Author signings

I enjoyed two author presentations and signings last month.  David Wiesner was the presenter at the Provo Book Festival.

I purchased his book, Mr. Wuffles, for my grandson's birthday.  I thought he would enjoy it as it had a cat and he has a cat.  There were also aliens and flying saucers.

This was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2014.  David Wiesner has received several Caldcott awards for his picture books which he illustrates as well as writes.  It was a wonderful evening.

Later in the month I traveled to the King's English in Salt Lake City to see Susan Branch in person.

She also writes and illustrates her own books but they are for adults and enjoyed by others who are mostly like me!  Did I mention that there were several quilters in line.  She started with illustrated cookbooks.  Her last three books have been her life story.  She is one of a kind!  I, of course, had her sign all three of her lastest books as well as the first cookbook I ever bought, Christmas from the Heart of the Home.  I loved that cookbook with its charming quotes, beautiful paintings, and excellent recipes.  It made my Christmas 25 years ago.  It is always fun to meet someone you have admired from afar.

World War II Women with different perspectives

I found these two books at my local library.  World War II seems to the subject matter in a number of books recently including Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and All the Light We Can Not See by Anthony Doerr.  I found these two very interesting because they were told from the viewpoint of women.  A World Elsewhere - An American Woman in Wartime Germany by Sigrid MacRae and G I Brides - The Wartime Girls Who Crossed the Atlantic for Love by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi were both fascinating as we are introduced to the stories of women who marry those other than their country men for love but find adjustments to another country and culture more difficult than imagined especially when related to war.

A World Elsewhere is written by a woman who never met her father as he died while her mother was pregnant with her.  At her mother's death she is made aware of letters written by her father and papers which tell a broader story of both her mother and her father.  It is need to know her father which causes Sigrid MacRae to dig deeper into the unique marriage of a German Baron and an American girl from Hartford, Connecticut who meet in Paris, marry in Germany, and raise a family of six on a farm north of Berlin as Hitler comes to power.  The author begins with childhoods lived and follows a relationship formed and the family which follows.  As so often happens in life, time and chance change and even destroy expectations.  War brings great hardships and tragedy.  The reader experiences WWII through the eyes of an American living in Germany with six children considered as Germans and in wars aftermath the struggle to bring her family back to the United States.  This book brings to light a whole new perspective of what it was to have lived during WWII.

Did you know that there were 70,000 GI Brides who followed their men back to the United States at the end of WWII?  G I Brides follows in detail the stories of four women from Great Britain who meet an American soldier, fall in love, and follow them back to their hometowns.  The storytelling is real as are the locations and not all is happiness.  There are families, especially mothers, to win over; cultural expectations to meet; war trauma to deal with in their spouses; and homesickness to overcome.  I really liked the intimate sharing of what life was like in England during war time and well as each unique love story.  I despaired with the women as they went about getting their paper work in place and securing passage to the United States some toting along toddlers and babies as well.  Once again, a unique experience shared by women in war time.

My own life as been enriched by the war time stories of my mother who was in the Women's Army Air Corp  ( a WAC) during WWII.  She sang us marching ditties, showed us pictures, and told us stories.  We held her dog tags and read newspaper articles saved.  Her time was spent as a nurse in Oakland, California working in a hospital serving the wounded of the Pacific Theater.  I am grateful for the war time experience of a woman who I also knew personally.

Yes, children, you are descended from a Pilgrim

Some years ago I wrote a blog post about my children possibly being linked to a passenger on the Mayflower through their father's side.  I determined that it was not likely that they were related to "Thomas the Pilgrim."  You can imagine how delighted I was to discover while doing family history research this summer that I was related to passengers on the Mayflower.

