John Muir Laws recent book

Recently I purchased  The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling on Amazon. I had bought his book for drawing birds last year and found it to be an excellent resource. Therefore when I discovered he had a new book out I bought it sight unseen. I was not disappointed. It collects all the nfo his tube videos provides and more all in one location. This is what got me interested in doing my Walks with Jake sketches.

The Wolves at the Door by Judith L. Pearson

Great Book! Read it on the recommendation of a friend and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is the true story of an America woman who worked with and helped organize elements of the french resistance in France during WWII. A quick read written for adults but I think most teenage girls would find Virginia Hall an exciting and interesting role model. Also shows how a person with what most of us would see as a handicap can excel beyond the expectations of an average "normal" person. Hero is often defined as an ordinary person doing extraordinary things. But sometimes a heroine is an extraordinary person who does extraordinary things.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Somehow I never read this one in high school. It wasn't a long read and I enjoyed the allegory. The theme was obvious even if you did have the background knowledge of the farm compared to the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. Lord Acton's quote "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely" popped into my head as I finished this book.

This was for my dystopian classic read.

The Monogram Murders

I picked this up quickly when I was leaving the library. Therefore I didn't realize until I got home that an impostor was trying to make money off of a famous writer.  I gave it a try anyway. And I was not only disappointed but angry. If you are a writer then write something that comes from inside you not using someone else notoriety to fill your pockets. This book was hyped as being a Hercule Poirot mystery. I did not recognize the character name Poirot in the book to even come close to Agatha Christie creation. Sophie Hannah should apologies to all the Christie fans.

To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

I listened to the Audiobook version of Harper Lee’s, Pulitzer Prize winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird read by Sissy Spacek.

To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily a novel about growing in the 1930s in a small Southern United States. We  see justice through the eyes of a 8 year old girl, Scout Finch, over a 3 year period. But the book is more likely remembered for the trial where her father, Atticus an widower, represents a negro for the rape of a young woman. Certain ideas (often cliches) stick out as I look back on this book:

•    You never know a man until you put on a man’s shoes and walk around in them
•     Justice in this world is and always will be imperfect
•     Seeing a world from a child’s view  (Scout and Jem)
•        How to disarm anger (Atticus)
•       Most people are kind when you finally meet them individually;
•     Heroes are ordinary people who do extraordinary things (Bo and Atticus).

Good read but you must realize that it depicts a period and location in time.

This fulfills my banned or censor classic category.

Thale's Folly by Dorothy Gilman

Saw this one sitting on my book case and decided to take a look. I enjoyed Ms. Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series and must have picked this book up at a library book sale. It was a very fast read (200 pages) and delightful. No trashy scenes or bad language. Wonderfully developed characters which you can't help but love and wish only good to happen in their lives. A feel good book that makes you smile and sorry to see the end. Like the Anatole France quote used by one of the characters of the book, "Chance was the word God used when he wished to remain anonymous".

Peyton Place

While growing up I remembered my mother using the expression "this is just a little Peyton Place". Although the profanity was not used as prolifically as in modern day novels, the situations show people are the same even if the time has chanced. I think the novel won it's acclaim because of shock value not from quality of writing. I know that there is a sequel and the ending left me with the feeling that this was just the first half of a longer book. Not a bad read but it never moved me or challenged me mentally.

This is my selection for "a classic with a title that includes a place name".