Amanuensis Monday: A Day Late

A  man named John Newmark is the original creator  of the concept of a weekly amanuensis blog but other bloggers have joined in.  HERE is the original explanation of the concept.  I am the worlds worst skimmer when it comes to reading.  And the harder the item is to read the less of it I take my time and read word for word.   Therefore I know this would be a very worthwhile exercise for me to do once a week.  My lack of self discipline will probably not allow that to happen but whatever I do get transcribed will help me to read that document carefully.  I have been very fortunate that I have a friend who loves to type and often will type things up for me.  But to do some of them myself will help me to look at the documents more carefully. 

My children's surname is Lyle.  Back in their family history is a brother of their direct ancestor whose name is Atlee Lyle.  His estate record is what I am going to attempt to transcribe. It is from the Lancaster County Pennsylvania records.  There are two pages in my possession.   If the images are clicked on they should get larger for the reader to more easily see.  

Page One

341  Know all men by these presents that we Doratha Lyle of Bart & J M Hess & Samuel Fagan (?) of Eden Township are held and firmly bound unto the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the sum of Seven Hundred Dollars to be paid to the said Commonwealth for the use of the parties interested in the estate of Atlee Lyle, late of Bart Township, deceased, to which payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves jointly and severally, for, and in the whole, our heirs, executors and administrators, firmly by these presents.  Sealed with our seals, and dated the sixteenth day of January  in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty six. 

The condition of this obligation is such, that if the above bounden Doratha Lyle, administrator is of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits of the said Atlee Lyle, deceased, do make or cause to be made, a true and perfect inventory of all and singular, the goods, chattels and credits of the said deceased, which have come or shall come to the hands, possession or knowledge of her, the said, Doratha Lyle or into the hands, possession or knowledge of any person or persons for her, and the same so made, do exhibit or cause to be exhibited, into the Register's Office, in the County Of Lancaster, within thirty days of the date hereof; and the same goods, chattels and credits, and all other  the goods, chattel and credits of the said deceased at the time of his death,  which at any time after shall come to the hands or possession of the said Doratha Lyle or into the hands or possession of any other person or persons, for her do well and truly administer according to law.  And further do make  or cause to be made, a just and true account of her said administration,  within one year of the date hereof, or when thereunto legally required.  

And all the rest and residue of the said goods, chattels and credits, which shall be found remaining upon the said administration account. (the same being first examined and allowed by the Orphans Court of the County of Lancaster) shall deliver and pay unto such person or persons, as the Orphans Court, by their decree or sentence, pursuant to law shall limit and appoint, and shall well and truly comply with the laws of this Commonwealth relating to collateral inheritances; and if it shall hereafter appear, that will and testament was made by the said deceased, and the same shall be proved according to  law, if the said Doratha Lyle, being thereunto required, do surrender the said letters of administration into the Register's Office aforesaid, then this obligation is to be void, otherwise to remain in full force,  

Sealed and delivered in the presence of 

John Jones 

Doratha Lyle her X mark  seal

J. M. Heys (?)  seal

Samuel Fagan (?) seal

Page Two

A true and perfect inventory, and just appraisement of all and singular the goods and chattel,  rights and credits which were of Atlee Lyle,  of late in the Township of Bart, in the County of Lancaster, and State of Pennsylvania, deceased, at the time of his death, to wit;

Cash $451.75

Book account of John Fallon  8.25

Book account of Richard Brisom 100.00

Note on J.W. Witmer 100.00

Wearing apparel 50.00

Grain Cradle 2.50

                712.50

Taken and prescribed by us the subscribers the twenty third day of January AD 1866

Affirmed and subscribed before me this 24 day of January A.D. 1866

Robert. Evans JP

Richard Brysar

John J Brisen

Exhibiter (?) into the Register Office at Lancaster this 7th day of March A.D. 1866 

Doratha Lyle her mark  (and some writing marked through that I can't read) 

Affirmed and subscribed before me

Emleu Franklin

Rep

I need to get back into my hard copies of documents to be sure but I don't think I ever checked to see if there was any record that showed Atlee was killed in the Civil War.   I have his brother's Civil War Pension file (the direct line ancestor)  but I don't think I ever paid to try to obtain one for Atlee.  If I had I would have scanned it and it would be in my data base.   Doratha Lyle was Atlee's mother.   J.W. Witmer was Atlee's sister Margaret's husband.  I do not recognize any of the other names in the document.  I wonder if Atlee having a grain cradle and people on his books means he was some in some type of business.  

