Tuesday's Book Blog

I blogged earlier about girls bullying. This is what I usually blog about on Tuesdays. "Homespun Bride" by Jillian Hunt was a free download from Kindle. It was a beautiful story of a blind girl living in the Central Northwest just as the trains started coming. It was a bit predictable but still a beautiful love story and well told. I am glad I read it and look forward to reading others by Jillian Hunt

"Once a Cowboy" had two things that I related two well. It was set in Texas (up by Dallas) and was about man that was raised as an Army BRAT. This was a story that had a lot of unexpected twists and turns. Linda Warren really knows how to tell a tale! I literally could not put the book down because I just had to finish that chapter to see where she was taking me next. This was free download from Kindle but I will definitely be reading more Linda Warren books in the future.

Helen Mirren was nominated for best actress in the movie made from the book "The Last Station" by Jay Parini. I was intrigued by the interviews she was giving, so I decided to read the book. It was very slow going because the book is so sad. It is book of the Communist party breaking up the 50+ year marriage of Leo Tolstoy because they feel Tolstoy's wife is out of step with his thinking. They rewrote Tolstoy's last Will so that the profits of his books would go to the people (in truth these followers) and not to his wife and children that helped write the books. Very little is written of Tolstoy in the book except in a dreamlike state. I looks to me like he had dementia or Alzheimer's and that his followers were playing on this to get what they wanted. His wife Sofya was trying to do what was best for him but no one seemed to see that. I had to keep putting this book down and reading others in between because it was so sad and heavy. I doubt I will ever watch the movie, so I will never know how closely the book follows the film. It is just too tragic.

I read "Better Known as Johnny Appleseed" by Mabel Leigh Hunt. This book is out of print. It is a Newberry Honor book. I got the one I am reading from the library. It is written in 3 parts. The first part is biographical. The second part is made up of the legends that surround 'Johnny Appleseed', and the third part is somewhat a combination of the two. It was interesting to find out that John Chapman was born in Massachusetts (though he never referred to it in any way other than the 'Bay State'.) He spent most of his planting time between Ohio and Pennsylvania. One of his largest orchards is in Greensburg, Pennsylvania (that is where Pam graduated and Chris is finishing up his degree!). Johnny Appleseed planted both eating apples and crab apple trees. Crab Apples were necessary for the pectin in jams and jellies - so he made sure that he planted both kinds of trees when he planted. It was an interesting book and a fun read.

As usual there were some other books that fell through the cracks. I thought I had written down the titles before I returned them to the library - but I didn't.