The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Maria Augusta Trapp. 1949/2001. HarperCollins. 320 pages.

Somebody tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up from the workbooks of my fifth graders, which I was just correcting, into the lined, old face of a little lay sister, every wrinkle radiating kindness. "Reverend Mother Abbess expects you in her private parlor," she whispered. Before I could close my mouth, which had opened in astonishment, the door shut behind the small figure. Lay sisters were not supposed to converse with candidates for the novitiate.

This is the true story that "inspired" my favorite musical The Sound of Music. For the most part, the book is fascinating--especially the first half of the book. Readers meet the young woman sent to be governess to a retired sea captain with many children. In the book, she's to be governess only to one of his daughters, the rest either have nursemaids, attend schools, or have their own tutors. There are definitely some big differences between the book and the movie--between truth and fiction. (For example, the names of the children are different, as is the chronology of the story. The couple married years before Hitler came to power; they married in 1927!) They began singing together as a family out of love for music, yes, but also out of financial necessity.

The book chronicles:

Maria's first eight or nine months as a governess, particular attention is paid to their first Christmas
Maria's new role as wife and mother
Austria's changing economy and politics in the 1930s
The family's flight from Austria and immigration to the United States
The family's first experiences in America as they go on tour and learn English
The family's (forced) return to Europe--fortunately, only for a few months.
The family's return to the United States, their continuing tours
The family's settling down in America (a bit more about their tours, building of their house, building of their music camp)
The private life of the family (recollections of holidays, feast days, birthdays, Christmases, vacations, etc.)

The book is great on capturing the family's dependence on God, their reliance on God to deliver them and provide for them no matter the circumstance. The book is also great at capturing a specific time, place, and culture. For anyone curious about what it was like to be living in Austria in the 1920s and 1930s, this is a must read. For those interested in the immigrant experience during this time period, it is just a fascinating account! To see American culture--and language--from this outside perspective. The book was published in 1949, but it was up to date--so readers do get perspective on World War II from their perspective, also what the family tried to do to help Austria after the war was over.

I really LOVED this one!!!

Favorite quotes:

One of the greatest things in human life is the ability to make plans. Even if they never come true--the joy of anticipation is irrevocably yours. That way one can live many more than just one life. (214)

One night I tenderly consulted by private calendar, "time eaters" we had called them at school, and it showed only thirteen more days in exile. The next morning I started spring cleaning. Under my direction the maids were taking down the curtains and proceeding to brush the walls, when I saw the three youngest children knock on the door of the study. It didn't take long and out they came again. Running over to me as I stood on a ladder washing a big crystal chandelier, they yelled from afar: "Father says he doesn't know whether you like him at all!" "Why, of course, I like him," I answered, somewhat absentmindedly, because I had never washed a chandelier before. I noticed only vaguely that the children disappeared behind the study door again. That same night I was arranging flowers in several big, beautiful oriental vases. This was the last touch, and then the spring cleaning was over, and it had been really successful. When I had arrived at the last vase, the Captain came in. Stepping over to me, he stood and silently watched what I was doing with the peonies. Suddenly he said, "That was really awfully nice of you." An altogether new tone in his voice, like the deep, rich quality of a low bell, made me look up, and I met his eyes, looking at me with such warmth that I lowered mine immediately again, bewildered. Automatically I asked what was so nice of me, as I only remembered that awful letter. "Why," he said, astonished, "didn't you send word to me through the children that you accepted the offer, I mean, that you want to marry me?" Scissors and peonies fell to the floor. "That I want to--marry you?" "Well, yes. The children came to me this morning and said they had had a council among themselves, and the only way to keep you with us would be that I marry you. I said to them that I would love to, but I didn't think you liked me. They ran over to you and came back in a flash, crying that you had said, 'yes I do.' Aren't we engaged now?" Now I was out of gear. I absolutely did not know what to say or what to do; not at all. The air was full of an expectant silence, and all I knew was that in a few days I would be received into my convent, and there stood a real, live man who wanted to marry me. (57-58)

Read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

• If you enjoy biography and memoirs
• If you love The Sound of Music
• If you want to learn more about Austria/Europe in the 1920s, 1930s

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective. Kate Summerscale. 2008. Walker. 360 pages.

