Libraries come in all shapes and sizes, from the very small to the large and grand. One library straddles the border! The Haskell Free Library and Opera House may be found along the Vermont/Quebec border in Derby Line. Robert Dawson has photographed many wonderful libraries and put them in a book: The Public Library: a Photographic Essay. Also included are comments from Bill Moyers, Isaac Asimov, Dr. Seuss and many others.

While looking for Twisted Cakes to get for a gift I found this: Scone with the Wind: Cakes and Bakes with a Literary Twist, by Miss Victoria Sponge, and what a find it was! Clever and witty, it will go as a gift, too! There are recipes for things like The Pie Who Loved Me, The Three Mousse-Keteers, Banana Karenina, and so on, each with a paragraph or two spoofing the literary work. Absolutely delightful! Oh, and the recipes look delicious. :-) (See also Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist, from the February 9, 2016 post).

I was expecting a few more 'seasonal' ideas in A Year of Gingerbread Houses: Making and Decorating Gingerbread Houses for All Seasons, by Kristine Samwell, but overall, I really was not disappointed ... there is a lot of fun stuff here! (More so, I'm sure, if you understand all the baking hints.) ;-) There are instructions for making all sorts of trees and flowers and, well, detail on your gingerbread houses here, just amazing effects for bricks, stones, water features ... linger over the pictures of the final designs!

Reading Hermit With Dog

It is raining and a young boy wants to go out and play, but his grandfather says to wait. Hours pass before the grandfather agrees it is time to go out. Was it worth the wait? See what you think. Rain, by Sam Usher.

Not many words here, mostly just some wonderful pictures of a child and a wolf cub lost in the snow and how they get home. Wolf in the Snow, by Matthew Cordell.

I have decided to include this book here because even though it's not a picture book, it is about childhood. Forty-four, to be exact. forty-four american boys: short histories of presidential childhoods, by william walsh is a collection of short entries collected from a wide variety of sources about each of the U.S. presidents. The author did a nice job on finding the information, but the book is full of grammar and spelling errors (the most jarring for me was "rains" instead of "reins") and a proof reading would have been a huge asset. I almost didn't include the book because of this. My suggestion? Due knot relay awn yore spiel Czech!

Reading Hermit With Dog

What would you do if you learned that the man you thought was your father wasn't? At least in the biological sense? When author Bill Griffeth learned this, it took him on a quest to learn more about his family (after the initial shock wore off). The Stranger in My Genes is part mystery, part history, part travel journal ... and all in all just a very hard book to put down. Thanks go to Constant Reader for sending it my way. :-)

It's been ages since I've seen the movie Arsenic and Old Lace, but now I may have to do so, and all because of a book ... a mystery by Parnell Hall titled Arsenic and Old Puzzles. The Guilford sisters run a small inn. All seems well until the bodies start piling up, and all with a puzzle on or near the body. What is the connection? A nice nod (I'm pretty sure) to classic film. :-)

Here's another entry in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series: Of Books and Bagpipes, by Paige Shelton. Delaney is sent to pick up a package and finds a body instead. This paves the way for a mystery that started with something that happened decades ago, a secret society, and questions that no one will answer. (This was frustrating at first, but the story develops nicely and soon I was pulled in). :-)

When I said I was reading The Zig Zag Girl, by Elly Griffiths, Canadian Reader told me she'd recently read it, too! Set in England not too long after the end of WWII, members of a special unit (the Magic Men) have been murdered, and in ways that mimic a magic trick gone horribly wrong. Why? Nice period details, and I smiled over things like 'tv is just a passing fad' or 'the play The Mousetrap (Agatha Christie) will have a short run.' (It was first performed in 1952 and is still running to this very day ... it is the longest running play of all time). :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog

Ever wonder how the borders between the states got they way they are? Some were established by royal decree, some by rivers or mountains, some to give access to a river or ocean, some by battles ... and more! There is a tv show, and a book, both with the same name: How the States Got Their Shapes (by Mark Stein). One border changed as recently as 1993 when New Jersey claimed part of Ellis Island. Seems New York had added land to the island with fill and New Jersey said it was on their side because of the underwater borderline!

