"Strange and Obscure Stories of the Revolutionary War" by Tim Rowland

This book was so much fun!  I absolutely loved Tim Rowland's writing -- he had such a slyly funny writing style, and I laughed aloud multiple times while reading this.  I made my family listen to me reading selections aloud because they tickled me so much.  When I finished reading this, I ordered his similar book about the Civil War because I am sure I will enjoy it too.

Was every one of these Strange and Obscure Stories of the Revolutionary War new to me?  No.  Were they all super strange?  No.  But they were a great way to explore some of the less-touted events and aspects of the American Revolution.  It's kind of hard to explain really -- this isn't exactly revisionist history or trying to ruin your view of the Founding Fathers, but it does point out some foibles here and there.  But not in a mean way.  It's funny and... almost a British humor flavor, if you know what I mean? 

If you like to learn trivial and little-known facts and stories, you would probably dig this book.  I'll share a couple of my favorite passages below so you can get a taste of this book's specific flavor.

Particularly Good Bits:

The idea that Americans might one day make a break for it was as old as America itself, and a veritable cottage industry arose in Britain out of speculating on the American future.  The British were well aware of a couple of points.  One, there were certainly people who sailed overseas for adventure and to seek fortune, but in the main, few people cam e to the New World because they were tickled with the way things were working out for them in the old.  This wasn't shaping up to be a territory that longed for leadership from across the pond.  Two, from the British perspective, the colonies were becoming a collection of every screwball sect and religious mutation on the face of the planet, and good luck governing that (p. 18).

When the British first arrived on the Carolina coastline in the spring of 1776, the patriots were in the process of throwing up a log and sand fort at the entrance to the Charleston harbor.  Washington's man, General Charles Lee, didn't like the looks of the forward position and ordered Colonel Moultrie to abandon the fort and regroup closer to town.  Moultrie thanked the colonial commander for his suggestion, which he summarily ignored.  This caused the predictable cries by lee of insubordination, and the intervention of Rutledge, who sternly told Moultrie he was to obey the commands of General Lee unless he didn't want to (p. 132).

If This was a Movie, I would Rate It: PG-10 for discussions of wartime wounds and violence, and a little bit of rough language.  Kids probably wouldn't get the humor anyway.

This is my fifth book read for my #RevolutionaryWarReads challenge that I set myself as part of my celebration of our country's 250th birthday this year.

"Demystifying the Proverbs 31 Woman" by Elizabeth Ahlman

I had been taught, while growing up, that Proverbs 31 was a description of all the things a godly woman could do with God's help.  The ways God would empower her to care for her family and help others.  A sort of companion to "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13), but specifically for women.

So, I thought of this chapter as an encouraging one.  Who wouldn't want to be encouraged to take care of their families and household, and be praised as being "worth far more than rubies" and so on?

Then, one day, my mother-in-law heard me mention I had friends who sold Thirty-One bags and totes, and asked why the company was called that, so I said, "Oh, you know, the Proverbs 31 woman -- it's named after her."  And she sort of gasped and said, "Why would they name themselves after that chapter?  You don't actually enjoy that chapter, do you?"  I was like, "Um, yes, why not?"  And she was all, "Oh, it's so terrible because no woman can ever live up to that ideal."

And I realized that there are women out there who see it as a chapter full of Law -- all about what they *have* to do -- and not in the light of the Gospel, as in, not about how God can do *for them.*  And that made me sad.  And curious.  A few months later, Demystifying the Proverbs 31 Woman crossed my path, and I bought a copy because I thought, maybe I have it backward.  Maybe it's a hard and terrible chapter.

If you also have felt like that chapter is condemning you for not living up to an ideal, then you should read this book.  Because it will free you from that fear.

In this book, Elizabeth Ahlman first walks through the Proverb and shows how Proverbs 31:10-31 are an acrostic poem in the original Hebrew.  She shows how the whole chapter connects to the first few chapters of Proverbs -- the first few chapters admonish a young man to avoid Dame Folly and seek out Lady Wisdom, and this one chapter again focuses on how to value a wise and godly woman, and how the language echoes the earlier chapters.  This is not a portrait of a single human woman, but of Lady Wisdom, the personification of godly wisdom.  

Then Ahlman shows how this portrait of a godly woman connects to a specific woman in the Bible: Ruth.  She goes on to show how the verses are a portrait of the Church when it is acting according to God's will, of all Christians when they carry out their God-given vocations, and how they can also be a portrait of Jesus caring for his Church -- since he is Wisdom Incarnate.

As Ahlman puts it, "[t]he three ways of understanding this passage -- as a portrait of Lady Wisdom/Christ as Wisdom Incarnate, as a portrait of the Holy Church, and as a portrait of who we are in Christ -- all ultimately show us Jesus" (p. 158).

That sounds confusing, I expect, because I'm condensing down into a couple sentences what she spends a whole book explaining.  I think you should just read it for yourself, because then you will understand.

I was especially impressed by how many sources Ahlman drew on.  She wasn't just coming up with these ideas and insights on her own, but building upon theological writings from many, many others writing down through the ages.  

