Book For The Week - 11/11/11

Outlander By Diana Gabaldon

From the book description:

"Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an "outlander"—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life ...and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives."

This is a book I have wanted to either listen to or read for quite a long time but since it is so long I needed a time when I had the time to devote to it.  I should not have worried about not having time.  This is a book that makes time for itself.  I would actually leave for work five minutes early so I could sit in the parking lot at work and listen to just a few more minutes.  And I left it on and in my ear when I walked out and got the mail when I returned to my driveway at night and then would (really)  make a bee line to the treadmill so I could listen awhile longer by walking a mile and a half.  I wore my IPOD and listened  to unload the dishwasher,  to iron and to fold clothes.  Although there have been times an ending of a book has caused me to listen after getting out of the car this is the first book that has had me not wanting to stop listening from the very beginning.
The story begins just after WWII when a couple who have been separated due to her being a nurse for the soldiers and him being a soldier are on their second honeymoon.  Not too far into the book she falls into a time portal and is transported to the mid 1700s.   What follows is an adventure story,  a love story,  and a historical novel.   Between the blood and gore are steamy love making scenes with characters that capture the readers heart.
Outlander is book one of a series and I do intend to eventually either read or listen to them all.  The story ended in such a way that very much left me wanting to begin the next in the series.
Click on the title of the book and the author's name to follow the links to learn more.

Albrecht Durer

Link

The book that I am reading mentions the artist Albrecht Durer.  So I had to stop and look him up.  The picture at the above link is one that this artist did that must have been what  the author of the book is referring to.  Jane Addams in her book Twenty Years At Hull House  refers to her draw to this artist during her time as a young woman and  of touring Europe as her social consciousness became very aware of the poverty of the lower classes in Europe.   She felt his pictures were "surcharged with pity for the downtrodden". 

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.