Local Library Book Sale

 If there is one thing that I love, is books.  Anytime I see a book sale, it makes me incredibly happy, so every year, I anxiously await our local library book sale.  

 

They do this flash sale, where you can purchase a box for $5 and then fill it with as many books as you want.  There's nothing more exciting than that, to know that you can just fill that box to your hearts content, and not just random books thrown in, but hand picked by you.

 

That's exactly what I did.  So let me show you what I got. 

I actually lucked out and found books 2 and 3 in the series that I am reading.  I didn't even know I could find them at the library, so when I saw them I jumped for joy.  

Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert

Wayward Winds by Michael Phillips - Book #2 in the Secrets of Heathersleigh Hall

Heathersleigh Homecoming by Michael Phillips - Book #3 in the Secrets of Heathersleigh Hall 

Heaven is Real by Todd Burpo

Heaven Changes Everything by Todd Burpo

Mezze Modern - a cookbook with Mediterranean appetizers, which is perfect for my diet.

To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams

 

The Great Alone by Janet Dailey

 

In This Mountain by Jan Karon

 

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

 

Domino by Phyllis A. Whitney

The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

 

Claim by Lisa T. Bergren

Return to the Misty Shore by Bonnie Leon

 

 

The Solitary Envoy by T. Davis Bunn and Isabella Bunn

Blake's Reach by Catherine Gaskin

 

Frontiers by Colleen L. Reece

A Falcon for a Queen by Catherine Gaskin

 

 

Unto the Hills by Billy Graham

The grocery haul that didn't happen!

Oh my word what a busy day I had.  I am simply exhausted and counting down the minutes until I can get to bed.

Our Bella got us up at 3am, her tummy was rumbling and she was crying to go outside, so hubby got up and let her out.  She then wanted to walk around the house and then out again and back and forth, she just would not settle down.  By the time hubby got back in bed and we were able to get back asleep, it was close to 4am, which means no sooner had we closed our eyes, than the alarm was going off at 5:30.

We both mumbled and grumbled and complained about having to get up, but we did and I got our coffees and saw him off to work.

I did my usual morning routine and then got up, cleaned the house and finished the menu plan and the grocery list.

Usually if I need the car, I will take him to work in the morning and then pick him back up, but being that I was so tired, I told him to just go ahead and take the car in.  He was coming home for lunch anyway, so I decided to go back with him and get all my errands run then.

Now I need to back track a little here, and this is probably more information than you need to know, but I've always been extremely open on my blog and have no problem discussing certain things.

If you've read my blog for a while, you will remember that I was having some issues with my birth control, the pills were making me really sick and the IUD worked until I had it removed and then almost passed out when they tried to get another one in, so I gave up on that.

When I moved to Idaho, two years ago, I asked to try the Patch and have loved it ever since.  Haven't really had many issues with it, aside from if I didn't use it properly I had some periods that were off, or spotting etc.

At the end of December I had my usual cycle and I needed to get my refill prescription because I was supposed to put on my new patch  that Sunday, the 3rd of January.  With the holidays and the New Years etc, the hospital on base was closed down and I wasn't able to get the prescription until the Monday after, the 4th.

So when I put on the patch, I was a day and a half late.  That was all it took to throw my body out of whack.

Woke up this morning and am having some spotting going on, literally feel like I'm about to start my period again.  I know, I know, TMI, but we're all women here and we all understand right???

By the time hubby picked me up at lunch time, I was already not feeling too well.  Nevertheless he took me to lunch at Burger King on base because he didn't have much time before needing to be back at work.

On the way back to his Hangar though, he took me by the base's thrift store, which I had never been to.  I picked up this book which of course caught my eye.  It was 50c and I couldn't leave it behind, you'll see why when I show you some pages.

It's a book about the Old West, more specifically, the Women.  Oh goodness, the cover it self was so pretty that I had to have it, but when I flipped through the pages inside I grew even more excited.

I am starting on it tomorrow, I have to, I just have to see what it's all about.

I dropped him off and then had 3 hours to kill before picking him back up.  Feeling the way I was, I really debated just getting my groceries, coming home and going back at 4pm to get him, but decided against it and I'm glad I did because time flew by.

One of the first stops I made was at the base library.  I hadn't been there since we first arrived here in Texas, and had forgotten just how big it really is.  I could have stayed in there for a really long time but my lower back hurt, my head hurt and so I looked around a bit and quickly settled on two books.