On Sunday, 15 July 1860, Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher of Scotland Yard paid two shillings for a hansom cab to take him from Millbank, just west of Westminster, to Paddington station, the London terminus of the Great Western Railway. 

 The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is such a compelling book! How many (adult) nonfiction books have you read that you can honestly say you've read in one sitting? How many have you read that are nearly impossible to put down? I've read plenty that are good--great even; I've read plenty that I've found fascinating and enjoyable, such as Becoming Queen Victoria. But this one is just as captivating and suspenseful as a mystery or detective story.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a TRUE must read, if you enjoy detective or mystery fiction. If you find sensation novels thrilling, then, this one will prove a real treat. The author even spends a great deal of time discussing how real life court cases, real life crimes were influencing the fiction of popular authors, authors like Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, etc. The author discusses the characters and plots of these novels even quoting from them at times.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a nonfiction chronicle of a horrible murder. The murder occurs at Road Hill, in the Kent home, in June 1860. Within weeks, one of England's best detectives, Mr. Whicher, is on the case. He has opinions as to who did it. He has a definite suspect in mind; unfortunately, in the week after the arrest, he is not able to find enough evidence to make a case to bring the suspect to trial, and the person is released. (I'm trying SO hard not to spoil this one by using pronouns or names!!) It's a big disappointment to Whicher who feels that he did name the right person, but, Whicher loses some of his reputation at least because public opinion has gone against him and his suspect. In fact, the case has received so much attention that there are hundreds of letters coming in from people who feel they know who really did it based on piecing together clues from the newspaper.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is about:

• Mr. Jonathan Whicher before, during, and after this case or investigation
• The Kent family before, during, and after this murder, trial, and investigation
• The detective-police system/procedure in Britain at this time
• A handful of other "big" cases during the 1860s 

I definitely loved this one!!! I'd easily recommend it to people who love Jane Eyre, The Moonstone, Woman in White, Bleak House, etc.

Read The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

• If you love fascinating, captivating, compelling nonfiction; nonfiction that reads like a novel but is well-researched.
• If you have an interest in the Victorian period
• If you are interested in sensation, mystery, or detective stories

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Murder in The First-Class Carriage

Murder in the First-Class Carriage. The First Victorian Railway Killing. Kate Colquhoun. 2011. Overlook Press. 352 pages. 

 Murder in the First-Class Carriage is a nonfiction account of "the first Victorian railway killing." The murder occurred in July of 1864. The victim, Mr. Briggs, was found after the discovery of the hat and all the blood. (His body was found on the railway tracks). The railway car--he'd been supposedly alone in the car--was covered in blood, and one of the only clues was a hat that didn't belong to the victim. It wasn't the only clue--a watch chain, I believe, was missing as well.

Money was offered as a reward for information, and many, many, many people came to share information. But most turned out to be false information or irrelevant information. But. Eventually the detectives were satisfied with a suspect, they chose to follow a particular lead ignoring all others that didn't quite match up. This took them on a little chase across the Atlantic. The alleged murderer having bought passage on a ship to the United States. So the detectives followed him, and arrested him in America. And this story captured attention in America as well even after the suspect returned to England to await his trial.

For me the most interesting aspect of the novel was the trial itself, the book focuses on the three days of trial and the oh-so-short jury deliberation. Readers get to view the legal system of the time, and get a unique perspective on the court system. Readers can "hear" the prosecutor and defense attorney make their cases and arguments. Readers can "hear" the witnesses on the stand. The last chapter or perhaps the last two chapters focus on the pros and cons of capital punishment, or at the very least the pros and cons of public execution versus private execution.

While this one did prove compelling--in places--I wouldn't say that it was that fascinating or compelling throughout the whole book. It worked, in places, but in other places it dragged a bit.

Read Murder in The First-Class Carriage

• If you're a fan of mystery novels
• If you're interested in true crime, true court cases, etc.
• If you're interested in this time period--the Victorian era, the 1860s
• If you're a fan of nonfiction

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Magnficient Obsession

Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death that Changed the British Monarchy. Helen Rappaport. 2012. St. Martin's Press. 352 pages.