Picture I took of Atlee Lyle and his mother Doratha Lyle's gravestones

which are located in Octorara United Presbyterian Cemetery in

Quarryville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith

Advanced Genealogy 

Research Techniques

by

George G. Morgan

and

Drew Smith

When I attended the 2016 Ohio Genealogical Society Annual Conference one of the workshops I enjoyed was presented by George G. Morgan.  He did an excellent job explaining naturalization records.  When I attended the 2017 OGS conference one of the workshops I enjoyed was presented by Drew Smith.  He did an excellent job explaining cluster research.  Since the annual conference this year I have been meaning to purchase their book Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques.   I was excited to find it in the digital collection of the State Library Of Ohio and I put it on hold so that I could read it on my Kindle app when it became available.  I downloaded it on Friday and have been devouring it since,  just finishing it up at a minute ago.  I do not consider myself a beginner researcher but I am not an advanced one either.  When asked I say I am at an intermediate level.  This book covered some of what I already knew and introduced to me some new ideas and information.  There is so much really outstanding explanations in it that I still intend to buy it so that I can easily refer back to it later.  I am trying to decide if I want a digital copy or a paper back copy.   The book explains things in easy to understand language with easy to understand analogies that teach the techniques presented.  I have already highly recommended it to some of the other researchers I correspond with and I will continue to do so.  Please be sure and click on the book title and authors' names above to follow four links to further information.  And to click HERE to find their podcasts and learn more from these two men.   I find their presentations very informative.  

Saturday Night Genealogy Challenge: The Other You

This week's writing prompt is to post what we do besides genealogy.  The original post and the links to the other participants blogs can be found HERE.


I still work part time so between my job and my genealogy hobby there is not a lot of time left.  But I do have other interests.

1) I enjoy reading a variety of books.  My blog is mostly reviews of books as I finish reading them.   I also listen to audio books in the car.

2) I try to walk at least two miles several times a week.  I really enjoy hiking but since my fall on the trail that resulted my leg fracture my time on the trails has been limited.  I was out once last fall using my trek poles for safety.  I plan to be out on the trails more this year and I plan to return to the trail where the fall occurred and hike it - as long as it is not a muddy day.  Here is a picture of me just before I fell that day in February 2016.

 I try to walk my neighborhood a few times every week.   And I have been doing three or four 5k's a year - walking.  I have not progressed to running.  

3) I enjoy traveling.  My husband and I have been spending a few weeks every winter in Arizona the last couple of years and we hope to continue this.  The first year we flew but this year we did it via road trip.  I love a road trip.  In 2015 my daughter and her husband and I drove along as close to the Oregon Trail as we could.  We stopped at interpretive centers all along the way.   I also enjoy weekend jaunts.  Most of my family is three or four hours away so I am always ready to run to visit.   I also like a weekend sight seeing adventure.  If I can't get away for a couple days I like day trips.  There is a lot to see within a day trip distance of where I live.  I usually gravitate to historical or cultural type venues but love a good shopping trip too.  Especially if there are shoe stores involved. 

4) I sew a little.  Not a lot. Every few years I make chair bags for my daughter's kindergarten classroom.  Last year I made aprons for her classroom.  Here is are pictures of what these projects looked like.  

5)  We go out to eat about once a week.  I love  a good restaurant.  We try to keep our tastes reasonably priced.   Favorite places for me are PF Chang,  Abuelo's,  Olive Garden,  and Red Lobster.  My husband likes BBQ places and Mexican restaurants.  

6) Several times a year I accompany my husband while we enjoy some of his interests.  These include Reds Games,  Old Car Shows and activities with Corvette groups.  For example there is a group that drives a fall drive of corvettes in our area every fall that we enjoy.   

7) I am not a big television fan but I do watch some programs with my husband who is an avid tv person.  Sometimes we will enjoy a movie together.  I love live theater but he does not care for it so it is a girls night out for me when I go to the theater.   I try to go to a live theater production a couple times a year.  

8) I have a few flowers I put out in the yard every year and I miss having a garden but don't seem to have the time to take care of one right.  I especially enjoyed cultivating a herb garden in the past.   Maybe I will get back to this activity in the future.

