desertvixen | Reading for 2018

So July's reading went well until August 1st when I discovered Excel had RANDOMLY CUT/PASTED/REARRANGED sections in the book catalog. Not sure what I hit to "group" things, but it was not good.

July Kindle Reading:

26 read, 12 deleted, 29 added. Progress made.

A Diary from Dixie by Mary Boykin Chestnut – A Civil War memoir from a woman whose husband was relatively prominent in the Confederacy, provides an interesting (if somewhat petty) look at her times.

Alaskan Dawn by Edie Claire – A decent little romance with characters that could have been fleshed out better.

American History Revised by Seymour Morris – A collection of “Did You Know?” type stuff concerning American history. Entertaining but lengthy.

Audrey's Awakening by Kay P. Dawson – An acceptable Oregon Trail romance.

Becca Fisher Amish Wedding Box Set by Becca Fisher – Amish collection that goes in my Bad Examples folder. Just too fanfictiony and shallow.

Betty Crocker Lost Recipes by Betty Crocker – Interesting, but I wouldn’t characterize most of these as “lost” or even really all that “vintage”.

Christopher Carson Known as Kit by John SC Abbott – Biography of Kit Carson, pretty readable. It was written close enough after his death that people who knew him were contacted by the author, and it’s a little hagiographic but entertaining.

Code Girls by Liza Mundy – History of the Army and Navy using women codebreakers in the World Wars. Very good read.

Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War by JW McGuire – Memoir of a Southern Episcopalian who became a refugee during the Civil War. Interesting for its woman on the scene POV.

Enchant: Beauty and the Beast Retold by Demelza Carlton – This one was really good, one of the best of the group. It’s centered on the enchantress character, and the curse has a nifty little twist.

Familiar Faces: Stories of People You Know by Mary Roberts Rinehart – Rinehart short stories, with several on the theme of being careful what you wished for. Light and entertaining.

Fear by Night by Patricia Wentworth – A non-Silver outing, but this one is very good and creepy, playing off the trapped on an island theme. Very good.

Foam Rolling: 50 Exercises by Karina Inkster – Pretty much what it sounds like.

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon – An overwrought Victorian mystery that really toys with the reader – the secret had a twist I didn’t quite figure out.

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder – Not my first read, but I was doing something that made me get it for the Kindle. This and These Happy Golden Years are my favorites.

Love, Sex and Marriage in the Civil War by Charles A. Mills – More a collection of sources and editorial, nothing you don’t already know if you’ve studied history for 5 minutes.

Old Plantation Days by NB deSaussure – A Civil War era memoir, pro-Southern.

Sixes and Sevens by O. Henry – A collection of mostly forgettable short stories. Basically kept in case I need something later.

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney – A teen classic I never read. Not super impressed, and it doesn’t really solve the mystery.

The Forgotten Recipe by Amy Clipston – Nice “healing from broken heart” Amish story.

The Hunter's Daughter by M.F. Lorson – Interesting teen novel dealing with some heavy issues in a light-ish way. If you like Rainbow Rowell, you will probably enjoy this one. Deals with abandonment, family issues, death of a parent, and teen romance.

The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Tristan Gooley – A walk through superheroes that you will be surprised ever got published.

The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte – Collection of short stories. The titlular tale, Outcasts of Poker Flats, and some of the satires/parodies are worth reading, especially Selina Sedilia.

The Road to Victory by David P. Colley – A look at the WW2 Red Ball Express, composed largely of African-American drivers and support soldiers. Excellent book, and it also takes detours to related subjects like Patton’s gasoline thieves.

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder – The last of the Little House books (I do not count The First Four Years in this one) and one of the best. It’s one of my Desert Island books. Nellie gets her comeuppance and Laura gets Almanzo.

Women in Slavery by Frances Anne “Fanny” Kemble – A look at the slavery question by an English woman who lived on both sides. Not flattering to the Confederacy but pretty good.

July Dead Tree Reading:

9 discards from the pile, 2 new discards. 7 books read. Progress continues to happen.

American Girl Melody: No Ordinary Sound by Denise Lewis Patrick – The newest American Girl historical, deals with a young black girl and her family in Detroit with ties to Birmingham. The Birmingham church bombing plays a role. I thought it did an excellent job of showing different age groups in the family dealing with racism and the current events, and I enjoyed the introductory note about language (usage of “colored”, “Negro”, and “black”) – something I wish would be kept in mind more.

Penny Marsh: Supervisor of Public Health Nurses (1939) by Dorothy Deming – I found this gem in a UBS in Colorado, and it fits with my collection of “girls’ career books”. It was interesting, with a little bit of mystery, but Penny Marsh is no Cherry Ames.

Barren Corn by Georgette Heyer – One of Heyer’s “contemporary” novels. I see why she suppressed them later because this is a depressing book about knowing one’s social class and place, and what happens when people get out of their place. (It doesn’t end well for the heroine.) It also lacks quite a bit of the sparkle Heyer’s dialogue usually has.

Julie by Vivian Schurfranz – This one hits YA and American History, and is a reread. I found a practically perfect copy of this book in a Half-Price Books. The historical event for this one is the finishing of the transcontinental railroad, and it has just enough romance and adventure. It’s part of the Sunfire series, which focuses on girls in historical eras. I feel like the ones that take place in the nineteenth century are a little better – two of the discards for this month were Sunfires that dealt with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Galveston hurricane of 1900. Both of those I felt were trying to get too many cameos in a small space. This one was just right.

AG Classic: The Big Break (Julie) by Megan McDonald – This is one of the deals where they are reissuing the older “historical” books in 2 book volumes with less illustrations. Decent story but the art was what made a lot of the books worth collecting.

SVH SE Malibu Summer by Francine Pascal – You know what you’re getting with a Sweet Valley High book, and this one delivers on all counts. Jessica is underhanded, Elizabeth is too trusting, and the 1980s have never died.

Pioneer Girl, the Annotated Autobiography edited by Pamela Smith Hill – So, this was a really good read for people interested in the Little House (like the whole part where Nellie Oleson is apparently based on 3 separate people) and for history-minded people, especially in light of the recent removal of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from a children’s award. I was unaware that they had made a change back in the 1950s, to remove a sentence that implied Native Americans weren’t “people”. It’s a historical controversy that I find disturbing, since I believe that it’s better to not put “approved” language in the mouth of historical characters. I’d prefer to teach that yes, this was once considered an appropriate sentiment/belief, but no longer. (I’d also suggest that a little more sensitivity be used when teaching/reading to children of Native American descent.)