TBR, Read, and To Be

It's great reviewing books. I have discovered writers who are new and writers who are new to me. I get to read the latest books from favorite writers, and I get to reread beloved writers whose books are coming out in ebook or paperback form. 

I have fewer reviews scheduled until the end of the year, but some great books. 

There is a new biography of Victoria the Queen, books by Rumer Godden, and John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery from NetGalley.

I have American Hero Quilts scheduled and will be writing book reviews on Pennsylvania Pillowcases and WWII Quilts from Schiffer Publications. 

The thriller Behind Closed Doors and the more existential The Mortifications are ARCS whose reviews are also upcoming.

Still to be read are books I won-- The Witches, Spaceman, and The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. I am reading Spaceman now and it's sheer joy. I am eager to read the Egan book, and the Witches I hope to get to after that.

But my TBR bookshelf of real books languish in their bookcase...

Not to mention the hundred of ebooks I have bought. And the book club selections...

Speaking of book club this month we read Black River by S. M. Hulse and she is visiting us via Skype! That is SO COOL. Our librarian is excited too. The club started a year ago and has been a good success. And they said it couldn't be done, well at least the previous librarian did. There were three of us who had asked for a club, and we usually have between eight and twelve out, sometimes more. I read Black River through NetGalley in 2014 and loved it. I hope my club does too.

So of course I went to the library sale and bought more books today!

I had planned to request fewer NetGalley/Edelweiss/First to Read/Blogging for Book books this year. I guess that didn't happen, although now that I'm established as a reviewer I get more wishes granted and can be choosier. And I didn't count on all the books I have won or that were sent to me by publishers! 

Do I care? Not a bit. I've read some great books. I worry about keeping fresh and doing justice to the books in my reviews. I am grateful for all my Goodreads friends, blog readers and Facebook friends who cheer me on with supportive comments.

QUILT ME, they cry. T. S. Eliot awaits

My quilting has slowed down considerably, partly because of the reading and writing, but also because of my doggies. They spent their early life in a puppy mill, popping out babies, living in cages.

Suki is fifteen years old and hates it when I am out of her sight. Kamikaze is likely 11 or 12, and has an enlarged heart. Suki's bladder ain't what it used to be, and Kaze's meds means she drinks loads of water and, well, what goes in must come out. My sewing room is in the basement. These doggies have arthritis and no longer can deal with stairs. We are redecorating a bedroom which will become my office space and work area. The doggies will be happy, I'll be happy, and that means hubby will be happy, too!

Kamikaze and Suki

So that's my read, to be read, and to be list. 

What is yours? Let me know!

American Heroes Quilts: Past and Present by Don Beld

American Heroes Quilts by Don Beld is an original quilt history book that presents traditional quilt blocks with the history of the American heroes that inspired inspired them.

'Use the patterns as a quick tour through American history," the introduction advises.

We too often have a cursory knowledge of our own history. Quilt block names such as Burgoyne Surrounded may be a mystery to quilters. I know it was to me when I first saw a beautiful two color quilt in this pattern. Beld offers a brief, accessible history for these mysterious quilt block names, including pictures. Quilts made in the block are presented, usually in several variations.

I appreciated Beld's biographies of these American heroes. He does not idolize or idealize them. My study of presidents and first ladies taught me that great things can be accomplished by people with 'feet of clay'. These people represented the beliefs of their time, some of which we later came to reject or understand as ill begotten. For example, President Andrew Jackson, a popular president who instituted and a policy of relocation and genocide of Native Americans. His winning the Battle of New Orleans was pivotal. He rescued a damsel in distress and they fell in love and married. Except her first husband never completed the divorce... The newspapers had a field day that devastated Rachel.

The book's chapters are organized chronologically by American history:
1776-1825: The Beginning of the Republic, including Gen. Gates and Gen. Burgoyne; Benjamin Franklin; President George and Martha Washington; Lewis and Clark; Zebulon Pike; First Lady Dolley Madison; Isaac Hull; Mary Pickersgill and Francis Scott Key; and the Marquis De Lafayette.

1826-1875 Years of Turmoil, including President Andrew Jackson; Davy Crockett; President William Henry Harrison; President John Tyler; Henry Clay; President Millard Fillmore; President James Polk; Stephen Douglas; President Lincoln and his son Tad; Barbara Frietchie; Pierre Beauregard; Gen. 'Stonewall' Jackson; and Gen. Sherman.

1876-1925 Victorian Ladies, including Gen. Custer; President Garfield; Nellie Bly; President and Mrs. Hayes; First Lady Frances Cleveland; Jacob Coxey; President Theodore Roosevelt and Edith; Gen. Dewey and Mildred Dewey; Richmond Hobson; First Lady Helen Taft; Carrie Nation; Adm Byrd; Richard Peary; and First Ladies Edith and Ellen Wilson.

