Showing posts sorted by date for query a land more kind than home. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query a land more kind than home. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Friday, May 7, 2021

Covid-19 Life: TBR, New Quilt Project, More Trillium

I decided to start a hand sewing project for summer--The Cherish Quilt by Jodi Godfrey at Tables of Cloth. It is an English Paper Piecing quilt with nice big centers for special prints. There were several cool looking EPP projects I have seen on Instagram, including this one.

the Cherish Quilt https://www.talesofcloth.com/epp-kits/cherish-quilt

Now to get prepared.

I have managed to clear my June 1 reading shelf! I have two summer books to read. But over summer I have 11 books to read for September and October! (So far...)

New on my NetGalley shelf:

  • Legends of the North Cascade by Jonathan Evison for an Algonquin blog tour
  • Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket, short stories by Hilma Wolitzer. I found the title story online at the Saturday Evening Post website and loved it! Wolitzer wrote stories for women's magazines in the later 20th c.
  • Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor about an Antarctic expedition gone wrong
  • The Return of the Pharaoh: From the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, MD by Nicholas Meyer whose last Watson book The Adventures of the Peculiar Protocal I reviewed (I have read his Watson novels since the Seven Percent Solution came out in the 1970s)

Coming in the mail from Catilin Hamilton Marketing is

  • The Artist Colony by Joanna FitzPatrick

We returned to Tenhave Woods in Royal Oak, MI to see the trillium in full bloom.



The woods is carpeted with the flowers.

And other flowers as well.

And of course, I must end with a pic of the fur grandkids, Sunny and Ellie enjoying the sunshine in their back yard.

Stay safe. Find your bliss.

Friday, March 5, 2021

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

Leaving is a kind of death~ from Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

In exquisite writing and storytelling,  Infinite Country explores love that transcends borders and separation, the bifurcated identity of those who have left their homeland for new countries, the longing and sorrow of family separation, and the myth of American Dream. 

Award-winning author Patricia Engel's moving story elicits compassion and an awareness that there are no safe havens except in a family's love. 

People say drugs and alcohol are the greatest and most persuasive narcotics--the elements most likely to ruin a life. They're wrong. It's love.~from Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

In Bogota, during a violent time in Columbia, teenagers Mauro and Elena fall in love. They have a child and move to the United States hoping for a better life. When Mauro is arrested and deported, Elena decides to stay in America with Talia, born in Colombia, and their American born son and daughter. When she finds she cannot work with the newborn girl, she sends Talia back to her mother and husband to raise in Bogota. Years pass with the family separated, growing apart.

What was it about this country that kept us hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring along there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.~from Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

The American children feel alien in an America that fears and diminishes Latinos, living in overcrowded apartments filled with illegals, targeted with hate, their mother abused by bosses. They do not see America as a haven and envy their sister in Columbia, living with their father.

But every nation in the Americas had a hidden history of internal violence. It just wore different masks, carried different weapons, and justified itself with different stories.~from Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

Talia, loves her grandmother and father, but longs to know her mother and siblings. Mauro tells Talia the stories and myths of their Andean people about the jaguar, the boa constrictor, the condor, the creation story he was told, including the lesson "we're all migrants here on earth."

When Talia sees a vicious act and reacts rashly, she is arrested and, only age fifteen, is sent to a school in the mountains for six months. She escapes and must find her way across the mountains to her father and an airline ticket to her birthplace--America.

This is a story with a happy ending. The journey is fraught and long and difficult. Each person must forgive and hold on to the one place they belong: in each other's loving arms.

That night I thought about how love comes paired with failure, apologies for deficiencies. The only remedy is compassion.~from Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

I love this novel. The gorgeous writing, the way tears welled when I felt the loneliness of people losing connection without losing their love and commitment. The beauty of the Colombian land. 

One night Elena dreamed they were back on the roof of Perla's house. She stood with Maruo and the three children under the aluminium sky, gossamer clouds pushed to the mountain crests, the church of Monserrate like a merengue atop its peak. In her dreams, they'd never left their land. ~ from Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

Americans must face the depicted reality of our prejudice and laws, the way we dehumanize immigrants. How we are not better than countries we consider less free. 

This is a small book in size, but large in heart and vision, a stunning gem of a read.

I received a book from the publisher through a  Goodreads giveaway in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Infinite Country
by Patricia Engel
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster 
Publication March 2, 2021
ISBN13: 9781982159467

from the publisher

“A knockout of a novel…we predict [Infinite Country] will be viewed as one of 2021’s best.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 from Esquire, O, The Oprah Magazine, Elle, GMA, New York Post, Ms. Magazine, The Millions, Electric Literature, LitHub, AARP, Refinery29, BuzzFeed, Autostraddle, She Reads, Alma, and more.

