel and was surprised at how humorous and light the story was. It is my understanding that most of his major works are much more dark and not so happy. None the less, I found myself laughing and enjoying myself quite a bit, especially the parts with the choir, a group of men who were prone to get drunk before doing anything.
In the end I am just left wondering if Dick and Fancy could really have been happy together? She's so concerned about being modern and is a bit pretentious and he is such a simple working man. Then, of course, there is that secret Fancy is keeping from Dick...

Reading with my Kids

2009-06-15T20:45:00.007-04:00

I have not written a post about some of our favorite picture books in, I can't remember how long.
We read huge amounts of books but only a small handful seem to become favorites that we return to over and over. Here are some of the latest.

Antoinette Portis

Not a Box and Not a Stick have been favorites for several months now. Red loves playing Not a Stick and making up all the things that his sticks are opposed to actual sticks. I love that the box book looks and kinda feels like a box and even says "net wt. 11.5 oz." The cover of the stick book looks like wood.

On a recent library trip we found an Antoinette Portis book that we had never seen before. A Penguin Story is cute story about a little penguin trying to find something that is not blue like the ocean, not white the snow or not black like the night.

Robert McCloskey
We have the book A Robert McCloskey Collection and the kids ask me to read from it almost every morning during our morning reading time. The book includes Make Way for Ducklings, Lentil and One Morning in Maine.
It is unfortunate that the collection does not include our favorite Robert McCloskey, Blueberries for Sal. Instead we just check it out from the library and keep it for as long as we can before returning it.

TSS: Catching Up on Young Adult

2009-06-14T19:26:00.005-04:00

Title: Remembrance
Author: Theresa Breslin
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Pages: 296
Published: 2002
Date Finished: 3 May 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+ RYOB, Young Adult, New Author

This novel explores the lives of 5 young people living in Scotland during WWI and the course their lives take due to the war.
I had a difficult time getting into this book and feeling really engaged with the characters. Not only were the characters often a little one sided and stereotypical but the author would develop story lines for some characters and then abandon them pretty much altogether to tell another character's story with out every really giving us more about the old characters. I wanted more!
John Malcom is the eager and excited young man who can't wait to sign up and go fight in the war. Francis is the ardent pacifist and Alex is the younger brother hopelessly wishing that he were older so he could enlist.
Charlotte is the rich girl who proves she is tougher and more thick skinned than everyone thought and Maggie is the shop girl with an agenda for women's rights and equality.
Although the set up of the characters seemed false and too stereotypical at times, I did find myself getting more drawn into the story. I just ended the book wishing that there had been more character development and that some of the story lines would have been explored more.
If you enjoy YA and or historical fiction set in WWI there is a good chance you will enjoy this novel.

Title: The Rain Catchers
Author: Jean Thesman
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 182
Published: 1991
Date Finished: 10 May 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, RYOB, Young Adult

I don't remember exactly when I first read a novel by Jean Thesman. I know I was probably a late tween or early teen. It was around the time when I had started wondering from the kids section of the library into the YA. This will probably sound funny but I used to look for books by authors who had the same last name as I did. It was not a very common name and I always thought it would be cool to find an author with the same last name as me. It was kind of a compulsive habit that I had for awhile every time I went to a bookstore or library. So there I was browsing the Ts in the YA section when I found Jean Thesman. Not my last name, but her books looked good and as it turned out, they were. I quickly read through all of her books that my library had.
I loved Jean Thesman's books and wanted to write stories like hers with heroines like Grayling from The Rain Catchers or Molly from Molly Donnelly. I just couldn't get enough of her characters or her stories.
So, now after that walk down memory lane, I guess I should tell you a little about this book.
Grayling lives in a house of storytellers. Every day at tea time the women of the house gather together to tell their stories, each one with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sometimes they tell Grayling's story, except her story does not have an end. "I am like a book that was lost before the reader could finish it." (10) Grayling does not know what happened to her mother the night she showed up at home muddy, with her car missing. She does not know why her mother left her in Seattle with her Grandmother and moved to San Francisco to start a new life for herself. Grayling wants her story to have an ending.
Throw in the cute boy who is painting the house and the family drama of her best friend Colleen and you get yourself a pretty good novel.
A simply told coming of age story that tackles some controversial social issues. To be completely honest, if this was the first time I'd read this book or a book by Jean Thesman, I don't think I would have been as wrapped up in as I was when I was younger but it was nice to re-visit this old favorite.

Title: A Drowned Maiden's Hair
Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
Genre: Juvenile
Pages: 389
Published: 2006
Date Finished: 31 May 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: Library, Seconds, 100+, What's in a Name?

Orphan stories have been done a lot, right? Especially orphan stories about girls. We've all read some of them and many of them are considered classics. So what could Laura Amy Schlitz hope to add to the scores of books about orphan girls by writing one herself?
Well, I think I can pretty much guarantee that you've never read an orphan story quite like A Drowned Maiden's Hair.
Maud Flynn knows she is not the most well behaved, prettiest or smartest girl at the Barbary Asylum so even she is surprised when Hyacinth Hawthorne decides to adopt her. Maud is swept away from the orphanage by Hyacinth and her sister to start a brand new life where she will be pampered and cherished. Or so she thinks. Instead Maud is relegated to a third story room and not permitted to leave the house because for some reason no one is to know she is there. In time Maud begins to learn about the secret role she is to play in the sisters family business. Maud remains eager to please and goes along with her secret role in hopes that her dream of being pampered and cherished will come true.
I am just going to come right out and say that I think this is the best children's book I have read in a long time. A Drowned Maiden's Hair is a highly original, intelligent, and character driven story that does not leave the plot behind (my favorite kind of book.)
The characters and character development in this book were just perfect. Schlitz did not tell us about the characters so much as she had the characters tell us about themselves through their actions and words. The story is told through Maud's point of view but even when she can't or won't see the treachery and villainy of those around her, you as the reader are coming to some chilling realizations.
The pacing was perfect for a book that is almost 400 pages long. The story unfolded smoothly and steadily and never once slowed down or made me impatient in my reading.
Wonderful writing, complex characters, treachery and mystery. I highly recommend this book.

Whew! Now that I have written about those three books I've only got 4 more in my queue to write about. It feels nice to be getting caught up!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

2009-06-13T07:52:00.004-04:00

Title: The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Author: Kim Edwards
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 401
Published: 2005
Date Finished: 7 May 2009
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Name, New Author, Library

A man makes a bad decision, more people make bad decisions. Most of them are unhappy or at least troubled by the choices they made.
Did not really like it that much.
If you'd like more information than that you can read more reviews on Goodreads or check out an introduction to the book from Penguin.

I am a Daring Reader

2009-06-12T07:04:00.005-04:00

I've completed the track I signed up for with the Daring Book Challenge. I signed up to read 9 books from the list by June 15th. I also signed up to try and read the entire list, so I'll still be working on my daring reading skills for awhile yet to come.
The nine books I read for the challenge:

This was a fun challenge. I read some that I really did not enjoy and some that I just loved. My favorite from the list was definitely A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
I look forward to reading more of the titles for the perpetual challenge.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

2009-06-11T17:01:00.004-04:00

Title: The Adventures of Robin Hood
Author: Roger Lancelyn Green
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 275
Published: 1956
Date Finished: 11 June 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Daring Girls

Another retelling of the Robin Hood Legend. Roger Lancelyn Green's retelling, a bit more modern having been published in 1956, draws heavily upon the old ballads and plays as well as the works of Alfred Noyes, Tenneyson and Scott.
I found this Robin Hood to more closely resemble the Robin Hood that modern pop culture has given us or I guess this might be the Robin Hood the the modern retellings have gained some inspiration. Green's Robin started out as the Earl of Huntingdon who was selling his lands to help the poor until unjustly made an outlaw by the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John. The Earl and his followers take to the forest and become know as Robin Hood and his merry band of followers. Robin openly fights and is not at all weary of killing as he was in Pyle's version of the story. He works to obtain the ransom money that will bring King Richard back to England.
One of the biggest distinctions between Green and Pyle's retelling is Green's inclusion of Maid Marian as a major character. Robin and Marian's wedding was interrupted the Sheriff and Guy of Gisborne coming to arrest Robin. Before fleeing into the forest Robin extracts a promise from Marian that they will remain half married until King Richard can return and marry them. Eventually Marian becomes an outlaw herself and joins Robin Hood in Sherwood as a skilled archer and swordsman. I enjoyed the inclusion of Marian, even if she is a more modern (relatively speaking) addition to the story.
The characters in this version seemed to have a bit more depth to them. The Sheriff and Prince John seemed more evil and Robin seemed more noble and his life in the forest had more purpose than just fun and high jinx. Perhaps, an easier read too, with less of Pyles Old-English style.
Another enjoyable look at the Robin Hood legend. I think next I will read Noyes' play. As Green himself stated, "Robin Hood's is a story that can never die, nor cease to fire the imagination. Like the old fairytales it must be told and told again-for like them it is touched with enchantment and few of us can fail to come under its spell."

Baby Name Contest Winner

2009-06-11T11:45:00.004-04:00

No one guessed all 20 names correctly but we did have 4 people get 19 correct, Mrs. Mordecai, Mama Rachel, Vic and Donna. Good job ladies!

First the answers:
1. Willa Cather
2. Edith Wharton
3. Anne Frank
4. Jane Austen
5. Harper Lee
6. Margaret Mitchell
7. Maya Angelou
8. Virginia Woolf
9. Harriet Beecher Stowe
10. Louisa May Alcott
11. Agatha Christie
12. Amy Tan
13. Beatrix Potter
14. Charlotte or Ann or Emily Bronte (3 possible correct for this one)
15. Frances Hodgson Burnett
16. Mary Shelley
17. Pearl S. Buck
18. Toni Morrison
19. Elizabeth Gaskell
20. Daphne du Maurier

And the winner(after a random drawing of the above mentioned 4)......
Mrs. Mordecai
Congrats!