I learned that my great, great, great grandfather, Simeon Dunn, was a descendant of Edward Fuller (who signed the Mayflower Compact) and his wife through their son, Samuel.  This couple died shortly after coming ashore, but their son, Samuel did not.  It is thought that he was 12 at the time of his parents' death.  His uncle, brother to his father, and also named Samuel took young Samuel in and eventually Samuel grew to adulthood, married Jane Lathrop, and fathered nine children of his own.  You can read more about Simeon Dunn here.  You can read more about Edward and the Samuel Fullers here.

I am humbled to know that part of my heritage includes the beginnings of a great nation where religious freedom was valued and people were brave enough to do really hard physical and mental things to make their dreams come true.

A few years back I read "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick.  After discovering my relationship to Mayflower passengers, I went to my bookshelf to find this book so I could search the index for Fullers.  There was mention of Edward Fuller and two references for Samuel Fuller but Philbrick had it wrong.  He made both Samuel the nephew and Samuel the uncle out to be the same person.  Should one contact the author about an error like that years after the book was published?

Happy Thanksgiving!  I will ponder this dilemma as I make our Thanksgiving feast.

Artistic biographies

I have always been charmed by the work of Beatrix Potter.  Each little book, each adorable character, and the cadence of each story has been a delight.

 I found this biography published in 2007 in the Provo Library.  Beatrix Potter, A Life in Nature is written by Linda Lear.  It is a very comprehensive biography which takes the reader through Beatrix Potter's life year by year.

Beatrix was born on July 28, 1866 to wealth and parents who lived in London but who take a summer holiday each year to the country side.  It is on those holidays that Beatrix is happiest for she loves nature and animals.

Her father is artistic and a photographer who encourages Beatrix in her sketching and painting.  She has only one sibling, Bertram, who also has artistic sensibilities.

Her mother, Helen, is an opinionated and society driven woman who makes life difficult for those around her.  Beatrix is educated by governesses and spends most of her time in London on the third floor of her home on Bolton Place.  She longs to escape from the confines of her parents' plans and desires for her.

Her brother, at one point, secretly marries and goes for years without telling his parents.  In 1902, A Tale of Peter Rabbit is published by Warne Publishing.  During the process of working with Warne Publishing to deliver two books a year, Beatrix becomes acquainted with the Warne family and in particular the youngest of three brothers, Norman.

They become engaged but Beatrix's parents ask them to keep it a secret as Norman is not of the class they wished for in a son-in-law.  Beatrix rebels, accepts a ring, goes on holiday with her parents per their desire, and soon learns that Norman is ill.  He continues to decline and dies within a month on August 25, 1905 from leukemia much to Beatrix's despair.

 

 That same year, Beatrix had purchased her own home with book royalties in the Lake District of northern England.  She had first been introduced to the area while on summer holidays with her parents.  She finally felt like she had a bit of the independence she so desired.  William Heelis, a solicitor, had helped her with her purchase of Hill Top Farm as well as neighboring farms as they became available.  Five years later they were married and spent over thirty years as a couple.

Beatrix loved the Hill Top farm house.  It is where she would go to paint and to write in her own created and decorated space.  She and William lived in another home called Castle Cottage across the meadow from Hill Top.

Over the years, Beatrix and William worked to secure properties and to improve their farms raising Herdwick sheep and cattle.  These were working farms which upon their deaths would revert to The National Trust to be cared for in perpetuity.

In later life, she didn't write nor paint much citing her failing vision.  She was also very busy with the farming aspects of her life which she very much enjoyed.  Upon her father's death, her mother moved to the Lake District and made life harder for Beatrix who was the ever dutiful daughter even though her mother made things harder and was most selfish.  Her father had left millions of dollars to his wife and Beatrix tried to talk her into donating to the National Trust but she would not nor to any other causes.  She lived into her nineties which Beatrix thought to be somewhat unfair considering her demanding and selfish life style.
 

Beatrix was elected as President of the Sheep Association in her area, the first woman to be so honored.  Unfortunately she passed away shortly after in 1943 after having undergone several surgeries.  She was 77 years of age.  William was devastated and followed 18 months later in 1945.  Today one can view their properties now under the auspices of The National Trust.  Beatrix, shortly before her death, arranged Hill Top to be exactly like she wanted it to be for all who would follow.