I often wonder if we are living the wrong life in the wrong country.

Talia is being held at a correctional facility for adolescent girls in the forested mountains of Colombia after committing an impulsive act of violence that may or may not have been warranted. She urgently needs to get out and get back home to Bogotá, where her father and a plane ticket to the United States are waiting for her. If she misses her flight, she might also miss her chance to finally be reunited with her family in the north.

How this family came to occupy two different countries, two different worlds, comes into focus like twists of a kaleidoscope. We see Talia’s parents, Mauro and Elena, fall in love in a market stall as teenagers against a backdrop of civil war and social unrest. We see them leave Bogotá with their firstborn, Karina, in pursuit of safety and opportunity in the United States on a temporary visa, and we see the births of two more children, Nando and Talia, on American soil. We witness the decisions and indecisions that lead to Mauro’s deportation and the family’s splintering—the costs they’ve all been living with ever since.

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Patricia Engel, herself a dual citizen and the daughter of Colombian immigrants, gives voice to all five family members as they navigate the particulars of their respective circumstances. And all the while, the metronome ticks: Will Talia make it to Bogotá in time? And if she does, can she bring herself to trade the solid facts of her father and life in Colombia for the distant vision of her mother and siblings in America?

Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality of the undocumented in America, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family—for whom every triumph is stitched with regret, and every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.

about the author 

Patricia Engel is the author of The Veins of the Ocean, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris, winner of the International Latino Book Award; and Vida, a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway and Young Lions Fiction Awards, New York Times Notable Book, and winner of Colombia’s national book award, the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her stories appear in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and elsewhere. Born to Colombian parents, Patricia teaches creative writing at the University of Miami. 


Saturday, June 20, 2020

Ford Times: July, 1961

Ford Motor Company began publishing The Ford Times in 1908. The last issue came out in 1993.

My brother was given a friend's parent's collection of Ford Times from the 60s and 70s. My brother gave me the duplicates. It's fun to look at the car and travel culture of my childhood.

The 5" x 7" magazine included wonderful artwork by artists including Charlie Harper. Harper's art appeared in over 120 issues of Ford Times! You can more read about it here.

Ford Times with cover by Charlie Harper
The July, 1961 edition included articles on "How to Visit a College," "Down the Canyon on a Mule," "Do Women Lack the Packing Knack?," "They Hunt for Relics of Rogers' Rangers," "Wagon Train East," "Piggyback on Penobscot Bay," "Land of a Million Years Ago" about Montana's badlands, and more. There is even an article about an early San Francisco Ford dealer!

"Wagon Train East" by Charlie Harper, and illustrated by him, is about a wagon train that went into the Cherokee National Forest

 "Piggyback on Penobscot Bay" illustrations

There was an article by Jo Copeland about how to dress to "Look as Smart as Your Car."
 Copeland talks about what she saw at turnpike restaurants as "the most bizarre outfits this side of a beatnik coffee house." Appalled, she offers suggestions on how to travel in style.
Copland calls the coat illustrated above a 'topcoat,' but I grew up calling them 'car coats.'

"When I am at the wheel, I like to wear short cotton gloves, the kind that wash and dry easily, because my hands stay cooler and cleaner. Bare hands perspire and stick uncomfortably," Copeland wrote.
I know Jo Copeland's name from collecting vintage designer handkerchiefs. I have several in my collection.
Jo Copeland handkerchief

Jo Copeland handkerchief

Learn more about Copeland at Living in Fifties Fashion and at  here

"Seeing Detroit" is about the Ford Rotunda's 25th year. The building was built for the 1934 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. It was dismantled and relocated to Dearborn, MI.
 In November, 1962 a fire destroyed the building!

The article "How to Beat the Heat" promoted air conditioned cars but also suggested parking in the shade, the use of tinted glass, woven upholstery, opening the vent windows, and the wearing of skirts for women.

"Digger in Velvet" by Franklin M. Reck, illustrated by Charles Culver, was about moles. "He 'hears' with his snout and his tail rather than his ears. He can neither walk nor run," Reck informs. "Next time you catch one of these unrelieved nuisances, pause to admire the world's most efficient sapper with the silk fur and one-track mind."