These are some of the things that I enjoy in addition to genealogy.  

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad

by

Colson Whitehead

The June book selection for the library reading group I attend is Colson Whitehead's novel,  The Underground Railroad.  I chose to listen to it on audio and the narrator did an excellent job.  The story is on the surface the story of a slave named Cora and her escape from slavery.   The author uses a lot of allegory and symbolism.  In this book the underground railroad is actually a series of tunnels that run underground and have train tracks and trains instead of  the series of safe houses along a path to Canada that was reality.  Cora comes up above ground at various stations in various states and has experiences that mirror various times in the experience of black Americans.  Even though the book is set pre-civil war the experiences Cora has may not have been an event until later in American history. For example when she surfaced in South Carolina the pre WWII beginnings of eugenics was  presented.   Icons from history can be recognized in the book but they have different names and locations.   The result of this mixing of fact and fiction is that the reader pays very close attention as he/she tries to figure out who or where the character or place in the story represents.  This book will be a classic if it is not already considered one.  By clicking on the book title above the link will take you to an article to explains some of the symbolism of the book.  By clicking on the author's name above the link will take you to biographical information on the author.  By clicking on the video below the video will explain the author's motivation behind writing the book.  Don't miss this book.  It is a must read.  

 

Amanuensis Attempt

I have been intrigued for quite some time with those that participate in "Amanuensis Monday".  The theory behind the value of this exercise can be found HERE.  This blog by a man named John Newmark is the original creator  of the concept of weekly amanuensis but other bloggers have joined in.  I am the worlds worst skimmer when it comes to reading.  And the harder the item is to read the less of it I take slowly and read word for word.   Therefore I know this would be a very worthwhile exercise for me to do once a week.  My lack of self discipline will probably not allow that to happen but whatever I do get transcribed will help me to read that document carefully.  I have been very fortunate that I have a friend who loves to type and often will type things up for me.  But to do some of them myself will help me to look at the documents more carefully.  

For my first attempt I chose a rather difficult document to read.  It is the death certificate of Amelia Jane Sullivan Patton.  

Amelia Jane Sullivan Patton

1845-1900

death certificate

In the top left hand corner:  County Miami     Township Pipecreek          town or city -----      name of decadent Amalia Jane Patton

In the top center:  Indiana State Board Of Health Certificate and Record of Death

In the top right corner:  #247         Health Officer's Record number 3       Date of Death Month May Day 7th Year 1900

Center portion of certificate:  This blank to be filled by the physician, if any, otherwise by health officer or coroner MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH  I hereby certify that I attended the deceased from March 17 to May 6, that I last saw her alive on May 6, that she died on 7th about 7 o'clock AM,  and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the CAUSE OF DEATH was as hereunder written

Disease causing death Uroseptic Toxemia  (?)   Duration 7 (?) weeks

Immediate cause of death  anconthosis (?)     Duration  March progression (?)

Contributing causes or complications if any Softening of Brain (?)     Duration Known beginning (something) of 8 months (?)

Post mortem none

Witness my hand this 9th day of May 1900

Signature of physician, coroner or health officer  Wilber Brantien (?)

Address Peru Indiana

Bottom portion of certificate:  This blank to be filled by householder of any competent person. 

RECORD OF DEATH Age 54 years 11 months and 6 days

Full name of deceased  Amelia Jane Patton Sex Female Color White

Residence 5 1/5 miles so west of Peru  married

Occupation Housewife  Birthplace Miami County Ohio

Place of Death 5 1/5  miles so west of Peru    Father's name in full Cornelius H Sullivan 

Father's birthplace Maryland   Mother's maiden name in full Mariah L Morris

Mother's birthplace Miami Co O   Date of Burial May 9, 1900

Place of Burial Pipe Creek Cemetery  Signature of undertaker Jake (?)  H Fetter

Reported by Samuel S Patton    Address of undertaker Peru Ind

Address Nead Indiana

I attempted to look up the number on the upper right hand corner to see if it would help me with the cause of death and it did not.  HERE is where you look if you have a number on a death certificate in 1900.  But I think the number would have been written in near the cause of death.  

This is a good source document to go back and check the information I have on her parents names and birth locations and her death and birth dates and locations.  When I saw her name at the top I thought maybe I had been mis-spelling it but it is spelled like I spell it on the bottom of the form.  

