It's Monday, What are You Reading? Robert D Ray - An Iowa Treasure

It's Monday, What are You Reading?

 Robert D Ray - An Iowa Treasure

This post is the fifty-ninth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


Nancy got this book for me in advance of Father's Day. I worked for Governor Ray for four of his sixteen years as Governor of Iowa, back in the 1970, two on his personal staff. He did so much more in the State of Iowa after he left office, as well. Many of those days are recognized in the timeline included in this very neat book.


Book Description from Amazon.com:

Robert D. Ray An Iowa Treasure - A photographic journey of the life and travels of former Governor of Iowa Robert D. Ray. The book includes photos of him, and taken by him, as a public servant, humanitarian, community leader, conservationist, and world traveler. Proceeds go to assist the funding of the Keep Iowa Beautiful Organization.


Order direct from "Keep Iowa Beautiful" here: http://www.keepiowabeautiful.com/keep-iowa-beautiful/robert-d-ray-an-iowa-treasure

or at Amazon.com:




Happy Reading! ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Drift by Rachel Maddow

It's Monday, What are You Reading?

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power 

by Rachel Maddow

This post is the fifty-eighth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


I read the Kindle edition of this book. Excellent read, but a bit unsettling. Looks of data we would like to ignore… which, of course, is a major part of the problem being discussed.


Book Description from Amazon.com:

Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring Reagan's radical presidency, the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the scope of American military power to overpower our political discourse.
   Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seri­ously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a "loud and jangly" political debate about our vast and confounding national security state.





Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Tuesday's Tip - Murder by the Homeplace - Book Blog Tour

Tuesday's Tip

"Murder at the Homeplace"

Book Blog Tour

This is the first Book Blog Tour for The Homeplace Series, a continuing Family Saga, another historical fiction book.

This week we feature the most recent addition to the series, Murder at the Homeplace, a novella by William Leverne Smith. It's place in the series, in timing, is shortly following Back to the Homeplace, in the fall of 1987.

A secondary character in Back to the Homeplace is discovered dead near Oak Creek in the opening sequence. The reporter, Penny Nixon, for the local paper, the Oak Springs Enterprise, gets on the story, but gets almost too close to the murderer…

"If you haven't read it, it is new to you!"  WLS

Available in print or kindle editions:




List of the tour stops - this week

May 15 - Wednesday

Julie Goucher
Angler's Rest
http://anglersrest.blogspot.com/

May 16 - Thursday

Brandee
Bookworm Brandiee
http://bookwormbrandee.blogspot.ca/

May 17 - Friday

Mindy Wall
Books, Books, and More Books
http://dream-reader-dreamer2229.blogspot.com/


May 18 - Saturday

WrapUp at The Homeplace Series blog
http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/


Happy Reading!  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Echoes from the Cliffs

Echoes from the Cliffs of Capitol Reef National Park
Reminiscences from Max E. Robinson and Clay M. Robinson

 This post is the fifty-seventh entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

We picked up this little book at the Capital Reef Book Store a few years ago…
It was published in 2005 to be sold at the book store, it appears… no ISBN #, for example.

This little book is a collection of eights short stories about some of the early residents of the area in and around what is now Capitol Reef National Park.

These two brothers were born in the early 1920s to parents who lived in the area. The father was a mostly a teacher and school principal, and had a mail contract in the early years that allowed them to travel throughout the area and meet the residents, many of whom were relatives. They especially share interesting stories of ranches and towns that generally no longer in existence. Many early photos in sepia are very effective in enhancing the stories. The book is only 64 pages long but does a fine job doing what it set out to do.

Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Murder in the Ozarks

Murder in the Ozarks by Steve Weems

This post is the fifty-sixth entries for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


This a book from my wife, Nancy's shelf… I think it was meant for me, as well… I certainly enjoyed the read, very much! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon (just out in Kindle, see below):

Sent to the Ozarks on a simple assignment, depressed and disillusioned accountant Andy Bosher is drawn into the danger and intrigue of the backwoods culture he finds. Far from his safe, but empty big-city life, the assignment is not what he first thinks it to be. When there is a murder, Andy stubbornly sets out to separate the layers of deception from the truth despite the peril.







Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)