The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson
The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory

I then stopped in at the Base Exchange to pick up some allergy meds for myself and some mascara for Jasmine.  By the time I looked at the clock, it was 2:45 and so I made my way to the commissary for my grocery shopping.

I thought I would do it pretty quickly and be out of there in time to go by the food court to get some Charley's subs for the kids.  They had been asking for Charley's for weeks and since I was right next door I figured I would get it as a very late lunch/early dinner.

I walked around the commissary, not really feeling very well, seemed the more I walked, the more my lower back hurt and the more my sciatica kicked in.  I honestly got to the point where I just wanted out of there as soon as I could.

I glanced at the time and it was 3:35.  By the time I checked out and got the groceries loaded, it was 10 minutes to 4pm and I knew I wouldn't have time to pick up the food before grabbing hubby, so went to get him first and then the food next.

Came home and really couldn't muster up the energy to film or even snap pictures for the blog.  I'm sorry folks, but it just was not going to happen today.

I will tell you that I stayed well under budget, coming in just over $200.

By the time I finished getting everything put away, the sun was setting.  I had just enough time to grab my camera and snap this shot.  Such a beautiful end to the day.

Tomorrow it's back to a normal homemaking day.  Later in the afternoon though, we have Curt's cousin and aunt coming in, they are spending the night and leaving Saturday late afternoon.

They are actually coming to bring us the rest of the chairs for the dining table they surprised us with, and also helping us stain everything, and paint the furniture in the living room, white.  His cousin is also going to give it a rustic antique kind of look, I'm so excited.

So yeah, I'll be getting ready for their arrival, doing my usual homemaking chores and hopefully getting some reading of my new books in.

Hope you've all had a wonderful Thursday, wishing you a restful and peaceful night.

See you all in the morning :)

Between shelves and books.....

At this very moment, I am sitting at the library on base.  Without a doubt it is one of my favorite places to visit and sit for a while.

I wasn't supposed to come here today, but I realized this morning that my books were going to be due on Thursday, and I would have had my hubby return them since he has to come to base almost every day, but I am done with my stack, save for one.

I have renewed that one, but wanted to get new ones.

Why you may ask?  Fair question since I ask myself this every time I come to the library.  It's not like I don't have enough books on my Kindle or on my bookshelves at home to read.

In all truthfulness, I love my Kindle, but I will always be a real book, kinda gal.  Nothing beats the smell of the book pages as you flip through them.

So, he went off to do his work at the commissary, and I came to hang out at the library.  Last time I was here I didn't bring my computer, it was the first time I had returned to the library in many years and didn't really know where anything was.

I took the opportunity to get reacquainted with everything and just browsed and walked the book aisles.

This time, I came prepared.  I had an idea of what I wanted to get, or rather, the subject matter which I was interested in, but I also brought the laptop.  I figured if I got done with the book searching before he returned to pick me up, I would just do a blog entry or read blogs, etc.

In order for you to understand why I got these books, let me explain that as I've rewatched the Tudors, am now watching The White Queen, and have immersed myself in all those documentaries, I have come to learn so much that I had never known before.

It is by far, the most amazing feeling, when the pieces of the puzzle start coming together.  You think you know something and then out of nowhere, something else comes up that makes you go "now wait a minute, I didn't realize that."

All it has done is make me even more thirsty for British History and especially the Tudor Era, the War of the Roses and the whole monarchy in general.

It's one thing to know certain names and a bit of their history, but it's an altogether different feeling when you actually start figuring out how they relate to each other and just how connected they are.

Like for example.....King Edward IV married Elizabeth Woodville right?  They had quite a few children but their first was a girl also named Elizabeth more commonly known as Elizabeth Tudor.

Then there was King Richard III who was Edward IV's brother and became king when Edward died.  He is the one that imprisoned the two princes in the tower of London.  I KNOW right??? Those two princes were Edward's sons who would have become Kings upon his death.

In the meantime, we have Henry Tudor coming in, he was Margaret Beaufort's son and HE had a legitimate claim to the throne but was never allowed to claim it.  Once Richard III became King, Henry gathered an army and came in to fight for what he believe was his rightful place....and he did in fact win the battle and become King.