"The Ford Times Dictionary of Automotive Terms" included expected terms like 'air cleaner' and 'additive.' Then there is 'A-bomb', a hot rod term for a Model A Ford, and 'balloon-foot,' an overly cautious driver. 'Beach buggy' was a car with oversized tires that could drive on the sand, and 'brain box' was slang for a crash helmet.

Of course, there had to be an article on a Ford car. The Falcon achieved over 32 miles per gallon in an Economy Run! Shell Oil reported that a 'skilled driver' with a 'specialized car' could get 168 miles per gallon! 


Another travel destination highlighted was Guilford, CT.
 The illustrations were by Sasha Maurer

"Comforts of Home...Outdoors" touted the latest camping gear.


Travelers would want to know the best places to eat so every issue included "Favorite Recipes of Famous Taverns." This issue included The Red Barn in Fort Scott, KS and its Heavenly Hash and Santa Cruz's Shadow-Brook's Sauce Philippe.
Heavenly Hash
1 can fruit cocktail drained
one or two sliced bananas
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup halved seedless grapes
1/2 cup whipped cream
lettuce
Combine fruit, sugar, and marshmallows. Fold whipped cream into mixture and keep chilled. Serve on lettuce.
The Henry Ford includes digital copies of Ford Times found here.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

American Romantic by Ward Just

Harry had killed a man and it set him apart.~from American Romantic by Ward Just

                            AMERICAN ROMANTIC by Ward Just

Another TBR shelf book that was waiting for its time was Ward Just's American Romantic. The passing of the author spurred me to take it down to read. My first acquaintance with Just was his Pulitizer Prize-nominated novel An Unfinished Season. I have been a fan ever since.

Just was a war correspondent in Vietnam; his novels explore the disenchantment of individuals who discover the failings of Washington D.C. politics.

The novels are beautifully written, focusing on the internal growth of the characters, not page-turners with gripping plotlines. My favorite kind of novel!

American Romantic begins with Harry's life-altering experiences in Vietnam and his brief love affair with a German ex-pat nurse. Harry's career takes him across the world as an ambassador. He marries a woman who isn't up to the role of ambassador's wife. His war wounds are constant reminders of his time in Vietnam and the boy soldier he killed. He grows old in a foreign land that is less foreign to him now than America and his Connecticut home. But the lessons garnered at his wealthy father's dinner table, with political guests conversing on Washington D.C. news while sidestepping things that can't be spoken remain the most lasting.

After I read a book I do look at reviews. You can read an excellent review by Jonathan Yardley in the Washington Post here.

Favorite quotes from American Romantic:

We live in a turnstile of lies.

Americans are romantic, she said.
I would not say romantic. I would say optimistic. ..
...They take pride in their makeovers, a nation of actors, or should I say playwrights, each examining her own story. That's the myth, anyhow. A nation in an eternal state of rewrite.

What have you learned, Harry?... What have the years taught you?
At my father's table failure was more instructive, more revealing than success.
...all the stories they told had something missing...To go beyond that certain point might have--would have--undermined faith in the system....they were deep in their memories, pondering what they were unable--not unwilling but unable--to say aloud. The missing piece.

And do you want to know something else? The stakes are not small. This world is filled with mischief, and more than mischief. Time retreats. Time advances. Time is discontinuous. Time is always in motion, like the waves of a great sea. And failure is more commanding than success.

He had the idea that there were rules somewhere and that if you followed the rules things would come out all right...And without warning your world turned upside down. No logic to it.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger


Set during the summer of 1932, This Tender Land is a story that embraces tragedy and cruelty, kindness and love, murder and salvation. Most of all, it is about hope. Hope that we can find home, hope that we will find love, hope that life offers more than terror and injustice and cruelty. Hope that we can forgive and be forgiven.

This mythic story is a combination of Huckleberry Finn for its river journey and episodic adventures, with characters and events encountered from The Odyssey, and the darkness of The Night of the Hunter with children under threat fleeing downriver. And it recalls to mind the Book of Job as Odie grapples with the nature of God.

In 1932 Minnesota, orphaned brothers Albert and Odie are sent by their aunt to a Native American school, where she believes they are being well taken care of. The Brickmans run the school, siphoning off funds for themselves and allowing cruelty and abuse to reign. The boys befriend the mute Native American boy Mose. Albert and Mose are hard workers, but Odie rebels and is often punished. They have a friend in the teacher Voght, and the kind, widowed music teacher who offers to take the boys into her home to help run her farm. But a tornado takes her life, leaving her daughter Emmy in the hands of the cruel school headmistress. 