I came away with a great appreciation for how complex Hebrew poetry can be, how connected different parts of the Bible truly are, and how loving and uplifting this chapter is.  I underlined and scribbled in the margins all over the book, and I can't possibly share all my favorite parts here, but I'll share the bits I found the coolest, anyway.

Particularly Good Bits:

It can be tempting to look at this poem and see riches, wealth, and hardworking determination that we cannot possibly hope to match but must strive to match nonetheless.  However, when we consider all that the woman is and does is in the context of God's grace and mercy, her life becomes less example to be copied and more reminder of who we are (p. 55-56).

To have the "fear of the Lord" is to work vigorously in one's vocation with the strength endowed by Yahweh as He works through you.  It is to reach out a hand to the needy, "look well to the ways" of your household, proclaim Yahweh's mercy, impart His wisdom to others, and prosper (ultimately in the sense of salvation and eternal life with Yahweh (p. 81-82).

Throughout those [first] nine chapters [of Proverbs], Lady Wisdom is portrayed first as a young marriageable maiden and then as one who is preparing her household in order to be married.  In 31:10-31, the woman completes the portrait of Lady Wisdom, depicting her now at home with those who love her and who have sought her and been sought by her.  As a completion of that building portrait, she shows herself to be, in fact, Lady Wisdom (p. 159).

As a portrait of Jesus as Wisdom Incarnate, the Proverbs 31:10-31 woman offers us comfort, joy, and a reason to sing.  Gone are the temptations to find a five-step program to being just like the Proverbs 31 woman.  Gone are the thoughts of whether or not we are "good enough" or living up to who we should be as women of God.  Gone, even, are the thoughts that the passage from Proverbs 31:10-31is uniquely a women's text.  Rather than see in her a list of activities to live up to, or an example of how diligent and perfect and busy we should be, we see that this is our Savior diligently busy, active, and perfect for us (p. 160).

We need not view the actions and dispositions of the woman who fears Yahweh in Proverbs and the man who fears Yahweh in Psalm 112 as impossible tasks or qualities to live up to, but rather as pictures of who we are already in Jesus by virtue of our Baptism and the working of the Holy Spirit in us (p. 163).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG.  There's a little talk of preparing the marriage bed and keeping it holy and special, but nothing explicitly about sexual activity.

"The Greatest Lawyer That Ever Lived: Patrick Henry at the Bar of History" by George Morrow

This is a slim volume containing two essays about Patrick Henry, both by George Morrow.  In both essays, the author contends that Patrick Henry is essentially a mystery to us today for two reasons.  

First, Patrick Henry wasn't obsessed with writing things down OR with keeping records of his writing and speeches for posterity.  He was very gifted as a defense attorney and as a public orator, but his speeches had a strange ability to make people agree with him at the same time as not be able to remember exactly what he said.  So even the speeches we think we know he made, George Morrow says are probably just vague approximations of what he said because Henry didn't keep the speeches he wrote and no one else could remember more than the basic gist of them.  Yes, including the famous "Give me liberty, or give me death speech."

Second, George Morrow makes a convincing case for Thomas Jefferson being virulently envious of Patrick Henry for decades because Henry was a much more accomplished lawyer than Jefferson and a much better public speaker.  Morrow contends that, after Patrick Henry's death, Thomas Jefferson began systematically and effectively erasing Patrick Henry's good qualities from public and private memory alike and replacing them with the idea that Patrick Henry was a mediocre lawyer who got a lucky day in court now and then, was a lazy and cowardly state governor, and so on. 

If nothing else, these two essays have convinced me I need to read more about Patrick Henry and not rely on my memories of what my high school history books said about him thirty years ago.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Nothing scandalous or untoward here.

This has been my second book read from my #RevolutionaryWarReads list!

"Or Give Me Death" by Ann Rinaldi

Whoa.  How is it I've never read an Ann Rinaldi book before?  I guess our small-town library must just not have had any of her books, even though her first book was published the year I was born, because I would have devoured everything of hers I could find.  Historical fiction has been my jam for as long as I can remember, and I read all the historical fiction in the teen section of our library.  Sometimes repeatedly.

Well, you can bet her books are going to show up on this blog after this.

Or Give Me Death is a novelizational look at several very hard years in Patrick Henry's family life, seen through the eyes of two of his daughters.

Did you know Patrick Henry's first wife battled mental illness?  Did you know the family had to eventually lock her up in a suite of rooms they set up in the basement so she couldn't harm the children or herself?

I mean, this sounds like something out of a Charlotte Brontë novel.  Except it's totally true.  While reading Or Give Me Death, I kept looking things up and discovering that, yup, that new-to-me sad or strange fact was true.  Over and over.

The first section of the book is told from the perspective of Patrick Henry's eldest daughter, Patsy.  It begins in 1771, with Patsy gradually realizing her mother is mentally unstable and becoming dangerous.  It shows how much weight descends on Patsy's shoulders as she has to take over mothering her younger siblings and running the household.  She grows up very quickly once they have to confine her mother Sarah, and marries young.  She and her new husband take over running the family estate because Patrick Henry is often away either practicing law or debating revolutionary things with other important leaders.