Guess who he married????  Elizabeth Tudor.

And guess who one of their children was?  Henry VIII.  Wow!!!

I know some of you probably could care less about this stuff, but for a History nerd such as myself, it's just been amazing being able to connect all these people and know where they came from.

Right, so with that in mind, I got 8 books, 5 of which are related to this stuff.....the other 3 are not but I wanted to grab them anyway.

• Mexican Cookbook by Jane Milton
• Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey (in preparation for the new season coming up in September)
• The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England
• The Spanish Queen by Carolly Erickson
• The House of Tudor by Alison Plowden
• The Wars of the Roses by Robin Neillands
• Monarch and Conspirators - The Wives and Woes of Henry VIII
• Life in Medieval England

I am now back home, and I wanted to share a quick few photos I took today, not many at all, but just some things that caught my eye as I was puttering around.

Started my morning with coffee out on the deck, and some crochet.  I haven't done much on the v-stitch blanket, been busy with other things.

Right next to the table on the deck, is one of my bird houses, I have quite a few but this one has to be one of my most liked.  It is so cute.

I am not sure if I ever showed you my entrance area, but this wall is right as you come in.  I didn't do much to it, but I'm happy with how it looks.

I'm sure by now you've noticed that I have a lot of Americana decorations in my living room.  I love Americana and I love Primitive so I try to bring in little touches here and there.

Of course there always has to be some crochet around, and these are some of the blankets I've made over the years.  They sit on this shelf that my hubby made for us when we first got married.  The C and S obviously standing for Curtis and Sandra.

See?  Not many pictures at all.

I'm going to finish up this post, and then I have a load of clothes coming out of the dryer, I need to fold them and put them away.

The weather has changed, the clouds have moved in and it's looking darker outside, I'm not sure if we'll get any rain but it sure looks the part.

Have you noticed how the days have started getting shorter?  Curt and I were just talking about this last night as we drove to Tae Kwon Do.  9pm and the sun was already starting to set.  Looks like Fall is just around the corner.

For dinner tonight, I have a slow cooked pot roast, I put it in this morning and it's been cooking away.  Smells divine.  I added in some carrots and potatoes about an hour ago so that's what we're having later.

Oh and I've updated my Orange Cake recipe, go on over to the food blog for that.

I think that's it, I don't think I'm leaving anything out.  I did enjoy my time at the library but now that I'm home there are homemaking chores that need my attention, so I need to skidaddle on out of here and get to it.

From the library

Morning visit to the library, an hour browsing through books and a stack later.....



Christmas with Paula Deen
Eat what you Love
Crockpot Slow Cooker Bible
Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen




Tina first told me about the Susan Wittig Albert books and I've been meaning to get them ever since, but kept forgetting. Well, no more, I picked up 3, actually the only ones the base library had BUT I was able to get the whole collection for the Kindle earlier so I'll be able to read the ones that I didn't get this morning :)

The Tale of Hilltop Farm by Susan Wittig Albert
The Tale of Holly How by Susan Wittig Albert
The Tale of Castle Cottage  by Susan Wittig Albert
The Centurion's Wife by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn
The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn
The Damascus Way by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn

 I'm digging right in with these, starting with the The Tale of Hilltop Farm :)

What books have you picked up at your library lately?  Reading anything good?

I've missed the library

I can't believe I've spent so long without visiting it.

I seem to go in spurts, I'm either there constantly, or don't set foot inside for months at a time.  I know, it's shocking considering my love for books, but in my defense I do get a lot of good reads to review so they tend to keep me busy in the book department.



But I had such a yearning to go there today, just to wander aimlessly through the aisles, to be surrounded by the thousands of spines seeming to peek out from the shelves beckoning you to pick them to take home.

Truth be told, if I could, I would have a huge library in my home, with a fireplace and a huge comfy chair with a crochet blanket draped over the back. A little table nearby stacked with books to read and a good cup of coffee. I think that is my happy place :)

So let me show you what I picked up:

Summer Bridge Middle School: 6th Grade to 7th Grade

Help children maintain skills while away from school with this award-winning series and original summer learning program! Daily activities in reading, writing, mathematics, and language arts with bonus activities in science and geography. Also included are full-color flash cards, incentive contract calendars, a certificate of completion, and the Summer Bridge Kids who guide children though their daily exercises.