Beatrix Potter's book period was most active between 1902 and 1922.  Her books are still widely sold as well as the figurines and toys designed from her illustrations.

 Here is a map of the Lake District which I would love to visit some day.

Linda Lear is a botanist and her book leans heavily on Beatrix as a naturalist.  She discovered, studied, and drew as well as painted fungi she found in the wild.  Her drawings of nature are highly prized today.  She also studied small animals and their anatomy as well as kept many as pets.  This knowledge helped in the illustrating of her books.

As I was reading the book, I remember that a movie had come out some years ago about Beatrix Potter.  I found that the library had a copy which I put on hold.  I also watched it this week and while events are somewhat rearranged, I still enjoyed it very much.

As I finished the book last night, I remembered A Fine Romance by Susan Branch about her travels through England including the Lake District.  I blogged about it here.

I reread those pages this morning.  Yes, I really would like to travel to the Lake District.  Susan Branch and her husband, Joe, visit many National Trust properties while on their trip through England.

Before picking up the Potter biography, I had just finished Six Wars at a Time which I had purchased in the gift shop at Mt. Rushmore.  As I began writing this blog about Beatrix Potter, I realized that here was another artist of the same time period.  Gutzon Borglum was born to Danish Mormon immigrants in Idaho in 1867.  His family left the Mormons and his father went to medical school in St. Louis.  It was a polygamous family and the father had married sisters.  Gutzon's mother, the second wife, left the family including her two sons.  This made Gutzon's childhood difficult and he struck out on his own while a teenager.  This was partly due to his over controlling father.

His full brother, Solon, was also a sculptor and an artist and some times they found themselves in competition for projects.

Gutzon wanted to do big things that would have a big impact.  His first larger than life project was Stone Mountain in Atlanta, Georgia.  Conflicts would cause him to leave that project behind but not before he had begun planning and working on Mt. Rushmore.  Work began in 1927 and ended in 1941.  Gutzon Borglum died in March of 1941 and his son, Lincoln, continued on until October 1941 having worked with his father previously.

Borglum liked to do many things in a big way.  Many of his sculpted memorials dot the world including this one of boy soldiers during the Civil War in North Carolina.  He also served on park boards in New York City, planned a road system in Texas, and lectured across the country sharing his strong political views.  While working on Rushmore, he bought a working cattle ranch south of the Black Hills in South Dakota on which he also labored.

It was interesting for me to compare two lives of almost the exact same time period but in very different environments although they both experienced the same world events such as World War I and part of World War II.  Both were artists, one who worked small and the other large, but they were both driven to leave a physical gift for their countrymen.

I hoped to buy copies of this book for my granddaughters to take home as a souvenir for their families but it was not available at any of the gift shops at Mt. Rushmore.  While a librarian I ordered a copy for the elementary school library where I worked.  It is a great book with outstanding illustrations and a very complete but easily read story of the creation of Mt. Rushmore.  I highly recommend it.

Summer reads with an India twist

I did a bit of reading back in June before all the company came.  I read two novels which were set in India as well as the British Isles.  Both traveled back and forth in time as descendants tried to find the true story of a ancestor.  The Kashmir Shawl is the story of a Welsh Christian missionary couple in the northern part of India and eventually Kashmir as the world, including India, descends into war.  It is also the story of a Kashmir shawl which is found in the the drawer of a dresser in a former missionary's home in Wales and the great grand daughter who takes it to Kashmir in search of its origin and how it come into her great grandmother's possession.  If you read it, you will probably be googling Kashmir as I did.  It is a beautiful place.
 