 A Magnificent Obsession is a nonfiction book that chronicles the last year of Prince Albert's life--focusing on his work load, health problems, and the tedious family dramas that weighed on him. In great detail it shares with readers what the last few weeks of his life were like, day by day, night by night, who visited him, who nursed him, what he ate or didn't eat, the number of hours he slept or didn't sleep, the bulletins the family released to the press, etc. Readers get a glimpse of what this experience might have been like for his wife, Queen Victoria, and his daughter, Princess Alice, who was his chief nurse. After his death, readers get a glimpse of private and public mourning. The rest of the book focuses on the first ten (or perhaps eleven?) years after his death. It discusses the Queen's private and public life. The way the people felt about the Queen. It focuses on the people's doubts and worries, etc. The book concludes with the Queen regaining some popularity with the people. The last chapter, unfortunately, goes in a direction I didn't quite care for, but, for the most part I found this one interesting. I wouldn't quite say compelling. Because if I'm being honest, I was curious but not THAT curious. It was informative without a doubt, but not necessarily written in such a way to make it fascinating.

Why didn't I like the last chapter? Well, the way I read the text--this may not have been the author's intent--I felt Rappaport was saying that Queen Victoria was great because her husband died; her husband's death freed her to become the strong, independent, vibrant monarch she could have been or should have been all along. That she only became QUEEN when Albert died, before she was a weak woman, a woman whose reign was weakened by her private life; that being a wife and mother made her a weak monarch or a monarch in name only. That her so-called "obsessive" love (devotion, passion) for her husband made her weak and dependent and pliable. I must not be alone in my interpretation because a Library Journal review reads along the lines that it wasn't until her husband's death that "she was allowed" to emerge as a great monarch. Albert's death is made to be this great thing that transforms Victoria into a great woman. And that talk just bothered me. And I'm almost sure it would have bothered her as well. I imagine Queen Victoria was VERY strongly opinionated, and I'm sure she'd have something to say here.

Read Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and The Death That Changed the British Monarchy

• If you are interested in history, particularly the 1860s and early 1870s
• If you are interested in the British royal family

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Becoming Queen Victoria

Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Kate Williams. 2010. Random House. 464 pages. 

I absolutely LOVED this book!!! In fact, I think it's a true must-read. I should probably add some clarification: I LOVE history, I LOVE literature or classics, I love historical novels and historical romances. For anyone who reads classics written or published during nineteenth century--from 1800 on--this one could prove to be oh-so-enlightening! For anyone who reads historical novels (or historical novels with a touch of romance) set during this time period, this book could prove quite interesting!!! Whether you're a fan of books set during the Regency or Victorian periods, this one could help you connect the dots. Will every reader want to connect the dots between real life and fiction? I'm not sure. For me, it was everything I wanted and more!!!

The first half of this one is setting the stage for Victoria. This includes focusing in on the royal family a good three to four decades before her reign. It means discussing George III, George IV, and William IV. It means discussing all of the brothers (and some of the sisters) of the royal family. It means focusing in on their dysfunction, their failures, their messes. One big story in this section is the marriage of George IV and Queen Caroline. It was a BIG, BIG, BIG mess. Oh, how these two hated one another! They did have one daughter, Princess Charlotte. She was the heir to the throne, no question about it. She was the future of the kingdom, and she was loved, beloved. She married Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who later became King Leopold I of the Belgians, and their wedding was a HUGE affair. But this fairy-tale wedding, fairy-tale marriage, was not to be. No, they didn't fall out of love. No, they weren't torn apart by scandals. She died in childbirth. Reading about that was truly scary. Why? Well, readers get detailed descriptions of medical treatments, of the art or science of medicine at the time. And not only in the chapter about Charlotte, but in the treatment for the other royals too. And it is scary, scary stuff! So what did Charlotte's death mean to the nation?! It meant EVERYTHING. All of these royal brothers with no legitimate heir to the throne, with no real marriages to speak of amongst them, it meant they had to rush, rush, rush to the altar to marry women almost half their age; it meant that they were in great competition to have children. Of course, it wasn't just a matter of being the first to have a child, their rank mattered too. (Duke of Clarence ranking more than Duke of Kent, Duke of Kent ranking more than Duke of Cumberland, Duke of Cumberland ranking more than Duke of Cambridge, etc.) And this book explores those years, the rivalries, the politics, the scandals, the gossip.

