book reviews

Hello to my poor neglected blog! Apologies for the long silence ... I blame it all on summer. And writing; so many stories, so little time! Both are also why it's been so long since I finished enough books for a book review post. Alas, my reading rate has taken a big hit this year as the writing rate increases.

Marilyn Irvin Holt, The Orphan Trains. This is a history of the process of placing-out, by which charitable institutions sent orphans from Eastern cities into the farmlands of the Midwest for resettlement. It's very clearly a book put out by a small press, with the attendant issues of proofreading and depth of information, but it's a good overview of a little-studied phenomenon.

Lillian M. Gilbreth, As I Remember. I'm a huge fan of the Gilbreths, early twentieth-century industrial engineers who were pioneers in their field. (And incidentally, raised a tribe of 11 children, two of whom went on to write the lovely romp of their adventures, Cheaper by the Dozen.) This is Lillian Gilbreth's autobiography, which is notable among other things for having no chapters. It runs on relatively unbroken all through, but it flows well enough that it's not that hard to get used to the lack of breaks. It's also written in the third person. I very much enjoyed seeing her life in her own words - Lillian Gilbreth was an exceptional woman of great intelligence who broke a lot of barriers in her efforts to carry on her husband's life work and raise their children the way he would have wanted.

John Jakes, Heaven and Hell. It's an epic saga, a bit of a soap opera, but still a gripping tale with characters who are vivid and interesting. I've also read it a number of times since I was a teenager, so it has that piquant nostalgic flavor to it.

Tom Cotter, The Cobra in the Barn. This is a book I picked up at an antique car museum in Vegas, all about finding old cars hidden in barns and garages all over the country and fixing them up. It was fascinating to read about the different ways people came across old cars, the steps it sometimes took to acquire them, and the fates of the cars once found. Makes me look at old barns differently, wondering what secrets they hide.