I really enjoy books written by Lucinda Riley.  This one did not disappoint.  The settings were vivid, the characters interesting, and there are mysteries to be solved in surprising ways.  An Indian woman passes on her life story to her great grand son at her 90th birthday party in India.  She tells him that she trusts him and feels like he is the one to read her until now secret life story.  She is sure that a baby she bore in England did not die as she was told and she wants him to find out the truth.  The contrasts between culture and different ways of living combined with prejudice may break your heart.  Don't let the plot device of a movie being filmed in an English manor in present day keep you from exploring the past for that is were the true story lies.

100 years ago today it began, World War I books to read

One hundred years ago on June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were assassinated in Sarajevo by a teenage assassin marking the beginning of World War I.  It is interesting to note that the assassin had a statue placed in his honor this week in Sarajevo in honor of this 100th anniversary.  Read more about what happened here.  Most things in this world are a matter of perception I suppose.  This event sparked what was once called The Great War because they couldn't believe that it could happen again.  The Great War was fought at great sacrifice with many lives lost and many others damaged forever.  I was able to visit the World War I Museum in Kansas City which gave me a new perspective and greater respect and understanding for my grandfather's experience in France.

Jacqueline Winspear, who's father fought in The Great War, has written many books based on or just following this war.  I have loved reading her "Maisie Dobbs" series of mysteries.  I just finished her latest book which will be officially released on Monday.  It is not a part of the Maisie Dobbs series.

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenb

The reason that I have already finished "The Care and Management of Lies" is that it was loaned to me by my book blogging DIL who received an advanced reader copy or ARC of the book for review.

Jacqueline Winspear's book is the story of a young couple married shortly before the war begins.  The new wife has also been a long time best friend of her husband's only sister as they were school mates.  The new husband is a farmer in Kent, his sister is a school teacher, suffragist and peace protester, while the new wife is former school teacher now farmer's wife who is struggling in her new role.

Jacqueline, in describing her inspiration for the book, cites the incredible mail system that was created during this war.  Tons of mail made its way to France and Belgium from England in a couple of days.  Much of the book is based on the letters between the young couple after the young man decides to join up leaving his wife to supervise the farm which now will also be used to help with providing food for the effort.

I love the British version of the cover for this book showing two people in completely new roles.  The letters to the husband at war include descriptions of wonderful meals the wife would like to share with her husband, while he writes sanitized versions of his experience, both trying to protect the other.

I also recently finished this book, " A Star for Mrs. Blake," which is the story of Gold Star Mothers, who through a government sponsored program, are provided a journey to France to visit the battle fields and graves of their now deceased sons.  The ships carry a diverse group of women from different parts of the United States which makes for great story telling as do the stories of those who accompany as guides and helpers.

So one hundred years ago today, as it states on the side of a museum at the corner where the assassination in Sarajevo to place, marks the beginning of the 20th Century.

The Monuments Men, the rest of the story

I had to search for an image of the cover of the book, "The Monuments Men, Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History" by Robert M. Edsel.  Type in "monuments men" and you will find hundreds of movie images.  The movie was a good one and it caused me to place my name in the queue for the book from the library months ago, but the book is so much better and the story much greater than a two hour movie can ever show or tell.

Robert M. Edsel has spent years of his life researching and writing about the monuments men and the difference they made in the cultural and artistic state of the world.  I earlier wrote about "Saving Italy".  It was written after "The Monuments Men" and tells the story of the monuments men in Italy during the war while his first book was about the Western Front and occupation of Germany by the Allied Forces.  Reading both books will provide one with a great history of World War II as well as a lesson in art appreciation, while introducing you to some true heroes who we knew so little about because they were of "the greatest generation" who seldom talked about themselves.  These heroes were also those who continued in their service after the war in art conservation, architecture, painting, sculpture, museum curating, and promotion of the arts.  Their story needed to be told and Edsel has done a masterful job of doing so.

For the rest of the story of the "greatest upheaval of cultural items in history" and those who found and saved them,  Edsel has done a wonderful job.  Time to put your name in the queue.

Just in time for Memorial Day, Congress has just passed a bill giving Congressional Medals of Honor to these men.  For more information go here.  The hunt for lost art work continues through Monuments Men Foundation.

