Three Other Books I Read in January 2024

January brought me lots of books and time to read them. Last week’s blog post talked about three books I read last month. Today’s blog is about three other books I read. Next week, I’ll blog about the other four books I read in January.

The Woman in the White Kimono, by Ana Johns

The Woman in the White Kimono, by Ana Johns

It is not often I get to read a book that I hate to put down – one I just have to read “one more chapter” before stopping to do something else. The Woman in the White Kimono was one of those novels.

I learned about this historical novel by being a member of the Historical Fictionistas group on Goodreads.com.

This is one of the best historical novels I’ve read in a long time. Well-researched, it takes the stories of mixed-race babies born to Japanese women and American military personnel before, during, and after the post-World War II Allied Occupation of Japan. There were 10,000 such babies, and the ones that survived were ostracized.

This novel grew out of the author’s own father’s story. Hearing bits and pieces of his story spurred her on to do extensive research in Japan and weave a compelling piece of fiction.

This is a can’t-put-downable novel of racial prejudice and the power of love. I don’t usually like novels with alternating timelines, but this one worked – and maybe wouldn’t have worked well chronologically.

In additional being based on good research, I was captivated by the beautifully-written prose.

Sisters Under the Rising Sun, by Heather Morris

Photo of book cover for Sisters Under the Rising Su — *Sisters Under the Rising Sun*, by Heather Morris

If you have followed my blog for several years, you may recall that I have blogged about three earlier historical novels and one nonfiction book by Heather Morris. (The Tattooist of Auschwitz in Many Good Books Read in October! on November 5, 2018; Cilka’s Journey in I stretched my reading horizons in November on December 2, 2019; Three Sisters in Books Read in December 2021 on January 3, 2022; and Listening Well: Bringing Stories of Hope to Life in Spy Thriller, WWI Novel, Nonfiction, and Historical Mystery Read Last Month on October 10, 2022.)

I praised each of those books, and I recommend Sisters Under the Rising Sun to you, too.

Heather Morris, a New Zealand author, has a way of taking a great amount of information from historical research and in-depth interviews with the survivors of an event – or their descendants – and turning their experiences into unforgettable historical fiction.

Sisters Under the Rising Sun is the story of 65 nurses in the Australian military and some British, American, and Dutch civilians who were captured by the Japanese and held prisoner for three years and seven months on Sumatra, Indonesia during World War II. Although only 24 of the 65 nurses and an undisclosed number of civilians survived the war, this is the remarkable story of their heroism, tenacity, and dedication to each other. It is a story of sisterhood and self-sacrifice. It is based on real people and their experiences under horrendous conditions.

More than 65 individuals are mentioned by name in the narrative portion of this book, so I recommend that you keep a running list of characters as they are introduced because, unless you read the Author’s Notes at the end of the novel first, you won’t know which characters you need to remember.

There are a couple of biological sisters whose stories are woven throughout the book as well as the stories of the Australian nurses. It is the practice in Australia to refer to a nurse as “Sister,” so the title of the book has a double meaning.

There has been a spate of World War II novels published over the last few years, so you might be growing weary of them. I recommend you read one more: Sister Under the Rising Sun, by Heather Morris.

We Must Not Think of Ourselves, by Lauren Grodstein

Photo of book cover for We Must Not Think of Ourselves: A Novel, by Lauren Grodstein. It is a downtown street scene and the Star of David is on one of the buildings., — *We Must Not Think of Ourselves*, by Lauren Grodstein

Although a novel, the author bases this book on real life accounts she has researched. The premise is that certain Jews in Warsaw, Poland were selected to write notes about their treatment and what they observed starting in 1940 so, if they were survived by their notes, the world would eventually learn what persecutions the Jews endured under Nazi Germany. The project was called Oneg Shabbat.

The story follows a Jewish widower, Adam Paskow, who had been an English teacher and was fluent in five languages. The gradual persecution of the Jews is chronicled as one right after another is taken from them until their homes and businesses were confiscated and they were forced behind locked gates into crowded and deplorable circumstances in what came to be called the Warsaw Ghetto.

The author artfully takes written accounts from many people and turns them into Adam’s story and reflections. The narrative chapters are interspersed with interview-type chapters.

I liked how the author, through dialog at the Oneg Shabbat meetings, included bits of news about the war. For instance, by the spring of 1941 the Oneg Shabbat participants knew about the gas chambers at Auschwitz. That information filtered down from Polish resistance spies, POW escapees, and Russian soldiers captured by the British.

One thing that comes through in the book is how the people of Poland were wondering why the United States wasn’t yet willing in 1941 to send troops to help them. They reasoned that if they knew it in the Warsaw Ghetto, surely the United States knew it. They wondered why the US was willing to help convey ships across the Atlantic Ocean while unwilling to commit troops to the war.

Interwoven throughout the novel is the love story of Adam and his wife, Kasia. She dies before he is forced into the ghetto to live in a cramped apartment with strangers. Over time, he and Sala fall in love; however, Sala’s husband lives there, too, which creates an awkward situation. Adam and Sala’s story reflects the desperation and hopelessness the Jews lived with. It was a hopelessness that grew by the day.