Yes school is back in session, but extra work to keep the brain going is always welcomed.

The Everything Homeschooling Book

Homeschooling isn?t about teaching?it?s about learning together with your child. In this indispensible guide, author and homeschooler Sherri Linsenbach provides you with the encouragement, inspiration, and ideas you need to explore this option for your family. It?s packed full of ideas to make the experience easy, affordable, and, most of all, fun. Even veteran homeschoolers will find new ideas and techniques that help keep home education interesting and exciting.

 Third Grade Success

• What your third grader is learning at school and the educational standards to expect in math, language arts, science, and social studies
• Your child’s learning style—visual, auditory, or kinesthetic—and how it affects the way your child learns and processes information
• Hundreds of easy-to-do activities designed to help your child meet specific learning requirements
• Environmental learning sections that identify learning opportunities in the everyday world
• Methods and checklists to assess your child’s academic progress
• Information on how teachers evaluate performance--portfolios, rubrics, test scores, and other tools of the trade
• Recommendations of age-appropriate books and software that will enhance learning

200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans: Crochet Squares to Mix and Match

From Art Deco–inspired geometric designs to traditional checkerboard stripes and elaborate motifs, this guide helps crafters rediscover crochet with more than 200 fabulous block patterns.

The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper

Katherine Ashley is the daughter of a country squire with no hope of a future, until a chance meeting with Thomas Cromwell gets her sent to Henry VIII's court as a waiting gentlewoman to Queen Anne Boleyn and a spy for Cromwell. When Boleyn comes to an untimely end, Ashley becomes tutor and servant to her daughter, Elizabeth, and accompanies the girl throughout her trials and tribulations before she finally takes her father's throne and goes on to become England's greatest queen.

The Aloha Quilt: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini

In this latest entry to the bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, quilting queen Bonnie Markham explores Hawaii and learns about the islands' quilting traditions while setting up a tropical quilt camp. Weary from a difficult divorce battle, Bonnie leaves beloved Elm Creek Manor and takes up her friend's invitation to start the camp; once in Hawaii, she gets to work on hiring staff and making her version of a Hawaiian quilt. When her mean-spirited ex-husband-to-be demands half her share in Elm Creek as part of the settlement, Bonnie takes drastic measures to protect the estate and her friends. Still, the big changes are hard to take, and Bonnie's not sure she can follow through.

The Union Quilters: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini

In her true-to-form latest, Chiaverini (The Aloha Quilt; etc.) goes back to the Civil War era as the men go off to fight and the women of Elm Creek Valley support the Union troops. While the women struggle with their own problems, updates from the front amplify tensions as the war comes closer to home, leading some to tragedy and others to heartbreaking revelations. Among the many developments, Dorothea sends husband Thomas off to war with her favorite quilt; Constance's husband, Abel, seeks a way to serve a Union that won't enlist him because he's black; Gerda pines for Jonathan, who brings his medical skills to the front; and Gerda's brother, Hans, refuses to fight because he is a pacifist.

I feel like I got a good mix of books in there, didn't go overboard as I usually do because I tend to get too much and then have to return them without even getting to read them.

A little homeschooling help, and some good fiction, I think I'll start with The Union Quilters, it sounds SO good and the cover is just to die for.  :)

Have you been to the library yet?  What are you reading right now?  I would love some book suggestions to help me compile my Fall Reading list which I will be making soon and posting next week.

Quick edit:  If you're wondering what type of genre I usually read, I would say pretty much everything and anything.  My favorites are Historical Romance, Christian Romance but honestly, I read everything, mysteries, autobiographies etc.

A good trip to the library

No matter how much I say that I have tons of books, full shelves, full baskets and even more coming in to review, there is just an overwhelming pull to the library.

We hadn't been here in quite a few months actually and this afternoon we decided to head there, mainly with the intent of getting books for the children to read now that they're done with their school year.

But I can't ever just go and not pick up a book....or two....or in this case quite a few more than I should have, my love for books knows no bounds, what can I say?

So let me share with you what I got, if you've read any of these, do let me know what you thought.

Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael
Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey
The Thorn by Beverly Lewis - Book 1 in The Rose Trilogy
The Secret by Beverly Lewis - Book 1 in The Seasons of Grace Series
The Missing by Beverly Lewis - Book 2 in The Seasons of Grace Series
Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3
Cooking Light Fresh Fast Food
Kraft No Oven Summer Sensations
Cooking and Baking for Diabetics
Sommersize Desserts

I think I have good mix of books to read and cookbooks to help me in my healthier cooking journey :)

Jane Austen Addict!

