Think back to first grade: did you read My Little Red Story Book or My Little White House? Read on! This was years before the 1980s when reading education began with index cards labelling each item in the house such as “table” and, if the parents could find a way to attach the card, “dog.” …
A Civil War Courtship: The Letters of Edwin Weller from Antietam to Atlanta by William Walton My rating: 4 of 5 stars The title reflects the contents: it’s a collection of letters written by Edwin Weller, a member of the 107th New York Volunteers, during the Civil War. Mr. Welller fought at Antietam and Gettysburg …
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw My rating: 2 of 5 stars Rating this, a collection of short narratives, almost bios, of people in WWII, is difficult because of one thing: its writer. While I found some of the information about their life stories and experiences interesting, all was told by, and very much in …
I find reading literature from the era in which I am writing helps me to get the feel of the language and times. Many of the following books I’ve read over the years – AJ Cronin and Kenneth Roberts are favorite authors of mine, and I loved Nancy Drew and Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Long …
Reading a book as a struggling author, I find myself intrigued by the story of the writer, particularly when the book in question haunts me over time. And so that is what happened with Patricia Clapp. Dear Ms. Clapp – have you any idea what you started? No? Back in the late 1970s, I first …
I was nine or ten when I stumbled upon Patricia Clapp’s Jane-Emily in the bookshop. The story centers around nine-year-old Jane, who spends the summer at her grandmother’s with her young adult aunt, Louisa. There are paranormal elements, though we didn’t use that term back then, and a very innocent romance, set in the early …