Mary Poppins

2009-06-10T22:01:00.006-04:00

Title: Mary Poppins
Author: P.L. Travers
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pages: 202
Published: 1934
Date Finished: 8 June 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Spring, Daring Girls

P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins is wonderfully vain and strict.
She is always thinking about and checking on her appearance every chance she gets. She is also rather strict with the Banks children and I found myself wondering why they adored her so much since she was often so harsh with them. I suppose it was knowing that she had some kind of magic and really, who wouldn't want a nanny with magical powers to take them on fun adventures? Even if she was a bit stern on those adventures.
A fun book full of lots of little stories. One of my favorites was the chapter devoted to the young twins John and Barbara. Did you know that while all we hear is baby babble and crying, babies are really able to communicate with animals and the wind? Unfortunately once they turn one they lose that special gift. Charming!
I'd like to read more of the books in the series but I think I'll wait and use them as read-a-louds with my kids.
After reading the chapter on Mrs. Corry and her gingerbread stars I was really craving some gingerbread. I pulled out my Mary Poppins in the Kitchen cookbook and used Mary Poppins very own gingerbread recipe to make myself some gingerbread stars.

Because You Died

2009-06-09T19:54:00.003-04:00

Title: Because You Died, Poetry and Prose of the First World War and After
Author: Vera Brittain
Genre: Poetry, Non-Fiction
Pages:234
Published:2008
Date Finished: 19 April 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: RYOB, 100+

Vera Brittain was a British writer whose works focused mostly on feminism and pacifism. She is best known for her autobiographical work Testament of Youth that traced her life before, during and after WWI.
This collection of poetry and prose by Vera Brittain was compiled to commemorate the90th anniversary of end of World War I in November of 1918. The volume also serves to commemorate those close to Brittain that were killed in WWI, her brother Edward, fiance Roland Leighton and two friends, Geoffrey Thurlow and Victor Richardson, as well as many of the nurses and VADs that Brittain worked with during the war in London, Malta and France.
The poetry and prose selections also serve as a look at Brittain's changing convictions from idealistic young girl at the outbreak of war to her ever increasing anti-war convictions in the years following the Armistice.
I read recently that Vera Brittian's Testament of Youth is to be made into a feature film. The article gives some good background information on Brittain.

The Superfluous Woman by Vera Brittain
Ghosts crying down the vistas of the years,
Recalling words
Whose echoes long have died;
And kind moss grown
Over the sharp and blood-bespattered stones
Which cut our feet upon the ancient ways.
But who will look for my coming?
Long busy days where many meet and part;
Crowded aside
Remembered hours of hope;
And city streets
Grown dark and hot with eager multitudes
Hurrying homeward whither respite waits.
But who will seek me at nightfall?
Light fading where the chimneys cut the sky;
Footsteps that pass,
Nor tarry at my door.
And far away,
Behind the row of crosses, shadows black
Stretch out long arms before the smouldering sun.
But who will give me my children?

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

2009-06-08T17:46:00.004-04:00

Title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Author: Betty Smith
Genre: Fiction, Classics
Pages: 493
Published: 1943
Date Finished: 5 June 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Chunkster, RYOB, Classic, Spring, Daring Girls

I figured out a long time ago that I generally love character driven novels so it is really not at all surprising that I loved this book, a very heavily character driven novel. But I did not think it lacked plot like I have heard others say. I thought this was a very well plotted coming of age story that gave the reader a look at what life would have been like living in Brooklyn during the early 1900s.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is an American Classic that tells the story of three generations of the Nolan and Rommley families. The story focuses mainly on Francie Nolan, a young girl coming to terms with many aspects of her life including hunger, poverty, meanness and death.
While I did not think the book lacked plot, what I did love most about this book were the very richly drawn characters, especially Francie. One of the most interesting character traits I found in Francie was how she tried to find or create order and control where she could since her life was often not what she would have it be. She had to try each flavor of ice cream by going down the list and trying the next one every time they went to the ice cream shoppe and she was reading the books in the library from A-Z. I have to say I loved reading the bit about the books because I attempted something like that once myself. I decided I would start at the A's and work my way through the entire collection all the way to Z. Unlike Francie though I quickly gave up when I went and looked at the first few books in the A section. They all sounded boring.
The book was populated with strong women characters that I could not help but root for as I read. There was Francie herself but also her mother and aunts, women who took control and did not let themselves become victims to circumstance.
Betty Smith's novel tells a beautiful and moving story. I read most of it in one day because every time I set it down to go do something else I found myself drawn right back to the book. I know a lot of people don't see this book in the same light I do, but I really could not put this book down. I just had to keep reading to find out what would happen to Francie and her family. Adding this book to my list of all time favorite books.

Baby Name Author Contest

2009-06-04T08:21:00.005-04:00

As you probably know I am having a baby girl later this summer. I mentioned in a previous post that my husband and I have very different ideas about naming this baby girl. I want something somewhat unique and maybe literary, he wants the same names everybody else is naming their baby. Talking about names can get stressful in our home.
I thought I'd have some fun and host a little baby name contest and giveway. Actually, I've got a few in mind. This first one is going to be all about famous (female) authors names.
Here is the run down. Below I will list the last names of several authors and you will need to provide me with the first name of the author. Keep in mind that they are all women (I'm having a girl) and please do not use search engines or look at the answers that others have left in the comments.
The winner will be determined by the most correct answers. If more than one person has guessed the most correct than I will have a random drawing for those people to determine the winner.
The prize: A new paperback copy of Alexander McCall Smith's 9th book in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Miracle at Speedy Motors.
Contest will run through Wednesday June 10 and I will announce the winner on Thursday the 11th. If I can not access your e-mail address through your blog (or if you don't have a blog) than please leave your e-mail with your answers.

Have fun!

1. Cather
2. Wharton
3. Frank
4. Austen
5. Lee
6. Mitchell
7. Angelou
8. Woolf
9. Beecher Stowe
10. Alcott
11. Christie
12. Tan
13. Potter
14. Bronte (3 possible correct for this one)
15. Hodgson Burnett
16. Shelley
17. S. Buck
18. Morrison
19. Gaskell
20. du Maurier

The Magic of Ordinary Days

2009-06-02T19:17:00.005-04:00

Title: The Magic of Ordinary Days
Author: Ann Howard Creel
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 274
Published: 2001
Date Finished: 27 May 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, WWII

There is a blurb from author Susan Vreeland on the cover of this book that describes The Magic of Ordinary Days as "highly satisfying." I'd have to say that is exactly how I felt about this book. This novel did something that few of the books I've read recently has done, it lingered with me. For several days after finishing the book I would think about it and pick it back up to read over certain sections or passages again.
At the height of World War II Livvy Dunne is a strong, intelligent and independent woman who has plans for the future. She is attending University and dreams of becoming an archaeologist and traveling to far off places like Egypt. When her mother falls ill Livvy takes time off from school to care for her and after her mother's subsequent death Livvy is left floundering and feeling lost. She begins a flirtation with a solider that changes the course of her life sending Livvy to live on the plains of Colorado married to a man she does not know. Forced by circumstances to give up her dreams and the life she knew Livvy is lonely and struggles quietly to accept her new life. Livvy's new home is not far from a Japanese internment camp and when some of the detainees come to her new husband's farm to help with the harvest Livvy finds some much needed friendship and solace in two young Japanese American sisters.
The Magic of Ordinary Days is a very quiet, almost gentle story that unfolds slowly but beautifully. I loved Creel's writing and her descriptions of the Colorado plains and of Livvy's internal struggles.
I really appreciated Livvy's character and how she wanted to do what was right and accept the consequences of her actions even if it was a struggle to do so.
I enjoyed the pacing at which the story was told, Livvy's full history not being revealed until more than half way through the novel.
I did feel that the big plot point at the end came up suddenly, even if it was forshadowed pretty well, and then the book ended quickly. But, that aside, I still really, really enjoyed this lovely novel.
Creel gives the reader a look at a slice of life on the home front during the war and the treatment of Japanese-Americans. A love story, sure, but also a story about trust, friendship and finding happiness (in the magic of ordinary days.)

Behind Rebel Lines

2009-06-01T18:57:00.005-04:00

Title: Behind Rebel Lines
Author: Seymour Reit
Genre: Juvenile Non-Fiction
Pages: 102
Published: 1988
Date Finished: 26 May 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Civil War, Spring, Daring Girls

Franklin Thompson, private in the Union Army; Cuff, contraband Slave; Bridget O'Shea, Irish Peddler; Charles Mayberry, Southern gentleman; alias Emma Edmonds.
Seymour Reit tells the story of Emma Edmonds, a young woman who did not want to stand on the sidelines during the Civil War. Edmonds disguised herself and became Private Franklin Thompson serving as a field nurse and eventually donning more disguises and crossing Confederate lines as a spy for the Union.
Reit created a very enjoyable biography that read more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. It was fun to read about Edmonds various disguises and missions as a spy.
A great choice for younger readers, it did leave me wanting to know more about Emma and her experiences during the war. Since finishing this book I have ordered a copy of her memoirs that were published shortly after the war and have also checked out a few more books from the library about women who were spies and or disguised themselves as men during the Civil War. Some of the titles I look forward to reading on the subject are, They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers during the American Civil War by DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook, Southern Lady, Yankee Spy by Elizabeth R. Varon and Wild Rose: Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Civil War Spy by Ann Blackman.