The Samuel Patton that is Amelia's husband on this form is the nephew of the Samuel Patton that was in the story a couple of posts ago for my May writing group post.  

I think if you click on the picture the death certificate should get bigger for you in case you want to try to read it yourself.  

This was a difficult but worth while exercise.  

Saturday Night Genealogy Challenge: Homes I have lived in

The house on 7th street in Peru Indiana where my family lived at the time I was born.

 This weeks Saturday Night Challenge and the links to every one who joined in can be found HERE.  The challenge consists of listing every place that I have ever lived as my home.  It is not to include places I have visited and not lived.  

1)  West 7th Street,  Peru,  Indiana.   My family lived in this house when I was born.  My mother,  father,  older sister and older brother were already living there when I arrived.  My father added an apartment on the back of the home and my great grandmother lived there the years I was growing up.  

2) Moberly, Missouri - my father worked for the N&W R R while I was growing up and we moved around a great deal.  I may not have the order of these early places correct.  

3) Springfield, Illinois - I remember bits and pieces about this time.  It is still one of my favorite towns to go back and visit.  

4) Decatur, Illinois - my younger sister was born while we lived here.  

5) Kansas City, Missouri - I attended kindergarten and started first grade in Kansas City.  President Kennedy was shot while I lived there. 

6) Jennings, Missouri - was a white middle class neighborhood in St Louis when we lived there.  I finished first grade, went to second grade and started third grade in this setting.   I remember a race riot.  I wonder if it was when MLK was shot. 

7) Decatur, Illinois - back to Decatur.  My parents rented a big house on a lake this time.  We were not here too many months.  I attended the middle portion of third grade.  It was winter.  

8) Montpelier, Ohio -  I finished third grade,  attended fourth and fifth grade here.  It was my favorite place we lived while I was growing up.   The Kent State Shooting occurred while we lived here.  

9) Wallick Road,  Peru, Indiana - Sixth through Sophomore year.

10) 7th Street,  Peru, Indiana - I moved in with my great grandmother for my junior year at Peru High School.  

11) Wallick Road, Peru, Indiana - I moved back in with my parents for my senior year and graduated from Maconaquah High School.  

12) West 6th Street, Peru, Indiana.  Nixson resigned during this time. 

13) West Third Street,  Peru Indiana - my father bought a house and rented it to me because renting a decent place on my $3.55 an hour as an LPN was not to be found.  

14) Grissom Air Force Base, Bunker Hill Indiana - I married an Airman and we moved on base.  The Iran Crisis began while we lived here.  My husband was put on alert when it happened. 

15) Biloxi,  Mississippi - an apartment in an apartment complex.   There was a hurricane while we lived there. 

16) Colorado Springs,  Colorado - I gave birth to my first born children - twins.  Reagan was shot while we lived there.  

17) Egypt Hill Road,  Peru, Indiana - seperated

18) New Brunswick,  New Jersey - a story in itself - I wrote my aunt that I was in New Jersey living on love and spaghetti.  

19) Scott AFB, Belleville, Illinois - back with the twins father 

20) Sycamore Street, North Manchester,  Indiana -  my youngest son Scott was born while I lived in this home.  I obtained a divorce while living here from my children's father. 

21) Wabash, Indiana - an apartment in an apartment complex. 

22) Berwick Drive, Valparaiso, Indiana - remarried.  We all wore dressy hats because Princess Diana did. 

23) Riverside Drive,  Buchanana, MI 

24) Main Street,  Buchanan, MI - Divorced - in a home I purchased,  lived in and flipped. 

25) West Clear Lake Drive,  Buchanan, MI - Remarried. This was my experience at "homesteading"  type living.  It was the most secure financially I ever felt because the home and acreage was paid for.  

26) Niles, Michigan - Divorced.  This was an apartment in an old house.  

27) Columbia City, Indiana - and apartment in an apartment  complex.  

28) South Shore Court,  Columbia City, Indiana -  My condo - the place I lived that I felt was mine and that I was not just living at my father's home or my husbands home.  It is also the place I lived the longest.  I was there ten years.  Single and content.  