The people in the ghetto survived by selling or bartering with their meager possessions. Adam carefully sold every item of his wife’s that he’d been able to take into the ghetto. Will he have anything of value left in the end to secure papers that will give him a chance to escape from Poland before he’d shipped to Auschwitz?

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. I’m reading a novel and a nonfiction book.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

Three of the 10 Books I Read in January 2024

Being a cold month and more than a little wet in North Carolina, January turned out to be a great 31 days of reading opportunities for me. Today I’m blogging about three of the 10 books I read last month. I’ll blog about the other books February 11 and 19.

As I often have in the past, I begin this post about the books I’ve read by stating that I am not a book reviewer. True book reviewers have some rules they go by. I have no such rules; I just write my reactions to the books I read. Sometimes my political leanings come through. I majored in political science in college. I can’t help myself!

I enjoy a variety of genres. Much of my reading is more or less dictated by when my name reaches the top of the waitlist at the public library. If not for the public library, my reading selections would be severely limited. Never miss a chance to support your local public library!

That said, here are my thoughts about three of the books I read in January.

So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men, by Claire Keegan

This book is made up of three short stories, each taking a look at the relationships between women and men – each from a different perspective. The publisher calls this book a “triptych of stories about love, lust, betrayal, and the ever-intriguing interchanges between women and men.”

The first story shares the title of the book. In it, Ms. Keegan, an Irish author, explores what Irishmen think of women in general. What she portrays is a man who never in any way thinks of a woman as his equal. It is demonstrated through a love story that goes sour when the bride-to-be sees the groom-to-be for what he is. Underlying the story is the premise that this man is the way he is because that’s what his father was like.

“The Long and Painful Death” is the second story in this book. It’s about a writer who goes to live in the basement of a house on an island to be the writer-in-residence for two months. She has a strange encounter with a scary German man.

“Antartica” is the third story. It’s a dark tale about a married woman who goes to London under the guise of doing Christmas shopping for her husband and children, but in reality she goes to find out what it would be like to sleep with a different man. This tale begins nicely and (spoiler alert!) ends badly.

Vitiligo Made Me Beautiful, by Laleh Chini

Book cover of a brown-skin little girl in front of her school. Book title: Vitiligo Made Me Beautiful, by Lalah Chini — *Vitiligo Made Me Beautiful,* by Laleh Chini

This is the latest book published by my dear blogger friend, Laleh Chini. Although the book is meant for children ages 7-12 years of age, it can serve as a reminder to adults, too, that we need to always be kind to one another.

The main character in the book is a little girl who wakes up one day with white patches on her skin. A few days later she is diagnosed with Vitiligo. It is a condition in which patches of a person’s skin lose their color. This, of course, is especially difficult for a person with dark skin.

In the book, the little girl’s classmates rally around her as they focus on what they like about her and her qualities and talents. Don’t we adults need to do that more often, too?

If you want to read a compelling book by Laleh Chini, I recommend Climbing Over Grit. It is the story of her mother’s growing up years in Iran and the child bride culture there. Fortunately, Laleh’s family escaped life under that regime when she was 16 years old, and they made their way to the United States. Here’s the link to Climbing Over Grit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/9176375536/. It won the Canada Book Award

Book cover for Climbing Over Grit, by Marzeeh Laleh Chini & Abnoos Mosleh-Shirazi — *Climbing Over Grit*, by Marzeeh Laleh Chini & Abnoos Mosleh-Shirazi

If you’d like to read what I said about Climbing Over Grit on my blog right after I read it, please follow this link to my November 5, 2018 post: Many Good Books Read in October!

Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6^th, by Harry Dunn

Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer's Fight for Accaountability and Good Trouble After January 6th, by Harry Dunn — *Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th*, by Harry Dunn

Harry Dunn was on duty at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 – that infamous day of the insurrection and attempted coup. I’ll never be able to erase the images of that day as I watched TV in horror.

In his book, Mr. Dunn talks about the honor it is to serve as a US Capitol police officer. He talks about our country’s history and how proud he has always been to serve in that complex government building, to protect the US Constitution and the people inside that building. He talks about how he enjoys interacting with people who visit that building.

And he talks about the unexpected vicious attack on our democracy on January 6, 2021 and how it has changed him forever. He talks about the violence and the racial slurs, the bear spray, the WD-40 spray, the pepper spray, the beatings, and the hatred the mob showed toward police officers and our country that day.

He talks about the fact that some in the mob were already convicted felons with a history of violence. He talks about some in the mob being swept up in the moment after being hoodwinked by Trump’s big lie.

He talks about the fragility of democracy.

This is a gutsy, no-holds-barred, raw book. I highly recommend it, especially if you have any doubts about what happened on January 6, 2021.