TSS: Louis Bromfield's Books

2009-05-31T18:43:00.011-04:00

Over the Memorial Day weekend my family went camping at Malabar Farm State Park up near Mansfield, Ohio. The farm was once owned and run by Pulitzer Prize winning author Louis Bromfield.
Bromfield shot to fame with the publication of his first novel, The Green Bay Tree, in 1924. His popular and financial success were so great that he was able to devote himself to writing full time. Bromfield won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1927 with his 3rd book Early Autumn.
In 1925 Bromfield and his family moved to France where Bromfield became part of the group that Gertrude Stein would name The Lost Generation. A young group of artists living in France following WWI, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Edith Wharton. Wharton and Bromfield actually hit it off rather well and maintained a correspondence until her death. It is interesting to note that while Ernest Hemingway is well known and studied by students everywhere today, Louis Bromfield was the more popular and well known author of the day.
In 1938 the Bromfields left a Europe on the brink of war and moved to Richland County, Ohio, close to where Bromfield had grown up.
Bromfield purchased three farms, combined them and named his new home Malabar. Soon his passion turned to soil conservation, restoring plundered forests, and agriculture. Bromfield's farming techniques and innovations became famous and soon he was hosting up to 30,000 visitors and agriculturists a year at his farm. Malabar farm became the most famous farm in America and possibly the world. This fame was helped by Bromfield's Hollywood connections. In 1945 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at Malabar and many other famous celebrities often visited the farm. Bromfield wrote several screenplays for MGM and 7 of his books were turned into movies.
Over time Bromfield's writing turned from fiction to works on agriculture and he lost his standing with critics. When he did write fiction it was for the money, as a means to support his work at the farm. His heart was in the farming and not so much the writing anymore.
The best part about choosing this campsite to stay at was learning all about Bromfield and visiting his 32 room mansion which still looks very much like it did when Bromfield died. What I loved most about the house was that it still houses Bromfield's collection of about 3,000 books!
Here are pictures of a few of the many bookshelves scattered throughout the home.I love this desk! Bromfield had it designed himself with big shelves all across the front to house books.
This last picture is part of a poem that E.B. White wrote about Malabar Farm and that was published in the New Yorker. Here is a short excerpt:

Malabar Farm is the farm for me,
It's got what it takes to a large degree:
Beauty, alfalfa, constant movement,
And a terrible rash of soil improvement.
Far from orthodox in its tillage,
Populous as many a village,
Stuff being planted and stuff being written,
Fields growing lush that were once unfitten,
Bromfield land, whether low or high land,
Has more going on than Coney Island.

When Bromfield went to Pleasant Valley,
The soil was hard as a bowling alley;
He sprinkled lime and he seeded clover,
And when it came up he turned it over.
From far and wide folks came to view
The things that a writing man will do.
The more he fertilized the fields
The more impressive were his yields,
And every time a field grew fitter
Bromfield would add another critter,
The critter would add more manure, despite 'im,
And so it went-ad infinitum.
It proves that a novelist on his toes
Can make a valley bloom like a rose.

Although a prolific and popular author in his day, Bromfield has fallen into obscurity today. Most of his books are out of print and difficult to find. A few have been reprinted by Wooster Book Company and I was able to purchase his Pulitzer Prize winning book Early Autumn and one of the books he wrote about Malabar Farm, Pleasant Valley. If I enjoy them, I am sure I will order more.
I had no idea how much of a history and literary lesson I was going to get when I booked this campsite but I am so glad we went! We have every intention of returning soon.

P.S. A picture of the spot where Bogie and Bacall tied the knot.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

2009-05-30T09:54:00.002-04:00

Title: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Genre: Juvenile
Pages: 198
Published: 1900
Date Finished: 18 May 2009
My Rating: 4
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Visit to Oz, RYOB, Decades, Spring, Daring Girls

The 1939 movie version of the Wizard of Oz holds many fond childhood memories for me. I still have the old VHS copy that my grandma sent me as a birthday gift when I was a young girl, I have countless memories of watching the movie during sleepovers and one of the few things I remember from a family trip to Washington D.C. when I was a young girl is seeing the ruby red slippers (which are actually silver in the book) at the Smithsonian Museum.
I often thought about checking out the books from the library and reading them when I was younger but never did. I remember being confused about what order the books went in and instead of trying to figure it out, just never read them.
The book was really a treat to read and I am glad I've finally read it as it is vastly different from the movie. I tried to go into my reading without drawing comparisons between book and movie, but really, when you are so familiar with a movie it is impossible not to let it influence your reading.
The book is populated with characters and places that never made it into the movie. Places like the land of the Winkies and China Country and characters like the Queen of the Field Mice and a second good witch. One part of the story I found particularly interesting is that the Emerald City was not so Emerald! Oz made everyone where glasses that made everything appear green. Lots of surprises in this little volume and well worth the few hours it took to breeze through the narrative. The book is surprising violent at times but nothing horrifying. The way in which the Tin Man actually became a Tin Man was probably the most violent episode.
I loved that the book really illustrated that each character really possessed in abundance those qualities they thought they were lacking. The Cowardly Lion repeatedly performed brave acts, the Scarecrow was always solving tricky problems and the Tin Man was always looking out for other animals and creature and could not tolerate any harm coming to anyone.
Considered the first truly original American fairy tale, I think The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a book that everyone should read.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

2009-05-29T15:04:00.007-04:00

Title: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Author: Howard Pyle
Genre: Classics, Fiction
Pages: 390
Published: 1883
Date Finished: 12 May 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Spring, Decades, Classics, RYOB, New Author

My son has recently developed an interest in all things Robin Hood. I was searching for some juvenile level books that I could read to him when I discovered that there are a number of versions of the Robin Hood legend floating around. I decided, in addition to reading the juvenile versions to my son, it would be fun to read some of the longer novelizations and compare them. I picked up Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood first but it was not until I arrived home with my book that I realized Pyle was very much an American. I thought it ironic that my first dip into the Robin Hood legend, a very British legend, should be written by an American.
All the characters that have become familiar, at least in name, through various movie and TV versions of the tale were present and accounted for: Friar Tuck, Will Scarlett, Little John, Allan a Dale etc. Pyle tells each character's story and how they came to be a part of Robin's band of Merry Men.
I thought it was interesting that Robin was just a yeoman who got into trouble for killing one of the sheriff's cousins and not a noble returning from the crusades (once upon a time I loved Kevin Costner's Robin Hood a little too much.) Apparently, some of the legends paint Robin as a yeoman and some as a wealthy man and Pyle went with the yeoman version for his retelling. Adds more to the everyman idea of Robin Hood, I think. Pyle also painted a more restrained Robin who only killed twice in the story, once at the beginning when he becomes an outlaw and again later when he faces Guy of Gisbourne, who is out to kill Robin.
One other interesting note is that Maid Marian is only mentioned once in the entire narrative and then only in passing. I am interested to see if she plays a bigger role in the next book I read.
I really enjoyed reading this tale of Robin Hood. I found the prose enjoyable and different from what I normally read. Lots of laughs, and definitely lots of action as Robin gathers his band, outwits the sheriff and becomes a hero through his "redistribution of the wealth."
I must not forget to mention the illustrations, which really added to this book. Pyle was an accomplished artist and his illustrations really add a great dimension to his story. If you do read Pyle's version of the Robin Hood legend, be sure you find a copy that includes the illustrations.

Some Tame Gazelle

2009-05-25T09:40:00.004-04:00

Title: Some Tame Gazelle
Author: Barbara Pym
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 252
Published: 1950
Date Finished: 30 April 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Decades, New Author, Library

Barbara Pym's first novel, published in 1950, tells the story of middle aged spinsters Harriet and Belinda Bede. Bubbly, chubby, fun and outgoing Harriet loves to take young curates under her wings and has made a habit of turning down the marriage proposals of an Italian Count. Meek, shy and romantic Belinda has been harboring feelings of unrequited love for the town's vicar whom she has known since they were in college together.
A comedy about life in an English country village filled with a host of eccentric characters. Sounds like just the type of novel I would adore and sing the praises of, but my enjoyment of this book was much lower than I thought it would be. I thought maybe it is because I am not a middle aged spinster (still in my twenties, have been married for 8 years and have 2 kids) but that has not stopped me from enjoying other such books so that is not it.
This book did have plenty of humorous and enjoyable moments that I got caught up in reading but at other times I was just not feeling compelled to open the book and keep going. A good book but I don't know if the book or the author garners the comparisons to Jane Austen that I have seen heaped upon them.
But I am not done with Barbara Pym. I have heard so much good, those Jane Austen comparisons etc, and this was her first novel so I will read more of her books and hope to find something that pulls me in more than Some Tame Gazelle did.

All-Of-A-Kind Family

2009-05-24T08:56:00.005-04:00

Title: All-Of-A-Kind Family
Author: Sydney Taylor
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pages: 189
Published:1951
Date Finished: 19 May 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Spring, Daring Girls

I only wish I had read this before I read The Other Half. I really tried not to be cynical while reading this book and reminded myself that this is just a fun book for kids not a treatise on life in tenements on the east side of New York. It's just that after reading about Jacob Riis, I can't help but see this book as a very rose colored look at tenement life. Yes, I know not everyone lived in dank, dark, squalor but they were still surrounded by it.
So, unfortunately my reading of this book was tainted by my recent reading of The Other Half, otherwise I am sure I would be much more ready with praise.
A fun, lighthearted look at a family of girls living on New York in 1912. It was interesting to read about some of the Jewish holidays that I really did not know much about. Lots of great little stories but it just rang a little too unrealistic for me.

Dandelion Wine

2009-05-23T07:00:00.002-04:00

Title: Dandelion Wine
Author: Ray Bradbury
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 281
Published: 1946
Date Finished: 14 May 2009
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Spring, Daring Girls

I am at a bit of a loss as to what to write about this book because I was, frankly, at a loss reading most of it. I just seem to be hitting upon a lot of books that are so beloved by others but just didn't appeal to me at all. I know this book is well liked by legions of people but I just thought it was kinda weird.
Dandelion Wine really seemed to be a collection of short stories involving many of the same characters during the summer of 1928 in a town in Illinois. There is really not much of a plot arc but that is usually fine with me as long as the characters are ones I care about. Hmm. Not so much in this case.
Poetic? I guess you could say that but I found it to be more of a hodge podge of words and strange stories. I did enjoy some of the stories but overall I just did not connect with this book. So many people love it though, so maybe you will too.