My Condo in Columbia City Indiana

29)  Wilmington Ohio - Remarried.  This is where I live now and where I intend to stay for the duration.  We do have hopes to winter in Arizona in our retirement years but that is five years out.  And we plan to spend our summers here in Wilmington.   I like Ohio. 

While doing this,  I had to back up four times and add in a place and re-number.  I worry that as soon as I hit publish I will remember another place I lived.  But I think this makes clear that I have lived quite a few places.   But all of them have been in the US and most have been  in the mid-west.   In my genealogy searching,  I keep thinking I will find a gypsy but so far have not.   

Library Writing Group May 2017

This month's library writing group assignment was to write about something romantic that happened 30 or more years ago and to make it kind of steamy.  The intent was that we would write a story about our personal past.  At first I was going to write about a funny incident where a police man interrupted a parking date time that I was involved with in a construction zone.   I chose to take the chicken way out to write a fiction story about an ancestor.  I even tamed down the steamy parts that were in my original rough draft because I became concerned since we read our work aloud in the group which is a group with mixed gender.   What follows here is the fiction part of what I wrote.  It had a non fiction introduction but I don't want to put it online as I am thinking I will use it for another project.   It was a fun meeting to hear what every one wrote.  Several like me went off in a separate direction.  Some shared broken hearts.  Some wrote about love stories that turned into to life time partners.

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Becky picked up the basket by the door and headed to the lean to that served her family as a temporary barn. It was early morning and although the sun had not been up long it was beating down on the path with a fierceness she had become accustomed to in the short time she had been in Kansas. It baked the dirt on the path and she felt it warm the skin underneath the back of her dress across her shoulders. She wore a bonnet to protect her face and neck from the sun. The bonnet was beige with blue flowers and was tied in a bow under her chin to prevent the breeze from blowing it across the prairie. It took her about five minutes to follow the path and enter the edge of the lean to. The smell of straw, dung, urine and hay tickled her nostrils as she stepped inside its shade. She sat down the basket and picked up a wooden bucket. Reaching into a barrel she picked up a scoop and began to put two scoops of corn into the bucket. Then holding the bucket in one hand and the basket in the other, she left the lean to and headed behind it to where the chickens were scratching and clucking around the yard. She felt the sweat begin to collect under her arms and trickle down her back as she threw the corn across the yard. “Here chicky! chicky!” she called out as she walked around and the hens busied themselves flocking to the corn. As they consumed the corn she proceeded over to the nesting racks and began to gather the eggs, placing them in to her basket. She then walked across the hen yard over to where the cow field began and up to a long wooden trough with a hand pump on one end. She pumped some water into the bucket and carried it over to the chicken yard and filled several shallow pans with water for them to drink through out the day.
By now she was slick with sweat underneath her breasts as she carried the empty bucket and the basket of eggs back toward the lean to. Inside the lean to she sat the bucket down and savored the cooler shaded area within its shelter. Moving toward the enclosure she leaned over the fencing and began to stroke the neck of her father’s large horse. Shakespeare was a large animal. He was a dark brown color and had been gelded for many years. He was a gentle giant. He blew air out of his nose and nuzzled her back for her attention. He was in today and not out in the pasture to stay cool for a little while longer. Later he would be saddled up as her father was going out into the fields to check the cows today. Becky always felt that she could think so much more clearly near the animals. Today she had a lot on her mind. Her parents were trying to decide whether or not to send her back to Ohio to stay with her grandparents. Kansas was getting more and more dangerous as the boarder ruffians burnt and killed their way across it trying to run people like her and her family away. The move to Kansas had been to establish residency in this new territory in time for the vote which would determine if it were to be a free state or a slave state. She didn't know how she felt about the possibility of leaving. She missed Ohio. There was a lot more to do there and many more people. She missed the family and friends she had left there two years ago. Iowa had been nice but she had not put down the deep roots there that she had established in Ohio, having grown up there. Now Kansas was all new. There was things she liked about it and yet there was a lot that she didn’t like. It was so empty. And her parents were right - it was a dangerous place right now. But it was kind of exciting to be a part of a large and important goal. The formation of a free society for all was exciting work in which to be involved. As a young woman she was limited in what she could do to help. But she could be supportive of the men who were working so hard to make Kansas a free territory. Running back to Ohio hardly seemed like being supportive. And then there was that Sam Patton, one of her father’s ranch hands. Fourteen years her senior she had watched him closely for the last three years. He had lived in the more western part of Ohio and even for some time in the central part of Indiana. He was tall compared to her five foot stature and had very strong shoulders and upper arms. She had watched him rope and pull down cows to brand them, pitch hay, and do many of the ranch chores that had to be done around her fathers place. He had bright blue laughing eyes and a warm smile. Always quick to go to church with them, she enjoyed talking with him on the Sunday wagon ride to and from