Since my last blog post

I learn from comments from readers of my blog. One of the comments I got in response to last week’s post prompted me to add a postscript to that blog post. I’m afraid my reference to the side effects of my second Shingrix injection might deter others from getting the Shingles vaccination. That was not my intent. I had Shingles in my right eye a few years ago. It felt like a knife in my eye for weeks; therefore, I was eager to get the Shingrix vaccine as soon as it was available free of charge for Medicare patients. The discomfort of the side effects of the shot pale in comparison to the pain of having Shingles, so please talk to your doctor about the Shingrix two-injection vaccine, and take it if you are a good candidate for it.

My research about the route of The Great Wagon Road/The Carolina Road in Virginia continues as I work on my historical novel tentatively titled The Heirloom.

Until my next blog post

You have no idea how much I appreciate the moral support my blog readers give me – even when I fail to read all their blog posts!

I hope you have at least one good book to read.

I hope you will pay attention to reputable news sources and keep up with the events in the world. If you are a citizen of the USA, I pray you will do so to be an informed voter this year more than ever before.

Remember the people of Ukraine as they are the only ones standing between Vladimir Putin and his invasion of NATO countries. When a dictator or a dictator-wannabe announces his plans, believe him.

Janet

I’ve Made it Around the Sun 71 Times

Photograph of a large seventy-one in numerals — Photo credit: Metin Ozer on unsplash.com

There’s a popular saying now: “Being in my 20s in the 70s was more fun than being in my 70s in the 20s.” There is a lot of truth in that, but I’m glad I’m in my 70s now and not in my 20s.

My parents always made my siblings and me feel special on our birthdays.

Mama always made a buttermilk pound cake and decorated it elaborately for our birthdays. She made a “doll cake” for my birthdays for many years. They were things of art I didn’t fully appreciate at the time.

There were no cake molds then for making such a cake. Mama had to make the cake in several layers of different sizes and then do some trim work to make a perfect full evening gown-shaped cake.

Everything was made from scratch. She took no shortcuts with a cake mix or store-bought icing. (I don’t think that was even a thing back then.) I wish I had a photograph of one of those doll cakes that I could share on my blog.

Mama’s hand and fingers must have been sore for days after painstakingly decorating the doll’s evening gowns with ruffles and flowers of stiff homemade icing. I had no idea how difficult it was to use her metal cake decorator gizmo until I was old enough to try to use it myself. The operative word is “try.”

Daddy only made home movies on the following special occasions: Christmas morning, our birthdays, and sometimes on Easter morning. Film and its developing were expensive, so he usually managed to get our birthdays and those two holidays on one roll of 8mm movie film.

It was always a great day when a roll of film was developed. Daddy would set up his movie screen and movie projector in the living room, thread the projector, and alert whoever was appointed to then turn off the lights. It was fun reliving the events as many of the occasions projected onto the grainy white screen had happened more than a year earlier.

It was even more fun years later to look at those home movies. At least, it was fun until sometimes when the film would get stuck and the heat from the projector light would immediately burn a hole in the film. But I digress.

It was a special time to be a child in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a good time to be a child. At least, I can say that because I was a white middle-class child in the United States. It wasn’t as good of a time if you were a black child in the United States.

Until all the public schools were racially-integrated and black citizens secured the right to vote and receive equal service in restaurants, hotels, and in public transportation and employment opportunities, it was not a great time for them. I’m aware of that now. I wasn’t back then.

We weren’t bothered by social media and the only drugs we knew about were the ones prescribed by Dr. Nicholas Lubchenko, the family doctor who made house calls when we were sick. If you had stayed home from school because you were sick, you’d better be in bed and not on the couch watching “I Love Lucy” on the black-and-white TV when he came to check on you!

The years I spent in school dragged by slow as molasses, but the rest of my life has passed in a split second. That’s an impossible concept for people under 30 years old to understand. They cannot imagine how fast their next 40 years are going to fly.

So Happy 71^st Birthday to me! I can’t believe I’m this old, but many of my friends and relatives were not so fortunate. Therefore, I try to value every day God gives me. I have been blessed beyond anything I deserved.

Since my last blog post

Finally feeling like I had recovered from having Covid in December, I thought last Thursday would be a good day on which to get my second dose of the shingles vaccine. I guess it was as good as any. I don’t want to cause anyone not to get the Shingrix shot, but that second injection laid me low for the entire weekend. I’m just one of those people who often has ill effects from vaccines, so the aches and fever were not a surprise. That they lasted for more than three days was. (Postscript added January 31, 2024: I should have also said that I had Shingles in my right eye a few years ago and it felt like there was a knife in my eye for weeks; therefore, I was eager to get the Shingrix vaccine as soon as it was available free of charge to Medicare patients. The discomfort of the side effects of the shot pale in comparison to the pain of having Shingles!)

I took advantage of my down time by reading a very good historical novel.

I admit that I had a “senior moment” when I typed the title of this blog post. Just before pressing the “publish” button, I realized I had typed the title as “I’ve Made it Around the Moon 71 Times.” Thank goodness I caught that mistake! I never would have heard the last of it! After a rough few days, it was good to have something to laugh about.

Until my next blog post

I hope you are reading a book that’s so good you didn’t want to put it down long enough to read my blog. (I read a book like that over the weekend – The Woman in the White Kimono, by Ana Johns.)