But this one is, of course, about Queen Victoria. Readers learn about her father, the Duke of Kent, and her mother, Victoria, the sister of Leopold, a Saxe-Coburg. Readers learn about her earliest years--from birth on. Readers learn details great and small about her upbringing, the big and small events that marked her life and led to the greatest of them all, her inheriting the throne and leading a nation for over sixty years. The last chapters deal with her marriage to Albert, to their relationship--personal and private. Some attention (very brief in comparison with other periods of her life) is given to her having so many children. But this is almost more of an epilogue to the book than a genuine source of information.

For anyone who loves history, who loves the details behind history--big and small, gossipy and matter-of-fact, then this one is for you. While I wouldn't say the royal family's dysfunction is celebrated or rejoiced in, it definitely plays a big, big role in this one. And Queen Victoria is seen as saving the monarchy, restoring some sanity to it.

Read Becoming Queen Victoria

• If you love historical fiction, this nonfiction book about Queen Victoria and Princess Charlotte might just prove fascinating and enlightening.
• If you love nineteenth-century classics and would like to get some context into their background
• If you love a good biography with lots of detail
• If you are interested in anything and everything royal

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Mascot

Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood. Mark Kurzem. 2007. Penguin. 432 pages.

If I'm ever asked, "What's your father like?" a simple answer always escapes me. Even though I can look back on a lifetime spent in his company, I have never been able to take his measure. One part of him is a shy, brooding Russian peasant who shows a certain air of naivete, if not gullibility, with strangers. Then there is another side: alert, highly gregarious, and astonishingly worldly. His unexpected appearance on my doorstep in Oxford one May afternoon in 1997 left me more mystified than ever.

The Mascot is such a powerful and compelling biography. It is not your traditional biography--Holocaust or not. It is the story of how one man's past is revealed, how a father chooses to share his memories--some quite vivid, others very vague or fuzzy--with his adult son. The father's life is revealed to his son in a series of conversations and through the son's research to validate his father's story.

Mark, our narrator, always knew his father had his secrets. His father had a brown bag he carried with him everywhere. No one was allowed to see this bag's contents. But. Occasionally, the father would share with his family--his wife and sons--stories from the past. On these occasions, he'd pull out a photograph, an article, an item from the bag. Mark suspected that these stories were just that--stories, being part fact, part embellishment.

But one day his father tries to tell him the truth, the whole truth, the whole UGLY truth about his past. Pieces and fragments. A memory here and there. What is certainly understandable is just how much is missing, how much he doesn't know about who he is and where he comes from.

He was told by his rescuers (Latvian police men or Latvian soldiers?) that he was found in the woods or forest. Alone. Wandering. Obviously struggling to survive. He was taken in by the soldiers and "adopted" into their company. They gave him a name. They gave him a birthday. They gave him a small uniform--from 1941 to 1945 he was given three uniforms. Though he was taken into one man's home--"adopted" (though not legally) by a husband and wife--he stayed connected or associated with a unit of soldiers. He witnessed things NO CHILD of five, six, seven, eight, or nine should EVER witness. He saw men, women, children, babies being killed--in one instance herded together into a building which was then set on fire.

Though he doesn't remember his name--his family name, the names of his brother and sister, father and mother--or the name of his village, the name of his country--he does remember one thing: he witnessed the slaughter of his mother, his younger brother, his baby sister. He witnessed the slaughter of an entire neighborhood or village. At the time, he didn't realize this violence, this bloody slaughter, was because they were Jewish. In fact, his very "Jewishness" was buried deep inside him. At times he seemed aware that he too was Jewish, that his life was at risk if his Jewishness was revealed. But at the same time, the only way he could cope with his present--with his new reality, his new identity, the company he was keeping--was forced to keep in a way--was to bury his 'true' Jewish identity and become the boy others wanted/needed him to be. To survive, he had to deny so very very much.