the services. Yet he never acted like he was the least bit interested in her in anyway besides being nice to his bosses daughter. He was always the gentleman - darn it - she thought. The mere thought of him made her body stir in ways that she was not familiar with. And when she saw him she could feel the color creep up her neck and cross her cheeks. As she turned away from Shakespeare and readied to walk back to the house, she started as she saw Sam standing in the door way of the lean to looking at her.

“Hi Miss Becky” he said quietly.

“Sam” Becky nodded back at him.

 She became very aware of the acrid smell of her sweat.
Her heart was beating very fast and she was working hard to keep her hands steady. She felt annoyed by her crush on Sam. Maybe going back to Ohio was the best thing for her. She didn’t want to spend her days mooning over a man who was not interested in her. She started to walk toward the door of the lean to and around him. But when she approached him to pass him he reached out and put a hand on each shoulder to stop her.

“Wait” he started. “I hear tell your parents may send you back to Ohio?”

“They are talking about that possibility” she answered.

“Is that what you want to do?” Sam asked.

Becky sighed. “Not sure what I want” she began “I haven’t got any ties to Kansas yet.”

Sam took his hands and cupped her chin tilting her head up and looking straight into her eyes. He then said very evenly “And what would it take to tie you?”

Her heart was skipping every other beat as she softly whispered in response, “You only have to ask.”

Sam scooped her up and sat her on the rail to Shakespeare’s stall. Then he got down on one knee and said “Rebecca Tipton, if you’ll have me, I will do everything I can to take the best care of you all our lives. Will you marry me?”
She hopped off the rail, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and held on with all her might. She tasted the salt of his sweat as she kissed his neck.

“Does this mean yes?” he laughed and she nodded as he stood and carried her to the area behind the hay stack and laid her down gently in the straw. 

Nickel And Dimed by Barbara Ehreneich

Nickel and Dimed 

by

Barbara Ehrenreich

Two of the members of my library reading group had read this book and recommended it so I decided to also read it.  I had watched the youtube video about it several times over the years and was intrigued to read more about the subject of the working poor.   I was not surprised or shocked by anything in the book.  Perhaps that is because I have experienced long periods of hard work where I was barely scraping by in my own life.  I never had to survive on as little as she was making during her experiment in the book but even at 2.5 times what she was making it can be a challenge to keep the bills paid.   The author has her Phd and is a journalist.  She spends three different one month periods,  in three different areas of the country trying to survive on entry level jobs and writes this book to tell about her experiences.  It is a very enlightening book for people who never had to struggle like she did during these time periods.  I think her experiences are pretty typical of what happens with the people who are working these types of jobs.   And I agree with her that not only are the people in entry level jobs under paid but they are under appreciated.  Lack of respect starves a self image which needs to be nurtured in order for a person to have any upward mobility.   Further reading on the subject can be found in a NYT article HERE.  And a A&E investigative report can be watched HERE.  The book,  article and documentary are outdated with the statistics that are quoted.  It is likely that the numbers are worse today because of the higher costs of food and other necessities.  It has been my experience that my wages have not gone up since this book was written.  As recently as last year,  National Geographic ran a series on Hunger In America - part of which can be found HERE.  Whether or not one agrees with the point of view in this book and the articles and videos included in this blog,  it is information that every one should be aware of.  I highly recommend that all Americans read this book and follow the links in this blog post for more information.  The book title and the author's name will also lead to other sites when clicked on.  The video that follows is a favorite of mine.  I post it periodically to share with others.  

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

by

Chris Cleave

This World War II novel really held my attention.  From the New York Times best seller list,  Everyone Brave Is Forgiven is the story of four London friends during WWII. One of them is killed during the blitz,  one loses his hand while in the military,  one has a limp obtained while driving an ambulance during the blitz,  and one has scars on her face from shrapnel she was hit with while working as a nurse on an ambulance during the blitz.  The story addresses several social issues that were problems during this time of British history.  It is also a love story.  It is written in easy language  to understand.  The author was inspired to write the book after reading his grandparents love letters that were written during WWII.  It is a fiction book but the  experiences of both his maternal and paternal grandparents are blended together to form parts of the story.  I enjoyed this book very much.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  Also please enjoy the video that follows.  