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

#OnThisDay: U.S. Supreme Court on Abortion, 1973

Before I address today’s topic, I need to apologize for an error I made in my January 15, 2024 blog post. I stated that Dr. Gregory Davis was the first African-American president of Central Piedmont Community College. That, of course, is not true! What I meant to write and thought I wrote was that he was the first African-American student body president at Central Piedmont Community College. My eagle-eyed sister, Marie, found the mistake and brought it to my attention. I have corrected that post, but I wanted to make sure those of you who read the original post knew about the error.

Points of View

Before I launch into Roe v. Wade, I will share two quotes I happened upon last night while reading a blog post about how to write a novel with multiple points of view. I had already written today’s post and scheduled it. It was worth opening it up to add these quotes. Although they were intended to help me be a better writer of fiction, they dovetailed nicely with the true theme of today’s post — which isn’t abortion. Abortion is just an example of the issues over which U.S. citizens are deeply divided.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” ~ attributed to Harper Lee.

“If there is one secret to success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view.” ~ attributed to Henry Ford.

Fasten your seatbelts. I’m getting ready to step on some toes.

Roe v. Wade

It was on this date in 1973 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case of Roe v. Wade. It was believed by the Court then that a woman had a constitutional right to obtain an abortion as a protected right of privacy.

In summary, the lengthy Roe v. Wade written decision ruled that in the first trimester a woman had the right to get an abortion and the right to seek advice from her doctor. In the second trimester, the law could impose reasonable restrictions related to the woman’s health. In the third trimester, when the fetus is recognizable as a human being and not completely dependent upon the mother for life, the law had considerable authority to regulate abortion.

Overturning the Roe v. Wade decision became a goal of the Republican Party in 1980. That goal was achieved on June 24, 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court published their six to three decision to reverse the 1973 ruling.

That reversal left each of the 50 states to adopt laws regarding abortion and left women in many of those states once again being relegated to the pre-1973 back- alley abortions in unsanitary conditions that put their future fertility and very lives at risk.

Sadly, some of the new state laws have forced women to continue to carry a dead fetus because the medical procedure necessary to deliver the dead fetus is now illegal. Whether that was a conscious decision made by legislators or due to their ignorance probably varies from state-to-state. There was a case of that in my own family in the 1950s, and the trauma of that experience is still talked about.

It baffles me that “the party of family values” / “the party of ‘Let’s get the government out of the bedroom’” thinks treating American citizens like this in 2024 is just fine and dandy.

A hijacked segment of Christians and a hijacked political party?

It has always baffled me that people who most-adamantly say they are pro-life because they are Christians are against all government programs designed to make sure those babies have sufficient food and basic healthcare once they are born. I think they should more accurately say they are anti-abortion instead of saying they are pro-life.

The Jesus I follow is all about His followers taking care of the poor and downtrodden. The Jesus I follow is all about forgiveness and compassion. The Jesus I follow is all about loving your neighbor as you love yourself.

I don’t see any of that in the people who wear the MAGA caps, so maybe it’s time for the Christians who support the hatred spewed by that segment of today’s Republican Party to be honest with us and with themselves. It appears from the outside that they have lost sight of Jesus in their zeal to crush anyone who gets in their idol’s way.

I don’t understand why they think it is acceptable to be a racist, misogynist, or a xenophobe and would support a politician who proudly falls into all three of those categories. Jesus is certainly none of those things.

There is something very wrong today if Democrats don’t think Republicans can be Christians and Republicans don’t think Democrats can be Christians.

I miss the America of my younger days when most people did not know and did not care about another person’s political affiliation because most people understood that our democracy thrives when we have choices and two imperfect but relatively healthy political parties.

I miss the America of my younger days when in polite society in the United States you did not talk about religion or politics to a stranger, much less threaten to kill another person if they dared to hold opinions that differed from yours.

I miss the America of my younger days when you could have a civil conversation with a friend or relative with whom you disagreed about politics.

I miss the America of my younger days when I did not realize how very fragile democracy is.

My intentions for my blog

I did not set out to use my blog as a political platform; however, I have been blogging for more than a decade and I think God expects me to use my blog and my freedom of speech — which I will have at least until noon on January 20, 2025, when I just might lose all my rights.

Since my last blog post

I have struggled more than ever before with the writing of a blog post because I know some of the toes I’m stepping on are the toes of some close friends and relatives.

The topic of today’s blog post is complex. There are no easy answers, so I pray that both sides on the issue will try to keep their minds open to differing views and scientific facts as they wrestle with the matter.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade is, no doubt, not the last word on this issue. If we are a democracy after January 20, 2025, this matter will continue to be debated in the United States. I just hope it is debated with more compassion and open-mindedness than it was over the last 51 years. I hope people will stop hating the people whose beliefs on this subject and anything else do not match theirs.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have access to the medical attention you need.

I hope you have a good book to read.

I hope you pay close attention to politics on all levels and practice your responsibility to vote, if you have that right.