The second half begins in 1773 and is from the perspective of a younger daughter, Anne.  Anne resents how bossy Patsy has become, resents being told she must grow up and stop living as a carefree child, and resents how many secrets she must keep for the various members of her family.  She has to grow up too quickly and suddenly, but unlike her sister, she has a harder time resigning herself to this.

I felt a lot of sympathy for both sisters, and wished often in the second half of the book that Rinaldi had not made Anne quite so stridently antagonistic toward Patsy.  They are both enduring a really hard reality, as are the rest of the members of the family.  I'm not sure how much of the sibling discord is factual, though I do know that there's a note at the end from Rinaldi saying that Patrick Henry and his family left very little by way of a paper trail, so she had to work mostly from things written about them by their relatives and friends and contemporaries, and extrapolate a lot from what would be common parts of life in Colonial and Revolutionary Virginia.  

While I found the sibling antagonism less than pleasant at times, I still very much enjoyed this book.  And I didn't find that antagonism unrealistic, I just... would have preferred less of it, because then the characters would have been happier, and I generally just want characters to find ways to be happy!  But that's not always realistic or feasible.

Particularly Good Bits:

Dark, unexplainable things happened all the time in the outlands of Virginia (p. 7).

"Ah, we all could do with a little divine vengeance at breakfast," Pa said.  "What better way to start the day?" (p. 51)

When do you keep a secret, and when do you tell?  Do you tell the truth, knowing it will hurt someone?  Or tell a lie to keep from hurting them?  How much does keeping it inside cost?  Eventually it will come out, won't it?  And hurt the person you are trying to protect, anyway (p. 117).

"Our family is broken, Anne.  It happens betimes with families.  So what we must do is know that while other families get to enjoy the whole, we can only enjoy the pieces.  But don't hold them too close.  broken pieces have edges and can hurt.  Look outside the family for your happiness" (p. 164).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some non-gory violence, scary scenes involving children in peril, descriptions of madness and mad behavior, talk of ghosts and 'second sight,' and a horribly cruel death inflicted on a slave girl (off-page and lightly described, but thoroughly awful).  Definitely a teen read, not for kids.

This has been my first book read from my #RevolutionaryWarReads list!

"Deep in the Heart" by Gilbert Morris

I picked up this book and its two sequels on a whim at a used bookstore a couple months ago.  I can remember my mom reading Gilbert Morris books when I was a teen, but I hadn't read him before.  

On a whole, I liked this first book in the Lone Star Legacy trilogy pretty well. I loved Clay and I liked Jerusalem Ann.  I liked most of the characters, actually.  And the history of Texas always fascinates me.  Though that ended up getting in my way a bit here.

Morris sets this during the time leading up to the Texas Revolution in the 1830s, and he has a whole lot of scenes where real-life people like Colonel Travis and Jim Bowie discuss why they are trying to separate Texas from Mexico.  Scenes that really have nothing to do with the book's characters.  They're just there to explain things.  It wasn't necessarily a bad way to explain Texan history... but it also made the actual story come to a screeching halt every now and then, especially in the last third of the book.  And, you know... if I, who love Old West history, got increasingly annoyed by having history lessons inserted that way, I am betting most readers were downright vexed.  

I can see what Morris was trying to do, but it would have been way more effective and enjoyable to have the book's main characters themselves discuss these things!

So, that left me feeling like this is a four-star read.  I'll try the next book, which I suspect won't have that issue so much because the Texas Revolution should be over pretty early in the book.  We'll see.

Particularly Good Bits:

"I wish things would go wrong one at a time, but they never do" (p. 214).

"I found out one thing after all these years.  And that's never to run away from problems.  As sure as you do, a worse one will meet you" (p. 350).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for allusions to men consorting with prostitutes, drunkenness, a family with illegitimate children, women worrying about being captured by Native Americans and assaulted, and scenes of frontier violence.

"Eldest" by Christopher Paolini

My reread of the Inheritance series stalled out for a while with this book, I'm afraid.  I think it could have been about 200 pages shorter, and it would have been a much stronger book.  Imagine if The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was three hours long, and a full hour of it was Luke and Yoda hanging out on Dagobah, and you get an idea of the pacing issues.

That aside, I do enjoy the fantasy world of Alegaesia.  And Eldest had lots and lots of time spent with Roran Stronghammer, who is my favorite character in the series.  I very much enjoyed all of his sections, especially since they moved forward at a relentless pace.  I do get that part of Eragon's character growth was learning to be patient and to stop wanting to be going and doing at all times... but I think we could have experienced that arc just as well with a lot fewer pages.

Particularly Good Bits:

If any honor existed in war, he concluded, it was in fighting to protect others from harm (p. 2).

"History provides us with numerous examples of people who were convinced that they were doing the right thing and committed terrible crimes because of it.  Keep in mind, Eragon that no one thinks of himself as a villain, and few make decisions they think are wrong.  A person may dislike his choice, but he will stand by it because, even in the worst circumstances, he believes that it was the best option available to him at the time.  On its own, being a decent person is no guarantee that you will act well" (p. 351).