The 'tornado god' wrecks more disaster in Odie's life, leading to an accidental death. The children together flee down the Mississippi River in a canoe, pursued by the headmistress of the school and the police who believes the girl Emmy was kidnapped. 

William Kent Krueger writes, "I love this book every bit as much as I loved Ordinary Grace," and that offering this book he is "offering his heart." I, too, loved it every bit as Ordinary Grace, if not more.

It's a big 400-page book, engrossing and beautiful and heartbreaking. There is a lot of 'God talk' between Odie and the people he met who help him understand the timeless problem of why God allows evil in this world. 

I was given access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Read my review of Ordinary Grace here.

by William Kent Krueger
Atria Books 
Publication September 3, 2019
hardcover $27.99
ISBN13: 9781476749297

Monday, December 31, 2018

My Year in Reading

According to Goodreads, I have read almost 200 books this year! I had meant to read fewer books than last year--bit ended up reading more!

Here is a breakdown of my reading, not presented in any particular order except category. You can find my reviews by typing the book title in the search bar on the right side of the blog homepage. Some of the books I read in 2018 will be published in 2019. I have marked them with a *.

My reading was still heavy on current political and social issues, represented by nonfiction and fiction choices.

American History & Politics
My choices favored my interest in Revolutionary War, WWI and WWII eras, and the 1960s. 
Rush by Stephen Fried
The First Ladies of the Republic by Jeanne E. Abrams
Frank & Al by Terry Golway
In the Hurricane's Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick
LBJ's 1968 by Kyle Longley
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy by Tim Tate
The Hidden White House by Robert Klara
The Man Who Walked Backwards by Ben Montgomery
Wasn't That a Time by Jesse Jarnow
A Force So Swift by Kevin Peraino

American Inventors and Business
The great creative thinkers and the influence of business and industry on society
Tesla Inventor of the Modern by Richard Munson
Atom Bomb to Santa Claus by Trevor Homer
Wanamaker's Temple by Nicole C. Kirk
American Advertising Cookbooks by Christina Ward
Janesville by Amy Goldstein
Voices From the Rust Belt by Anne Trubeck

True Adventure
The girl in me loves a story of survival against the odds
Adrift by Brian Murphy
White Darkness by David Grann
To the Edges of the Earth by Edward J. Larson


Books on the Current Political Climate
Some pretty scary stuff!
Fire and Fury by Michael Wolfe
Fear by Bob Woodward
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky
The Splintering of the American Mind by William Eggerton
Identity by Frances Fukuyama

Books on Inclusion and Justice
Immigration, Civil Rights for all, economic parity
Lighting the Fires of Freedom by Janet Dewart Bell
A Bigger Table by John Pavlovitch
The Opposite of Hate by Sally Kohn
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Patriot Number One in Chinatown by Lauren Hilgers\
Give People Money by Anne Lowry
Journeys An American Story by Andrew Tisch

British History
Queen Victoria by Lucy Worsley


Memoirs & Autobiographies
Inspiring stories!
The Sun Does Shine by Ray Hinton
Song in a Weary Throat by Pauli Murray
Together at the Table by Karen Oliveto
Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride
Surrendering My Ordination by J. Philip Wogaman
The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier
My Dead Parents by Anya Yurchyshyn
Call Me American by Abdi Nohr Ifrin
Calypso by David Sedaris
Becoming by Michelle Obama

Environmentalism
The Poisoned City by Anna Clark
Overrun by Andrew Reeves*
The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell


LGBT Themed Fiction
Southernmost by Silas House
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
Sugar Run by Mesha Maren*


Multicultural Fiction
Many are historical fiction. All offer insight into the human experience.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
I Have Lost My Way by Gaye Foreman
Gateway to the Moon by Mary Morris
Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop
The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
The House of Rougeaux by Jenny Jaeckel
Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy
There There by Tommy Orange
We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels
All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy
The Tyre by C. J. Dubois
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Historical Fiction About Women
The eternal and timeless experience of being female.
Learning to See* by Elsie Hooper
The Falconer* by Dana Czapnik
The Last Year of the War* by Susan Meissner
The Only Woman in the Room* by Marie Benedict
Marlena by Julie Buntin
The Latecomers by Helen Klein Ross
Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris
A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl by Jean Thompson
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
A View of the Empire by Sunset by Caryl Phillips
Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt
The Only Story by Julian Barnes
The River by Starlight by Ellen Notbohm
The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg
Island of Sea Women* by Lisa See