I hope you and I will continue to be friends, and in the Presbyterian way, “Agree to disagree agreeably.”

Remember the people of Ukraine during their miserable winter and how cherished freedoms can disappear in the blink of an eye.

Janet

A Book by a Blind Pastor & Educator

If you read my blog regularly, you know I usually wait until a new month to blog about the books I read the previous month. Today I’m making an exception. Last week I read a book by a local blind pastor, and I didn’t want to wait until February to tell you about it.

The title of the book is Finding My Way: My Journey as a Blind Pastor & Educator, by Dr. Gregory Davis.

Finding My Way: My Journey as a Blind Pastor & Educator, by Rev. Dr. Gregory Davis — *Finding My Way: My Journey as a Blind Pastor & Educator,*
by Rev. Dr. Gregory Davis

Living in the same community and being a member of a Presbyterian church just up the road from Bellefonte Presbyterian, where Dr. Greg Davis was pastor for nearly 30 years until his retirement in 2017, I have been acquainted with him for several decades.

I knew from the beginning that he was a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) in addition to being the pastor of the Bellefonte congregation. I knew from the beginning that he was completely blind. What I did not know until I read his book is that he lost his sight as a teen and overcame innumerable odds to accomplish many things beyond my imagination.

Being labeled as “mentally retarded” (the vernacular in the 1960s) at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC, he matriculated at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte to attain his GED, take college courses, and became the first African-American president of the student body of the college. He went on to not only be the first black student to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from UNCC, but he was also a leader on campus. Actually, to say he was a leader on campus is a gross understatement.

He went on to graduate from the Duke University Divinity School in 1979.

He started teaching at UNCC in 1979 and remained on the faculty there for 29 years. Not only was he a faculty member, he was a student advisor, counselor, and advocate. He was instrumental in starting numerous programs at the university.

Dr. Davis knew he was called to be a pastor, but he kept running into roadblocks. It seemed that many congregations were hesitant to accept a blind pastor. Fortunately, for him and Bellefonte Presbyterian Church, that congregation saw his potential and issued a call for him to be their pastor. He served in that capacity for 27 years and led the congregation through growth, new ministries, and two massive building programs.

By his example and courage he has touched thousands of lives.

Having worked hard and had many times of self-doubt in undergraduate and graduate school as a sighted person, I am in awe of all the obstacles Dr. Gregory Davis overcame as a student in the 1960s and 1970s. Those were the days before personal computers. Those were the days of tape recorders, manual Braille typewriters, and massive volumes of Braille dictionaries and the Bible.

Dr. Davis’s dedication to education as a student and as a teacher is nothing short of remarkable – as was his dedication to God and to the congregation of Bellefonte Presbyterian Church. Now, in his retirement, Dr. Davis has blessed us with this book. I highly recommend it to everyone. It’s available from Amazon in paperback as well as e-Book.

Since my last blog post

Our property was unscathed by Tuesday’s massive storm; however, it seems our landline phone service won’t be restored until this week. Parts of the area received in excess of four or five inches of rain in 24 hours, which resulted in local creeks flooding some roads. Electricity was knocked out in areas, resulting in some traffic lights still not working on Thursday night.

It was disorienting. I look forward to some semblance of “normal” returning this week.

I had a delightful conversation with Dr. Greg Davis on Friday.

Until my next blog post

Get your free library card and start using it! Go to your local public library and be amazed at the resources it offers.

It looks like I’ll be masking up again for a little while. Three respiratory illnesses are making the rounds. After having Covid in December, I’m not interested in catching the other two!

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

The Books I Read in December 2023

Due to having Covid, I postponed my usual first-Monday-of-the-month blog about the books I read in December to today. I’m still struggling with the symptoms, but I know this will pass. I’m grateful for the vaccines that kept me from having a worse case.

Today’s blog post is about three very different books I read last month. I hope at least one of them will pique your interest.

Dangerous Women, by Mark de Castrique

Dangerous Women, a novel by mark de Castrique — *Dangerous Women*,
by Mark de Castrique

Mark de Castrique is a North Carolina author who has published several different novel series. Dangerous Women is the second book in his newest series. I blogged about Secret Lives in my June 5, 2023 blog post, Three Books I Read in May 2023.

The two books in this series (so far!) don’t have to be read in order, but it might help you to know the background of 75-year-old ex-FBI protagonist Ethel Crestwater when you read Dangerous Women. Ethel is still the sharpest knife in the drawer and she is compelled to get involved in certain cases. She runs a boarding house and most of her tenants are active FBI agents.

Mark de Castrique has a talent for weaving humor and politics into his stories, which makes for entertaining and intriguing reading. (He’s also a very nice guy!)

The Cave: A Secret Underground Hospital and One Woman’s Story of Survival in Syria, by Amani Ballour, MD with Rania Abouzeid

This book will grab you by the throat from the beginning!

I won an Advance Reader’s Edition of the book through a giveaway on Goodreads.com. Reading The Cave has been a wake-up call for me. I pride myself in keeping up with current events and what is going on in the world, but I must admit that the suffering of Syrians under the regime of Bashar al-Assad had fallen off my radar.