"To have a child is the greatest honor and responsibility that can be bestowed upon any living being" (p. 362).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for fantasy violence.  Nothing gory, but not suitable for small children.  I think it may have had one or two old-fashioned cuss words, too.  No smut.

"Eragon" by Christopher Paolini

All three of my teens got into the Inheritance Cycle last year, and they really want to read Murtagh, but I said I had to read it first (because hey, I'm the one who bought that new release hardcover copy, after all!), but then I realized I need to reread the series.  Because I finished reading the original series in 2011 when Inheritance was released, and that is a looooooooooooong time ago.  I mean, my youngest kid wasn't even born yet when that book came out, and now she's a teenager.

So, for my #25fo25 challenge of 25 specific books I want to read this year, I picked these four books and Murtagh so I would be sure to read them in a timely fashion. 

My favorite character in this series is Roran Stronghammer.  He's barely in this book.  I did not remember that at all, so yeah... that was kind of a bummer.  I do love Brom too, though.  He's got such acerbic sass and mad skills -- how would I not love Brom?

Anyway, as original stories go, Eragon is an enjoyable one.  A Chosen One who is unaware of their chosen status until Weird Things Start Happening, who first reject and then embrace their specialness -- it's a timeless story.  Which is why we have been using it as a storytelling framework for thousands of years.  

My one quibble with this book is how quickly they make soup.  Repeatedly, characters will throw some foodstuffs in a pot, wait until the water boils, announce, "Soup is ready!" and then eat it.  Um.  Um.  I guess that's soup, but it's not going to be good soup.  Even pasta has to boil for more than 5 minutes to be done.  And you're tossing chunks of meat and root vegetables in that pot and assuming they're done as soon as they have come to a boil?  I worry for Eragon's gut health.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to rereading the rest of the series :-D

Particularly Good Bits:

"Keep in mind that many people have died for their beliefs; it's actually quite common.  The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe" (p. 197).

"Find peace in where and what you are" (p. 429).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence.  Nothing gory, but not stuff for little kids, either.  One or two mild cuss words.  No smut.

"The Scarlet Letter" (Manga Classics) by Nathaniel Hawthorne (original story), Crystal S. Chan (story adaptation), and SunNeko Lee (art)

I bought a few more of the Manga Classics in August -- some that my kids weren't all old enough for when we first got into them a couple of years ago.  I think they can handle them now -- or, at least, they are for this one.  Since The Scarlet Letter centers around an adulterous love affair that produces a child, I wanted to wait until my youngest was old enough to understand what all that meant rather than being confused and asking questions she wasn't ready for.  

They handled that topic even better in this manga than Hawthorne does, I think.  Granted, it's been twenty-ish years since I last read it, but both times I read and studied Hawthorne's novel in college, I found it distasteful.  Not just because he tended to sermonize incessantly, or because he told us about most of the conversations and things that occur throughout the book rather than showing them to us -- those are just marks of older writing and changed tastes, on a whole.  No, it felt like Hawthorne's attitude toward Hester Prynne was not entirely kindly.  He wanted the readers to sympathize with her, clearly, but the narration almost has this prudish prurience to it.  He disapproved of sex outside of marriage, but he was also super interested in exploring the topic.

Maybe that was just my high school and college self reading into it more than was there -- I don't actually care enough about this story to want to revisit the novel itself to see if my impression is accurate.

Anyway, this manga adaptation is lovely, kind, and straight-forward.  It does show many of the Puritans to be overly stern, some to be hypocritical, some to be downright ungodly... and some to be kind and forgiving.  I appreciated that they didn't try to villainize all Christians or even all Puritans.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for the subject matter aforementioned.  Nothing smutty or provocative in the artwork or storytelling, but the storyline is what it is.

"Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling

Zowie!  Is this book ever wonderful!  In fact, it's probably in my top 3 for favorite new reads this year so far.  I laughed, I cried -- it moved me, Bob.

Thirteen-year-old Aven was born without arms.  So, she doesn't really miss arms.  Her adoptive parents have taught her how to do just fine getting through life using her feet and her ingenuity.  So, the only thing she really misses right now are her friends, because her dad just got a new job that means they've had to move from Kansas to Arizona.  His new job running a struggling Wild West theme park is pretty cool, and Aven thinks she has uncovered a small mystery involving a locked building, a missing photo, and a pretty necklace half buried at the foot of a giant saguaro cactus.  

Slowly, Aven makes new friends: first, a boy with Tourette's Syndrome, then a boy who struggles with being overweight.  Eventually, she finds acceptance and even friendship with some of the so-called "normal" of kids at school, too.  The theme park finds some new energy and life, and Aven solves her mystery.

Throughout the book, Aven displays compassion, humor, and tenacity.  She's got a really upbeat attitude, without being gratingly perky, and her perseverance is inspiring.  I was really excited to learn that there's a sequel, too!

Particularly Good Bits:

Seriously, people, you're not fooling anyone.  Just keep staring -- it's okay to be curious.  Everyone is (p. 60).