Black Beauty

2009-05-22T07:06:00.003-04:00

Title: Black Beauty
Author: Anna Sewell
Genre: Juvenile, Classic
Pages: 207
Published: 1877
Date Finished: 16 April 2009
My Rating: 2 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Decades, Classics, Victorian, Spring, Daring Girls

I know this book is a much beloved children's classic and, in fact, that is why I picked it up. I was never a horse crazy girl and never had any interest in reading a book narrated by a horse but I've decided to read some of the classic children's books I overlooked when I was younger.
I had a difficult time with this one. Oh, it was an easy read, it was just hard to read it without rolling my eyes or making snarky comments. I have to wonder if any other 200 page book could be filled with so much cliched moralizing? Sure, the author is conveying good messages, be nice to animals, don't be a drunk etc but boy is it just shoved down your throat.
While I found this book less than enjoyable I realize that the moralizing is really par for the course in much Victorian literature and do have to give credit to the work and the author for breaking literary ground at the time it was published. Sewell tackled a contemporary issue in a unique way, the horse narrating his own story, and was able to be a catalyst for change. The story of horses being abused by their owners brought to people's attention the need for laws that would protect these animals from harsh and abusive treatment.
So, my kudos to the author for her ability to bring about improvements and changes but that did not translate into this 1877 children's novel being an enjoyable read for me today. I can only take so many cliches in one book.

Wintergirls

2009-05-21T07:42:00.006-04:00

Title: Wintergirls
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 278
Published: 2009
Date Finished: 27 April 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, Seconds, Young Adult

It was pretty easy to get caught up in Laurie Halse Anderson's newest book, Wintergirls. A chilling look at a girl dealing with anorexia, it was not always a pleasant read but it was definitely compelling.
Lia's former best friend has died alone in a motel room after calling Lia dozens of times with pleas for help. Lia has been to rehab twice before but the death of her friend sends her on a downward spiral as she tries to lower her weight more and more.
I liked that the story was told from Lia's perspective because as a reader you were really able to see how warped the thought process can be for someone suffering from this disorder.
I did not necessarily care too much for all the strike throughs, dots and dashes etc in the text. A little too gimmicky for me, but I can see those things appealing to the books intended audience.
I found this book both disturbing and compelling at the same time.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

2009-05-20T09:00:00.005-04:00

Title: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
Author: Tiffany Baker
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 341
Published: 2009
Date Finished: 21 April 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100, Library, New Author, Pub

I need to create a new category of books for myself and call it "books I really wanted to like because they came highly recommended from people whose opinions I generally trust but just didn't like."
I eagerly picked up The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker because I had heard and read so many good reviews of the novel and its author. Unfortunately, this family saga about two sisters, the beautiful Serena Jane and the giant Truly, just failed to capture me. Born with a pituitary gland disorder Truly is, literally not just figuratively, a giant. She lives unhappily with her father and sister in upstate New York (her mother died while giving birth to the little giant.) Life changes for Truly when, after the death of her father, she moves in with a family living on a farm on the outskirts of town. Beautiful Serena Jane is left with a family in town and embraces her life of beauty and ease.
This was a novel of contrasts, beauty and ugliness, nice people and mean people. The novel explored many themes including love, betrayal, euthanasia, rape, true friendship and homosexuality. Maybe it was because the author tried to explore so many different themes in one book and never really focused well on any of them that the narrative did not work for me. The stories never seemed to go anywhere and I found myself getting bored. Not to mention the number of things that went unanswered or explored. Too many holes.
The fact the the novel was told by Truly but she was given an omniscient narrative voice also bothered me at times. How did Truly know what was going on in places she was not present and inside people's heads? The writing was also too lyrical and flowery at times to have been Truly's voice. It just did not fit.
I did not find many of the characters to be likable or sympathetic, including Truly, who became rather hateful and cruel herself at times or just frustrated me with the choices she made.
The novel started out strong and there were some narrative threads that I enjoyed but things just floundered out somewhere along the way. An OK book, and while it does not get a blanket recommendation from me, I know there is a slew of positive reviews out there, so obviously many people felt differently about this book than I do.

The Zookeeper's Wife

2009-05-15T07:15:00.004-04:00

Title: The Zookeeper's Wife
Author: Diane Ackerman
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 368
Published: 2007
Date Finished: 14 April 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, WWII, Name

This is one work of non-fiction that just missed the mark for me. I was really looking forward to reading this account of WWII but found myself frustrated and bored while reading it.
According to the book, The Zookeeper's Wife tells the story of Jan and Antonia Zabinski, zookeepers in Poland who managed to use the zoo and it's facilities to hide and save the lives of countless Jews during the war.
When the book actually focused on the Zabiniskis and their work with the underground it was really interesting. Unfortunately, the author went on too many side trips and tangents that took away from the story of the Zabinskis. Ackerman's background as a naturalist really came through in her writing but I did not pick up this book to read long descriptions of beetles and other insects or animals. There was a lot of history and information included that did not promote or add to the central story but instead distracted from it. I really wish Ackerman could have stayed focused on the Zabinskis and Antonia especially. The times when Antonia's diary was quoted or the narrative shared Antonia's experiences were really great but there just was not enough of those moments in the book.
The story of the Zabinskis is a heroic one of courage and kindness carried out in the most harrowing of circumstances and I think I would have enjoyed their story more in the hands of a different author. It was just too difficult to find a cohesive story in this text.

The Other Half

2009-05-14T11:36:00.007-04:00

Title: The Other Half: The Life of Jacob Riis and the World of Immigrant America
Author: Tom Buk-Swienty, translated by Annette Buk-Swienty
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 331
Published: 2008
Date Finished: 28 April 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, Shoes

When Jacob Riis died in 1914 he was considered a hero and mourned by millions, including his personal friend and fellow reformer Theodore Roosevelt. But how many of us today know who Jacob Riis was or what he did to gain such a reputation?
In his very readable and fascinating biography Tom Buk-Swienty has brought the story of Jacob Riis back to life. "As if plucked from a variant Horotio Alger novel, his is the story of a poor young Dane from the isolated yet picturesque medieval town of Ribe who immigrates to the United States in 1870 because of broken heart, nearly starves during his first months there, and is so despondent that he nearly dies. He then goes on to live what can only be described as the proverbial American dream: He starts at the bottom, struggles mightily, and then makes a living as an iron salesman. Once again, though, he loses all; then by chance he gets a job as a low-paid journalist and, in a few years, becomes a star police reporter and, finally, the author of a resounding best seller and classic, How the Other Half Lives. At the same time he practically invents modern photojournalism, is knighted by the Danish King, and becomes a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Together they fight police corruption and work to eradicate the worst slums in New York City, their herculean efforts succeeding beyond anyone's expectations." (xv)
In short, Riis was an early progressive reformer and muckraking reporter before the term muckraker had even been coined. This poor Danish immigrant became one of the biggest social reformers of the day, campaigning successfully against the slums and tenements. Riis' work brought massive reforms including the destruction of some of the worst slums in New York Cty. Mulberry Bend was once an infamous slum and is today known as Columbus Park due to the efforts of Riis. Jacob Riis made it impossible for the wealthy and middle class Americans of the day to keep ignoring the poor and destitute living amongst them. Riis photographs, taken with a revolutionary new flash, literally brought the dark and dank slums to light.
Tom Buk-Swienty's biography does an excellent job of telling Jacob Riis' story, from his early life in Denmark, his heartbreak over the love of his life (and the amazing turn around that actually leads to him getting the girl), his early destitute days in America and his, eventual, dedicated hard work that led to him becoming a famous reporter and reformer. The book also provides an excellent look at life in New York City at the turn of the century and the break with old Victorian standards towards the poor and charity. A very compelling biography.Here are some links to more information about Riis:
-If you've got a few minutes, watch this video clip from a documentary about Riis. It showcases many of his photographs.
-An NPR article about Riis and Buk-Swienty's biography.

Saplings

2009-05-13T21:17:00.008-04:00

Title: Saplings
Author: Noel Streatfield
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 377
Published: 1945
Date Finished: 6 April 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: 100+, WWII, Decades, RYOB, Seconds

"Really! I wish I didn't have to grow up. Do you know, Alice, I'm beginning to wonder if we've not been told things wrong. I mean, we're told that children behave badly and grown-ups are always right. I wonder if we shan't find that grown-ups do worse things than children." (240)

This heart-wrenching and painful book really packed an emotional wallop for me. It is not what I would characterize as one of those "charming" books I love to read. In fact, at times it was downright difficult to read, but I still really came away loving this book. Sounding a bit contradictory arn't I? I just found this book to be a powerful and moving story about the sad destruction of a family.
The saplings from Streatfield's novel are the four Wiltshire children, Laurel, Tony, Kim and Tuesday, whose lives are uprooted and forever altered due to war.
Before the outbreak of World War II the Wiltshire family led a pretty typical middle class life, with a nanny, governess, nice home in London and trips to the beach. Granted their mother, Lena, was not an ideal mother, she really saw her children as more of an accessory to be trotted out for other people to admire than as her children, to be loved and cared for, but their lives were still happy, good and pretty carefree.
"Laurel, at eleven, was conscious of being happy. 'I'll never be as happy again. When I'm quite old , as old as thirty, I'll come back to this bit of Eastbourne. I'll come on the same day in June and remember me now.' Then, because of the tight, bursting feeling of pleasure, she turned two cartwheels and attempted to stand on her hands." (1)
The disintegration of the family begins when the children are sent to live with their grandparents in the country and their mother stays behind in London with their father because she thinks it is more important that she be with her husband than with her children. As the novel progresses the children deal with more loss and their lives become more and more shattered. The adults in their lives do not listen to or understand the children and are the cause of most of their suffering. Yes, the war was a catalyst for their suffering but if the adults in their lives had been able to provide some stability the children could have fared better. I can't tell you how angered I got reading this book because of the adult characters who should have been looking out for and taking care of these children and instead only made their lives more tragic.
Published in 1945, this novel takes a psychological look at the war and its impact on children as the events were unfolding. A powerfully drawn story about war and loss. I think I will be revisiting this one again some day.