In The Cave, Dr. Amani Ballour reminded me in the most graphic and vivid terms of the horrendous cruelty Assad has reigned down on the citizens of his country.

The book opens with the sarin Assad attacked his people with on August 21, 2013 and how Dr Ballour and her colleagues struggled to treat the victims in the underground hospital called The Cave. Dr. Ballour writes about how difficult it was for her as a woman to pursue an education and a medical degree.

Dr. Ballour tells in chronological order the horrors of years of bombing and the scarcity of food, electricity, and medical supplies. She tells about how Assad’s propaganda spread word that she was a liar as she risked her life by giving interviews to every media outlet that would interview her.

In 2018, Dr. Ballour – who had become director of The Cave – was finally forced to flee the hospital after Assad’s army invaded the area on the ground. She tried three times to cross into Turkey to escape the Assad regime. It was eventually due to her never-ceasing efforts to bring the world’s attention to the plight of the Syrian people that she became a refugee in the United States in 2021.

National Geographic Society published Dr. Ballour’s book and filmed a documentary about The Cave that was nominated for an Academy Award.

Backed by the governments of Russie and Iran, Bashar al-Assad continues to persecute, torture, and murder Syrians while the world turns a blind eye.

Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, by Liz Cheney

Speaking of wake-up calls… Oath and Honor, by Liz Cheney, should serve as a wake-up call for the American people.

I don’t agree with most of Liz Cheney’s stands on political issues; however, I don’t doubt her patriotism and abiding love for the United States and our country’s Constitution for one minute. I admire her for how she has chosen country over the Republican Party and her own position in the GOP. She tried to warn her colleagues in Congress about the threat Donald Trump posed to our democracy leading up to his attempted coup on January 6, 2021. Her warnings continue to fall on deaf ears – or worse… they continue to fall on the ears of members of the U.S. Congress who are so afraid of Trump and his supporters who don’t have enough backbone to stand up for democracy.

In Oath and Honor, Liz Cheney gives a blow-by-blow account of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the failed attempt by Trump and his minions to stop Congress’ duty to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. She names names and one of the surprises is how much the current Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (who I’d never heard of until his election to that high position on October 25, 2023) supports Trump’s big lie that the 2020 election was stolen. (The book had already been written and Ms. Cheney had no way of knowing Mike Johnson was going to be elected Speaker of the House when she wrote extensively about his actions, inactions, and words regarding The Big Lie and January 6, 2021.)

Liz Cheney’s book probably won’t change any minds. People who see her as a turncoat won’t read her book. That will not silence her, though, as she has pledged to do all she can to make sure Donald Trump is never elected U.S. president again.

I highly recommend this book, but I’m afraid the people who most need to read it will not. They have “drunk the Kool-Aid” and have closed their minds to the ugly truth about the danger Donald Trump is.

Since my last blog post

I went down a rabbit hole on the Internet and stumbled upon Annals of Bath County, Virginia, by Oren Morton. Written in 1917, it contained a wealth of information I desperately needed to enhance the writing of the early portions of The Heirloom – the historical novel I’m writing. It was the very material I’ve been looking for in all the wrong places for a year or more.

Until my next blog post

I hope you stay well.

I hope to get my January newsletter written and sent out this week.

If you have access to everything you want to read, take advantage of that privilege.

Remember the people of Ukraine and Japan.

Janet

Do you associate volcanoes with North Carolina?

Now that I have your attention… today’s blog post is about ancient history. This is one of the topics I wrote about in Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2.

Photo of a volcano by Guille Pozzi on Unsplash.com. — Photo by guille pozzi on Unsplash

Harrisburg, North Carolina sits inside a 22-mile syenite or ring dike. One can get a feel for it from several high points in the area, such as when traveling south from Concord on US-29 near the intersection with Union Cemetery Road. It’s like looking across a gigantic bowl.

Another possible place from which to catch a glimpse of the “bowl” is on NC-49 southbound after you pass Old Charlotte Road. The Charlotte downtown skyline is visible briefly from that location as well as the one referenced above on US-29.

*Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2*, by Janet Morrison

What, you may ask, is a syenite or ring dike? I’m no expert on volcanology, but my understanding is that it is a circular dike around a volcano.

According to 2001 Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes, by David Ritchie and Alexander E. Gates, Ph.D.:

“If magma is removed from the magma chamber beneath a volcano, it can undergo caldera collapse. The volcano and the area around it collapse because they are no longer being held up by the liquid. A series of concentric faults and cracks develop around the collapsing volcano. As they do, magma will squeeze up around the cracks and faults forming ring dikes.”

I’ll take their word for it.

In 1966, U.S. Geological Survey geologist Harry E. LeGrand and Henry Bell III led a scientific excursion in Cabarrus County to study our ring dike and other interesting rock and mineral deposits in the county.

You might be able to access a pdf of “Guidebook of Excursion in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, October 22-23,1966” by going to https://www.carolinageologicalsociety.org. Search for “1960s Field Trip Guidebooks” and then scroll down to find that particular guidebook.