But there are a lot of hard things in life.  Who would I be if I gave up when things got hard? (p. 223).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a little tiny bit of rude humor -- there's a boy with Tourette's Syndrome who says "chicken nipple" all the time, and Aven mentions that people like to ask her how she wipes after using the bathroom when she has no arms.  She refuses to explain.  It's very mild and totally age-appropriate, so I wasn't bothered.  I doubt most kids would be.  

No bad language, and no inappropriate content.

This is my 20th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"The Annotated Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen (Annotated and Edited by David M. Shapard)

This is the second time I've read The Annotated Sense and Sensibility, which pairs Jane Austen's classic novel with extensive notes and commentaries by David M. Shapard.  I used this edition back in 2021 when I led a read-along here for S&S, and I very much enjoyed learning from it.  So, when I decided to join the #JaneAustenDeepDive2024 reading group on Instagram, I decided I wanted to read all of these annotated editions.  We're taking two months to read each book, and really having a great time discussing things very thoroughly.  

That slower pace is ideal for these annotated editions because they really do take a lot longer to read -- there are thousands of notes in here explaining everything from naming conventions to social niceties to the differences between a carriage and a barouche, to what kinds of food would be common in that era for different classes.  Because history fascinates me, I absolutely loved reading this edition, even for the second time!

However, reading a thoroughly annotated book like this is a very different experience from reading the novel on its own.  I can't fully immerse myself in the story because, every paragraph or two, I have to stop reading the novel to read an explanatory note.  So, because I love history, I found it very enjoyable, but enjoyable in a different way from simply losing myself in the story.

That means that I would not recommend reading this annotated edition if it is your first time reading Sense and Sensibility.  But if you have read it before, and you want to understand the society and world and times that the story takes place in and was written in, then it can be very wonderful.

I know this review is mostly about the annotations, not the story itself.  Briefly, this is the story of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, whose father dies at the beginning of the book, and they and their mother and younger sister must move away from their home and live in a much smaller and poorer way than they are used to.  Both Elinor and Marianne fall in love, but their different temperaments and personalities, and the very different nature of the men they fall in love with, means that they have very different experiences in love.  The whole book is a meditation on whether or not it's wiser to let your heart by ruled by your head, or let your head be ruled by your heart -- or whether it might be wisest to balance the two.  It's a good book, but not a high favorite of mine.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for the text and PG-13 for the annotations, which talk about subjects such as unwed pregnancy in a much more frank way than the text does.  Nothing salacious, and no bad language, but not necessarily something I would hand to a young teen, either.

This has been my 23rd book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"We'll Always Have Casablanca" by Noah Isenberg

I really love learning about the creative process.  Whether it is how someone writes and edits their book, how movies are made, how songs get written -- it all fascinates me.  Especially if I am familiar with the creative work in question.  So about 3/4 of this book absolutely fascinated me.  Isenberg has meticulously put together a behind-the-scenes look at how Casablanca (1942) came to be, from the writing of the stage play Everybody Comes to Rick's through the post-production editing and scoring for the film.  

I think the coolest thing I learned from this book was that almost everyone involved, aside from Humphrey Bogart and a handful of other actors and crewmembers, were actually pretty recent immigrants to Hollywood from Europe.  Many of them experienced the kind of refugee situation that is shown in the film, waiting desperately for an exit visa and hoping against hope to make it safely out of Europe before the Nazis completely overwhelmed everything and everyone.  That is going to make this film extra poignant the next time I watch it.  I had realized that, obviously, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid and Peter Lorre were European and had probably come to Hollywood in part to escape the Nazi threat.  But even director Michael Curtiz was originally Hungarian, and the actors playing the Nazis in the film were mostly native Germans who had fled Germany.  Making this pro-freedom film must have been so immensely satisfying for so many involved, and yet heartbreakingly real, too.

The last couple chapters are about how the movie has influenced Hollywood and society, and I mainly skimmed those.

Anyway, if you like learning about how movies get made, this is a cool book.  For adults.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: R for discussions of sexual topics, mainly things that couldn't be shown in the film, but also sections from fairly explicit sequels that have been written over the years by people who want to fill in the things the movie only hints at or leaves open to interpretation.  You can skim those bits, but they aren't always easy to spot coming.

"The Legend of Bass Reeves" by Gary Paulsen

Funny thing: I thought I had read this book before.  I assigned it to one of my homeschool co-op classes to read for this month, remembering it as an exciting recounting of Bass Reeves's adventures as a U. S. Marshal in the Old West.  I started reading it this week to have it fresh in my mind for our discussion next week... and discovered I had actually only read the last 50 pages or so before.  About half of the book is actually about Bass growing up in slavery in Texas.  Then it explores why he ran off to Indian Territory as a young man, and how he found friendship and belonging there among the Creek tribe.  Only the last third is about his career as a lawman.

The book is fictional in that Paulsen writes about Bass's life as if he was writing a novel, with all kinds of situations and dialog that are supplied by the author.  Historians really know very little about Bass Reeves's early life growing up in Texas, so a lot of that is filled in based on typical conditions and experiences of that time and place.  The subtitle of the book is Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West, which gives you an idea of how this is a blend of real and imaginary things.

