Oct
08
I’ve been working on my books for this challenge that Katrina is doing on her site, Callapidder Days. She has a list of participants up on her site as well.
So far I have finished 3 of my books! Not sure if I’ll get to them all but at least I’m making progress.
At Home in Mitford………the first of the Mitford series of books by Jan Karon. I had “read” this one last year on tape while driving to Charlotte and enjoyed it. I almost went straight to the next one and decided I needed to be up to date on the characters so I reread it. Lots of people have probably read these but they center around Father Tim, an Episcopal priest in a small North Carolina town in the mountains. For being a bachelor, he leads a very full life and has lots of characters in and out of his life and home. I was glad I reread it.
A Light in the Window……..the next Mitford book. I think I will enjoy reading most all of these; very clean, easy to follow with some fun characters and there are usually several sub stories to go along with the main one; and in this case it involved his neighbor Cynthia that he was becoming very attached to. It was hard for me to not go immediately to the next one! I love reading series of books like these.
Lincoln at Home……this is a book we’ve had here at the house that the kids gave Don a few years ago. Subtitle is: two glimpses of Abraham Lincoln’s family life. Glimpse would be appropriate because it doesn’t go into great detail in the first section about his life and the second section has reprints of letters hand written by him, his wife and a few by one son. The introduction included an interesting tidbit by the author, David Herbert Donald. He wrote that this book originated in a talk he prepared at the request of President George Bush and delivered in the White House in 1990. He said that the president and his wife had a deep interest in Lincoln and that he wanted the author to focus on Lincoln’s domestic life for the talk he gave. Thus, this book. It was interesting to read also that Mary Lincoln intended to become, and was, First Lady of the land—-a term coined to describe her. She made it her main project to refurbish the White House and Congress appropriated $20,000 for her to spend over 4 years to do so. That was an immense amount of money for that time. (if I remember correctly, I think she went over the amount!) I also thought it was amazing to read that the Lincolns discovered that the White House was very much a public building as well as a home. In those days most all rooms on the first floor and many on the second floor were open to all visitors, and that anybody who wanted to could come in at any hour of the day or night! That would never happen today! Lincoln’s office area was full of people all day long; senators, congressman, applicants for jobs, military people and ordinary citizens and they all either wanted favors of him or just to talk to him and shake his hand. It said the line was so long many days that it extended all the way to the front entrance. He found himself a prisoner in his own office. Eventually, he ordered an addition; a partition built through the reception area so he could retreat to the family quarters unseen.
I don’t often read books that aren’t fiction and it’s not what I enjoy the most. I thought it was good for me to read something different and I’m glad that I finished it!
October 9th, 2006 at 10:25 am
The Mitford books rank up there as some of my all-time favorites. I really love Jan Karon and will be so glad when she starts releasing the next trilogy, which are supposed to go back to Father Tim. The first one is supposed to be set in Holly Springs MS! 🙂
Very good to branch out and read non-fiction. It’s very hard for me too, and you’re doing much better on that front than I am. Good for you!!!
October 9th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
This sounds absolutely wonderful. I get so caught up in work that I don’t read the books that I have or want. I’m going to sit down and make my list! Happy Reading!