The Harrisburg area has experienced a population explosion since 1966. The landmarks noted in the 1966 guidebook are either gone or more difficult to locate today. The concentric rings that were reportedly visible from the air in 1960 by R.G. Ray might not still be intact.

If you’d like to know more about this topic, the 1849 meteorite; Harrisburg’s first organized housing and business development of 100 years ago; the Morrison-Sims Store and Old Post Office; the flood of 1886, the Piedmont Area Development Association (P.A.D.A) of the 1960s; earthquakes that have been felt here; McCachren’s Store; Rocky River bridges in the 1870s; the Sauline Players; a tribute to George L. Govan; Rocky River Academy; the Rocky River Presbyterian Church’s fourth sanctuary which was completed in 1861; a 1777 estate sale; Hugh Smith Pharr and his mill; a 1907 attempted train robbery; 1816 – the year without a summer;

Also: items such as milk, apples, and dry cleaning that were all delivered to homes in the mid-1900s; Blume’s Store; high-speed trains; the boundaries of Township 1; early Harrisburg education; Pharr Grist Mill on Back Creek; how electricity came to Harrisburg; a 1912 church homecoming; Pioneer Mills Gold Mine and Community; a fellow named Collett Leventhorpe; a 1911-1912 debating society; and the tenth anniversary of the Harrisburg Branch of the Cabarrus County Public Library system… please purchase Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2.

The book also contains nearly 150 pages of my research notes on subjects I didn’t get to write about when I wrote a local history newspaper column from 2006-2012.

Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 and Book 2 are available in paperback at Second Look Books, 4519 School House Commons in Harrisburg, NC.

Second Look Books, 4519 School House Commons, Harrisburg, NC

They are also available in paperback and e-Book from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BW2QMLHC/.

An infographic ad for Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

I hope you get to spend quality time with friends and family.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

P.S. Please visit https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and subscribe to my e-Newsletter. Next issue due out the first week of January!

Three Other Books I Read in November 2023

As I said in last week’s blog post in which I wrote about three books I read last month, I read a variety of genres in November. I hope you will find something of interest in the three books I’m blogging about today.

The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero, by Patricia McCormick

This book is a painful reminder of the evil wrought by Adolf Hitler and how a dictator like Hitler demands complete allegiance from all who live in their realm. It is specifically about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I have read quotes from Bonhoeffer, references to him in sermons, and things about him. This 150-page book pulls it all together from his childhood in the lap of luxury, to his struggles with the great questions of life and ethics, to the courage he demonstrated in the face of pure evil in Nazi Germany.

In The Plot to Kill Hitler, Patricia McCormick weaves together the many strands of history that resulted in some unlikely people finding a shared sense of right and wrong and the courage to stand up against the genocide of the Jews. Several attempts to murder Hitler failed for various reasons before the authorities put all the clues together in an effort to identify all the conspirators.

The parallels between Hitler and a recent past US president who is seeking reelection are startling and impossible to miss. I highly recommend this book.

If Patricia McCormick’s name sounds familiar to you, it might be because I wrote an entire blog post about Sold, by her, on November 13, 2023: One of the Most Banned Books in the US: Sold, by Patricia McCormick. Reading Sold prompted me to look for what else she has written.

The Exchange After the Firm (The Firm Series Book 2), by John Grisham

The Exchange: After the Firm, by John Grisham — *The Exchange: After The Firm*, by John Grisham

The Exchange is the latest novel by John Grisham that all his fans are talking about. We get to re-engage with Mitch and Abby McDeere from The Firm. Mitch and Abby have tried to put the terrible memories of how things ended in Memphis behind them. Mitch swore he’d never return to that city but the head of the law firm’s health is failing and he needs Mitch to take a case in Libya. As one would expect, things do not go well. (If they did, it wouldn’t be a very interesting novel!)

If you read The Firm and have enjoyed scores of Grisham’s other novels, you’ll certainly enjoy The Exchange.

Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History, by Kristina R. Gaddy. Foreword by Rhiannon Giddens

I was drawn to this book for two reasons. First, I needed to learn more about the history of the banjo because there is an early African-American constructed banjo in the historical novel series I am working on. In fact, a segment on the Public Broadcasting System’s “History Detectives” years ago about the early African-American banjos was one of two initial sparks that inspired me to write the novels I’ve been working on for more than a decade.

Second, when I saw that Riannon Giddens had written the foreword, I knew I had to read the book. If you have not discovered the musical talent of Riannon Giddens, please look for her music on YouTube and her CDs. My favorite concert of hers on YouTube is with Francesco Turrisi from October 4, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ignhso0iv9U.

Since my last blog post

I continue to hone my skills at creating memes on Bookbrush.com to use for pins on Pinterest to publicize my writing. I enjoy doing it, but it consumes more of my time than I would like. I’m trying to create enough ahead each day to enable me to schedule at least one every day through the end of December when things tend to get hectic with holiday activities. I’d rather be writing than creating memes and pins, but it seems to go with the territory. No two days are the same, which keeps me motivated.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have at least one good book to read. I’m enjoying Dangerous Women, a political thriller by Mark de Castrique. It’s the second book in his Ethel Crestwater series.