It's actually a deeper, richer book than I remembered... but also a bit sterner stuff than I would ordinarily have assigned to my 3rd-thru-5th-grade class.  I don't know if the reading level is above them, but there's some content here that I might have shied away from for them, such as a handful of bad words, mentions of torture and massacre (very lightly described, but could be really hard for very sheltered or sensitive kids to read about), and a pretty serious look at life as a slave.  (There's also a whole introduction that I would just advise most kids skip, to be honest.)  It does address the kinds of racism that Bass faced, and did an okay job pointing out that black, white, and native peoples all had different prejudices that worked against their getting along together.  It felt a little heavy-handed with that once or twice, but overall I think it was a really fair and sensible depiction of the era.

Anyway... class time next week could be interesting!  Happily, most of the kids in that class are into books like Goosebumps, so I don't think they'll find it scary.  And none of them are what I would consider quite sheltered.  We shall see how it goes!  I do know one of the nine-year-olds was about half done with it when I bumped into him earlier this week, and when I asked him what he thought of it, he said it was really interesting and not hard to read.  SO... it will probably be fine.  But I have definitely learned my lesson about relying on my memory about books I haven't read/reread within the last few years!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for the aforementioned scattering of bad language, as well as non-detailed descriptions of torture and massacre (naked dead bodies and scalpings are mentioned, along with vague description of mutilation, such as referring to "people being cut up").  The word 'rape' is used once in the book, but not defined, and the word 'prostitute' is used in the introduction, but not defined. 

Because it turns out I actually hadn't read most of this book before, I am counting it as my first read for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge this year.

"Best Shot in the West: The Adventures of Nat Love" by Patricia C. McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack Jr., illustrated by Randy DuBurke

What a fun and engaging way to present the life of "Deadwood Dick," also known as Nat Love, one of the Old West's premiere cowboys!  This fast-paced graphic novel presents Nat Love's life and adventures in a way that mixes the flavor of tall tales with a healthy dollop of facts.  It's written as if an aging Nat Love is writing down his experiences for a newspaperman, which is a fun way to frame the stories, especially since they are all taken from Love's autobiography.

Is this a 100% factual biography?  Nope, and it doesn't pretend to be.  The authors acknowledge that, while historians are pretty sure Love embellished some of his adventures, there are quite a few that have been verified by outside sources.  Instead of trying to sort the totally true from the exaggerated, they simply picked a nice collection that showcase the diversity of Love's adventures.

Nat Love was born into slavery in Tennessee in 1854.  He left home in his mid-teens and went west, working as a cowboy for twenty years and gaining fame for his prowess as a horse-breaker and bronc rider, as well as his skill with a rope and gun.  If you want to learn more about him, I wrote an article about Love for the Prairie Times a few years ago, which you can read online here.  Or you can find a copy of this graphic novel and read that!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a little rough language and some mild mentions of violence.

"Murder at Kensington Palace" by Andrea Penrose

Yet another thoroughly entertaining Wrexford and Sloane mystery!  I won't say this one was thoroughly enjoyable because it had a couple of quite grisly murders and involved the subject of people doing scientific experiments on themselves and on dead bodies, which is kinda icky.  Not nasty or repulsive to the point where I felt squeamish, just... a bit ew.  

When Charlotte Sloane's cousin is murdered, and his twin is arrested for the murder, she sets out to prove the surviving brother innocent.  Naturally, the Earl of Wrexford involves himself in the case as well.  The two of them dance around the fact that they have come to care for each other, and come to a somewhat satisfactory understanding of this fact by the end of the book.  As an emotionally cautious person, I found their hesitancy completely relatable, but I suppose some readers may be irked by their reticence to fall into each others' arms. 

Charlotte also makes a decision that will change her life, and the lives of her two wards.  It involves introducing a new character: her aunt, Lady Peake, whom I found amusing and fun.

Particularly Good Bits:

Creativity is rarely tidy, he thought wryly as he ran his gaze over the bookshelves and work counters (p. 213).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-15 for the grisly murders, one of which involves removing a piece of male anatomy, but which does not involve any kind of sexual element.  There are a variety of cuss words, some veiled suggestive dialog, and a violent fight scene.  No spicy scenes, and the murder scenes are not described in a grossly gory way.

This is my fourth book read from my #20BooksOfSummer23 challenge list.

"The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

Remember when I read Girl in Disguise by Greer McAllister a few years ago and lamented that there are no biographies about Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton Detective?  There still aren't any good adult biographies of her, and that still bothers me.  BUT there are a few more books around these days that involve her, and that makes me really happy, because she wows me.

The Detective's Assistant is a middle-grade fiction book that is a great way to introduce younger folks to Kate Warne.  In the book, Kate's (fictional) orphan niece Nell Warne lands on her doorstep, demanding to be taken in and not shipped off to an orphanage.  Nell is a spunky and clever 11-yr-old who, over the course of the next two years, proves to be a valuable help to her Aunt Kate in solving some important cases and doing some important spy work.