Follow the River

2009-05-12T21:40:00.005-04:00

Title: Follow the River
Author: James Alexander Thom
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 406
Published: 1981
Date Finished: 30 March 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, Library

I read this book for book club and then went out of town and missed the meeting when the book was discussed. I am not sure if that is good or bad because I did not enjoy this book very much whereas, I think, most of the other members of the book group I attend did enjoy it.
Follow the River tells the story of Mary Draper Ingels, who was abducted by Indians and lived amongst them for a time before escaping and walking about 800 miles through wilderness terrain to return home. I found this article in Blue Ridge Country Magazine that gives an account of Mary's experience.
I like good historical fiction but I just don't know if I can consider this good historical fiction. Reading this book really left me wanting to read some non-fiction on the subject to get a better feel for the real story.
The fact that this novel was based on a true story was the most interesting thing it had going for it. I just did not care for the author's treatment of the story. I felt several parts were just to sensationalized and unrealistic. For example, I found myself questioning if the author really expected me to believe that this woman was have feelings for the man who just days before brutally massacred most of her family and friends and destroyed her home and village? Really? Truly? Please! And her husband? He was drawn pretty flat and unlikeable. His biggest concern about his wife, who has just arrived home emaciated and barely alive after her harrowing journey, is whether or not she has been "spoiled" by the Indians. And if she had been? Well, he just did not think he could live with that. Nice. Plays a little too much into outdated stereotypes.
The narrative also really dragged at times as I felt I was reading the same thing over and over and over again. I know it was a long, harrowing and difficult journey and I know it is a miracle Mary even made it back to Virginia but I don't think I need to read about the roots they are eating and cliffs they are climbing on every page for about 200 pages.
Honestly, just give me some good primary sources to read about Mary Ingles and I am sure I'll enjoy them much better than I did this novel.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

2009-05-07T09:03:00.002-04:00

The balance of power is officially shifting in my family. The girls will now outnumber the boys. I am having another girl!
Now we have to decide what to name her. I would like something classic, maybe even literary. My husband wants something bland, boring and overused.
My son has decided her name is Molly and will not accept anything else. It is better than Lightning McQueen, his previous pick. You might note, however, that Molly is the name of Andy's little sister from Toy Story.

Our Mutual Friend

2009-05-05T11:40:00.004-04:00

Title: Our Mutual Friend
Author: Charles Dickens
Genre: Fiction, Classic
Pages: 884
Published: 1865
Date Finished: 27 Feb 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: Victorian, Chunkster, Decades, RYOB, 100+

Simply not my favorite novel by Charles Dickens. In fact, this is the first Dickens novel I've encountered that I did not just get wrapped up in and totally love. I guess it was bound to happen.
There were way too many plots and sub plots and characters for me to even try to summarize this book so I am not even going to try.
What I generally love about a Dickens novel are the characters. Nobody does character development like Dickens and the whole plethora of interesting and strange characters were all there, but they just seemed to be lacking something this time around, like a cohesive plot. The most interesting characters were the creepy ones (Charley Hexam, Bradley Headstone and Eugene Wrayburn.) But there were many that I could not find myself caring about and sighed every time I came to a chapter featuring them (the Veneerings, Twemlow and that lot.) And the rest, eh, just so-so. Sometimes interesting and made the story feel like it was actually going somewhere and other times just made the story feel bogged down.
This was the most tedious and at times confusing Dickens novel I've read but it was still Dickens and therefore in the end, looking back over the novel as a whole, well worth the time and effort. Definitely the darkest Dickens novel I've read.
Just don't start with this novel if you are new to reading Dickens. Start with something like Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby or The Pickwick Papers.

The Painted Veil

2009-05-04T09:32:00.004-04:00

Title: The Painted Veil
Author: W. Somerset Maugham
Genre: Fiction, Classic
Pages: 246
Published:1925
Date Finished: 28 February
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: Decades, RYOB, New Author, 100+

Kitty, Kitty, Kitty! Kitty Fane is such a wonderful and wonderfully flawed character. The reader is aware of her faults, most of the other characters in the novel are aware of her faults, but Kitty? She is pretty blind to her faults. How happy it made this reader to see Kitty grow and mature and begin to recognize some of her short comings only to be so disappointed when she made some really stupid mistakes, again. Kitty, Kitty, Kitty. I can't help but shake my head.
I really loved W. Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil and I found Kitty Fane to be one of the best drawn female characters I've read in awhile.
So, what were Kitty's faults that were so obvious to everyone but herself? She was shallow, spoiled, ambivalent, and pretty naive.
Beautiful but still single at 25 Kitty,out of desperation, accepts the marriage proposal of Walter Fane, a man who is the exact opposite of Kitty and whom she has nothing in common with. Walter is a shy and boring bacteriologist who loves Kitty beyond reason despite her ambivalence towards him.
Walter's job takes them to Hong Kong where Kitty has an affair with a married man. When Walter discovers the affair he gives Kitty an ultimatum to travel to inland China with him where he will work to curb a cholera outbreak or Walter will divorce her, causing a scandal.
Poor, naive Kitty believes she can convince her lover to leave his wife and marry her but of course her lover has no intention of leaving his wife and Kitty is forced to accompany her husband, a man she now fears, into the middle of a cholera outbreak.
We begin to see Kitty transform as she realizes there is more to the people and world around her. She begins to mature and appreciate others, even giving of herself to others in an unselfish manner. But will she be able to rescue her self or her marriage completely?
A wonderfully drawn and unembellished story. Highly recommend.

A note on the movie: I'll be up front and admit I'd never heard of this book until I saw it was made into a movie. The movie looked really interesting but I held off watching it until I'd read the book. The movie really fleshed out Walter a lot. The book was so much about Kitty but the movie really gave more dimension and maybe a little more insight in Walter. His work in China trying to fight the cholera epidemic was explored and dramatized and really made the movie more interesting, I think, than if it had not been added. Kitty and Walter's ultimate relationship was changed and made into more of a romantic love story and Kitty ended up stronger at the end of the movie than she was portrayed in the book. Inevitable changes were made from book to movie but I still really enjoyed the movie.

Look What I Got!

2009-05-01T11:02:00.005-04:00

That box is part 1 of my Mother's Day/Anniversary Present. New bookshelves! I am so excited!
I really like the bookshelves I have in my living room but they are short and kinda narrow and my books outgrew them about 5 minutes after I bought them. Since my wedding anniversary (8 years!) and mother's day are only a week apart, I thought it would be the perfect time to buy new shelves. We went to Ikea and picked out some shelves that are much taller and wider and will accommodate many more books. To make things easier on the pocket book we decided to just buy one shelf at a time. We will go back and get the other one in a few more weeks. My husband is going to put the new shelf together for me tonight but I could not wait that long to get things going so I cleared off and moved one of the old shelves to its new home.
Now that I am going to have space for more books I am pulling all the books I have scattered around the house in various odd places together. I am working on an organization plan. Here are the categories or sections that I've come up with:
-Persephone/Virago/British writers
-Jane Austen and books about her
-American
-International (although, looking at my collection I see mostly American and British writers. Think I need to work on expanding horizons at bit more.)
-Memoirs/bios
-Mysteries (older, classic ones followed by modern)
-Misc/modern(books that I can't seem to fit in other categories)
-Young Adult
-Juvenile/Middle Grade
-Non-Fiction (organized by time period and location)
-Faith/Religious

We'll see what happens when I actually start putting them on the shelves. :-)
I've got a busy weekend planned. In addition to organizing books I want to clean the carpet in the kids playroom and the stairs. I am also really hoping to write about half a dozen book reviews. I've been so bad about actually writing my thoughts on books lately. I need to get caught up. So be prepared, if all goes according to plan I will have a book post up every day for the next week or so.

Non-Fiction Five

2009-04-28T11:13:00.009-04:00

I just finished a really interesting book about Jacob Riis and realized that I need another good non-fiction book to read. That reminded me that the Non-Fiction Five challenge starts in a few days and I still hadn't signed up.
Trish is hosting the challenge this year and the basic idea is to read 5 non-fiction books between May and September (visit the sign up post at Trish's Reading Nook to get all the details.) I really enjoy non-fiction and have created a list of books that I think I will be reading in the coming months.

Jane Austen: A Life by Clair Tomalin
House of Abraham by Stephen Berry
Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Walking with Beatrix Potter by Norman Buckley
The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm by Juliet Nicolson
We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Battan by the Japanese by Elizabeth M. Norman

I know that is 6 books and we only need to read 5 but I have so many non-fiction books in my TBR list right now that I could easily list more than 20...

Books Read:
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein
Posters for the People by Ennis Carter
At Home with Beatrix Potter by Susan Denyer
The Journal of Helene Berr by Helene Berr

The Sunday Salon: Reading Outdoors

2009-04-26T16:37:00.007-04:00

This weekend has been absolutely lovely and warm (hot) and I am trying to take advantage of it by taking my reading outside.
I've always loved taking a book outside to read and enjoy. When I was younger I would lay in the grass in my parents yard to read or walk down to a neighborhood park that had a little wooded area and find a nice spot to sit and read. I don't get many chances to go off and read by myself these days but there are a few spots around my yard that I like to take up residence with a good book on a nice day.

The bench on my little front patio. Although not the most comfortable this spot does get some shade from a tree. I'll often pop out the front door and sit out here to snatch a few minutes of reading time.If the kids are playing in the back yard I will grab a book and sit on the patio furniture reading with one eye while the other is watching the kids.
Or sometimes I will grab a blanket, lay it out under a tree and lay there reading while the kids play. Since I am starting to get a baby belly laying on the ground is getting increasingly uncomfortable. This afternoon I remembered that my parents had given us an old lawn chair lounger so I had my husband pull it out of the shed. I set it up in the shade and enjoyed some nice reading time while the kids ran around the yard.
Good times!

It is probably difficult to make out the book in these pictures. It is The Other Half: The Life of Jacob Riis and the World of Immigrant America by Tom Buk-Swienty. I was very interested in reading this when I saw it at the library. I learned a little about Jacob Riis in college and wanted to know more. I have hit some duds on the non-fiction side this year so had my fingers crossed that this would be a good one and I've not been disappointed. Riis was a reformer and muckraking reporter/photographer during the Progressive era. His work really forced Americans to look at the horrific reality of the slums and the life of the poorest in society and helped bring about change. Riis lead a very interesting life and this is a definite non-fiction page turner in my opinion. I've got less than one hundred pages left to read and was hoping to finish today but there have been too many distractions so hopefully tomorrow.

