Teaser Tuesday 387: When Books Went to War

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few "teaser" sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


This week's teaser comes from When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning. During WWII, Germany declared war on the rest of the world, conquering about a dozen other countries in one year. It was termed a "total war" as it was not only a physical act of taking over other countries, but was also a war on ideology and free thought. Hundreds of authors were banned in Germany and millions of books destroyed. I cannot praise this book enough, and highly recommend it to those who love books, as well as those interested in WWII history.

"Were you ever so upset emotionally that you had to tell someone about it, to sit down and write it out?" a Marine asked in a letter to the author Betty Smith. "That is how I feel now," he continued.

(Introduction)


~*~*~*~*~


Even the misty drizzle that blanketed Berlin did not dampen the merriment surrounding the grand parade held on may 10, 1933. Thousands of students, proudly wearing their university colors, walked through the foggy streets by glittering torchlight as they made their way toward the Bebelplatz, the main plaza between the Friedridh Wilhelm University and the Opera House.

(Chapter One, A Phoenix Will Rise)

ABOUT THE BOOK:

When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered 20 million hardcover donations. In 1943, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million small, lightweight paperbacks, for troops to carry in their pockets and their rucksacks, in every theater of war.

Comprising 1,200 different titles of every imaginable type, these Armed Services Editions were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy; in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific; in field hospitals; and on long bombing flights. They wrote to the authors, many of whom responded to every letter. They helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity. They made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. When Books Went to War is an inspiring story for history buffs and book lovers alike.

Teaser Tuesday 320: Journal of a Solitude

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Jenn of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few "teaser" sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


As many of you know, I rarely read nonfiction. While some people love memoirs and biographies, or dull and heavy histories, I am not one of those people. However, when I stumbled across a copy of Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton in the bookstore clearance section, there was something about it that caught my attention. Sarton published a number of her journals, this one spanning a year in her life as she approached age 60.

Begin here. It is raining. I look out on the maple, where a few leaves have turned yellow, and listen to Punch, the parrot, talking to himself and the rain ticking gently against the windows. I am here alone for the first time in weeks, to take up my "real" life again at last. That is what is strange—that friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is time alone in which to explore and to discover what is happening or has happened. Without the interruptions, nourishing and maddening, this life would become arid. Yet I taste it fully only when I am alone here and "the house and I resume old conversations."

(Opening paragraph)

ABOUT THE BOOK:

"I am here alone for the first time in weeks," May Sarton begins this book, "That is what is strange—that friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is time alone in which to explore and to discover what is happening or has happened.” In this journal, she says “I hope to break through into rough, rocky depths, to the matrix itself. There is violence there and anger never resolved. My need to be alone is balanced against my fear of what will happen when suddenly I enter the huge empty silence if I cannot find support there."

In this, her bestselling journal, May Sarton writes with keen observation and emotional courage of both inner and outer words: a garden, the seasons, daily life in New Hampshire, books, people, ideas—and throughout everything, her spiritual and artistic journey. In this book, we are closer to the marrow than ever before in May Sarton’s writing.


"This journal is not only rich in the love of nature and the love of solitude. It is an honorable confession of the writer’s faults, fears, sadnesses, and disappointments. . . On the surface, Journal of a Solitude is a quiet book, but if you will read it carefully you will be aware of violent needs and a valiant warrior who has battled every inch of the way to a share of serenity. This is a beautiful book, wise and warm within its solitude."
—Eugenia Thornton, Cleveland Plain Dealer

May Sarton’s other journals in Norton paperback include After the Stroke, At Seventy, The House by the Sea, Plant Dreaming Deep, and Recovering.

Thursday Thirteen 422: Recently Read

Below are featured the last thirteen books completed this year. So far, I have completed 47 books in my goal of 80 -- which includes five classics in a goal of ten, and 20 out of 40 criteria for the 2016 Ultimate Challenge (my goal was to do at least half, so yay me!). As always, click on any cover or link for more info.















ABOUT THE BOOKS:


ROW 1: Lemon Pies and Little White Lies is book four in Ellery Adams’ Charmed Pie Shoppe series, which is based on the legend of Merlin and Morgan La Faye. Diane Vallere was the June Featured Author in the Cozy Mysteries group at Goodreads, and I read two books in her Material Witness series, Suede to Rest and Crushed Velvet.

