Non-Fiction – The Spine View

The Ride of her Life by Elizabeth Letts

This is the fascinating true story of one women’s dream to see the Pacific Ocean and how she, along with her dog, fulfills it by riding across America on her horse. A truly heartwarming story about one women’s determination and experiences on this epic journey. Highly entertaining and informative!

Annie Wilkins is 63 and her health is failing. She has worked hard all of her life and yet has little to show for it. She has hardly any money and she is on the cusp of losing her home. She feels she has nothing to lose; therefore, she buys a horse, a Morgan named Tarzan, packs a few belongings and heads out on the road alone with no one but her dog Depeche Toi.

She plans to ride from her hometown of Minot, Maine all the way to California. California is a long way from Maine, even in a car! Yet, Annie is undaunted. Despite the lack of money she sets out with purpose. She plans to sleep in barns and stop when needed to work to raise money along the way. She soon discovers that hospitality is still abundant in America. More often than not, she usually can find someone willing to stable her horse and even provide a hot meal and bed.

As she slowly winds her way across the country she meets all kinds of people who offer her assistance. Sometimes just a simple meal, other times it might be shoes for her horse and even a second horse to help carry the load. The media picks up her story and people everywhere want her to stop in their town. She finds herself giving interviews to newspapers, lectures to civil clubs and participating in parades throughout her journey.

I am truly amazed at the feat she managed to accomplish. I have been a rider all my life and currently own a horse that I enjoy immensely and my bum hurts just thinking about all the miles she did in a saddle and without the luxury of a fancy gel saddle cushion. She embodies the very idea of a pioneer woman. What a truly amazing individual!

What I loved about this story was Annie’s tenacity, indomitable spirit and love for her 4 legged friends. In addition, I found this to be well researched and loved all the history that the author included about the places Annie visited and the people she meet.

The author truly did justice to Annie’s story and there is something in this book for everyone. I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoy true stories around strong women.

I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut by Nicholas Schmidle

Test Gods by Nicholas Schmidle is not only about Virgin Galactic and their race to become the first private company to offer space tourism. It is also a story about the test pilots, mainly Mark Stucky, who are working towards making this a reality. Well researched and rich with detail about Virgin, its people and its mission. It made me long to have the financial resources to one day be a space tourist.

The author was embedded with Virgin Galactic for four years and was given unprecedented access to engineers, test pilots and others who were, and continue to be, instrumental in making Richard Branson’s dream of space tourism come true. Therefore, the reader gets an unusually in-depth look at the day-to-day operations of the company. He is frank in reporting both the failures and the triumphs and I appreciate that he did not paint everything in a rosy light.

There is a lot of technical details in this story and as a non-technical person I appreciate that the author did not bore me with too much of it. For me, it was just the right amount of information that I understand (mostly) what the author was trying to explain. However, I get that there are some technical people out there who may feel the explanations were lacking. Let me point out that the intended audience is the general reading populous who is undoubtedly as ignorant about the tech side of space as I am. I just happen to be a reader who is fascinated with all things space and I got just the right amount of story to tech for my tastes. Kudos to the author for that one!

If you enjoyed Michener’s novel Space, then this is a book for you. Filled with lots of first-hand accounts and tidbits that only someone close to the operations would know. I found it fascinating. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

I found this book to be a mixed bag. It was part humorous commentary on himself and his friend, and hiking partner, Katz and it was part a lesson on the AT and its flora and fauna. So to really enjoy this book you must like both kinds of writing, or at least be open to it.

Personally, I liked both. I always enjoy learning something when I read. Therefore, I found the “teaching” parts of the book interesting and informative. They were not overly long and were interspersed throughout the entire book so that the story never became bogged done with it.

The actual tale of his trek through the woods with Katz was humorous. But it was also introspective at times. He does not shy away from his own failings in this adventure. He notes that very early in the first day of hiking he realizes just how woefully unprepared he is. Yet he and Katz struggle on.

In the end, Bryson and Katz ended up not being through hikers as planned, but section hikers. It seems Bryson could not stand the Great Smokies section. He and Katz mutually decided to skip over most of the NC section of the AT and rejoined the trail in Virginia. They did a similar thing further north on the trail.

Even though they only hiked around 800 miles, less than half the total distance of the trail, Bryson had many stories to tell. His musings on the possibility of being mauled by a bear and the encounter with Mary Ellen, a lone hiker in the first days of the trek, were among my favorites. Katz tossing food and other equipment (twice) in an effort to lighten the load was another favorite.

While I wished he had hiked the entire trail, if for no other reason as to have more fodder for stories, he portrayed it honesty and with mirth. A very enjoyable read indeed. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Voices From the Past: A year of great quotations by W. B. Marsh

I am a history buff and Voices From the Past by W. B. Marsh is the perfect book to satisfy that craving for history and knowledge. As the title suggests, it is a quote per day from well-known historical figures such as Napoleon and Julius Caesar. Each quote is followed by a brief history lesson on the origin of the quote.

On the aesthetics side, I loved that the book is well indexed. Several times I used it to look up quotes I had read and wanted to refresh my memory on. The layout is nicely done also. I particularly liked that the book has a satin ribbon to mark your place or a particular quote you like.

As for the quotes themselves, I found them interesting and they represented a large span of time. The author put a lot of thought into the ones that were included in this book. Quotes are a dime a dozen. All you have to do is look on any website about quotes and it will usually contain thousands of them. However, as a rule, they do not have the interesting historical tidbits behind them. And the tidbits is what makes them so fascinating and why I enjoyed this book so much.

I highly recommend this book for any quote and/or history lover. It would make a great gift. Also, it looks nice on my coffee table and has started a few conversations.

I received a free copy from the publisher, via LibraryThing’s early reviewer program, in exchange for my honest review.

Renia’s Diary by Renia Spiegel

Pub. Date: 24-Sep-2019
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Renia’s Diary is just that, a diary of a young Jewish girl from Poland. She was just 14 when she started her diary because she wanted a friend. Actually, she had friends, I feel more likely that she wanted a confidant and some way to express all her hopes, dreams and sorrows without fear of ridicule from pears.

As you can imagine, the diary entries are about Renia’s daily life. When she starts the diary, she is living with her grandparents. Her parents are in Warsaw and have been traveling with her sister who is a child actress. As expected, most of the writing is centered around school, her friends and her longing for her family, mainly her Mother. At the beginning, she does speak occasionally of the troubling times and a few of the historical events.

As Renia gets older, she talks about going to parties with friends, dating and dreams about the future. She goes to movies and takes long walks with Zygument (Zygu), her boyfriend. In December of 1941 she decides to start writing about the war. She says, “Blood is flowing, cities are ruined, people are dying.” Despite her declaration, most of her writing remains the same.

It is obvious Renia is deeply religious. All throughout the diary she periodic asked God to take care of her and her family. Later in the diary, most entries end with a plea, “You will help me, Bulus and God”. Even though she did not mention the trying times often, they must have weighed heavily on her mind. Sadly, her life ends shortly after her 18^th birthday. The final few diary entries are made by Renia’s boyfriend, Zygu, because she along with his parents are shot in July 1942.

The prose I struggled with because it was written by someone so young and was of course immature. She talked about life with her friends and petty things that happened to her and others. As she gets older, the discuss turns to going to parties and boys and finally falling in love.

It is difficult to compare this book to other works of nonfiction because it is a diary and not a book. It was never written for or intended to be read by an end consumer. Therefore, I struggled with how to assign any kind of rating to a nonliterary work? Ultimately, I choose my rating mostly based on the poetry contained in the diary.

There was a lot of poetry in the diary. Enough for an entire collection to be published of just the poetry. There were all types of poems, long (some ran several pages) to short, some sad, some lively and some longing. Regardless of the theme, they were lovely. The poems are the real star of the book. I found it to be not only good, but contemplative. For the prose to be so immature, the poetry was the exact opposite. I am left wondering what her poetry would have been like if she had lived. Would she have been a great poet in the 20^th century?

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

The Karma of Cats: Spiritual Wisdom from Our Feline Friends by Various Authors

The Karma of Cats is a collection of short stories/essays by various people on and about their cat(s) and how they have helped them be better people or overcome a difficult time. It is a journey into the connect and bond we have with these furry feline friends.

It has long been known that animals are good for our mental health. They inspire and uplift us and are our most loyal friends, much more so than humans ever will be. These stories try to capture that fuzzy feeling in words. There is something magical that cats bring into our lives. They can be so many things from the jaunty ruler of the palace home to the cute snuggly reading partner. Whatever they are to you, you will can find something of that in these stories.

It is difficult to critique the writing because of the multiple authors and thus writing styles. I can say, I found some of the stories to be inspiring, some uplifting and some sad. In fact, I recommend you have a box of tissue nearby. I liked some stories better than others, but that is normal for a collection. Yet even the stories that were not among my favorites, I still found something to like. I think Not Braveheart was my favorite story because it reminded me so much of a cat I once owned.

