Book For The Week - 10/31/11

Far Away Home by Susan Denning

In between purchases on my Kindle I try to read two to three free books.  Last night I finished a novel that I obtained off of Amazon's free list shortly after I received my kindle for my birthday.  It appealed to me because it is an historical novel.  It starts out with an Irish Catholic Immigrant community in NYC and follows some of it's young people west.  I really enjoyed the book.  I have to admit I am a sucker for books with wagon trains.   I probably should not admit this on the web but anyone who knows me knows this story.   When I was in the fourth grade I stayed in trouble.  My mother kept me grounded trying to obtain some control over me.  Most of my fourth grade year I had to go straight to my room after school,  I was allowed to come down to the table and eat with the family and then I had to go straight back to my room.  As a result I would ask my fourth grade teacher if I could bring some of the books home from the classroom to read.  When I explained why I wanted them I think she felt sorry for me because she sent me home every night I was grounded arms full of the most wonderful books.   As a result I really learned to read well.  My favorite books were about the families that were traveling in wagon trains on the Oregon Trail.  So once this book Far Away Home  got to the point that two of the young people decided to join a wagon train rather than ride the rails on the passenger trains out west I was thrilled.   Here is a video of the author learning to drive a wagon as research for her writing the book.  As always click on the title and the author's name to follow links to learn more.

A Day In Chicago - October 2011

Yesterday morning I finally made it to the Jane Addams Hull House Museum.  I have wanted to go there for several years.  Thursday evening I traveled to my friend Linda's house in Valparaiso and on Friday morning we caught the South Shore into Chicago.  First on the agenda was the Jane Addams Hull House Museum.  The trip in on the train was especially interesting due to the fact we were joined by several school buses of middle school students.  It was NOT a quiet ride into the city.  On a good day the South Shore is crowded but normally the back of one's head is not in danger of being bumped by feet.  Never the less after disembarking the South Shore we caught a city bus to the area where the University of Illinois Chicago Campus is.  After climbing off the bus we only had to walk about a half mile rubbing shoulders with  all the twenty something students on the sidewalks and we arrived at the Hull House.  We lucked out because there was a class of university students being given a tour/lecture at the museum so we just joined them and listened in.  The entire time I was in the house the hair on my arms was just standing up on end.  There are many things that struck me
especially interesting.  For example,  Jane Addams started the Hull House in an immigrant neighborhood that was at the time of the early 1900s mostly Eastern European Immigrants.  There was no water or plumbing in the neighborhood so one of the first things they did was provide a daily bath for children.  They started a day care like setting and later a kindergarten for the children of the working moms.  As time went on they realized that they were limited in the services they could offer to older children because at about age six the little ones joined their older siblings and parents in the work force.  Therefore the Hull House became involved in the labor union movement in order to improve working conditions so children could go to school.   Jane Addams was also involved in the Peace Movement which was not a popular movement during the first world war.  In fact besides winning the Nobel Peace Prize http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/addams-bio.html she was also considered one of the most dangerous women in the country by the FBI which had a very large file on her.  She was inspired to begin her work with the Hull House when she visited Europe after graduating from college.  In London she visited Toynbee Hall  http://www.toynbeehall.org.uk/page.asp?section=30&sectionTitle=History+of+Toynbee+Hall  and there she then knew what she wanted to be her life's work.  The Jane Addams Hull House Museum can be found on the web at
http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/ and is a place that I would encourage any one in the Chicago area to visit.

Dinner And A Movie 10/22/11

Since I am tethered to the beeper this weekend, Mark and I went to our favorite local place to eat (North Side Grill) and rented a movie afterward to watch. I had read this book a few months ago and wanted to see the movie. It is definitely a chick flick but if anyone needs a good cry it will certainly get the job done. I liked it almost as much as the book.

Book For The Week - 10/20/2011

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

http://saragruen.com/water-for-elephants/about/

http://saragruen.com/bio/

Library Journal

When his parents are killed in a traffic accident, Jacob Jankowski hops a train after walking out on his final exams at Cornell, where he had hoped to earn a veterinary degree. The train turns out to be a circus train, and since it's the Depression, when someone with a vet's skills can attach himself to a circus if he's lucky, Jacob soon finds himself involved with the animal acts-specifically with the beautiful young Marlena, the horse rider, and her husband, August. Jacob falls for Marlena immediately, and the ensuing triangle is at the center of this novel, which follows the circus across the states. Jacob learns the ins and outs of circus life, in this case under the rule of the treacherous Uncle Al, who cheats the workers and deals roughly with patrons who complain about blatant false advertising and rip-off exhibits. Jacob and Marlena are attracted to each other, but their relationship is fairly innocent until it becomes clear that August is not merely jealous but dangerously mentally deranged. Old-fashioned and endearing, this is an enjoyable, fast-paced story told by the older Jacob, now in his nineties in a nursing home. From the author of Riding Lessons; recommended for all libraries.-Jim Coan, SUNY Coll. at Oneonta Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

I finished listening to this on audio last pm as I worked on  a sewing project after work.  This is a book that the first few chapters I was afraid was going to be too sad to enjoy.  I had heard so much good about it and was surprised when it started out as such as downer.   But by chapter 4 or so I was sucked into the story and really enjoyed it.  It flips back and forth  between present day with a man in a nursing home and back during the depression when he ran off to join the circus.  Audio books with  more than one voice are always cool.   It is a great love story and I want to see the movie.  The animals in it are delightful  -  especially Rosie the elephant.  And by the way it has a very happy ending!