1926-200 The Modern Era, including Charles Lindbergh; President Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor; Amelia Earhart; Virginia Payne; Allen B. Dumont; President Truman; President Eisenhower; Rosa Parks; President Kennedy; President Carter; President Clinton and Hillary.

Templates for a 10" block sampler quilt are included at the end of the book.

This is a lovely book to look at with 300 color photos and 93 black and white photos. I especially enjoyed seeing the antique and vintage quilts. Quilters will enjoy the basic history lessons behind traditional quilt blocks.

I received a free book from Schiffer Publications in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

American Heroes
Don Beld
Schiffer Publications
$34.99 hard cover with slip cover
ISBN:9780764350450

Eugene Gochenour's Memoirs: Alger Gochenour

Alger Jordan Gochenour

Today I share my father Eugene Gochenour's memoirs of his father Alger Jordan Gochenour, with added information from my genealogy research.

The Gochenour family were Swiss Brethren who came to America for religious freedom. They first arrived in Philadelphia and went west to Lancaster. So many Germans were coming to Pennsylvania there was less land available and it was becoming expensive. Some like my ancestor followed the Susquehanna River south into Virginia. 

Our ancestor Jacob Gochenour was in the second wave of Swiss Brethren in the Shenandoah Valley, and married Elizabeth Rhodes, daughter of one of the first settler families. I wrote about the massacre of the Rev. John Rhodes family here. 

The first Gochenours were German speaking Anabapists, separatists and pacifists who did not fight in the Revolution. They did give horses to the cause, and started the first church and school in the area. 

Many of the Brethern were converted by a popular Baptist preacher. My ancestor married a Baptist and joined that church.

Samuel Gochenour, 1926-1901

Susannah Hammon Gochenour

My second great-grandfather Samuel Gochenour was conscripted into the Confederate Army and worked in manual, non-combat work. His son was David Henry, father of my grandfather Al Gochenour.

 Henry David Gochenour, Mary Ellen Stultz Gochenour and family

Henry David and Mary Ellen Stultz Gochenour,
Clarence and Alice Gochenonur

The Shenandoah River near Woodstock 

The Gochenour family homestead in Woodstock, VA
where Al Gochenour was born

Al Gochenour, Sherdian Park Volunteer Fireman Chief

Here is what Dad wrote about his father:

"Father Alger Jordan Gochenour was born on March 25th, 1904, on a farm at the community of Fairview, Virginia, located in the Shenandoah Valley.

"The first Gochenours came to America in 1735, years before we were a nation. Jacob Gochenour and his family were Mennonites, and came to America to avoid religious persecution. He acquired 400 acres in 1735 in the valley.

"I never met my grandparents, as they had died before I was born. Henry David Gochenour, Dad’s father was born on December 5th, 1861 and died on May 28th, 1924. Dad’s mother’s maiden name was Mary Stultz. She was born on June 4th, 1864, and died on April 23rd, 1927. Her nickname was Mollie.

"Dad’s father had operated a tanyard, which had been operated by his father. Most of my father’s decedents of his lineage are buried at the Mount Zion Lutheran Church cemetery, located near the farm.

"Father never told me why he ran away from his home as a youth, but I was told that he only had an eighth grade education. He and a friend ran away together and their travels took them to New York City. They earned money by cleaning and polishing office furniture far business people.

"Dad was a good salesman, and he and his friend had unique skills. Dad, dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase, would go into an office building and ask the receptionist if he could talk to the person responsible for cleaning the office furniture. Since no one had ever done this service for them before, he would often be taken to talk to the owner or manager of the office. Dad knew that their office was the showplace where business people met with their clients, and that their office furniture and desks were very expensive. Many of their chairs were upholstered with leather, and the desks were made from cherry wood.

"After he introduced himself, he gave them a demonstration on one of the office chairs. To show that the cleaner would not harm the finish, he drank some of it. This impressed the customer, but it was harmless, since it was only water with baking soda. I don’t know where Dad learned about the cleaner, but it did a great job. After he cleaned the chair, he took a clean white cloth and wiped it dry, and showed all the dirt he had removed. Then he applied the polish, and when he buffed it, it looked like new. He explained that he was aware how important the clothes business people wore were, and that the polish he used would not soil them. Dad told them he would work in the evening after they had left for the day, and would not expect to be paid until the job was finished.

"Dad and his friend had many jobs at New York City, but eventually he went to Tonawanda, leaving them behind. I don’t know why father left New York City, or how he came to live at Tonawanda, but once there he became an insurance salesman. In those days insurance salesman went from door to door to collect the money for the policies, and that is how I suspect he met Mother. "

In my genealogy research, I learned that my grandfather Al Gochenour was 15 years old and living at home in 1920; his father died in 1924; in 1926 he appears in a Buffalo city directory working as a salesman for F. Becker Roofing. I do not have an F. Becker in my family tree so I do not know if he is a relation to my grandmother.  