The Winter Horses, a timely read

Life in Ukraine has not been easy over the last century.  Stalin caused the starvation deaths of millions as all their produce and wheat was shipped to Russia.  Now once again there is turmoil.  This book written for the middle school crowd is set in the Ukraine during World War II.  A young Jewish girl, Kalinka, has managed to evade the German soldiers once, but now must do so again.  She travels by her wits to the steppe from her city where all her family has disappeared and ends up on a wild life reserve, Askania-Nova.

It is there that she finds help from the caretaker, Max, of the reserve as well as the last of the wild horses.

 
Przewalski's Horses are the last truly wild horse which can trace its origin to thousands of years ago.  They are now on an extermination list so that Hitler can have his so called pure Aryan and animal life society.  Max manages to help Kalinka and the last breeding pair of horses escape the Germans before losing his life.  Kalinka has bonded with the horses and that relationship is both beautiful and other worldly.  Their journey and survival is a bit like an Indiana Jones movie.

I am sure that the British author, Phillip Kerr, wrote this book not knowing that it would be published during another time of turmoil for this part of the world.  It is hard for me to watch another world leader abusing his power in an attempt to prop up his image and ego.

Saving Italy

 I'm sure that many of you have seen the movie "The Monuments Men."  I found it so intriguing that there had been men trained in the arts who risked life and limb to save the great art of the world during war time.  I was soon placing a hold (number 34 in line) at the library for the book "The Monuments Men" by Robert M. Edsel.  I noticed that Edsel had written other books including his newest, "Saving Italy."  It was marked available and I was soon on my way to the library.

Now for my funny story.  I made my way upstairs to the non-fiction section and then to the 940's shelves where war related books are shelved.  I was carefully making my way along the shelf when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a man had turned the corner and was perusing the shelf from the other direction.  Then there is was, "Saving Italy" on the very top shelf and it was in my hand.  The man's face fell.  I asked, "Were you looking for 'Saving Italy'?"

Indeed he was and he had already been to two other libraries in his search.  He agreed that, yes, I had been there first and, yes, my hand had reached it first.  Honestly, I have never had someone looking for the same book at the same time before.  Have you?  And then being my generous self, I mentioned that he could put a hold on the book.  That ended up costing me some money because I was on my way to Arizona and because of the hold couldn't renew the book online so had overdue fines.  End of story.

 

Back to the book.  It is an amazing book and if you have ever been to Florence or Rome (that would not be me but I did take Art History I and II in college) you will be forever grateful to the Monuments Men in Italy who fought for and hid and risked their lives on mountain roads in left over Army issued jeeps.  Lucky 13 became the name of one such jeep.  Not only will you be grateful to these men, you will also be so impressed at the amount of research the author has done to bring you a detailed story.  You will be thrilled with the letters including artful drawings sent home by a father (middle of the above photo) to his son which make all the men seem more human.

The photo was taken on the day that the large horse statue was returned to Florence from its hiding place.  Several of the marble statues of Florence were encased in brick pillars for protection.  The Vatican became a storage place for the treasures of Rome.  How do you fight a brutal war (over 50,000 soldiers died just trying to capture Rome) in a country overflowing with a wealth of art treasures beloved to the whole world?  The United States decided to do so as carefully as possible.

If you enjoyed the movie, "Monuments Men" which addressed the fight for art in France, Belgium, and Germany, you would probably enjoy this book about the fight for art on another war front.  I certainly did.

Memoirs of an imaginary friend

While growing up, did you have an imaginary friend?  I don't remember one but perhaps it wasn't needed as I am the oldest of six children and I was only seven when my youngest sister was born.  There were always people around with whom to play and talk and create.