It's true, I don't try to hide the fact that I'm absolutely, completely addicted to Jane Austen.

I love her books, it's hard for me at times to wrap my mind around the fact that this amazing author wrote these masterpieces over almost 200 years ago.

It also boggles my mind when I talk to people who have no idea who Jane Austen is, doesn't everyone know who she is? No? Well for shame, they should LOL

So in my quest to reread her most famous books I ended up at the library on Sunday, surrounded by anything related to this brilliant woman, even books who were not written by her but are related to her characters or books.

Do you want to see what I got? Oh and if you've read any let me know what you thought.

First and foremost, Jane Austen's Complete Works which include all 6 of her published books:

One of the great and ever popular masters of the English novel is represented here by every one of her novels. Includes Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and the lesser-known Lady Susan.

The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy

In Fitzwilliam Darcy, Austen created the ultimate romantic hero. Yet Pride and Prejudice reveals little of Darcy's innermost thoughts. Here, Street unveils the true motives and mysteries of Elizabeth Bennet's enigmatic suitor. Through Darcy's eyes we discover the reality of his relationships with his sister Georgiana, his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, the dastardly Wickham, his friend Bingley, and his formidable aunt, Lady Catherine. And of course, all his memorable encounters with Elizabeth, from that first view of her fine eyes to his disastrous proposal, and then to a pride and arrogance tempered by an unquenchable love.

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet

Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But what about their sister Mary? At the conclusion of Jane Austen's classic novel, Mary, bookish, awkward, and by all accounts, unmarriageable, is sentenced to a dull, provincial existence in the backwaters of Britain. Now, master storyteller Colleen McCullough rescues Mary from her dreary fate with The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, a page-turning sequel set twenty years after Austen's novel closes. The story begins as the neglected Bennet sister is released from the stultifying duty of caring for her insufferable mother.

Emma Watson: The Watsons Completed by Joan Aiken

It has always been a source of great frustration to Janeites that Jane Austen abandoned The Watsons after only seventeen and a half thousand words. It is, as Margaret Drabble says, a "tantalising, delightful and highly accomplished fragment, which must surely have proved the equal of her other six novels had she finished it." In Emma Watson, Joan Aiken at long last completes The Watsons. Nineteen-year-old Emma, adopted by her aunt after the death of her mother, has rejoined her ailing father and her favorite sister, Elizabeth. Her stuffy brother Robert is living in Croydon with his grasping wife; her shrewish sister Penelope looks to have made a good match; her brother Sam is trying to make his way as a doctor; and Emma's immediate elder, Margaret, fancies herself in love with Tom Musgrave. Austen characters all, yet Joan Aiken, with consummate skill, makes them her own.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Viegler

This delightful sequel to Rigler's Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict has 19th-century Jane Mansfield switching bodies and milieus with contemporary L.A. girl Courtney Stone. As Jane grasps the idea that she's a different person in an unimaginable world, and grapples with the radically liberal social mores, dress and language, she leans on Jane Austen's novels as touchstones to reality.

******************************

Now do you understand why I seem to be addicted to Jane Austen?

It's quite funny actually, as I do tend to go through these phases, I still vividly remember my King Henry VIII phase where I simply devoured every book, biography, documentary and tv show or movie ever made about this era.

But I've always been a Jane girl, they are the only books that I read over and over again and never get tired, they are also the only movies I will watch more than once.

My husband thinks I'm crazy, see he's the kind of guy who can watch the same movie 5 or 6 or 7 times and still enjoy it and I usually turn my nose at it and tease him about it. After all, everyone knows that Sandra does NOT read or watch anything twice.....except for Jane Austen, I don't think there can ever be enough of Mr Darcy can there?

So now that I've let you in to that little secret, I'm off to go and read, I'm currently enjoying the Rude Awakening of a Jane Austen Addict and it's quite funny so far.

What are you reading right now?

Visiting an old friend!

You probably think I'm talking about an actual living breathing person, but I'm not, I'm talking about something else, something that doesn't speak to me (not in the sense of actual words), something that doesn't move, it just sits there but oh does it bring so much joy to my heart.

