Our Castle by the Sea by Lucy Strange - an exciting novel set on England's southeast coast during WWII

Title: Our Castle by the Sea
Author/Narrator: Lucy Strange
Publication: Scholastic, audiobook/paperback, 2019
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Setting: WWII Britain

Description: Petra Smith and her family live on the southeast coast of England; her father is the lighthouse keeper and they have been very happy until war begins. Then Petra’s older sister Magda starts getting into fights, defending their German-born mother, and becomes secretive.

Six Degrees of Separation - From The Proud Way to Little Women

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where one ends up.   This month’s starting point is Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld, in which the author reimagines Hillary’s life if she hadn’t married Bill.  My sisters liked her book Prep but I have no interest in reading this book which sounds so invasive. Leave Hillary alone!

However, it somehow reminded me of my first book, The Proud Way by Shirley Seifert (1948), a historical novel about Varina Davis, the First Lady of the Confederacy, married to Jefferson Davis.  Varina came from a slave-owning family in Mississippi but received a better education than most women of her class and, perhaps influenced by Northern relatives, did not approve of slavery.  Her birthplace, The Briers, is now a B&B, if I ever make it to Natchez.  This book belonged to my mother.

A few hours in Concord . . . a glimpse of Little Women

On my vacation day, I wanted to visit the Concord Bookshop, one of my favorites, and you can't go to Concord without visiting Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) wrote Little Women!   Although Orchard House is currently closed to the public, the parking lot was busy with literary pilgrims pulling up and strolling around the grounds (avoiding a distinctly non-19th century landscaping company removing a tree).

LMA wrote Little Women here in 1868 

Currently closed to the public

Cucumber plant decor at Main Streets
Market & Cafe, where we had
a yummy lunch!

Bookshelf Traveling - May 22, 2020

It's time for more Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which is hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness.

The idea is to share your bookshelves. Any aspect you like, as long as you are entertained, including:

1. Home

2. Books in the home

3. Touring books in the home

4. Books organized or not organized on shelves, in bookcases, in stacks, or heaped in a helter-skelter fashion on any surface, including the floor, the top of the piano, etc.

5. Talking about books and reading experiences from the past, present, or future.

 

This is not a shelf but a pile of advance readings copies (ARCs) I brought home from the ALA Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia back in February.  There are few things as much fun as picking up books that have not yet been published but I had to carry everything back on the bus so I was fairly restrained. I still filled three bags and shared some with my sixth-grade niece, an excellent reader.  In no particular order:

Above All Else by Dana Alison Levy – YA fiction about teens climbing Mt. Everest

Jo March

Does Jo March live up to expectations, as was discussed on NPR recently? I have been thinking about LMA a lot recently, after reading Susan Cheever's American Bloomsbury, and then visiting Concord briefly last Sunday. The approach from Route 2A leads directly past Orchard House, which I have taken out of town guests to fairly often. I think Shawn Kennedy, formerly a book buyer for Brentano's, a very nice friend I have completely lost touch with, won a virtual prize for being the only male on a tour back in the early 90s.

I read every Alcott book repeatedly, even the short stories. I liked Little Women but was certainly in the camp of "how could Jo turn down Laurie for that awful Professor Baer," although my mother tried to explain how German intellectuals were considered very sexy during this era. I was not convinced!

Rose, the heroine of Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, was my favorite Alcott heroine.