My only daughter, however, did have an imaginary friend.  Her name was Lucy and she became "real" for the entire family.  How could she not when you would find yourself shooed off a chair because Lucy was already sitting there?  Janae came after three brothers and the final brother didn't arrive until she was five, so perhaps she really needed an imaginary friend.  I certainly enjoyed hearing all about Lucy and her escapades.  Lucy remained a part of our conversations until the day that she arrived with all her cousins for Janae to babysit.  Janae described bunk beds similar to shoe boxes stacked the ceiling and way too much activity.  All those imaginary people soon exited Janae's room and moved to Europe, Lucy included.  I always loved that Lucy was named Lucy for that was the name of my beloved great grandmother.

"Memoirs of an imaginary friend" by Matthew Dicks is told from the point of view of an imaginary friend who has been created in the mind of an eight year old autistic boy named Max.  The reader soon learns that imaginary friends can see one another and that who they will see is what their friend has imagined them to be.  They are also limited by what their friend imagines that they can do.  Budo, Max's friend can walk through doors and is smart and imaginative himself.  Those qualities are important to the story, as they will allow Budo to save Max in the end.  The reader learns about real love (a man lays down his life for another) and real evil (manipulate others until you get what you want) while reading this engaging and truly imaginative story.

This is the author's third novel and he is a teacher so the school setting of most of this book feels natural and real (at least for this former teacher :)  The book has also been optioned for a movie and I hope that they do it right.  It would make a great movie.  Does anyone want to share anything about their imaginary friends?

Nothing to Envy

I am really enjoying my Provo Book Club.  We meet monthly in the Provo Rec Center library and the Provo Public Library sends a leader who brings us book sets for each month, one book for each of us.  There are usually 9-12 people who meet each month and I love the diversity of life experience in the group as well as the great comments and being with fellow book lovers.  Yesterday we discussed "Nothing to Envy, Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick.

This book was most unsettling.  I feel like I've been living in a fog and have been totally unaware of a great injustice.  This is not something that happened decades ago, it is happening now!  1984 actually existed in 1984 and continues on.  That blackened outlined country is North Korea.  The brighter dot is Pyongyang and the smaller dot is Chongjin and often times there is not electricity or water available.  Food is scarce, housing uncomfortable and often unavailable, and medical care sparse.  In 1945, when Korea was divided at the 38th parallel, the great division in lifestyle began.  South Korea glows with Seoul being the bright light.  North Korea is a place of misery and corrupt leadership.

The northern border is a river dividing North Korea from China and more and more North Koreans risk crossing that river into China.  Some travel north to Mongolia where the embassy will help them on to South Korea.  Others travel from China to other countries and eventually to Seoul or directly to Seoul with altered passports.  South Korea houses the refuges for a month helping them to make the big adjustment to a very different life style and also gives them $20,000 to help them start a new life.

This book was nominated for the National Book Award in 2010 and Barbara Demick writes beautifully as she intertwines the stories of several North Koreans who eventually make it out.  Their stories span decades as they live through the power going out, jobs disappearing, no food, and the deaths of family members along with being in a society which allows nothing of the outside world.  The stories told will break your heart and make you uncomfortable and wary.

Last evening, after book club in the afternoon, I planned on watching PBS and American Experience as it would be about 1964 and the difference that year made in the United States and history.  I turned 12 in 1964 and remember it well as it was also a time of great change for my family as we left the family farm in Idaho and moved to Arizona.  Immediately after American Experience,  Frontline, "Secret State of North Korea",  came on.  I sat mesmerized as what I had just read and discussed was visually presented.  Video, discreetly filmed, showed all the the book had shared to be real.  I wished that I had a way to contact all my fellow book clubbers, so that they could watch, too.

Since the book was written, Kim Jong-un has risen to power upon the death of his father, Kim Jong-il who followed the original leader, his father, Kim Il-sung.  This is a photo of Kim Jung-un with the military generals of his father.  Over 50 per cent have now been disposed.  Just recently he executed an uncle and aunt.  He has executed others.  He has rattled his nuclear saber over and over.  Things are not improving.  Dennis Rodman, what were you thinking?