ROW 2: More cozy mysteries. Killer Maize is part of a Farmers’ Market series by Earlene Fowler was a September 2013 Featured Author. I read book one of her Bennie Harper quilting series way back then, but never seemed to get round to book two, Irish Chain, until now. Leann Sweeney was an October 2012 Featured Author, and her Cats in Trouble series, of which this is book seven, is a favorite of mine. How can you go wrong with cats and quilts? Book eight is out later this summer.

ROW 3: Yes, more cozies. Boiled Over is the second book in Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake series, and there are two more in Mount TBR. Death is Like a Box of Chocolates is a first in series by a new-to-me author, Kathy Aarons, and is set at a combined book and chocolate store—how perfect is that? Sheila Connolly is another favorite author, and was a cozy Featured Author in October 2015. Sour Apples is book six in her Orchard series, and she writes a number of other series as well, including one set in Ireland, and a glass-blowing series under the name of Sarah Atwell.

ROW 4: O, Pioneers! by Willa Cather was a reread for me, and a second quarter group read for a GR romance group. I liked this one when we read it in college, and enjoyed it even more this time around. It also fit an Ultimate Challenge criteria of a classic from the 20th century. Skin by Roald Dahl was a May group read, the criteria for that month being a book of short stories (it narrowly edged out a collection by Hemingway). I wasn’t planning to read this one, but then stumbled across a cheap copy at Half Price Books. A couple of the stories seemed vaguely familiar, though I did not recall reading them previously. As much as I love the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I had never read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, also by Roald Dahl. This fit the Ultimate Challenge criteria of a book you can read in a day (155 pages). Naturally, I had to watch the movie again when I was done. (And yes, there was some chocolate consumption while reading and watching.)

ROW 5: Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton is a nonfiction book I stumbled upon in the bookstore clearance section. I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, but something about this one—a journal spanning a year in the author’s life as she approaches age 60— drew me to it. May Sarton was an American poet and novelist who also published a number of personal journals.



YOUR TURN: What are you reading these days?





LINKING TO: Thursday Thirteen

Teaser Tuesday 142: A Sand County Almanac

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few "teaser" sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


To grow up in Wisconsin is to be raised on the holy trinity of conservationists: John Muir—naturalist, writer, father of our national parks system, and founder of the Sierra Club; Gaylord Nelson—senator, governor and founder of Earth Day; and Aldo Leopold—American author, scientist, UW professor and environmentalist.

Though I have often heard Leopold quoted, have been to the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, and live a few blocks from a school named after him, I had never actually read his work for myself. The more I’ve walked in the Arboretum the past few years, the more I’ve been interested in doing so, and was pleased to finally find a copy of A Sand County Almanac at my local UBS. So far, it has been an interesting read. Here are a few short (poetic) passages from this iconic work:

January observation can be almost as simple and peaceful as snow, and almost as continuous as cold. There is time not only to see who has done what, but to speculate why.
(pg 4)

~*~*~*~

The wind that makes music in November corn is in a hurry. The stalks hum, the loose husks whisk skyward in half-playful swirls, and the wind hurries on.
(pg 70)

~*~*~*~

Our biases are indeed a sensitive index to our affections, our tastes, our loyalties, our generosities, and our manner of wasting weekends.
(pg 77)

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A series of astonishing portraits of the natural world, A Sand County Almanac explores the breathtaking diversity of the unspoiled American landscape at the peak of its beauty and majesty. Conjuring up one extraordinary vision after another, Aldo Leopold takes readers with him on the road and through the seasons on a fantastic tour of our priceless natural resources—ever mindful of ecology and environmental preservation. A classic collection, A Sand County Almanac is a stunning tribute to our land and a bold challenge to protect the world we love. More than two million copies have been sold world-wide.

Teaser Tuesday 60: Why? Because We Still Like You

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read.
* Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


Just finished this one Sunday night.
I don't usually read biography, but I do remember watching reruns of the show with my sisters when we were kids. This was an okay read. Not a really in depth one, but it did provide a comprehensive look at how the show was developed, its impact on today's children's programming, what happened behind the scenes, and what became of its pint-sized stars after the show was cancelled. Includes several pages of pictures and a mini-biography of cast members.