Dangerous Women, by Mark de Castrique — *Dangerous Women*, by Mark de Castrique

Maybe it’s just me and/or the age I am, but it seems like there’s a lot of sickness going around. I wish you well.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

Three Books I Read in November 2023

I am trying to broaden my reading horizons by reading a variety of genres. I made progress toward that goal in November, as you will see from three of the books I read.

Unexpected Passion, by Barbara Strickland

Reading Unexpected Passion, by Barbara Strickland was a reading stretch for me. I’m not usually drawn to romance novels.

*Unexpected Passion: Love and age a perfect match,* by Barbara Strickland

Unexpected Passion is Book 2 in Barbara Strickland’s Unexpected Love Series, I love the book’s premise. Ricardo, part owner in a tour company, comes across as a real lady’s man, but his trust issues make it difficult for him to have a meaningful, honest relationship. Lexi is not a “spring chicken” either. Her friends are determined to pull her out of her comfort zone. She finally gives in and agrees to go on one of Ricardo’s tours of Greece and Italy.

The novel follows the hot and cold relationship between Ricardo and Lexi as the tour takes them to fascinating locations in the two countries. Ms. Strickland weaves in references to the places we have always read about, seen pictures of, and would love to visit while following the flirtations and misunderstandings/wrong assumptions made by Ricardo and Lexi about each other along with their interactions with others on the trip.

I felt like I was on the tour myself, which is a sign of a good book!

Radar Girls, by Sara Ackerman

Radar Girls, by Sara Ackerman is a novel about the women who did top-secret work in Hawaii during the early days of radar use by the US military in World War II. The women could, of course, tell no one what they were doing. And, being women, they had to claim to be doing clerical work when pressed about their occupations.

*Radar Girls: A Novel*, by Sara Ackerman

The novel follows the private lives and individual stresses of each of the women.

They had personal stress and collective stress and worry over the troops they were directly responsible for supporting. They were responsible for guiding US bomber pilots for safe landings upon the planes’ return to the base after bombing runs. The books includes their individual worries for husbands and other loved one serving in the war zone.

Carol of the Reading Ladies Blog did a great job of reviewing the novel. I think you would enjoy reading Carol’s review: http://Radar Girls [Book Review] #HistoricalFiction @HarlequinBooks #NetGalley #WW2 #BookTwitter #BookBlogger – Reading Ladies. Carol’s 5-star rating of the historical novel prompted me to get on the waitlist for it at the public library.

Character & Structure: The Easy to Follow Novel Planner – Quadrilogy Edition, by Chris Andrews

As I will explain below, I am attempting to write a novel series. Originally, I thought in terms of writing a trilogy, but then the story said it needed at least four books. I was thrilled to find this book by Chris Andrews. It is a wonderfully-organized workbook for outlining a four-book series. I’d never seen or heard the word “Quadrilogy” before, so I immediately felt this was just the workbook I needed.

This workbook is a companion to Andrews’ book, Character & Structure: An Unholy Alliance, which I read a couple of years ago. In the workbook’s 64 pages, Andrews walks the writer – whether a novice or a seasoned published author – through a systematic way to make sure the novel they envision or are already writing is constructed on a structure that will support it from beginning to end.

The workbook prompts the writer to give appropriate attention to subplots and how each one fits into the larger picture. It helps the writer to plan each chapter and to map out how the characters and plot flow.

Novel outlines are not set in concrete. Characters sometimes balk at the writer’s plans. In some cases, the characters have better ideas for the plot twists and turns than the writer, but having the big picture of a novel quadrilogy down in black and white will certainly help the author stay on track with structure. The workbook also has pages for you to jot down dialogue ideas. (You know you will forget those jewels if you don’t write them down!)

In case you’re writing a trilogy, Chris Andrews also have a Trilogy Edition of this workbook. Look for his writing books and his fantasy novels on Amazon.

Since my last blog post

Did last week fly by, or was it just me? It’s already December. How is that possible?

I got down to brass tacks outlining my novel series. Yes, I said series. As you probably already know, the main character in the first novel I drafted had so much backstory that I concluded her life as a younger person needed a separate book. I also finally worked out a plot problem in the second book in the series – the one for which I’ve already written 90,000+ words. It was a part of the plot dealing with the freedom of a slave. After stewing over this particular plot point for literally years, I took a walk last week to talk through it with myself (for the hundredth time) and concluded that George, the slave has to instigate his own path to freedom – or his attempt at freedom. Hmmm… do you think George will be successful? Geoge is a strong character. He and I have wrestled over his actions for years.

I had already toyed with continuing the main character’s story in two or three books in addition to the first two. I have outlined a total of five novels for the series. Now I have to figure out a way to write a lot faster or I can’t possibly live long enough to write all five! Time will tell if I have enough writing skill and imagination to write that many novels.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have at least one good book to read this week. Support your local public library and your local independent bookstore.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine.

Janet

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