Library Loot

2009-04-24T11:01:00.000-04:00

I have not done a library post in a long while. It's not that I haven't been checking out books, I just haven't been good about sharing.
Here is my latest haul.

Fiction:

The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice. I've been reading a lot of positive reviews for this middle grade reader.

Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym. The only Barbara Pym book my library carries. After I read this one I will have to start getting other Pym titles through ILL.

Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. An author I've been meaning to read and am finally going to get to. I look forward with great anticipation to both of these books.

Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani. I bought the first book in the Big Stone Gap series and I think I will like it so I checked out the second one as a follow up.

Non-Fiction:

Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America by Douglas R. Egerton. Since reading Laurie Halse-Anderson's Chains, I've been wanting to find some non-fiction that dealt with slaves in the Colonies during the revolution. I think this book will fit that bill nicely.

The Other Half: The Life of Jacob Riis and the World of Immigrant America by Tom Buk-Swienty. I remember learning a little about Jacob Riis and seeing some of his photographs when I was in college. I am really looking forward to reading this and learning more about Riis.

For Book Group:

One book that I never would have read if my book group had not selected it, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and one book that has been on my radar but who knows how long it would have been before I read it, The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.

(Library Loot)

The Lincolns

2009-04-23T11:17:00.004-04:00

Title: The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary
Author: Candace Fleming
Genre: Juvenile Non-Fiction
Pages: 181
Published: 2008
Date Finished: 14 February 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author, In Their Shoes

What I loved most about this book is that it was not just another book about Abraham Lincoln but as the title implies was about both Abraham and Mary. It was very interesting to get a look at Mary along side her husband.
I also loved the scrapbook format of this book. It is absolutely full of interesting photographs, paintings, newspaper clippings and images of documents. Have a gander at Grant's hand written terms of surrender from Appomattox Court House or a copy of a draft from the Gettysburg address in Lincoln's handwriting. Great stuff. And because the book is set up like a scrapbook there are lots of little sections and snippets of information grouped together that just made a unique and interesting reading experience.
Filled with great trivia and bits of personal information about the Lincoln's this book is not to be missed.
I really want to track down a copy of the author's scrapbook look at Eleanor Roosevelt. That should be really interesting.

TSS: Vera Brittain's Because You Died

2009-04-19T12:18:00.004-04:00

First of all I would like to send a shout out and say way to go to all the Read-A-Thon participants. I have not had a chance to read through any read-a-thon posts yet but I am sure you all rocked and had a great time. Hopefully, I will be joining you again for the next one.

My first order from The Book Depository arrived Friday afternoon and I could not have been more thrilled to pull that package out of my mailbox. I knew as soon as I discovered The Book Depository that I would order Because You Died, a collection of Vera Brittain's poetry and prose, first because I really wanted to read it but it is not available here in the States.

I first discovered Vera Brittain's writing about ten years ago during a history class in college. We were doing a unit on WWI when my professor showed us video that quoted from Brittain's Testament of Youth. I don't even know what was quoted now but I remember being intrigued and scribbling her name down so I would not forget it. I was able to track down a copy of Testament of Youth at the library but as soon as I started reading it I knew I needed my own copy. When I went to order a copy for myself I also found and ordered a published copy of her war diary and a compilation of the letters between Brittain, her brother, fiance and two friends from the war.
I am not sure why Vera Brittain's account of the war sucked me in so completely. I imagine it is probably because WWI seemed like such a male dominated period of history and here was something that gave the female perspective on this horrible war. Here was the aftermath, the lives of those left behind to pick up the pieces.

Mark Bostridge and the people at Virago have put together a really lovely volume of Vera Brittain's poetry and prose from the first World War and after. The first half of the book is the poetry with lots of photographs and the second half of the volume contains selections of prose. I've just started reading the prose section today and am hoping to read through the rest of it this afternoon and evening.
I thought it was interesting to read her piece on working in the German ward while at the field hospital at Etaples, France. I think the beginnings of Brittain's later pacifism can be traced in part to this experience.
"But when I think of Edward in one part of France working to annihilate these very same people that I in another part am working to save, I begin to realise the folly and tragedy of war in a way I never did before."
Vera Brittain's writing reminds us that women did play a major roll in and were very much effected by the war and that their experiences should be represented in literature and history. I think there seems to be a decent amount of writing about women's experiences during the Second World War but a substantially less amount from WWI. Maybe I am wrong though and just have not been steered in the right direction to find more women's history from that war. I'll have to keep looking into it.
I am sure I will have more to say when I have finished reading.

I also received a second book from The Book Depository this weekend, Two People by A.A. Milne. I am very eager to begin reading this book. This story about marriage is sure to be a vastly different reading experience from reading Milne's Winnie the Pooh series, the only books by Milne that I've read.

I am going to have to refrain from ordering more from The Book Depository. While the shipping is free, the books are not. I have, however, filled my wish list with more than 20 books that I would like to order. Wouldn't it be so nice to be able to order them all?

Printz Project

2009-04-17T09:56:00.003-04:00

It is perpetual which means I can be fifty before I finish this so no comments about how I said no more challenges. :-)
List will be updated with links to my reviews as I read.

2009
Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Nation, by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

2008
The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean
Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet, by Elizabeth Knox
One Whole and Perfect Day, by Judith Clarke
Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, by Stephanie Hemphill

2007
American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume I: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
Surrender, by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

2006
Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Black Juice, by Margo Lanagan
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography, by Elizabeth Partridge
A Wreath for Emmett Till, by Marilyn Nelson

2005
how i live now, by Meg Rosoff
Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel
Chanda’s Secrets, by Allan Stratton
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt

2004
The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson
A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly
Keesha’s House, by Helen Frost
Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

2003
Postcards from No Man’s Land, by Aidan Chambers
The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer
My Heartbeat, by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Hole in My Life, by Jack Gantos

2002
A Step From Heaven, by An Na
The Ropemaker, by Peter Dickinson
Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, by Jan Greenberg
Abrams Freewill, by Chris Lynch
True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2001
Kit’s Wilderness, by David Almond
Many Stones, by Carolyn Coman
The Body of Christopher Creed, by Carol Plum-Ucci
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison
Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman

2000
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
Skellig, by David Almond
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger

Gracing My Bookshelf

2009-04-16T11:37:00.003-04:00

I picked these two books up recently from a secondhand bookstore. It is always tempting to walk away with a big stack of books when I visit a used bookstore but I was good and only bought two.
Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
I am apparently late to the party with this author. A friend of mine was absolutely raving about her and when I confessed I'd never heard of the author she was very aghast. I remedied the situation by buying one of her books.

Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin
A biography about Jane Austen that I've been meaning to read for awhile. I've heard that some people think this is a very definitive bio of Jane Austen and some feel pretty much the exact opposite. You will have to wait and see how I feel.

84, Charing Cross Road

2009-04-15T12:25:00.000-04:00

Title: 84, Charing Cross Road
Author: Helene Hanff
Genre: Biography, Epistolary
Pages: 97
Published: 1970
Date Finished: 2 April 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: New Author, RYOB, Decades, Numbers, 100+

84, Charing Cross Road is a book that has been on my radar for years and I really wish I hadn't waited so long to pick myself up a copy.
Coming in at a slim 97 pages 84, Charing Cross Road is a delightfully charming collection of letters between witty and outspoken New York writer Helen Hanff and stereotypically reticent British book seller Frank Doel.
The 20 year correspondence began in 1949 when Helen wrote to Marks and Co. Booksellers at 84, Charing Cross Road, London to request some rare, out of print titles. Before long Helen befriended Frank and the entire staff at Marks and Co.
I laughed out loud while reading many of the letters and was charmed by the kindness and genuine friendship displayed between a group of people who had never met. I also just loved reading Helen's thoughts and feelings and about her love of books.
This charming little book is not to be missed! (Yes, I do realize that I use the word charming a lot when describing books. I guess I am easily charmed.)
I myself have been wishing I had a Frank Doel over in England to help me locate some books as my interest in out of print British authors seems to be at a peak right now. Oh how nice it would be to have Frank track down some Noel Streatfield, D.E. Stevenson, or Barbara Pym, amongst many others, right now. At least I have the internet to help me, something Helen did not have.

The Emperors of Chocolate

2009-04-14T16:17:00.006-04:00

Title: The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars
Author: Joel Glenn Brenner
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 366
Published:1999
Date Finished: 5 Feb 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: Library, New Author, Decades, 100+

I'll never look at chocolate the same again.
This book was a surprisingly fascinating read. I kept reading out loud or telling my husband about what I was reading because it was all just so interesting and I wanted to share.
I knew the history of Milton Hershey and the Utopian community he tried to create as well as the orphanage he started. What I did not know was how the company he started was managed or mismanaged, as the case may be, after his death. In my opinion, it is nothing short of a miracle that the company survived and is still around and a major confectioner today. For decades after his death the company was run on antiquated business ideas and machinery and the salesmen could hardly be called salesmen as they did very little selling.
What I knew nothing at all about was the Mars family. In fact, before reading this book I could not have told you whether it was a family business or not, and the people at Mars would really prefer it stay that way. The family is extremely private and low key and does all they can not to bring attention to themselves. Forrest Mars Sr. who started the Mars empire that exists today was pretty much the polar opposite of his rival Milton Hershey. Mars was very eccentric and demanding and just not a nice guy in general. He built a well oiled machine of a company and despite his craziness created a business plan that has made his company what it is today.
The information was fascinating but also a bit repetitive at times with a lot of back in forth in time. Ten years old now, the book is a bit out dated and I would love an updated version because a lot has happened in the candy world in the last decade. I guess that is a problem with a lot of non-fiction, facts and information become outdated as soon as a book is published.
Absolutely fascinating. I recommend this book to anyone!

I live under a rock

2009-04-10T07:17:00.002-04:00

I must. How did I not know there is an online bookseller that will ship books to me from the UK with no shipping costs! What have I been doing? Readers, do you know how much time I spend looking at books that are only available in the UK just wishing I could get them but hating the cost to have them shipped? It is a lot of time.
Well, now that I have discovered The Book Depository, I am in trouble.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Big trouble.

