The Night of the Burning - Linda Press Wulf

Although this is a children’s book, aimed, I think, at good readers of 10 years upwards, it is an excellent introduction for a reader of any age one who knows little of the fate of Polish Jews towards the end of, and after, WW1.

In short chapters, this book tells the story of sisters Devorah and Nechama, who live in abject poverty in Poland, near the Russian border.  It speaks of the hatred of Christians (Jews killed Jesus - that old chestnut) and what that kind of thinking will ultimately turn into.  This is a historical fiction based on real characters, and follows the two sisters on their long journey after the death of their parents - one from typhoid, and one (probably) from starvation - rescued by one of those heroes who not enough people hear about, Isaac Ochberg, who managed to get 200 Jewish orphans to South Africa. 

Do read the "Afterward" and "Author's note" at the end of the book - there are some questions answered there.  And Devorah, who tells the story, was the mother-in-law of the author.

A thank you to Booketta!

Jane awarded me this lovely blog award. So I want to thank her for that.  What I am supposed to do is find several other bloggers I want to award this to and go on from there.  Sadly, Jane has awarded this to all the book bloggers I know personally!  Not so sadly, it was lovely to get it.  If my blog amuses, great - if it does not then just pass on along the road.  Thank you again Jane. x

Dear Mr Bigelow - Frances Woodsford

I am really unsure how I found this book, but I must have seen in mentioned somewhere, as I ordered it, and when it came it sat on the shelf for a year or so.  And now I've read it and what an enjoyable read it is, too.  That is, if you like ordinary life with no sex, no murders, no mobile phones, no computers etc!  Frances Woodsford started to write to Paul Bigelow as a  'thank-you' to his daughter .... whom she had met whilst on holiday in the USA just after the war.  At that time, dressed in homemade clothes made from other second-hand items, she obviously struck a cord with the American, who sent her a bundle of rather nice (and new)clothes on her return to England.  And as there was nothing she could do to thank that  woman enough, she started to write to the elderly Mr Bigelow - a correspondence that lasted from 1949 to 1961 when he died.  No love, no inuendo, nothing except a transatlantic friendship.  He kept all her letters and after he died they went missing and that was the end of that.  Except that it wasn't, and they re-surfaced 40 years later - and here are some of them for your delectation.

In another life, Frances Woodsford might have become a writer herself, her style, aimed at not only telling Mr Begilow all the news but making him smile too, would have done nicely in fiction.  Whilst it is true that the letters are of their time (I don't know anyone who talks like that these days, in the world of "Laters" and "Where R U ?"), they are enjoyable because of that.  Add to which the  fact that I am familiar with the town of Bournemouth and the period the letters cover are the early part of my own life, I found it a lovely companion for a few days. It's just letters, together with a few reproduced pencil sketches and photographs.  That's it, but a lovely book to dip in and out of, or to just settle with and keep reading.

Frances Woodsford died in 2013 at the age of 99, and if you click on the link below you will find a lovely tribute for a woman who wrote to lots of other people too, and who this niece-in-law obviously apreciated very much.
http://www.proofedbylinds.co.uk/does-this-blog-do-you-justice-auntie-norah/

What to read in October - Mrs Mac suggests......

......  a book with a number written in letters in it's title - for example

 

Six Years by Harlan Coben   or

Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George

Summerhouse - from start to finish(ish)

We used to have a garage.  Full of things we couldn't find a home for and things we couldn't decide what to do with.  Not a car of course(!).  The car lives permanently outside.  But this pic was taken in Spring 2012, when we finally decided enough was enough.  What's that you say?  "Can't see the garage?"  Look again - stealthily disguised behind the cherry tree completely overgrown.... are you sure you can't spot it?!!!

So we decided that we'd turn it into a Summerhouse.  We called in a builder, who went inside, poked about and said "Not  going to take your money.  Whatever I do to this to make it into a summerhouse, you will never be able to use it for that in the cold months, as it's all concrete with a concrete floor and you can't get it warm".  What a nice guy - and he didn't charge for that advice, either!

We talked a lot.  Then we paid for the garage to be taken down and disposed of.  But first of course, we had to get rid of the contents, and the ivy and brambles that covered it!!  And this is what it looked like on a grey day when the stuff that was covering the roof had been removed.

It had an asbestos roof, so we had to pay extra for the removal of that too.  At this stage we had no idea exactly what we were going to do, but we still thought that a Summerhouse was a good idea. We turned out all the rubbish important stuff stored inside, gave some away, then found a place locally who would let us save the rest of the important stuff in their barn for a month or so.  It turned out to be nearly a year later that we retrieved it, but hey! who's counting. (By the way  - when we went to collect it, we took more decisions about what to keep, and do you know, in the end we kept spare tiles for the kitchen "just in case", a garden hose, and some bags of garden sand.  The rest was given away.)

The rest of that year we just let weeds grow and wondered what to do.  We visited a complany who supplied wooden buildings, had a look round, talked about the quality of the wood and the design of the buildings and said "yes.... probably".  Then came Autumn, then Winter, then Spring 2013.

And then our garden maintenance man (I only do design - hahaha!) came, built the retaining log wall, laid a path that would be at the back of the new building,  and worked his socks off on the hottest weekend of 2013. Lovely job too!  See the little pebbles under the logs?  That's for run-off, so that no water lays around in the wet weather.  (Clever, huh?)

So - we ordered the Summerhouse - 15ft x 8 ft, and one morning in July it was delivered in pieces with a team of two Polish gentlemen who were the "erectors".  They started at 9.30 am.......

refused a lunch break, accepted lots of drinks hot and cold  and were driving away by 2.30 pm.  They'd finished: doors on, windows in  roof on and ready to use.
This last pic is about half was through...... floor not down, windows and doors not fitted.  My only regret is that I didn't take more pics!  Anyway, it's been up and used for a year or so now. The outside is painted a turquoisey-green and the inside.... well, I have plans for that.  Watch this space for more Summerhouse news.

The Road to Reckoning - Robert Lautner

Tom is a slightly built 12 year old, on the road with his salesman father, who has given up door to door spectacle selling for the touting of Samuel Colt's new revolver in the 1830s of Eastern America. Tom's mother is already dead of the pox, and he's only too pleased to accompany his father on an exciting journey. But as Tom says - "I, to this day, hold only one truth; if a man chooses to carry a gun he will get shot. My father agreed to carry twelve".


The cover will be clear by the time you have finished this short, poignant read. I liked it a lot (the cover and the read). This is the author's first novel, and the cover says it will enthral fans of Cold Mountain and True Grit - however, I am not sure at what market this is aimed at, as I took it to be a YA read, which I feel it most definitely is; as an older reader I enjoyed it immensly, cheering twelve year old Tom Walker on and hoping that he could get home without death catching his coat tails. I certainly felt that if you had read Cold Mountain and picked this up after reading the back cover you might be disappointed, as the print is large, the book is short (200+ pages), and is certainly a quick read. However, like True Grit, it has a larger than life character in Henry Stands; who this reader loved nearly on first appearance.

What to read in September - Mrs Mac suggests......

that you find a book with an emotion in the title!  For example -


His Majesty's Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal