I found that there were to many distractions last month. I read some good books, but I would not exactly call them great. They are good enough to mention so here we go.
Land is the latest book by Simon Winchester. Some of you might remember the Professor And The Madman. This is the book that first brought this author to my attention. He has the gift of writing non-fiction that can really hold your attention. That is a good thing because this is a long book. He brings us through history describing how taking over land has caused so much conflict in the history of the world. What if no one owned any land. Does that remind you of a John Lennon song?
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker is totally non-fiction but shockingly hard to believe. This book follows the story of a very large family with more than their share of children with serious mental illness. Was this inherited? How can it be passed down from generation to generation? There are a couple of other family studies that add to the discoveries described in this book.
Margaret’s Story by Eugenia Price takes place in Florida around the time of the Civil War. I had forgotten about this author, but I was looking for Florida books and this one popped up. I will go back and read more by this author. I really love historic fiction from almost any period. This story took place along the Saint John’s River, part of Florida I really don’t know much about. The book is a good story and very well written. It is nice to go back and read older books. If you like historic fiction from this period I strongly suggest you read this book. The family tries its best to live through the war and not get involved. This is hard to do when you have sons that go off to fight.