Challenges! Challenges! Challenges!

2009-04-09T22:07:00.003-04:00

Oh, how you call my name.
You are what started me on this book blogging journey.
They are called challenges for a reason but sometimes I just want to pull a book off the shelf just because and not worry about how many challenges I can fit it into.
I will continue to plug along but don't be surprised if all 20 or so of you do not get accomplished by deadline time.
2010 might just be a challenge free year for me, how is that for planning ahead?
But then again, don't be surprised if you see me sign up for more still this year. It is called an addiction for a reason, you know?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2009-04-09T11:15:00.004-04:00

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Authors: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 319
Published: 2009
Date Finished: 2 April 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: 100+, New Author, RYOB, Pub

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

I picked this book up at a bookstore a few weeks ago and promptly began skimming through it and looking at the illustrations. What I read and saw I found very amusing and I was eager to jump into this book.
When I started reading I was laughing out loud a lot and thoroughly enjoying myself. I was all prepared to tell all those devout Janeites out there who were up in arms about this book to relax and enjoy this parody for what it is, a fun, entertaining spoof of Pride and Prejudice. Didn't Jane herself parody popular fiction of her time?
Then I got about 50 pages in and realized that the novelty had worn off rather quickly. Reading about zombies in Meryton and Elizabeth Bennet being a skilled warrior was funny at first but then I realized that what made Pride and Prejudice so enjoyable was missing. Gone was Elizabeth Bennet's wit, replaced with the desire to rip out and taste the heart of any one who said anything that upset her. Funny, sure but just lacking long term reading enjoyment.
Maybe if it had been shortened or if there had been more original content it might have been more enjoyable. I'd guess 80-90% was not original content but just Jane Austen's novel with a few inserts about brains, blood, and battling zombies. I honestly found myself skimming large passages because, well, I know the original so well and was really reading this for the bits of parody scattered here and there throughout the novel. The bits and pieces that were written by Grahame-Smith did seem to, usually, fall into the narrative easily, but at times they were spaced so far apart that I found myself rolling my eyes at the unbelievability. I'd forget I was not reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice but Grahame-Smith's zombie parody.
Entertaining and humorous at first but quickly descended into the tedious.
Of course, with all that said, this is by far more enjoyable than the vast majority of Austen sequels and fan fiction out there that have turned Pride and Prejudice into little more than bodice rippers.

Miss Buncle's Book

2009-04-07T15:21:00.006-04:00

Title: Miss Buncle's Book
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 335
Published: 1934
Date Finished: 3 Mar 2009
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenges: Decades, New Author, 100+, Library

While Miss Buncle's Book is a Persephone reprint the copy I read was a very old library book that I was able to find at my local library. While I love reading the lovely Persephone books I also love reading old books so when I found this copy I went ahead and picked it up. There was still an old library card tucked into the back with due dates stamped from 1938. A delightful find, I hate to return it to the library.
If I had a list for books that was labeled simply "charming," Miss Buncle's Book would certainly top the list. A thoroughly charming book from start to finish.
Barbara Buncle's dividends are down and finances are getting tight. Realizing that she must do something to bring in more income she briefly considers keeping hens or taking in boarders but neither seem very appealing. After a comment from her maid, Miss Buncle decides to write a book. The only problem is that she is not a writer and does not know how to write about things she does not know. Miss Buncle's quiet little English village of Silverstream is therefor turned into the village of Cooperfield and the residents of Silverstream become thinly veiled characters in Miss Buncle's book, Disturber of the Peace.
Published under the name of John Smith, Miss Buncle's book becomes a best seller but their is an uproar in Silverstream as the residents recognize themselves and a fair share of their faults in the book. An array of humorous characters join forces to discover who the real John Smith is and make him or her pay for the terrible slander that has been committed against them. While the finger is pointed at many local residents no one even considers that frumpy ol' Miss Buncle could have ever had the ability to pull this book off.
Have I mentioned that I was completely charmed with this book? Oh I did? Well it bears saying again. This book was just plain fun to read. Filled with delightful characters that had me snickering at times to laughing out loud at others. There are a lot of characters and the book within a book idea could have gotten messy and confusing but it thankfully didn't.
It is hard to find a copy of this here in the states but check your local library. If you can't find a copy there than I suggest you break down and have a Persephone copy shipped from England. I know I'll be adding Miss Buncle's book to my next order because I must have this on my shelf. There is a sequel, Miss Buncle Married, that I've been trying to track down a copy of and I finally have. Yea! I'll be reading it soon.
Can I say it again? Charming and delightful!

Ballet Shoes

2009-04-06T07:40:00.008-04:00

Title: Ballet Shoes
Author: Noel Streatfeild
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pages:233
Published:1937
Date Finished: 31 Jan 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: RYOB, 100+, Decades, New Author

I think Noel Streatfeild is on the way to becoming one of my favorite authors. In addition to Ballet Shoes, which I read earlier this year, I am currently reading her adult novel Saplings and thoroughly enjoying it. I spent a good amount of time browsing ebay and used book sellers in an attempt to track down more of her books since the vast majority of this very prolific author's books are out of print. I am only kicking myself for taking so long to start reading Streatfeild's work.

In Ballet Shoes we meet Pauline, Petrova and Posy. Pauline was orphaned after being the only survivor from a shipwrecked boat. Petrova is the orphaned child of a Russian couple and Posy was given up by her widowed mother who was a ballet dancer. The three children are picked up and adopted by Matthew, a fossil collector, on his journeys. The girls come to call him Gum, short for Great Uncle Matthew. When Gum leaves for his fossil hunting journeys the girls are taken care of by Gum's great-niece, Sylvia and Nana.
When Gum does not return from one of his journeys Sylvia decides to take in boarders in order to help make ends meet. The boarders that move in bring change and new opportunity for the girls. Doctor Smith and Doctor Jakes take over the girl's education and inspire the girls to make their name really important and their own. The girls make a vow every year to get their names in the history books. "We three Fossils vow to try and put our names in history books because it's our very own and nobody can say it's because of our grandfathers." Another boarder, Theo Dane, is a ballet teacher at The Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. After seeing Posy dance, she arranges for the head of the school, Madame Fidolia, to train the girls free of charge.
Pauline soon shows talent as an actress, while Posy is clearly a gifted ballerina. Petrova, however, would rather spend time tinkering with cars in the garage and dreams of flying an airplane.

A thoroughly enjoyable book about three girls who are willing to work hard and sacrifice to make their dreams come true. A wonderful story about family relationships and commitment. Set during the depression of the 1930s the reader gets a real since of what life for these girls, working on the stage to help Sylvia pay the bills, would have been like. Another book that I am adding to my list of books to read to my daughter when she gets a little older.

After reading the book I picked up a copy of the DVD at the library. While the movie really is as charming as the book they did take some great liberties with the story line. Some characters were omitted or had their story changed in order to add a love story to the movie.

Thanks for the Awards

2009-04-05T21:22:00.008-04:00

Over the course of the last several weeks I have had a few fellow bloggers very kindly give me some blog awards and I thought it was about time I thanked them. I received the Friends award from Alyce. At Home With Books is where Alyce blogs and I am so glad I found her (I think it was through Twitter) because she always has something interesting to share and I find lots of new titles to add to my reading list. Plus, as the award may imply, she is supper friendly.
I was very excited to receive this award from Laurel Ann at Austenprose. Laurel Ann is probably my favorite Jane Austen blogger and I get such a little thrill when she visits my blog. If any of my fellow Jane Austen fans have not seen Laurel Ann's blog, you really must check it out. Thanks Laurel Ann! This next award came from Stephanie at Open Mind, Insert Book. First of all, I have to say that I love the name of Stephanie's blog. I also love her blog because she reads such a variety of books that there is always something interesting. Many of the titles she reviews are books that I'd never heard of before but all the sudden feel the need to find. Thanks Stephanie!And last but not least, Kim from Good Clean Reads has awarded me the I Love Your Blog Award.
I always get excited when a post from Kim shows up in my reader. I've made a lot of great blogging friends since I started my blog but I get the feeling Kim is someone I could easily fall into a great friendship with beyond the world of blogs. If only we did not live on opposite ends of the country. Thanks Kim!

You've probably noticed that I've cheated a little and just highlighted the bloggers who gave me the awards and did not pass any of them on. Honestly? I'd just probably give the awards back to the ones who gave it to me or have already been given the award by someone else. I love all the blogs I read and the blogs of everyone who visits my blog. So I award you all!

A Visit to Oz Challenge

2009-04-03T14:43:00.003-04:00

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is already on my list of books to read this year and I was thinking once I read it I should continue the series so here I am signing up for another challenge.
The challenge is being hosted at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog and I encourage you to head over there to get all the details. While you are there check out the links to the Oz series. I never realized there were so many written after Baum died. Eventually I'd like to read them all but it'll take me a few years.
My five book picks for the challenge are the first five in the series:
1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
2. Marvelous Land of Oz
3. Ozma of Oz
4. Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz
5. The Road to Oz

Massacre at Mountain Meadows

2009-03-31T13:56:00.005-04:00

Title: Massacre at Mountain Meadows
Authors: Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, Glen M. Leonard
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 430
Published: 2008
Date Finished: 22 March 2009
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenges: 100+, Library, New Author

In September, 1857 Mormon settlers in an isolated area of southern Utah deceived a group of approximately 120 emigrants with a promise of protection from local Indians. After convincing the emigrants to turn over their weapons the settlers killed all of the emigrant party with the exception of a small handful of children.
In the preface to this book the authors stated that "thoroughness and candor have been our ideals in writing this book, but with so many minds already made up about the role and quilt of participants, we are sure to disappoint some readers."
Luckily for me I did not have my mind made up one way or the other and in fact knew very little about the Mountain Meadows Massacre and so was able to read and appreciate the depth of research that went into this book. The authors decided not to write their book as a response to what others have written but to return to the primary sources and basically start from ground zero. As a former student of history, I can thoroughly appreciate this approach. They turned to local and genealogical sources as well as regional and national newspapers to gain information on the immigrants, the settlers, and conditions in Utah at the time of the massacre. They were also able to use the collection of church and militia records from the Family and Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Essentially, they were able to tap into previously untapped resources and also shed new light on resources that have not been looked at or used in years.
As I stated, I knew very little about this incident before reading this book. I read an article here and there over the years but had never made much effort to learn more. As such, this book and the details surrounding the massacre and events in Utah at the time was pretty interesting and enlightening for me.
Even after reading this account it is incomprehensible to me how these settlers could take a few annoyances, minor skirmishes and essentially empty threats and believe that it justified a mass killing. While the authors do a great job of placing the massacre within the big picture of life during the time period and local events going on at the time, they never excuse or try to justify the settlers actions.
"There were conflicts on the southern road. But the emigrants did not deserve what eventually happened to them at Mountain Meadows. The massacre was not inevitable. No easy absolution for the perpetrators is possible. Their later posturing and rationalization could never overcome one irrefutable fact: All the purported wrongs of the emigrants-even if true-did not justify the killing of a single person."