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver

by

Lois Lowry

A couple of years ago a young mother suggested I read The Giver by Lois Lowry.  She was watching the movie on blue ray and it was taking her back to her school days when she was required to read it.   It has been on my wish list ever since.  I was out of credits at Audible and wanted to try to check out an audio book from the state library of Ohio and I chose The Giver because it was available along with Me Before You which I reviewed  on my last post.  The Giver is a short four hour listen and I finished it up on my way to work today.  It is a fascinating book.   It is the story of a society that is totally "fair" to every one and no one does without.  But soon one realizes as the story goes on that being without choices and being without differences is not a rich life.  This book is often assigned in schools and what a wonderful springboard for discussion it must be.  It is similar in theme to Fahrenheit 451 and Pleasantville.   Freedom, choices,  differences and knowledge are important things and this book makes one cherish them.  It is a story that really held my interest and I recommend it.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.  If you are not a reader then watch the movie that was made out of the book.  I hope to see it soon.  

Me Before You by Jo Jo Moyes

Me Before You

by

JoJo Moyes

The library reading group that I attend on a monthly basis chose Me Before You as this months selection and I just finished listening it in audio format on the way home from work tonight.  It is the story of a young woman who is hired to be a companion to a man with quadriplegia.   It is a good spring board for discussion on the topic of assisted suicide and will make for a lively discussion at book group.  I do not like to give negative reviews but I did not like the book.  There were two things that I objected to and considered unethical in this book .  One  was the fact that Lou - the young woman that was hired to be a companion in the book - falls in love with the disabled man and there are descriptions of physical contact between her and the man she is supposed to be keeping company.  I feel like that is totally inappropriate and crosses the line.  She would not be able to work again in the state that I live in as any thing related to a caregiver after this behavior.  It was just creepy to me once their relationship became physical.  The second issue I had with the book was that at the end of the novel Will - the disabled man - leaves a bunch of money to Lou.  This is totally out of line.  Any organization I ever worked for would insist the money be given to the employing entity and would not allow the employee to keep it.  Maybe things are different in the UK than in the US in respect to wills and caregivers.   I know a lot of people really liked this book and a lot of people have went to the movie and really enjoyed it.  I have to admit I am not a big love story genre fan.  An occasional love story is okay and to have a love story within the context of an historical novel or a mystery thriller is something that I do enjoy.  But a love story alone isn't something that is usually a favorite for me.  If someone is a love story fan then they may like this book.   Nevertheless, when I looked for a video to share about the book,  I found on YouTube several videos by disabled people who objected to the book and movie.  Below is one.  It is long but worth the watch.  Clicking on the author's name and book title at the beginning of this post will link to further information from the author's website.  

South Street by ZaZa Wolff

South Street

by

ZaZa Wolff

The library where I live has copies of this book by a local author who uses the pen name of ZaZa Wolff.  She is a member of my library writing group and I wanted to read her book.  I really enjoyed it.  Especially since it is an historical novel, which is not only my genre of choice,  but the story takes place where I now live.  I had a lot of fun trying to locate where the events took place in town.   And imaging what things might have looked like in the late 1800's when the novel takes place.  I am still not sure I have found which house was Dr. Sylvester and Hattie Boyd's home although Peggy tells me it is still standing.   I have not tried to locate Dr Martin's home or where the brick yard might have been that belonged to the McMillan family who built many of the older brick structures of the area.  The book tells the story of a murder trial in 1888 and it's appeal in 1890 along with the life events of the families that lead up to the time that George McMillan was killed by John Clifford Martin.   It is a love story and a story of life's disillusions and disappointments.  There is even a trip in a covered wagon west which is my favorite type of story.   Included in the book are details and portrayal of how Tuberculosis impacted families.   The book can be purchased if you click on the title at the top of the page and follow the link and a picture of the author can be viewed if you click on the author's name below the title and follow the link.  I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone with ties to Clinton County Ohio or anyone who has an interest in how people lived in the midwest in the late 1800s.