Recently
the weather forecast has been the kind that always made me chuckle.
One day is 'partly sunny' while the next is 'partly cloudy'. It's a
subtle difference, to be sure, but the partly sunny is a bit more
optimistic. :-)
Today's
'trail' seems to be one of women ... while all these books could fit
in with another trail I've done, or am considering for the future,
they seemed to fit together so nicely, I just had to put them all
together.
I love
artichokes! I have several 'artichoke friends' so was delighted to
find the sweet little book She Taught Me to Eat Artichokes: the
Discovery of the Heart of Friendship by Mary Kay Shanley with
illustrations by Paul Micich. It is the story of a developing
friendship, and like an artichoke, is something to enjoy slowly.
Women
Who Read Are Dangerous, a collection of art work showing women
with books, collected by Stefan Bollmann and with a foreword by Karen
Joy Fowler. Basically this is a coffee table type book, but with a
theme of women in past ages who (gasp) read!
For the
wage of 28 dollars a month, the librarians, mostly women, carried
books, magazines, and even recipes to remote homes in the mountains
of Kentucky, all year long, in all kinds of weather. This book was
carefully researched and is filled with wonderful photographs from
the period. Now, go back to an earlier trail and re-read
She'll Be Comin'
'Round the Mountain
by Philemon Sturges, illustrated by Ashely Wolff to complete this
trail. ;-)
Everyone
knows Marni Nixon...even if they think they don't. (Well, maybe I
should say 'everyone of a certain age' ...) One of the best-known and
best-loved singing voices in the world, Nixon dubbed the voices of
Natalie Wood in "West Side Story", Audrey Hepburn in "My
Fair Lady", and Deborah Kerr in "The King and I". (She
played a nun in the movie "Sound of Music" because, of
course, Julie Andrews needed no help!)
I
Could Have Sung All Night: My Story, by Marni Nixon with Stephen
Cole is her story of working behind the scenes on some of the most
popular movie versions of musicals of all time.
Nothing
Daunted: the Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West,
by Dorothy Wickendan. Two society women, Dorothy Woodruff and
Rosamond Underwood, having been on the 'grand tour' of Europe in 1910
and other 'expected' activities found themselves bored with society
life. They accepted jobs in Colorado teaching the children of the
homesteaders. It was a hard, difficult life but one they came to
love.
The
author is the grand-daughter of Dorothy Woodruff. She used letters
from her grandmother, interviewed the descendants of the students she
taught, researched the now vanished communities, and traveled to the
area to gather the information she used in this book.
The
Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist by Mary H. Manhein.
True stories from a forensic anthropologist who lives and works in
Louisiana but covers cases in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi as
well. She explains how bones are used in identification of race,
gender, and age. Many times this leads to a name so that a grieving
family is finally able to bury a loved one who has been missing for
many years. Some of the cases were not resolved, lending a sense of
sadness and mystery to the book.
Here's
to the Women: 100 Songs About American Women
compiled by Hilda E. Wenner and Elizabeth Freilicher (with a forward
by Pete Seeger). A collection of traditional and contemporary songs
by and about women, including ballads, children's songs, work songs
... from times past to more modern times. It was nice to see a small
biography of native Washingtonian Linda Allen, as well as some of her
songs. The introduction is well worth reading (go ahead, skip
directly to all the songs, just be sure to come back and read it)!
Enjoy!
Reading
Hermit With Dog
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