If you love animals, especially cats, and are interested in the connection humans have with them this just might be the book for you. I recommend that you read it slowly and savor what each story has to depart because these are very personal stories shared by people who adore their feline companions.

I received a free copy at Book Expo in exchange for my honest review.

Three Days at the Brink by Bret Baier

I love historical novels both fiction and nonfiction, though I rarely have a chance to read nonfiction. It took me a long time to want to read nonfiction after years of forced reading in school. Therefore, I can honestly say that I am not a scholar and read now entirely for enjoyment and I enjoyed reading Three Days at the Brink, by Bret Baier. It was a thoughtful, through and in-depth look at FDR.

Going in I thought this book would be mainly about the Tehran Conference, it was that and so much more. The first of the book covers FDR’s childhood, his rise through the political ranks and to the presidency. The remainder of the book focuses on his presidency through WWII. There was a lot of focus on how he “charmed” both Churchill and Stalin.

Though FDR was not perfect, he was an outstanding statesman. He was the right person at the right time and he was instrumental in the success of the Tehran Conference. I thought Mr. Baier made an honest attempt to present FDR as factual as possible and it made for a fascinating story.

A well written and researched book than any history buff would love to own, and it would make an excellent addition to any collector’s WWII archive.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Buzz Books 2019: Fall/Winter by Publishers Launch

Buzz Books 2019: Fall/Winter by Publishers Launch is a compilation of the upcoming new titles from various publishers. It covers both fiction and nonfiction works. This reference book is the best all in one source for new titles and includes previews for a few upcoming ones.

Here are a few that caught my eye:

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale); Nan A. Talese – Pub. Date: 9/10
Dead Astronauts by Jeff VenderMerr; MCD – Pub. Date: 12/3
The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thomas Keneally; Atria – Pub. Date: 12/10
The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste; Norton – Pub. Date: 9/24
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo; Flatiron – Pub. Date: 10/1
Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay; William Morrow – 9/17
The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille; Simon and Schuster – Pub. Date: 10/22
The Warehouse by Rob Hart; Crown – 8/20
The Nobody People by Bob Proehl; Del Ray – Pub. Date: 9/3
The Rise of Magicks: Chronicles of The One by Nora Roberts; St. Martin’s – Pub. Date: 11/26

This is a short list of what has interested me. There are just too many others to mention and they cover every genre from YA to Thriller including debut novels of note. Several of these titles I have already received ARCs from the publisher. In addition, I have already read and reviewed The Warehouse and The Nobody People with more reviews to come.

If you love previews and are interested in keeping up to date on what and when new titles are being published, this is the book for you. Thanks to NetGalley for my copy. As always, my opinions are my own.

Three Sheets to the Wind: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions by Cynthia Barrett

I loved, Three Sheets to the Wind by Cynthia Barrett. It is now a coffee table book at my lake house. Guests never fail to remark about this book. Everyone is surprised by the numbers of everyday expressions that have a nautical background.

One of my favorites is posh. This little word of luxury came about when wealthy Europeans where traveling to and from the Orient by ship. Without air conditioning a ship quickly got hot and stuffy. Therefore, wealthy individuals would select the more expensive cabins that did not get the sun on the port side of the ship when travel to their destination and starboard side traveling back home. Thus the acronym P.O.S.H. standing for portside out, starboard side home.

There are lots of terms that are just as interesting, too many to mention them all. Each term has the origin, the modern definition and an illustration from literature. In summary, this little gem of a book is quirky, funny, educational and thoroughly entertaining!

If you are fascinated by the origins of our language or are a sailing/nautical enthusiasts this is the book for you. Maybe you are a book nerd like me, then you too will enjoy. It has started many a wordy conversation in my house. Thanks to the author for my free copy.

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

This picture book, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, honors the Cherokee way of being grateful for the many blessings received. In a sense, it is a celebration of all things Cherokee. The author, being Cherokee herself, has brought her special brand of insight to the views of her people and how they celebrate throughout the year.

It is beautifully illustrated by Frane` Lessac in the folk art tradition. The colors are vivid, imaginative and want to jump off the page. You can see that special care was given to each scene depicted in order to make this book special.

I liked that the text is in both English and in Cherokee and how the author explained the Cherokee celebrations in such a way that all can understand. There is really not a plot here. It read more like a commentary, which I am not faulting, because it is a picture book after all.

This is a lovely picture book for ages 3 to 8 years that is thoughtfully done. My granddaughter and I have already read it several times and I think this will be one of her favorites. I highly recommend this to all young readers. I received a free copy from the author at BEA in exchange for my honest opinion.