BTW this is the second book I posted about this week.  I finished one on my kindle earlier in the week.  But instead of posting in the usual format here in blogs,  I posted a video.   In case you missed it http://skeezicks1957.multiply.com/video/item/328/The_Immortal_Life_Of_Henrietta_Lacks

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Written by Rebecca Skloot, the Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks is a book that will stay with me a very long time. I am almost done with it, in fact would have finished reading it on my Kindle last night if I could have stayed awake just a few more minutes so I am sure I will finish it tonight. It deals with the issues of research and gene patents and informed consent. It is excellently put together and I highly recommend it. I was most shocked by the story of Henrietta's one daughter who died shortly after her. I think because I kind of knew what happened with Henrietta but the young daughter's story caught me by surprise.

Book For The Week - 10/7/2011

One Thousand White Women:
    The Journals of May Dodd

by
Jim Fergus 

I just finished listening to this book on audio on my way over to pick up my pay check and attend payday meeting.   This is one book that really lends itself to the audio presentation.  There were two readers and the female voice did a superb job of changing her voice to reflect the different accents of the different female characters.    If an audio book fan this is a good choice for your next selection.  Historical fiction is my favorite genre and I really got lost in this book and swept away to another world.  It starts out with a historical fact that once a Native American Chief did ask for white brides as part of a peace treaty.  His request was not granted and took place fifteen years prior to the time the novel is set.  The novel is fiction and great fun.   In it one thousand white women set out in answer to a request to help our government in a secret program to assimilate the Native Americans for the wild west by agreeing to marry into the tribe and have a child.   They come from various immigrant backgrounds and problem environments that they seek to escape from.   Their story is told through the fictional diary of a woman named May Dodd.   The story is uncovered and her journals found in the medicine man's bags by May's great grandson during  his genealogical research.   While it is not realistic on some fronts it is a delightful fiction story that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

http://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-White-Women-Journals/dp/0312199430
http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Fergus/e/B001H9U1HU/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Vacation September 2011 - Our Last Day

After packing up our suitcases, loading the car and checking out of the lodge we headed Peg's little car toward a pre-arranged meeting place in Waynesdale OH for lunch called the Cobblestone Cafe. Waiting for us and already saving a table was a classmate of mine from my high school graduating class that I had re-connected with on Facebook. He was a gracious tour guide and host as he showed us the town. http://www.waynesvilleshops.com/ It was just a delightful afternoon. After saying good bye to Bruce and Waynesdale we made one more stop before heading back to Fort Wayne. We went to Caesar Creek Sate Park http://caesarcreekstatepark.com/ and walked around and photographed the Pioneer Village. It was a great few days and next year it is Peggy's turn to plan our vacation. The word Gettysburg is on the wind.

Vacation September 2011 - Day Two

After leaving the lodge at ten am and not returning till twelve thirty am on Tuesday,  we decided to take Wednesday a little easier.   We didn't leave the lodge till close to eleven and headed to an area north east of Dayton rather than back into a city area.  We arrived at Springfield Ohio in time for a late lunch and then enjoyed a wonderful tour of The Westcott House. Peg and I both enjoy Frank Lloyd Wright houses and The Westcott House did not disappoint.   Although we had to dodge rain drops to get from the car into the house,  it was well worth the effort.    I was especially impressed by the way the master and mrs bedrooms were arranged.   Each had their own room at the front of the house upstairs.  They were next to each other with a door between.  The two of them took up the entire front of the house.  But what was really cool was that they were exact mirror images.  Each had their own walk in closets,  dressing rooms,  window seats,  bathrooms and bedroom areas that exactly  matched each other only backwards.   Pictures were not allowed inside the house and it was raining so we did not even think to hang around taking pictures after the tour.

After leaving Springfield Ohio we drove south to a little town called Yellow Springs.   I have been told on good authority that Yellow Springs was full of hippies before there was ever such a thing as a hippie.   I found the stores there delightful.   The first one we walked in was called Eco Mental and I bought  re-use-able coffee filters there.   The worst part was my umbrella kept collapsing.   The shopping was fine and we headed back to the lodge for a late dinner in the dining room.  What amazes me about traveling and eating out is the problem of getting enough fruit in one's diet.  It seems you either have to order desert or wine to get anything that is close to fruit.  After dining that night I made the sacrifice and ordered a desert that was bananas in warm rum.  It was wonderful. 

Vacation September 2011 - Newport KY

After leaving The Underground Railroad Museum Freedom Center we drove across the bridge to Newport KY. First stop was to see The World Peace Bell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Peace_Bell I was disappointed that the building is no longer ran by the peace bell people and they did not allow us to go up in the building to where we could see the bell better nor would they ring it. After that we walked around a place called The Levee that was supposed to be shopping but in reality was more like places to eat, a movie theater and a bowling alley so we found a coffee shop and rested. Luckily we decided to allow ourselves thirty minutes to find the riverboat dock. http://bbriverboats.com/ According to my google directions it was only two miles from where we left the car in the public parking lot next to the World Peace Bell. Hummmmmm. It took us thirty minutes to find the dock. While we were not in danger of missing the boat we were able to board as soon as we got there. We did not have to wait. I am not sure if it was the fact that anything would be anticlimactic after the Freedom Center or if we were just tired but Newport Ky did not impress me. The riverboat cruise was not at all like the cruise I took up north in Michigan through the Locks. There there was a guide who told us what we were seeing. Also on the Chicago Riverboat Ride I took there was a guide explaining every thing. On the Newport riverboat cruise there was not guide making announcements about what we were passing. Also on the Locks tour they served us our meal while on the Ohio River one it was a buffet. We arrived back in our rooms at the lodge Tuesday night about 12:30 am (Wednesday morning) after getting lost in Cincinnati on the way home a few times. During the drive home we decided that Wednesday was going to be a day that was starting later and ending earlier.