So the story Mark hears from his father is fragmented, in a way, with very few clues. But it is emotional and intense. Almost too much for him to handle. In fact, it is almost too much for him--the father--to handle. And at one point, he asks himself and he asks his son why. Why bother remembering the past? What good--if any--can come from remembering, from seeking to remember, from uncovering the truth, from piecing everything together, from telling and sharing his story with his family, his friends, his community. For those expecting a clear answer to this, you might be disappointed. The truth is not that black and white. A son and father learn much about one another. The family is at times strengthened, but at other times put under great stress and pressure--by all this. There were things that seemed a little shocking to me, for one, that there were certain organizations (if organizations is the right word?) that denied and rejected his story. Who told him that he was NOT Jewish, that he did NOT suffer during the war, that his story was not part of the Holocaust. Still others (sometimes just individuals, other times groups of individuals) who denied his story, who essentially said that his story was all lies, that it could not happen, did not happen. I think this shocked the son as well, that people could hear the story, see the photographs, and come to the conclusion that this small child (he was found at the age of five) was a willing participant in the war, that he voluntarily joined the enemy, that he was a Nazi just like the others--the adult soldiers. Was he ethically responsible for the actions taken by others? True, you might argue, that the soldiers were trying to "train" him to be a little Nazi, a good, little soldier. But what choice--if any--would he have had? 

Read The Mascot

• If you can't get enough nonfiction about World War II (like me)
• If you enjoy reading Jewish books; Holocaust books.
• If you are interested in family dynamics (relationships); this one is great at exploring a father-son relationship.
• If you are interested in history and research; this one provides a behind-the-scenes look at how research is done in a very practical, personal way. (Research isn't just about getting a grade.)
• If you enjoy biographies.

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Great Influenza

The Great Influenza. The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. John M. Barry. 2004. Penguin. 546 pages. 

From the prologue: The Great War had brought Paul Lewis into the navy in 1918 as a lieutenant commander, but he never seemed quite at ease when in his uniform. It never seemed to fit quite right, or to sit quite right, and he was often flustered and failed to respond properly when sailors saluted him. Yet he was every bit a warrior, and he hunted death. When he found it, he confronted it, challenged it, tried to pin it in place like a lepidopterist pinning down a butterfly, so he could then dissect it piece by piece, analyze it, and find a way to confound it. He did so often enough that the risks he took became routine. Still, death had never appeared to him as it did now, in mid-September 1918. Row after row of men confronted him in the hospital ward, many of them bloody and dying in some new and awful way. He had been called here to solve a mystery that dumbfounded the clinicians. For Lewis was a scientist. Although a physician he had never practiced on a patient. Instead, a member of the very first generation of American medical scientists, he had spent his life in the laboratory.

While I'm not sure every reader will find The Great Influenza equally compelling, I must say that this one was quite the read for me! It was fascinating, challenging, and complex--complex in a good way. The Great Influenza is more than the story of the 1918/1919 influenza pandemic that spread around the world. It covers the background of medicine, how medicine is practiced, how doctors are trained and educated, how schools and laboratories are run, the need for excellence not just competence. (Though competence is a good place to start when there are no standards at all for who can practice medicine and call themselves a doctor.) It covers science, medicine, sociology, and even politics. Yes, The Great Influenza covers almost everything you could want to know. It follows the story of a handful of scientists in particular--exploring their personal and professional lives, presenting their theories and experiments, documenting their successes and failures. Most of this one, of course, does focus on the pandemic--tracing it throughout the spring of 1918 through most of 1919. It even follows up on how it continued to impact lives--months and even years later. How having this particular strain of influenza effected your brain and how it could continue to give you problems.

I really enjoyed this one! I found it completely fascinating. I loved all the details. 

Read The Great Influenza

• If you are interested in World War I
• If you are interested in science, history, sociology, politics, and medicine
• If you are looking for compelling nonfiction; yes, this one may take almost a hundred pages to get to the influenza of 1918, but it's worth it. 

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm

How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm: Child-Raising Discoveries from Around the World. Mei-Ling Hopgood. 2012. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. 304 pages.

I'm sitting on a patio in Buenos Aires, nibbling on cinnamon cake, talking with a group of friends about the way local parents raise their kids.

If you were fascinated with the movie, Babies, then you HAVE to read Mei-Ling Hopgood's How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm. This nonfiction book is just SO FASCINATING. There are many parenting books out there that offer tips and advice on how to best raise babies, toddlers, kids. But how many offer a global perspective? A cross-cultural perspective? How many refrain from saying that their way is the best way, the only proper way?

