Mary’s Comments (group member since Jan 06, 2017)

Mary’s comments from the Challenges from Exploding Steamboats group.

Well, I knew I was running out of time to complete this challenge, so when I was in town to do some Christmas shopping, I was careful to enter the book store through the door into the children's section. The first book I cast my eyes on was a very slender one, Stanley's Christmas Adventure which is a Flat Stanley book by Jeff Brown. :)

I have just finished "Treaty Planet" by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye. I've had this on my TBR shelf for probably nearly 20 years! I bought it when I was living in Hamburg, and paid a rather pricey sum of DM 20.00 for it, as it is in English.

What is my profession? Well, I guess it would be Stay-At-Home-Mom. So, for this topic I have read Replacement Child by Judy L. Mandel. The SAHM in this book is Judy's mother. In the winter of 1951-1952 three passenger airplanes crashed on Elizabeth, New Jersey. The second of these planes fell on a residential area on several houses, including Judy's parents' house. Judy's mother was home with her mother and two-year-old daughter. Because the weather was nasty, Judy's oldest sister, Donna, and her friend decided to leave school instead of staying for an extra-curricular activity and go to Donna's house. This was a fatal decision, as they arrived just minutes before the plane crashed. Donna died, and the two-year-old sister (and Donna's friend) was burnt over 80% of her body. Eventually, in an attempt to mend their broken family, Judy's mother and father decided to try for another child. This Replacement Child is Judy. This is subtitled "a memoir", as part of it is Judy trying to make sense of her life. Some of it is information given by her family, some found during Judy's research. Some parts of it must be her imaginings of what her parents had actually done or thought, as it is clear that they never spoke to her in detail about these things.

Stina wrote: "I've just borrowed I Am Malala to read for a book club. Do you think it fits this prompt?"

Yes, I think it does.

I have just read “What Happened” by Hillary Rodham Clinton for the political memoir topic, but it would fit this category, too.

My book for this topic is “What Happened” by Hillary Rodham Clinton. It is an eye opener. The strangest thing was, every time I updated my progress on Goodreads, total strangers liked it. I also got three friend requests through reading it. I have never had such a reaction before. Because of the political situation, I did not allow Goodreads to post my progress on my facebook page.

I noticed that a book I bought way back in 2005 has two keys on the cover. It is "Memory and Identity, Personal Reflections" by Pope John Paul II. It has the papal coat of arms on the front cover, and that includes two keys. This book wouldn't be for everyone, as the basis of it was a series of meetings between the Pope and two Polish philosophers back in 1993. It was slow going at first, but was more interesting once I got past the first section.

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume. In a period of two months in the winter of 1951/1952 three passenger planes crashed on Elizabeth, New Jersey, a near neighbour to Newark Airport. A total of 119 people died. At the time Judy Blume lived in Elizabeth. These are the facts. Blume wrote this novel based on those facts, and she tells a pretty good story.

I chose "Sula" by Toni Morrison because my daughter's friend's name is Sula. The story never clicked for me. It is a brief book, so I haven't really lost anything.

I read "These Foolish Things" by Deborah Moggach. It is better known as "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".

I started this book in hardback, way back when Barack Obama first became a serious contender for the office of US President. I thought I should learn more about this person. I never finished it. I decided to give it a go as an audiobook for this prompt.
 
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama, narrated by the author.

I have just completed Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. The original was written around 1200 in Iceland, the translation I read was published in 1978. I visited Orkney in July, and this was mentioned several times. It covers more than 200 years of Orkney earls and other people of note. It was truly a violent time, with a lot of backstabbing and then reconciliation. The actual text is 200 pages, so there isn't a lot of detail. Some of the names are rather amusing, like Thorarin Bag-Nose. And sometimes someone is no longer important to the storyteller, so they simply write something like, "He did nothing more of importance, so that's all." There is a fair amount of, "He ran into the room, hit x over the head with his sword/axe, splitting x's head in two down to his shoulders, then ran away," too. It is interesting to see how connected Orkney was to Norway, the Hebrides, Ireland, and how often the Orcadians went raiding in these places, plus various parts of Scotland and England. Later on, as Christianity became more important, they even made pilgrimages to the Holy Land and raided all the way there. These raids were called Viking trips.

Admissions: A Life in Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh. I like Mr. Marsh's writing style. He looks back mostly on his professional career, although there is some private life there, too, as he decides to retire from the NHS. This doesn't mean that he stopped working, though, as he continued to visit and work with a friend in Nepal and another in Ukraine. Although he doesn't dwell long on any point, there are some pretty heavy topics touched on more than once, for example suicide in the face of an unpleasant, fatal condition, what exactly is the "I" of every person, the current preoccupation of preserving life at whatever the cost (not just financial, put pain, suffering, disability, loss of the existing personality, etc.). This is by no means a hefty tome or lengthy read. In hardback, it is 270 pages, so in paperback with a smaller font and tighter spacing, it would probably be quite slender.

I have just read the nice but not challenging "The Bookshop on the Corner". The author is clearly in love with books and Scotland, as is the protagonist.

A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen has a photo of the author on the front cover.

My husband gave me "A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess", so I'm using that for this topic. Very pleasant read. She goes through the year month by month and tells stories from her entire farming life (not just one year) which relate to that month.

Stina wrote: "Mary wrote: "Wyatt Earp by Matt Braun Although Wyatt Earp didn't become sheriff (I was quite disappointed to learn), his running for sheriff of Cochise County was the main cause of what happened in..."

It was certainly disappointing.

Wyatt Earp by Matt Braun Although Wyatt Earp didn't become sheriff (I was quite disappointed to learn), his running for sheriff of Cochise County was the main cause of what happened in this telling of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Also, one of his key opponents throughout was the Sheriff Behan. Earp was running against Behan to become sheriff, was a US Marshall during this story, and had been a lawman before these events.

This is based on the facts of Wyatt Earp's life, but is a fictional story. My main complaint with this book is that women are only there to throw themselves at the men in their lives to make wild love to them, look pretty on the men's arms, or nurse them back to good health after a shootout.

Here is a link to the Saltire Society Literary Awards: http://www.saltiresociety.org.uk/awar...

Mary wrote: "I have just read His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. This book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Award 2016 (and was the hot favorite to win). It did win the Saltire Society Literary Award..."

I have just read His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. This book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Award 2016 (and was the hot favorite to win). It did win the Saltire Society Literary Award for Fiction Book of the Year 2016.

This is a piece of fiction, but it was well researched. The premise is that the author in researching his family, came across a triple murder committed in the Scottish Highlands in 1869. He researched the murder, pulled together witness statements, an account written by the killer, psychology report, newspaper reports of the trial, and the trial's outcome. It gives good insight into the plight of the Scottish crofters (small holding farmers on rented land) in the Highlands at the time, and all the prejudices against them.

I didn't really want to put the book down once I started reading it, and would recommend it. I especially think anyone interested in Scottish history would find it of interest, keeping in mind, it is fiction.