I have often thought much of what is considered 'fashionable' to be, well, silly, or uncomfortable. Seems author Karen Bowman did as well! Follow some of the craziest fads in Corsets & Codpieces: a History of Outrageous Fashion, from Roman Times to the Modern Era. Early on many styles were designed to restrict women from moving freely. Styles of hair were once so high they had to kneel in a carriage rather than sit on the seat. I knew (but did not understand) the language of fans, but for beauty spots? First used to cover scars from the pox, that was soon abandoned and the beauty spots were used to send messages which varied depending on their shape and location on the face. There were hoop skirts so wide the wearer had to turn sideways to get through doors. And crinoline .. layers and layers ... really? Something so flammable in an age where heat and light came from fire? All in all an enjoyable read!

The ads for the movie for this book puzzle me ... it looks like a rather light, cheerful movie ... but The Zookeeper's Wife: a War Story, by Diane Ackerman, was anything but. That being said, there were some wonderful, positive moments, and an ending that could be considered a triumph, but given the time and place (WWII, Warsaw), it was dark, and brutal in places. Well written, with great notes for each chapter and a worthy bibliography, it was powerful read ... but I am curious about the movie. :-)

If you are looking for something of a lighter nature, then read Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: the Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman, by Lisa Scottoline. There are reflections on so many things here! From religion to empty nests to pets to going braless, this was a 'chuckle' of a read!

Reading Hermit With Dog

I seem to have fallen off a bit with my picture book reading ... I will take steps to fix this 'problem'. :-)

This is an alphabet book, board book, and period piece all in one: R is for Railway: an Industrial Revolution Alphabet, by Greg Paprocki. Wonderful, detailed pictures for each letter have an industrial revolution feel about them. Most enjoyable.

Here's a book to read on the floor, where there is lots of room! The Street Beneath My Feet, by Charlotte Guillain and Yuval Zommer is a fold out book .... and I do mean fold out! Work your way down to the earth's core, and then back to the surface again. Discover pipes, and sewers, fossils, rocks ... all those things that are beneath our feet with every step we take. If you want to read this sitting in a chair, that's okay too, it also reads well as a traditional book. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog

Some time ago Constant Reader recommended Somewhere in France: a Novel of the Great War, by Jennifer Robson to me and I am finally getting around to reading it. A bit more of a romance than I usually read, I did appreciate the vivid descriptions of driving an ambulance or working in a surgery so close to the front lines. And of the ever present mud. And while not a scandalous* woman (except maybe to her parents) the main character does go against the norm to learn to drive (and maintain) the ambulance she drives. (* See the April 15 post).

Here's a tour book ... of sorts ... sometimes there isn't so much a destination here as an idea of place and maybe a sign on a building: London's Lost Rivers, by Paul Talling. A nice little history book, great photos.

There are lots of books out about the Lewis & Clark expedition, including a few about the Newfoundland dog that accompanied them. The difference here is that Bound for the Western Sea: the Canine Account of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, by Laura Lee Yates, is written from Seaman's point of view. It was good, but the journey was a hard one with all kinds of challenges and dangers and I was exhausted at the end of the book! It would have been nice to have had a bibliography, but overall, it sure kept me reading. I enjoyed the doggy view of things. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog

This book is exactly what it says it is: Homework for Grown Ups: Everything You Learned in School and Promptly Forgot. E. Foley and B. Coates have gathered together what we all probably knew at some point ... and yes, there are tests! The fun thing was that I could skip both the tests and the chapter on math!

For decades now I've avoided chocolate as it triggers migraines, but that doesn't mean I don't like to read about it! Great Moments in Chocolate History, by Howard-Yana Shapiro starts in the 1500's ends in 2014. Fun tidbits of history, with great photos, and then a collection of recipes. Read with a cup of cocoa. :-)

So much for being quiet and demure! Read all about boisterous and shameless females in Scandalous Women: the Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women, by Elizabeth Kerri Mahon. Loved the description on the back of the book: "created a ruckus" and "making waves." !! In addition to the bibliography there are also suggestions for further reading and films.

Reading Hermit With Dog