In 1927 at age 23 when Al married Emma Gochenour he was an insurance collector. He was on top of the world with a family, new house, new car, and I was told even had a maid.

Dad said that when his father's customers could not pay their insurance premiums he would cover the cost for them. As the Depression wore on his clients were unable to keep up with the premiums. Al could not pay the taxes on his house, and was arrears for several years when he lost it to the bank and moved to an apartment in the Military Road house. 

I have shared about Al's building a garage, volunteer fireman experience, and leader as a boy scout in previous posts.

A History of New York in 101 Objects

A History of New York in 101 Objects by Sam Roberts, Simon and Schuster

When I was a girl growing up along the Niagara River, I was fascinated by the depiction of New York City I saw in old movies. New York was exciting, vital--the hub of the world. In 1964 or 65 my friend went to the World Fair and I envied her. I did not get to New York City until my husband took a position in Philadelphia; later he worked in New York on Riverside Drive!

Our first visits we took the train, bringing a bag lunch to eat in Central Park. We went to the Empire State Building and saw the Statue of Liberty. We ate in China Town. We saw Yentl off Broadway, The Fantasticks, and the New York City Opera. I'll never forget The Pearl Fishers! We walked through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musem of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and I visited the Guggenheim. I shopped at Macy's, thinking of Miracle on 34th Street.

Reading Roberts' book is delightful. His mini history lessons revolve around an artifact that illuminates the city's history, but also the history of our nation.

He begins with the very rock layer that made possible the construction of Manhattan skyscrapers and ends with a Madonna statue that survived Hurricane Sandy and a fire, "a symbol of what we've been through, but also of our resurrection."

In between we read about inventions that altered life--the sewing machine, the Otis safety brake, the Erie Canal, Levittown homes. There is tragedy--the Triangle factory fire monument, which Francis Perkins called "the day the New Deal Begin," and a jar of dust from 9-11.

The arts are represented: A stamp commemorating the iconoclastic Armory Show, Leonard Bernstein's baton, the skeleton of the King Kong movie figure, the mask from The Phantom of the Opera. And of course New York's food history: An oyster, the bagel, jello, the black and white cookie, and the Horn and Hardart Automat.

Roberts' admits to being subjective in his choices. Each object had to be emblematic of historic transformation, and of enduring relevance. He writes, "history, after all, isn't really about the past. Our history is about who we are right now and where, as a society, we're headed."

I connected with many of these objects. I grew up at the end of the Erie Canal and Levittown type houses were built around me at my birth. When I saw parts of King Kong at a friend's house it terrified me. Oh, the bagels! We can't get anything like them in the Midwest. Other objects I have heard about, and some are new to me. I have been enjoying learning about them all.

I won Roberts book on Goodreads.

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman's new novel Faithful is the story of a teenager's descent into guilt and self-loathing after surviving a car accident which leaves her best friend in a coma. Shelby's mental anguish and depression is self-destructive. The novel follows Shelby's journey from the bottom through her slow, tortuous climb back into life.

Shelby is unable to accept the love of a good man, but he does leave her with the goal of becoming a veterinarian. She leaves him for a bad love affair, but finally realizes she can save herself. And her own past mistakes give her the wisdom needed to help her best friend's children find their way past their bad choices.

Shelby's empathy and ability to understand other's pain, and her natural desire to rescue the unfortunate, including abused dogs, become her greatest strengths.

The message of letting go of the past and that even 'monsters' can be 'angels', is inspirational.

I am glad to inform you, that traveling to Hell with Shelby is worth the trip. We rejoice when Shelby finally finds friendship, acceptance, and even love.

I loved The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman which I reviewed here.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Faithful
Alice Hoffman
Simon & Schuster
Publication Date Nov. 1, 2016
$26 hard cover
ISBN:9781476799209

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

"Human kind can not stand very much reality." T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

I finished Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane the day after the 2016 presidential election. As I read about a man's memories of his childhood friend Lettie and how she saved him from evil and death it seemed a fitting choice. For all the book's magical, alternate universe it is wise in ways deeply rooted in our universal experience.

There is in the real world, as in magical fictions, evil and threats and suffering-- and, sometimes, saviors and redemption.

The book's nameless main character is only seven years old when he follows a path to a neighboring farm inhabited by three women, seemingly three Hempstock generations. The girl Lettie befriends him, and warning him not to let go of her hand, takes him on a journey to a pond---the ocean, she calls it--through her magical world. He does let go, and he becomes a portal into reality for a creature whose goal is to fulfill need, to make people 'happy.' Manifesting as a beautiful woman, Ursula, she seduces his father. The boy is her gate and must be controlled; the more he rebells, the tighter her grip.