Historical Fiction
Vividly bringing the past to life through fiction.
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
So Much Life Left Over by Louis de Bernieres
The Wreckage of Eden by Norman Lock (a story about Emily Dickinson)
A Long Island Story by Rick Gekoski (set in the McCarthy era)
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
The Italian Party by Christina Lynch
Dust by Mark Thompson
I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows
West by Carys Davies
The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King by Jerome Charyn* (A novel about Teddy Roosevelt)
Sea Chase by John Braddock (Young readers fiction about John Quincy Adams)
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson


Historical Fiction with Fantasy Elements
The Cassandra* by Sharma Shields
The Bird King* by G. Willow Wilson
Ahab's Return by Jeffrey Ford
A Boy in His Winter by Norman Lock
Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Fantasy
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

Science Fiction
Unholy Land by Tidhar Lavie
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys

Mysteries and Suspense
The Garden of Blue Roses by Michael Barsa
An Anonymous Girl* by Greer Henricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Bring Me Back by A. B. Paris
Jack Was Here by Christopher Bardsley
The Ancient Nine by Ian Smith
Siracusa by Delia Ephron
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne
Truly, Madly Guilty by Lianne Moriarity
Feared by Lisa Scottoline
After Anna by Lisa Scottoline
Dead Bomb Bingo Ray by Jeff Johnson
Death in Paris by Emelia Bernhard
Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon
Marne by Winston Graham

Literary Fiction
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Tinkers* by Paul Harding
Nothing But the Night* by John Williams
Laurentian Divide by Sarah Stonich
Vacationland by Sarah Stonich
Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
Florence Gordon by Brian Morton
Ohio by Stephen Markey
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay
Meet Me At the Museum by Anne Youngson
A Collar for Cerebus by Matt Stanley
All We Ever Wanted by Ellen Giffin
The Red Thread by Ann Hood
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Hard Cider by Barbara Stark-Nemon
The Family Tabor by Cherie Wolas
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
The Dependents by Katherine Dion
The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman
Laura and Emma by Kate Greathead
Maria on the Moon by Louise Beech
Stoner by John Williams
The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypool White
The Mystery by Matthew Mackintosh

Retellings of Classics
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Mary B by Katherine B. Chen

Humorous Novels
Limelight by Amy Poepple
#HockeyStrong by Erika Roebuck
High Noon in Hollywood by Warren Adler
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
The Norma Conquest by Warren Adler

Short Stories
You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
Collected Stories by Susan Sontag
We Are Gathered by Jamie Weisman
A Beautiful Place to Die by Sam Bigglesworth

Humor
Lessons From Lucy by Dave Barry
I See Life Through Rose Colored Glasses by Lisa Scottoline

Nonfiction Inspiration
The Dark Interval by Rainer Maria Rilke
A Glad Obedience* by Walter Brueggemann

Poetry
The Flame by Leonard Cohen

Books About Books and Writers and Artists
Meg Jo Beth Amy by Anne Rioux Boyd
J. D. Salinger and the Nazis by Eberhard Alsen
Whistler's Mother by Daniel Southerland
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve by Stephen Greenblatt
Louisa At the Front Lines* by Samantha Seiple
Jane Austen for Kids* by Nancy Sanders
Guilty Thing by Frances Wilson
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Simply Austen by Joan Klingel Ray
The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel by Charles J. Shields
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve by Stephen Greenblatt


Books About Quilts
Pattern books and quilt histories
An American Quilt by Rachel May
Southern Quilts by Mary Kerr
Landscape Quilts by Ann Loveless
Oh Scrap by Lissa Alexander
Tilda Sewing by Heart
Pin Pals by Carrie Nelson
Quilt Big by Jemima Fiendt
My First Book of Sewing
Whimsical Wool Applique by Kim Schaefer
Creating Art Quilts with Panels by Joyce Hughes
Paint By Number Quilts by Kerry Foster
A Splendid Sampler 2 by Pat Sloan
Pat Sloan's Teach Me to Machine Quilt
Intuitive Color and Design
Allie Aller's Stained Glass Quilts
Stitches from the Yuletide by Kathy Schmitz
Patchwork Loves Embroidery Too
Red and White Quilts
Antique Needlework Tools by Dawn Cook Ronnigen
Art Quilts Unfolding
Genealogy
The Researchers Guide to American Genealogy

Art
Charlie Harper's Birds and Words
The Refrain of Thomas Cole*

Books I did not finish
Sight by Jesse Greengrass
Boomer 1 by Daniel Torday
Princess: The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II
by Jane Dismore
Imagining Shakespeare's Wife: The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway by Katherine West Scheil
The King's Favorite by John Vance