Note: The red image left of the quote is the book's dust jacket. I've posted an image of the actual book cover below right.

“At some point in your life you’ve got to say, ‘I’m going to do this’ or ‘I’m going to do that.’ Otherwise, all of a sudden you’re thirty, you’re forty, and you’re fifty, and you’re really not very good at this or that.”
(David Stollery, former Mouseketeer, pg 187)

About the Book:
Why? Because We Still Like You: An Oral History of the Mickey Mouse Club
by Jennifer Armstrong
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

This book will tell the behind-the-scenes story of how The Mickey Mouse Club paved the way for all that came after, from its humble beginnings as a marketing ploy, through its short but mesmerizing run, to the numerous resurrections that made it one of television's first true cult hits—all through the recollections of those regular kids-turned-stars who made it a phenomenon. It will reveal, for the first time ever, the untold stories of Annette, Darlene, Cubby and Karen, Bobby and the rest of the beloved cast. It will explore, through the reminiscences of former fans who grew up to be some of television's finest minds, what made the show so special. And it will examine why the formula the creators of the show invented is more relevant than ever, and whether we'll ever see yet another Club for a new generation.



*Disclaimer: A copy of this book was received from the publisher through the Goodreads FirstReads program.

Teaser Tuesday 19: The Tao of Pooh

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read.
* Open to a random page.
* Share at least two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

Now, scholars can be very useful and necessary, in their own dull and unamusing way. They provide a lot of information. It's just that there is Something More, and that Something More is what life is really all about.
(pg 31)

About The Tao of Pooh: Not all Great Masters of Wisdom are venerable graybeards. One is as familiar to us as that beloved teddy bear Winnie the Pooh. From the "how" of Pooh to the Tao of Pooh is a simple, effortless, joyous step...a delicious journey to Pooh Corner illuminated by the timeless teachings of the Taoist immortals.

Teaser Tuesday 11: A Dog Named Christmas

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

This week's featured book: A Dog Named Christmas by Greg Kinkaid, which I read as part of the Christmas Reading Challenge. It was a good, fast read suitable for reading together as a family. This is a beautiful passage that gives nothing of the plot away.

I could hear the water moving gently through the riverbed, not like a roaring Colorado mountain stream teeming with trout and gold dust but like a river that takes its time and can say a lot if you have the patience to listen, which is exactly what I did. My mood lifted thanks to its wise counsel.

(pg 90)

ETA: If this title sounds especially familiar right now, it may be due to the Hallmark movie based on the book airing on CBS Sunday night (Nov 29). That was what inspired me to choose this as my first book in the Christmas Reading Challenge -- I wanted to read it before I saw it. Overall, they did a pretty good job though, for some inexplicable reason, they changed the color of the dog from a black lab to a yellow one.

Teaser Tuesday 5: Ghost Hunters

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


This week I've plucked one off the TBR pile that has been languishing there three years now, Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum. I purchased it at the 2007 Wisconsin Book Festival, after attending a reading by the author. Listening to the prelude and talk of her research behind the book intrigued me enough to want to read it, which I meant to do last October, except I suddenly could not locate it. I made sure to dig through the TBR pile for it this year!

About the book: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author tells the amazing story of William James's quest for empirical evidence of the spirit world. What if a world -renowned philosopher and professor of psychiatry at Harvard suddenly announced he believed in ghosts? At the close of the nineteenth century, the illustrious William James led a determined scientific investigation into “unexplainable” incidences of clairvoyance and ghostly visitations. James and a small group of eminent scientists staked their reputations, their careers, even their sanity on one of the most extraordinary quests ever undertaken: to empirically prove the existence of ghosts, spirits, and psychic phenomena. What they pursued— and what they found—raises questions as fascinating today as they were then.

The opening paragraph:

No one saw the girl die. It was just a little too early, a morning still too dark, first light barely warming the edge of the sky. The night frost yet shimmered on the ground, a faint ghostly silver. It was barely 6:00a.m. on a late October morning when sixteen-year-old Bertha Huse stepped out into the quiet.

Sounds nice and creepy for an end of October, almost Halloween read, no?