Reading list #4

1. The Harp and the Rose by Jean Grainger book 3 of the Queenstown series
2. Roaring Liberty by Jean Grainger book 4 of the Queenstown series
3. The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny for book club murder mystery 
4. Book of Ages  The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin  by Jill Lepore biography and letters written by Jane Franklin to her brother Benjamin Franklin. Some letters were just cheery letters from home, others were her viewpoints on the revolutionary war and society or social issues of the time. The author made a point of how boring history can be to read depending on the viewpoint of the writer, she also went on to say that historical fiction can give the reader more insight into how people actually lived in a particular place and time a more realistic history.
5. Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen a more appropriate title might be the Lies I Read in History Books.  The author tells how publishers have sanitized, sugar coated and whitewashed American history so as not to offend anyone and age appropriateness for the students.  It was a tough book to read because it did tell how Columbus actually treated the natives and how the new comers brought disease which wiped out whole tribes, and that all presidents before Lincoln had been slave owners. The book also went on to say how similar history textbooks are from one publisher to another and how history is rewritten from one decade to the next because of how attitudes of the public have changed.
6. The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt nonfiction about the women who worked for Walt Disney in the early years of animation to present day. I want to watch Snow White, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo again. And all the others too. The women didn’t get the recognition they deserved. The technology of the feature length animations was groundbreaking at the time. Fantasia was the first surround sound movie. 
7. A Time for Mercy  by John Grisham for book club lots of details about lawyers preparing their defense and tricks to dsitract the prosecutor.  Very interesting but also long I needed a break from it after every few chapters. 
8. The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams just for fun I needed a cozy mystery after four very serious books.
9. Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay contemporary story about two sisters one a chef and the other dealing with cancer with lots of references to Jane Austen books because she was their mother’s favorite author. 
10. The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict story takes place in England in 1930’s. Characters were real people, six sisters, a couple were fascinated by fascism and communism. A new perspective for me about what was happening in Europe leading up to WW2. 
11. The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald fiction but based on real people and events of 1925 when teaching evolution and creation as learned in the Bible went to court in Dayton, Tennessee. Annabel Craig is 23 years old, married to a lawyer and a self taught photographer who sits in on the trial taking photos. Very good. 
12. Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger #17 of the series another thriller. 
13. The Devil’s Bed by William Kent Krueger one of his earlier books, a political thriller.
14. The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay for book club we read this a couple years ago and everyone had forgotten the characters and plot.  The only thing I remembered was the head of staff at the Braithwaite House in Bath, England grew up in the house.  None of us at book club were fans of Jane Austen and hadn't read any of her books since high school.
15. Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen I tried reading it but only got 1/3 through it.  I don't understand the infatuation with her books.  There just isn't any action in the plot especially after reading William Kent Krueger books.

My no time to sew summer has turned into a no sew fall but these lovely summer like days I have spent on the deck reading or walking instead of downstairs in the sewing room. Time in the sewing room will come when fall turns to winter.  We haven't had rain here since August the weatherman was predicting a drab autumn because it is dry but mother nature had other ideas. This is the prettiest autumn ever and the leaves are still hanging tight. Some maples are a brilliant red others are red, orange, copper, yellow, gold and green all at once.  The colors are in layers with green closest to the trunk. Everyday they are a little more orange and red and someday soon the wind will blow from the north and bring a hard hard frost and all the trees will disrobe until spring and then I will cozy up with a book and a quilt or go to my sewing room. --Ann--