If you know me well you know that I am happiest when I'm with my family in my home and surrounded by books, I'm pretty sure I've given it away now........The Library!

It had been about a month or so since I'd been there and when I walked in through those doors today it took everything inside me not to let out a little whoop and dance a little jig.
I'm sure my family appreciates that, I have no doubt they would have disappeared and acted like they didn't know me if I had done it LOL

It was time to go fill up my book bag with little treasures for my Summer Reading List and while I was there, we picked up the kid's Summer Reading Program baggies, they're so excited to participate again being that it was such a hit last year.

But enough talking let me show you what I got and a lot of these have been recommended to me by other bloggers so I'm really eager to get started.

The Forgotten Garden (This is the one I'm reading first, I am dying to read it)
In 1913, a little girl arrives in Brisbane, Australia, and is taken in by a dockmaster and his wife. She doesn’t know her name, and the only clue to her identity is a book of fairy tales tucked inside a white suitcase. When the girl, called Nell, grows up, she starts to piece together bits of her story, but just as she’s on the verge of going to England to trace the mystery to its source, her grandaughter, Cassandra, is left in her care. When Nell dies, Cassandra finds herself the owner of a cottage in Cornwall, and makes the journey to England to finally solve the puzzle of Nell’s origins. Shifting back and forth over a span of nearly 100 years, this is a sprawling, old-fashioned novel, as well-cushioned as a Victorian country house, replete with family secrets, stories-within-stories, even a maze and a Dickensian rag-and-bone shop. All the pieces don’t quite mesh, but it’s a satisfying read overall, just the thing for readers who like multigenerational sagas with a touch of mystery.


Pioneer Farm: Living on a Farm in the 1880s
Uses the story of a young girl and her family to describe life on a small farm in Minnesota in the nineteenth century.


Along the Santa Fe Trail: Marion Russell's Own Story
In 1852, seven-year-old Marion Russell, her mother and brother traveled in a train of 500 wagons along the Santa Fe Trail, from Fort Leavenworth, Kans., to California. Wadsworth, whose children's biographies include accounts of John Muir and Rachel Carson, has adapted Russell's memoirs of the tumultuous journey, which were transcribed by her daughter in the 1920s. As she explains in a foreword, Wadsworth preserved Marion's "eloquent voice" as much as possible. Her flowing first-person narrative contains lovely descriptive passages ("The vast open country that is gone from us forever rippled like a silver sea in the sunshine"), as well as such engaging particulars as Russell's frustration at not being able to reach all the buttons in the back of her dress ("Why couldn't they have been put in front where I could get at them?"). Watling's art pays similar attention to period details. Whether depicting a glorious sunset on the plains or the bustling streets of Santa Fe, his polished colored ink and colored pencil pictures are historically accurate and filled with energy.


The Oregon Trail
In 1846, a young man of privilege left his comfortable Boston home to embark on a strenuous overland journey to the untamed West. This timeless account of Parkman's travels and travails provides an expressive portrait of the rough frontiersmen, immigrants, and Native Americans he encounters, set against the splendor of the unspoiled wilderness.


The Story of Women who shaped the West
Fox chooses a few people to illustrate why women in general went west and what they found. An abrupt ending spotlights Annie Oakley. Battle covers the events and personalities of this bloody two-day Tennessee conflict and its significance in Civil War history. An additional source to more general books on that war, its focus on a single event demonstrates this series' strength.


The Thirteenth Tale
Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale. Setterfield has rejuvenated the genre with this closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. She never cheats by pulling a rabbit out of a hat; this atmospheric story hangs together perfectly.

There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:

"You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone."

She [Vida] shrugged. "It's my profession. I'm a storyteller."

"I am a biographer, I work with facts."

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
Kalish's memoir of her Iowa childhood, set against the backdrop of the Depression, captures a vanished way of traditional living and a specific moment in American history in a story both illuminating and memorable. Kalish lived with her siblings, mother and grandparents-seven in all-both in a town home and, in warmer weather, out on a farm. The lifestyle was frugal in the extreme: "The only things my grandparents spent money on were tea, coffee, sugar, salt, white flour, cloth and kerosene." But in spite of the austere conditions, Kalish's memories are mostly happy ones: keeping the farm and home going, caring for animals, cooking elaborate multi-course meals and washing the large family's laundry once a week, by hand. Here, too, are stories of gossiping in the kitchen, digging a hole to China with the "Big Kids" and making head cheese at butchering time.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton (nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff) writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams finds Juliet's name in a used book and invites articulate—and not-so-articulate—neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book's epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories.