The cases in this book are all based on real ones that Kate Warne really was instrumental in solving.  Thieves and scoundrels make up the first few baddies that Kate and Nell take down, but the climax of the book revolves around The Baltimore Incident, Kate Warne's real-life discovery of a plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln on his way to take the oath of office.  And if that doesn't sound like a thrilling and exciting climax for a book, I don't know what does!

This book also touches on the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, and I thought it did a great job of showing why people had such strong opinions about slavery without getting preachy.  Better than so many adult books I have read, actually!

Particularly Good Bits:

"There is always work to be done in this life... You can be the hands that lift the load, or you can be the burden itself.  You choose" (p. 136).

Aunt Kate once said that family is the folks we choose to be with, not the ones we're stuck with.  But I had my own notions about family now.  To me, family meant taking the folks we're stuck with and choosing to love them anyway (p. 339).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10.  There is some violence depicted, including a discussion of a man being killed with a hammer and a depiction of the blood involved.  A tween girl fires a pistol and talks about hunting for food.  No cussing or improper situations.

"Blue Moon Promise" by Colleen Coble

Yes, I got very into the mood to read westerns while I was on vacation.  I suspected I would, since we were traveling through a chunk of the West, so I brought several along with me.  Including this one.

Lucy Marsh loses her job as a seamstress and then finds out she and her two younger siblings are being evicted.  Her parents are dead, and her stepmother is uninterested in caring for Lucy's brother and sister.  And strange men have been skulking around and making threatening remarks to Lucy and her brother.  When a childhood friend of her father's turns up and offers her a way to provide for herself and her siblings, Lucy feels she has no choice but to accept.  His offer?  Enter into a proxy marriage with his son Nate, then travel out to Texas to begin life anew there.

Nate Stanton knows marriage is a blessing.  He just doesn't have time for it, what with trying to expand the family ranch while keeping his antagonistic neighbors at bay, and all that entails.  He is plenty upset when his father shows up with a surprise wife for Nate, plus her two siblings.  What could a short, scrawny city girl like Lucy hope to do on a Texas ranch?  Sit around looking pretty? Nate does not have time for such nonsense.

But, of course, Lucy is more capable than Nate realizes.  And Nate is kinder and more understanding that Lucy had even hoped.  Together, they start to build a life together while trying to decide when they will both be ready to consummate their relationship.  

Oh, yes, there is a LOT of dithering about that.  Dithering and fretting and musing and dithering some more.  To the point that I got rather frustrated with them both.  Like, kids, I know you're both nervous about how this is going to go, but maybe it will go better if you stop thinking and worrying about it and just go ahead and get in bed together?  Plenty of people throughout history have gotten married to people they basically didn't know, and I'm sure that creates a lot of awkwardness, but I think this book spun that all out a lot longer than was necessary.  I would much rather have had a good chunk of the book explore their life together once they'd "done it" and discovered that sex is just one small part of a marriage.  Important, yes, but not the be-all, end-all pinnacle of married life that it is too often built up to be.  But, nope, not the route the book went.  Oh well.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for tasteful and non-explicit thinking about sex, some violence, kids in danger, and one fairly scary wolf attack.

This is my 37th book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves" by Art T. Burton

This book has been on my wishlist for a while now.  When I spotted the updated new edition at the Hole in the Wall Bookstore at Wall Drug in South Dakota while on vacation earlier this month, I snapped it up.  What better time to read about a great Old West hero than while driving around the West?

Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Arkansas in the summer of 1838.  He became one of the most-respected and feared Deputy U. S. Marshals in American history.  While enforcing the law under the jurisdiction of Judge Isaac Parker in the Indian Territory, Marshal Reeves served more than three thousand arrest warrants, but rarely resorted to gun violence.  He killed an estimated 14 people during more than thirty years as a peace officer, survived numerous assassination attempts, and was only wounded once at the most.  

This book is a meticulously researched deep-dive into Reeves's life, especially focusing on his career as a lawman.  It includes many, many court records, letters, telegrams, and even interviews with a few people who had met him.  It could have become a dry recitation of facts, but Burton fleshes out the litany of arrests with descriptions of Indian Territory and newspaper articles, as well as recollections of people involved when available.

One of the things I found most interesting was how the nature of keeping the peace on the frontier changed during Reeves's career.  When he first started enforcing the law, Indian Territory was a haven for lawbreakers and bad people of every sort.  Reeves arrested murderers, peddlers of illegal alcohol, and thieves of every sort for decades.  But, as the frontier gradually was settled by more and more farmers and tradesmen, and eventually was turned into actual states, he had fewer violent criminals to track down, and more disturbers of the peace, swindlers, and so on.

It was also interesting that there was such a focus on arresting people for "introducing and selling" alcohol in Indian Territory in the wildest years.  From what I could gather, the Marshals had an approach somewhat similar to the way New York City cut down on crime for several decades -- if we can stop people from committing "small" crimes and convince them that even "minor" crimes don't pay, that will cut down on the "big" crimes too.

