Mystery books are not my normal genre but sometimes after a few heavier type reads a mystery is more of a light hearted easy read for me to intersperse between my normal historical fiction. I was ready for a mystery so I selected A Duty To The Dead by Charles Todd because the main character is a nurse. Bess Crawford serves as an army nurse for Britain during WWI. When the book opens she is on a sinking hospital ship which caught my interest from the first page. After she survives the wreckage she goes home to recover. It is during her leave that she becomes involved in the family skeletons of a former patient. The reason I usually give for not being a big mystery reader is that I generally have the end figured out long before I get there. I have to say that I did not guess the ending to this book. While this novel is not in the ranks of great classical literature, it is an easy and enjoyable read that I would recommend as a good escape. I will read more of Charles Todd's books. Please be sure and click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information. And enjoy the video that follows.
This morning I finished up Raquela by Ruth Gruber on my kindle and I can't say enough good about this biography. It is the life story of a nurse midwife in Israel and begins in 1905 and ends in the late 1970s. The various wars that were fought over this time period are explained and an historical perspective is obtained of where things are in the Middle East today from the Israeli perspective when reading this book. Certainly there are two sides to every story but it is important to see this side of the issues too. The book also clarifies the position of the United States of being supportive of Israel. So far 2015 has been filled with good books that I have enjoyed and I know I have said this close to if not more than ten times but I really will be surprised if Raquela by Ruth Gruber does not make it to my top ten list this year. I encourage every one to read this book. Please be sure and click on the book title and author's name above to learn more. The video that follows is about the author of Raquela - Ruth Gruber.
Unbroken is a novel published in 2010 that has not only been on the best seller list ever since but was released as a movie this past Christmas. Written by Laura Hillenbrand, it is a well researched and well written biography of Louis Zamperini. It is a book that is important in that it covers our veterans experiences in WWII. That being said, I chose to listen to the book on audio and I almost stopped listening several times. There was so much violence and suffering in it that it was hard to keep listening. I can't really recommend the book to others. The first part of the book covers Louie's childhood and goes into his experiences as an Olympic runner. The second part covers the beginning of his service career and his time spent on a life raft in the pacific. The third part describes the time Louie spent as a POW in Japan. And finally he gets home and the last part talks about what a mess he was. Then he goes to see Billy Graham and that solves everything. Which made me roll my eyes. The rest of the book is about reconciliation for not only Louie but the entire country working through the aftermath of WWII and many painful experiences. This book might be a book men would enjoy but it certainly is not chick lit. It might be a good way to teach about WWII at the college level. It will not make my top ten list this year. Feel free to click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information. And enjoy the trailer to the movie that follows.
"A wise man once said that a farmer has two particularly important decisions to make if he wants to succeed in his life as a farmer. The first decision must be made when he chooses the land which he proposes to farm. The second decision, even more important, comes when he chooses a wife. ~ The Farmer's Wife April 1927 ('Do You Know A Master Farm Homemaker?')"
Every once in a while I fall into a whole new world. Those of you who know me are aware that one of my passions is family history. While I am not an educated and professional genealogist, I do enjoy spending lots of time doing genealogy. I compare the time I spend on my hobby to working a very large jig saw puzzle. Most of the time I am sitting quietly trying to fit in pieces of a puzzle. But occasionally I find something that just makes me wiggle. This past week provided such an event. And it wasn't even in a direct line to back to my ancestors. I should explain. Most genealogist chase paternal lines. It is just easier. There are land records and wills and all sorts of avenues to find men in history. But I never seem to follow the easy path. My interests lie in women's history. Women didn't used to own property or have many rights that qualified them as being persons. Often the men's livestock were better counted and recorded than his wives and daughters were. It can be very frustrating but sometimes I work with someone on a line. The internet is a good resource to meet people working on a same line and working together is always more fun. The emails whirl back and forth and links and files are shared and it makes for a lot of enjoyment. The pieces to the puzzle increase in number and some areas are filled in of the entire picture. To get to the point, since last August I have been chasing the mother of a woman in my ancestry named Elizabeth Sheafor. Elizabeth had a brother named Jacob. One of Jacob's descendants is named Rebecca and Rebecca and I have been working together for a couple of months now via email. Well Jacob had several children and Rebecca is down from one son but another one of Jacob's son's migrated to Wisconsin. His name was Squire Sheafor. And one of Squire's grandson's married a woman named Cora. To my delight the periodical Farmer's Wife magazine featured her in the February 1930 edition! It can be found on page ten HERE. To have a female even remotely connected to me recorded to that degree was wonderful news. As it turns out the Farmer's Wife magazine was quite a popular thing back in the early 1900s. There are about eight cookbooks that grew out of its publication and can be found HERE. One of my passions is historical cookbooks and I will have to see if I can find space to add a few more! And there is a quilt which can be found HERE. I am not sure I will ever attempt a quilt but find them interesting. Please click on the links through out this blog to find our more information about this fascinating publication and enjoy the video that follows.
A couple of weeks ago I broke down and ordered a cookbook that has been on my wish list at Amazon for quite some time. The Settlement Cookbook was originally published in 1901 but I chose to purchase the most recent version which was published in 1976. If you click on the the title above there are two different links (one on each line of the title) to sites online where the 1901 book is available at no charge. The Settlement Cookbook is unique in that it was created in a settlement house in Wisconsin. At the turn of the century from the 1800s to the 1900s in the United States there was an influx of immigration. Many of the new immigrants flocked into inner cities and had the task of learning about the way of life in their new home. Settlement houses sprang up in many cities to meet the need of helping the new immigrants in their assimilation desires. These houses not only taught English, but they were a place of social events such as speeches and dances for the immigrants to attend. In addition, there were many classes taught at these houses. One class often included was in cooking and nutrition. The woman who taught the cooking classes in the Wisconsin Settlement house that this cookbook came out of was Lizzie Black Kander (click on her name to follow the link for more information) about her and the creation of The Settlement Cookbook. The edition I purchased not only has the recipes that the teachers were teaching the immigrants but it has the recipes that the immigrants brought with them from the old country. I really like this cookbook. It is not a low calorie book but small portions of the recipes found within are within the scope of my restrictions. The following video explains more about the settlement houses around the United States at the time this cookbook was published. I highly recommend this cookbook.