Daughter of Grace The Journals of Corrie Belle Hollister
When Corrie Belle Hollister and her younger brothers and sisters unexpectedly found their father on the streets of Miracle Springs, their shocking reunion was tentative at best. It would take the full story of My Father's World for them to discover each other in their hearts and to start to become the family God wanted them to be.

Wild Grows the Heather in Devon
Bestselling novelist Michael Phillips crafts a new historical fiction series, "The Secrets of Heathersleigh Hall", set in 20th-century England. With the coming of World War I, Amanda Rutherford returns from London to Devon to become Lady Heathersleigh. But her cousin Geoffrey comes forward claiming to be the true heir. Will he foil her legacy in the old family estate?.

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What do you think? Did I get a good variety of books or not?

I'm really excited to get started and I think after The Forgotten Garden, my next one will be the Little Heathens.

What's on your reading list for this summer? And what kind of a reader are you, fiction, non fiction, hardcore heavy reading that makes you think and what about reading 1 or 2 books at the same time, do you ever do that or do you stick to just one?

Let's chat about books, you know it's one of my favorite subjects.

Books!

“A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them.” - Horace Mann

Everyone is feeling much better today, so this morning I grabbed the kids and took them to one of our favorite places to visit. The library.

The kids have both gotten their love for books from mom and dad. There is this passion when they pick up a new book, this twinkle in their eye as they turn to the first page and immerse themselves in whatever story they are reading. In a book there is NO limitations, you can be in your bedroom one minute and sailing across the world in the next...or flying through an amazing rain forest surrounded by the most beautiful and colorful birds you've ever seen.

A room without books is like a body without a soul. (Seneca)

One of their favorite rooms is the Children's area, with it's bright stuffed toys and pillows, tons of books everywhere, from tiny ones to child size and even a piano to practice on.

We always have this kind of ritual when we enter the library, our first stop is the Children's Room and then the Young Adult Room where Jasmine gets to browse the computers and throw herself into American Girl Books, Junie B. Jones and now....just you wait....NOW.....she's into Little House on the Prairie.

My word I never thought I would be more excited to see my daughter reading the kind of books I have always loved and remember loving as a child. It was great sitting there side by side looking through them all and picking which ones to read.

I also have Little House on the Prairie on my Netflix Queue and she wants to watch them when they come in. How fun will that be?

Let books be your dining table,
And you shall be full of delights
Let them be your mattress
And you shall sleep restful nights.
~Author Unknown

So we got a couple of those and Nicholas also picked up a bunch of books about animals and a huge Beatrix Potter Hardcover. I can't wait to read those to them.

There's something so relaxing and calming about a library, isn't there? It's like life slows down dramatically, everything moves at a snails pace and no matter how busy you are outside of those walls, you tend to stop and take it easy inside.

I could spend hours browsing the cookbook shelves and I have to force myself to keep my little hands off. If not, I would probably bring the whole collection home.

We were in there for an hour and then headed out to run some errands. I had to post this photo because both kids look so out of it *snicker*
One is yawning and the other looks like she's already taking a nap.

Back at home, the books go on the shelf in the entry way, this way I always know where they are and don't forget to return them to the library, on time.

A closer look....I rechecked out the two Tana French books, I never got around to reading them last time.

In the Woods - Tana French
The Likeness - Tana French
Home to Holly Springs - Jan Karon
Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder
By the shores of silver lake - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Town on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

And to end this off I just want to say that I miss my husband...so very much. I know it has nothing to do with books, but the kids and I have been really missing him, these 13 and 14 hour days that he is working is resulting in us not seeing him at all. It's been about two weeks since we've shared a meal, sat down for more than 10 minutes and enjoyed each other's company.

To top it off, he has weekend duty which means, if they don't get everything done today, he will be working tomorrow and Sunday too.

So I miss him, I miss his hugs and his kisses and I miss his voice and his laughter. He looks exhausted but he puts on a brave face every day and heads off to work....leaving in our minds, one specific image....his uniformed back heading out the door.