Also very interesting was how racial relations changed during his career.  When he was one of a handful of men brave enough to ride into Indian Territory after lawbreakers, the color of Bass Reeves's skin was rarely an issue.  Black and white Marshals worked together with American Indian peace officers, and everyone arrested anyone who broke the law, regardless of race.  But, as the area became more "civilized," there were more and more instances of white people taking offense at his authority.  Black lawbreakers also seemed to submit to his authority more readily than to a white Marshal's, at least in the instances described.  

I found this especially interesting because it agrees with other research I have done into Old West history, which points to the idea that, when survival was everyone's primary concern, racial conflict was more rare.  But whenever people got comfortable with their surroundings and started to feel safe about life-and-death issues like water, food, shelter, and "public safety," then racial conflicts increased.  Certainly bigotry and hatred of people with perceived differences have existed since Cain killed Abel and fled, marked as "other."  And, also, there was a lot of racial hatred from both sides involved in the wars between the American Indians and the white settlers.  But it's really fascinating how people were more willing to peacefully live and work with someone who was somehow "other" when they were all trying to survive.

ANYWAY!

Even if you've never heard of Bass Reeves before, you have probably heard of a fictional character that was most likely based on him.  Historians think that when George W. Trendle and Fran Striker created The Lone Ranger radio show in 1933, they took inspiration from Marshal Reeves's dedication to bringing in suspects alive as often as he could, his habit of teaming up with American Indians when pursuing lawbreakers, and the way that good and bad people alike feared him, as well as his tendency to use disguises.

I wrote a column about Bass Reeves for the Prairie Times last fall, which you can read online here if you want to know a bit more about his life and legacy.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for matter-of-fact and non-sensational mention of murder, rape, and other violent acts.  You will definitely come away from this book convinced of the depravity of humankind, but it is not gross or gruesome.

This is my 35th book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023 (though it technically never made it to my TBR shelves because I bought and read it while on vacation).

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (Manga Classics) by Mark Twain (original story), Crystal S. Chan (story adaptation), and Kuma Chan (art)

Another winsome Manga Classics edition!  While I have never cared as much for Huck's book as for Tom Sawyer's, I really enjoyed reading this manga.  The pacing was wonderful, the characterization was thoughtful, and the artwork was charming.  

They included much of the original language of Twain's novel, so be aware there are words and racial slurs used here that may offend some people -- but the manga team make a point of explaining that the reason they included them is the same reason Twain originally used them: to show the cruel thoughtlessness of racism.  Huck spends a great time grappling with the fact that he's been taught all his life it's wrong to help a slave escape... but he eventually decides he's just going to have to give up trying to be good if it means stopping Jim from escaping slavery.  He doesn't realize it, but he's learning to follow his God-given conscience instead of society's dictates, and they bring that through so eloquently here!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for a lot of racial slurs, some mild cursing, and some violence.

This has been my #32nd book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"Sherlock Holmes: The Montana Chronicles" by John S. Fitzpatrick

This was an enjoyable collection of short stories about Holmes and Watson having four adventures in Montana in the 1890s.  While I didn't fully love any of the stories, I did have fun reading them, especially since I took this book along on vacation and read it while in Montana!

Of the four stories, I liked "The Mysterious Woman" best because it felt most like a story from the canon, with Holmes uncovering the reason behind a woman's sudden and inexplicable behavioral changes.  

The places and many of the people in this book are historically accurate, which was nifty.  The book contains lots of photos of locations from around the time the stories take place.  However, the writing sometimes dragged because the author often hared off on tangents about how various bits of mining machinery and apparatus operated.  Where one paragraph would have sufficed, we got a page or two, and so on.  Great if you're fascinated by 1890s mining methods in Montana, I suppose, but I eventually began to skim them.

Also, the author repeatedly portrays Holmes as using cocaine to keep alert while on a stakeout, and I am pretty sure (though I admit it has been a few years since I read the whole canon) that he canonically only uses cocaine when he is between cases and suffering from extreme ennui, never while on a case.  That bugged me.

So... it was a fun read, but not one I'll be rereading.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some mentions of husbandly "urges," some alcohol and drug use, and some violence.

This is my 33rd book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"Murder at Half Moon Gate" by Andrea Penrose

Another winner!  I liked this one even better than the first book in the series, Murder on Black Swan Lane.  I really, really am enjoying these books. 

In this one, Charlotte Sloane is in the process of moving to a house in a better part of London.  Not a great part, but a bit safer and more respectable, which she wants not for her own sake, but for Raven and Hawk, the two street urchins she has taken in as her wards.  The Earl of Wrexford stumbles across another dead body, and before they know it, both he and Charlotte are busy trying to figure out why someone killed a respected inventor.  They uncover all manner of intrigue and skulduggery in Regency London once again.

Particularly Good Bits:

"Suspicion wields an eager spade.  It cares not where it digs, as long as it's turning up dirt" (p. 138).

That she could help puncture lies and expose evil with her art had somehow taken hold in her heart (p.151).

What place did people have in a world where machines made their efforts obsolete?  What lay ahead for those who toiled with their hands? (p. 185).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for murder, violence, a bit of innuedendo here and there, and a sprinkling of cuss words.  Once again, no smut, but Wrexford and Sloane are feeling a growing attraction to each other, which has remained tasteful this far.