I thought I would share the chapter titles to give you an idea of what this one is all about:

How Buenos Aires Children Go To Bed Late
How The French Teach Their Children to Love Healthy Food
How Kenyans Live Without Strollers
How the Chinese Potty Train Early
How Aka Pygmies Are the Best Fathers In the World
How Lebanese Americans Keep Their Families Close
How Tibetans Cherish Pregnancy
How the Japanese Let Their Children Fight
How Polynesians Play Without Parents
How Mayan Villagers Put Their Kids to Work
How Asians Learn to Excel In School

Each chapter discusses a culture or two and their perspective(s) on a particular subject (potty training, picky eaters, sleeping, etc.), she often shows how Americans can then adapt this--in varying degrees--for their own families. For example, in the first chapter, the lesson 'learned' is that socializing can be as important as keeping to a routine. For special occasions, including the kids can be the right thing to do...even if that means a later bedtime. She's not saying to completely eliminate bedtimes and schedules, just to consider being more flexible if something special comes up.

A chapter title that intrigued me was How the Japanese Let their Children Fight. In that chapter she discusses how adults don't necessarily intervene at the first sign of conflict between youngsters. They wait...and watch...to see if kids can solve their own conflicts or problems. If they can work it out on their own, if they can learn to get along on their own without adults telling them what to do, what to say. 

Overall, I found this one very interesting!



Read How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm

• If you're a fan of nonfiction
• If you're a fan of the film, Babies
• If you're interested in reading about different cultures, thinking globally
• If you're looking for a different kind of parenting book

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

In the Garden of Beasts

In the Garden of Beasts. Erik Larson. 2011. Crown. 464 pages.

Once, at the dawn of a very dark time, an American father and daughter found themselves suddenly transported from their snug home in Chicago to the heart of Hitler's Berlin.

In the Garden of Beasts is nonfiction. It is a biography of the Dodd family--primarily of William Dodd, the U.S. Ambassador to Berlin, and his daughter, Martha. The book focuses--a bit unevenly--on the four and a half years the family lived (and served) in Berlin, 1933-1938. (The author meant the narration to focus more on the beginning than the middle and the end.) It's an account that is both personal and political. The book does deal with politics--American, Nazi, Soviet--during this time period. But it is also personal. For the most part, it gets personal with the daughter's love life. Much focuses on her friendships and relationships with various men--both in the U.S. and Germany. Trying to keep track of who she was seeing at any one time was quite confusing. (I eventually gave up.)

I'm sure the book is meant to accomplish many things with readers--in addition to informing and/or entertaining. But. For me, I saw it as highlighting human frustration. Being ambassador was not a grand adventure. Trying to please even a handful of men from each country proved absolutely impossible. There were so many people saying do this, don't do that, say this, don't say that. So many people judging him, criticizing him, and in some cases, wanting him to fail. He was supposed to tell the truth, but, at the same time he was supposed to be all about peace, peace, peace. He was supposed to tell the truth, but not at the cost of offending anyone. He was supposed to tell the truth, but not necessarily the unpleasant truth.

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about Martha's story in all this. Was it necessary to include every little detail? Were we supposed to like her? to sympathize with her? I'm not sure I can do either. The way she jumped in and out of relationships, the way she manipulated men, well, it bothered me. The way she would resort to trying to make every man she was involved with jealous by seeing someone else. Perhaps she grew out of her immaturity. I don't know.

I didn't love In the Garden of Beasts. I'm glad I read it. I was interested in some of the details included in this one. But for me it was a little too long.

Read In the Garden of Beasts

• If you're looking to read nonfiction about this time period--Germany in the 1930s
• If you're looking to read biographies of American Ambassadors
• If you're interested/fascinated by politics

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England. A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century. Ian Mortimer. 2008. Simon & Schuster. 345 pages.

It is the cathedral that you will see first.

Is this book as promising as it sounds? Is it dry and boring? OR is it actually FUN?

I found The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England a fun and delightful read. It was written in a way that I wish all history books could be written. If history textbooks read like this one, perhaps more people would like studying it!

The text was very engaging. The author is speaking directly to readers as if they were actually going to be visiting the past. The past feels very real, very much alive.

The premise is fun and unique. As the jacket flap says, "The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook." And..."A time machine has just transported you back to the fourteenth century. What do you see? How do you dress? How do you earn a living and how much are you paid? What sort of food will you be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord? And more important, where will you stay?"