I also appreciated and learned much from the author's research and descriptions of religious and ethnic violence and the process that leads to mass violence and killing.
"As emotions build, the perpetrators become convinced that their opponents are a threat to their people and values. They claim to act defensively, even while are are aggressors. Rumors are everywhere, and perception becomes reality. The final cataclysm is sudden and almost inexplicable."

"For the most part, the men who committed the atrocity at Mountain Meadows were neither fanatics nor sociopaths, but normal and in many respects decent people. The modern age, confronted with mass violence and killings, has rediscovered a fundamental aspect of theology. 'If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them,' wrote Russian Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn. 'But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who wants to destroy a piece of his own heart.' "

I will admit that there were so many people involved between the emigrants, the militia and the Indians that at times the reading and keeping all the players separated did get a little tedious but it was worth the effort. The book did end a little abruptly without giving much of the story after the massacre. I would like to learn more about the aftermath.
An eye opening and mostly intriguing look at a tragic event that never should have happened.

Coraline

2009-03-30T18:32:00.006-04:00

Title: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Juvenile, Fantasy
Pages:179
Published:2002
Date Finished: 20 January 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: Library, New Author, 100+, Dewey's Books

I read this book as part of the Dewey's Books Challenge. I liked this quote from Dewey's review discussing the then not yet released movie. "If this book has been made into a movie, and if you’ve seen the movie, compare the book to the movie. It is being made into a movie. I feel skeptical. I don’t like the promotional poster. I don’t like the idea of Dakota Fanning as Coraline. No, no, no. I want 1988 Winona Ryder as Coraline."
I have not seen the movie yet myself but I agree about Dakota Fanning. You can read Dewey's review of Coraline at The Hidden Side of a Leaf.

It seems Neil Gaiman is the belle of the ball in the literary world right now. I thought it was about time I read one of his books so I would know what all the buzz is about. Since Coraline was about to come out as a movie I decided to go ahead and start there.
Coraline is a sort of horror novel for the tween set. Coraline is bored and none of the adults in her life seem to be listening to her. Looking for something fun to do Coraline ventures through a small door in her house. On the other side she finds a world that is similar yet disturbingly different from her own. She enters into a challenge with her "other mother" in an attempt to save her life, the lives of her parents and three other children.
Maybe it is my general under appreciation of the fantasy genre rearing its head again, but I found this book to just be a little, eh, alright, nothing great. I suppose it could very likely be a scary read for its intended audience but it did not have that effect on me. For me, the story and characters just fell a little flat and I found my attention waning a number of times, which can't be a good thing for a book that is under 200 pages.
I thought it was a fun and creative book and I did like it but did not think it was great.
The book I picked up from the library was a movie tie in edition. There was a section of full color stills from the movie, an excerpt from the screenplay and notes from Neil Gaiman and Henry Selnick, the director, about the route Coraline took from book to stop motion animated movie. I do plan to watch the movie one of these days and wonder if it will be a rare case of enjoying the movie more than the book, despite my general dislike of Dakota Fanning. :-)

Spring Reading Thing 2009

2009-03-20T07:56:00.011-04:00

Spring is in the air! Which means it is time to sign up for the Spring Reading Thing hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days.

This year I am going to use the Spring Reading challenge to help me finish 3 other challenges I am signed up for.
Here are the books I am planning to read:

Black Beauty Anna Sewell
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Behind Rebel Lines by Seymour Reit
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Alice

2009-03-13T07:34:00.004-04:00

Title: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker
Author: Stacy A. Cordery
Genre: Biography
Pages: 590
Published: 2007
Date Finished: 29 January 2009
My Rating: 3 Stars
Challenges: Library, New Author, 100, Chunkster, In Their Shoes

Before coming across this biography about Alice Roosevelt Longworth, I knew very little about this woman who was once a major American icon and known around the world as Princess Alice. I knew she was Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, that her mother had died shortly after giving birth to her and that she married a congressman from Cincinnati in a fancy White House wedding but that was about as far as my knowledge went. It turns out there was a lot to learn.

So who was Alice Roosevelt Longworth?
Theodore Roosevelt lost both his wife and his mother within hours of each other. Devastated by grief Roosevelt named his daughter Alice after her dead mother and then left her in the care of his sister. It was not until he remarried and his wife insisted Alice live with them that Roosevelt sent for his daughter. His new wife, childhood friend Edith Kermit Carow, at times took on an almost wicked step-mother persona towards her step daughter and her father pretty much kept ignoring her. Roosevelt never talked to Alice about her mother or even spoke her name. Alice was called Sister by the family so that the name Alice did not have to be used. Alice became a sort of outsider in her own family, never feeling that she fit in with her step brothers and sister.

After Theodore Roosevelt became President, Alice became the rebellious first daughter that the nation and world could not get enough of. Before there were movie stars or celebrity sports stars Alice Roosevelt was a media darling. The press followed her everywhere and she made the headlines for recklessly driving her car, betting on horses, and smoking in public. Alice renounced many of the social conventions of her time much to the relief of some and consternation of others. She became known as Princess Alice to all her worldwide, adoring fans. Her father and mother tried rather fruitlessly to convince Alice to behave properly and keep her name out of the papers, she was garnering more attention than her presidential father. It was not until Alice took a very successful goodwill trip across Asia that the president realized the political value of his celebrity daughter.

Alice loved the fame, the notoriety, living in the White House and being privy to the political scene in the nation's capital. In 1906 she married Nicolas Longworth, a congressman from Ohio and secured a future living in Washington and being a major behind the scenes political player. Alice became one of her father's most trusted political advisers and campaigned for his third term as president. Throughout her life this intelligent and ambitious woman wielded major political power but eschewed holding an official office. She cultivated friendships with those in power and helped to develop others for future political power. She voiced her opinions and did not care what others thought. She was very outspoken against her cousin Franklin Roosevelt's presidency and did not much care for cousin Eleanor. Alice worked to make sure her name and personality were always out there and always influential.

The biography includes details of her relationship with her often drunk and womanizing husband and Alice's affair with Idaho's Senator Borah, who fathered Alice's daughter Paulina.
In fact, details are something this book did not lack at all. While I was fascinated by much of what I was reading the book took on an almost time line effect at times. Lists of dinner guests, who Alice met with, when and where filled page after page. There were so many facts and details but I still felt this book was just skimming the surface when it came to who Alice was. I came away from this very lengthy biography feeling like I still had so much to learn but that I knew every detail about Alice's life. Like many biographies there was a lot of going back in forth in time that often got confusing and left holes in the story that were either filled in much, much later or never at all.
An ambitious and very well researched biography that just seemed to be missing something. Don't read unless you are very interested in the subject or you'll be bored by the many tedious details concerning Alice.

If you are interested in Alice but not sure about reading this long biography you can check out a fun and award winning children's book titled What to do About Alice written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

2009-03-12T06:53:00.002-04:00

Title: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Author: Jamie Ford
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 290
Published: 2009
Date Finished: 11 March 2009
My Rating: 4
Challenges: Pub, WWII, New Author, Library, 100+

I really wanted to rate this book a 5 and if I gave half ratings I suppose I'd give it 4.5. This book just drew me into the setting of Seattle during the 1940s and the internment of American citizens who were of Japanese decent during WWII. This book, in fact, made me cry which is an effect that few books have on me. I tend to be a fairly stoic person and that carries over into my reading but by the time I was finishing this book I was all weepy and glad no one was around to see me working my way through a box of tissues.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet tells the story of Henry Lee through transitions in time between the 1940s and 1986 in Seattle. Henry is the son of a Chinese nationalist obsessed with the war between China and Japan. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor Henry's father decides that his son needs to become more American and will no longer allow Henry to speak any language but English at home even though it breaks down the communication between Henry and his Cantonese speaking parents. Henry is also sent to the exclusive Rainer Elementary where he is the only Asian student and is ruthlessly bullied by the other students. Henry's one friend is Sheldon, a young black jazz musician who plays a saxophone on the street corner.
Amongst the confusion of war and prejudice, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a new Japanese American Student at Rainer. Always fearful of his father's reaction Henry forges a strong bond of friendship with Keiko. As more Japanese people are arrested and rounded up in raids, Henry fears for what will happen to Keiko and her family. When the order for the removal of all Japanese people in Seattle comes down Henry is torn trying to do what is right while struggling to understand what the right thing is. Should he be loyal to his Chinese nationalist family or should he follow his feelings and help Keiko?
The other side of the story takes place in 1986 as Henry, now a widower, is trying to bridge the gap in his relationship with his son and between his past and present life.
This is Jamie Ford's debut novel and while I really enjoyed it, there were some inconsistencies and a bit of redundancy. The use of the Internet in 1986 had me a bit puzzled. Yes, the Internet existed at the time but was not really being used in the ways described in the book.
Perhaps a little heavy on the sentimental side at times, I really enjoyed this thoughtful look at the tragic events surrounding the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII and the glimpse into the Japanese internment camps.