He finally escapes and is found by Lettie who takes him to her home. The Hempstocks help him by releasing magical entities to attack Ursula, only to discover they also desire to destroy the boy.

The saving of the boy comes at a dear cost; has his life justified the price?

Gaiman's story is wonderful on so many levels, from his imagination to his writing style.

I loved the insights into childhood:

• I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled.
• Books were safer than other people anyway.
• Adults follow paths. Children explore.

And even more the insights into the human experience:

• Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside...People are more complicated than that.
• Nothing's ever the same...Be it a second later or a hundred years. It's always churning and roiling. And people change as much as oceans.
• You don't pass or fail at being a person, dear.

I especially loved the quote, "Oh, monsters are scared...That's why they're monsters." 

*****

Last evening I had searched for something to sum up how I felt about the election, from start to finish, and found this quote:

"Of all the passions, fear weakens judgment most."-Cardinal de Retz 

We were sold fear as a campaign platform and we were sold fear as the result of the election going 'the other way,' and were sold the fear that whichever person wins, America is coming to ruin.

It's not the first time America's judgment has been amiss. Native American genocide, rounding up Japanese Americans into concentration camps, lynching African Americans without due process are just a few examples of our errors in judgment, brought on by fear.

Nothing causes fear more than change. And nothing is as sure as change. Fear of change has made monsters, and they now reside with us.

I can only hope and trust that, as we have in the past, America will survive these monsters of fear, and burnished from the fire, become a more refined metal.

The "Unmentionable" Revealed: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners

Therese Oneill made my week: I was down for the count, having lost to a marauding virus. I was not sure I could manage anything more demanding than sit-com reruns...until I decided to check out this scandalous-looking book, aptly named Unmentionable.

LOL! Yep, I was laughing out loud in spite of having a head about the size of a pumpkin and a throat redder that St. Nicholas' coat.

Women have sighed and longed for the glamour and elegance of high Victorian days, or the diaphanous, Greek inspired gowns of Austen; a time when men where men and girls were girls--- Get real, Oneill warns, and with a series of essays drawing from historical documents and 19th c books, she delineates what life was really like two centuries ago.

1841 Graham's Magazine. Those dresses were never washed.

Chapters cover every aspect of female experience, from arsenic in beauty products and crotchless pantaloons, to 'female problems' and the hysteria that results from 'female problems'. And we learn what men wanted--and didn't want-- from their women and wives. With running gags (don't chew on your umbrella handle!) readers are addressed with irreverent familiarity.

Consider some of the chapter heads:

• Getting Dressed: How to Properly Hide Your Shame 
• Bowels into Buckets
• Menstruation: You're Doing it Wrong
• Birth Control and Other Affronts to God
• The Secret Vice: "Where Warts and Tiny Nipple Come From"

The limits imposed on ladys were strict. Without a man or an older woman companion, a woman could not be trusted to walk down the street. And once allowed out of the house, there were injunctions against window shopping, greeting friends from across the street, and carrying your own money. You never raised your skirt, even when wadding through piles of manure.

At least a gal could use her handkerchief to communicate: dropping it in front of a man invited friendship; twirling it connoted indifference; and drawing it across the check meant love. Fans, parasols, and gloves were also eloquent vehicles---for those with guidebooks for interpretation.

Great-Great-Grandmother Elizabeth Hacking Greenwood,
 looking very exhausted but elegant. She had 7 children, most of whom,
like their dad, worked in the cotton mills.

Dr. Kellogg especially gets a rightful bum rap for misunderstanding females, but he is not alone. Male doctors thought they knew everything. Consider the ideal of the uterine orgasm, when the uterus convulses to meet the male organ, or the advice for women to lay on their back with their legs stretched out flat because all 'unnatural positions' lead to serous injury!

Great-Great-Grandmother Ramer, later mother

to eight children plus raising some of

her husband's eight children from his first marriage!

At least Kellogg advised against marital rape and believed mothers prepare daughters for 'marriage and its duties'.

When you married a man you hardly knew, and failing to be a paragon of ideal womanhood, lost his interest to another woman, what could you do? A 1840  book offered the example of a good wife who outfitted the mistress's flat in a style befitting her husband's status, then arranged an annuity to the other woman when hubby gave her up!

Illustrated throughout, with nothing left to the imagination, women are reminded of how good we have it over the Crinoline Ladies of yesteryear.

What we imagine the 19th c was like...

You will be glad the information Oneill imparts is veiled in humor, for the indignities of Victorian age female life is horrifying. Women today still face inherited prejudices and attitudes.

But at least our undies have crotches.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Unmentionable
Therese Oneill
Little, Brown, and Company
Publication October 25, 2016
$25 hard cover
ISBN: 9780316357913