It is divided essentially into eleven chapters:

• The Landscape
• The People
• The Medieval Character
• Basic Essentials
• What to Wear
• Traveling
• Where To Stay
• What to Eat and Drink
• Health and Hygeine
• The Law
• What to Do

My favorite chapter was "Health and Hygiene." "What to Wear," "The People," and "Traveling" were also quite interesting. (My least favorite chapter was "The Law.")

Overall, I found the book fascinating. I did. I think it's a great companion read for those who love historical fiction. There are so many great books set during this time period, and reading this book can help you appreciate the time period even more, I think.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. Ree Drummond. 2011. HarperCollins. 341 pages.

Forget this, I said to myself as I lay sprawled on the bed in which I grew up. In my Oklahoma hometown on a self-imposed pit stop, I was mired in a papery swamp of study guides, marked-up drafts of my resume, and a J.Crew catalog, from which I'd just ordered a $495 wool gabardine winter coat in olive, not chocolate, because I'm a redhead, and because Chicago, I reminded myself, is a tad more nippy than Los Angeles, which I'd just left weeks earlier.

Ree Drummond, the "Pioneer Woman," shares her love story with readers in this memoir. She met her Marlboro Man around Christmas. In a bar. And the meeting, well, it was magical. But. He. Didn't. Call. She'd just about given up hope of ever hearing from him again, when he calls four months later. But there's a slight little problem. She's a week (or two) away from moving to Chicago. Now that he's finally asked her out, does she want to bother with going knowing that she's going to be leaving for Chicago so soon? But he's oh so cute. And she can't imagine not saying yes. I mean every time she thinks of him, well, she swoons. So she agrees to see him even though the timing isn't the best in the world. The more she sees him--they see each other daily, from the very start, the more she wants to keep seeing him. She puts off her move to Chicago, always telling herself it's not a permanent decision to not go. No, she'll go, just give her a little more time with him. But. There comes a time when she knows that Chicago is not in her future plans...at all. That she loves her Marlboro Man...and it's a forever kind of love.

So this true romance is about her courtship, wedding, and first year of marriage. A first year of marriage that bring a baby girl! Readers get a glimpse into her life. There's plenty to laugh about! From Ree's first experiences on the ranch with the cows, to her experiences meeting his family, etc.

I liked this one. I did. It was a light read. A fun read. If you're a fan of the TV show or the blog, then chances are you'll be charmed by this one too.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Reading Promise

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared. Alice Ozma. 2011. Hachette. 304 pages.

It started on a train. I am sure of it. The 3,218-night reading marathon that my father and I call The Streak started on a train to Boston, when I was in third grade.

The Reading Promise itself--the promise shared between this father and daughter--was quite simple. The father would read aloud at least ten minutes every day to his daughter. He must get the reading in before midnight. It could--if necessary--be done over the phone. But for the most part it was a commitment to share quality time with one another, and with books, each and every day. Of course, at the very, very beginning neither could have predicted that this hundred-day challenge would become several thousand nights long!

The chapters of this memoir cover the time of The Streak. From a young child (third grade) to a very-soon-to-be-freshman in college. The Streak ended the day the father dropped his daughter off for her first year of college. During this time a LOT happened in the family as you can imagine. The book is a book about reading, a book about family coming together, but it is also a book about growing up. We see quite a few changes as the family goes from four to three to two, to one. As the mom leaves and it becomes a single-parent household. As the older sister goes to college and starts her own life. As Alice Ozma herself leaves to go to college.

Readers also get a small glimpse into the father's profession: school librarian. He loves, loves, loves his job reading aloud to children. He sees reading aloud as fundamental to his job, to his role in these children's lives. But by the end of the book, times have changed significantly--and not for the better. His position as school librarian is being undervalued--to say the least. And he's told that he will not be allowed to read aloud to children. And that even the very youngest need no more than five to ten minutes of a picture book. He's told that his job is to teach these kids how to use computers and the internet. Books are out of the picture--in the eyes of the administration. He fights for what's right, but ends up retiring a half-a-year early.

As I said, it's an interesting book. Readers get a good coming of age memoir that happens to focus on books now and then. The back of the book shares a list of books that she remembers being a part of The Streak.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews