It's Monday, What are You Reading? Paul Revere

It's Monday, What are You Reading?
The Court Martial of Paul Revere:
A Son of Liberty & America’s Forgotten Military Disaster
Michael M. Greenburg

This post is the eighty-fourth 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 was pleased today, to receive the latest book from LibraryThing, for review. I’ve read a book on Paul Revere, before, not a full bio, and this story is new to me. Looking forward to it! ;-)

Book Description from Amazon:

The riveting chronicle of Paul Revere’s only military service during the Revolution—a major but disastrous episode in his life

Amazon link to Kindle edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Court-Martial-Paul-Revere-Americas-Forgotten-ebook/dp/B00O57KIMO/

Review Comments on Back of Book Cover via Amazon:

“Michael Greenburg’s account of Paul Revere’s entanglement with the Penobscot Expedition is brilliant! Beautifully written, exhaustively researched, and judiciously fair, the book is an impressive and indispensable addition to literature on the American Revolution.”—Bernard Cornwell, author of The Fort

“A fascinating look into the life of an American legend, and a good reminder that even the greatest among us are subject to human foibles and failings.”—Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., chief of staff of the United States Army (ret.)

“Michael M. Greenburg’s deeply researched, riveting account of the Battle of Penobscot Bay is hard to put down. It sheds important new light on a little understood episode of the American Revolution, and on the character of Paul Revere, one of America’s more complex, iconic heroes.”—George C. Daughan, author of 1812: The Navy’s War and The Shining Sea

“The Court-Martial of Paul Revere is the most fascinating book that I have read in a long while. This is not the Paul Revere that you thought you knew. This Revere is pugnacious, snarky, maybe underhanded, and despite the verdict in his court-martial a poor military officer. I heartily recommend this engagingly written book to anyone who wishes to know more about Revere and the War of Independence.”—John Ferling, author of Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry that Forged a Nation



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Book Blog Tour - Review - The Widow Smalls

Book Blog Tour

Review

The Widow Smalls and Other Stories

Jamie Lisa Forbes

It is a real pleasure to participate in this Book Blog Tour for WILLA Award winning author, Jamie Lisa Forbes, and her book “The Widow Smalls and Other Stories.”

I grew up on an Iowa farm in the 40s and 50s - a part of my heart is still there. Stories such as these just really reach out and grab me - and, they make me happy.

Publisher: Pronghorn Press (October 20, 2014)

ISBN: 978-1-932636-97-0

Category: Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction

Available in: Print & ebook, 231 Pages


Description of the book:

Thirty years of browbeating from rancher Bud Smalls has penned his wife, Leah, into emotional isolation.  Now Bud is gone and Leah owns the ranch, but there is no help forthcoming from Bud’s brothers who want to force her out and take the ranch for themselves.  When their attempt to humiliate her instead becomes her opportunity to succeed, Leah begins to find her way back to herself and learns how much she can gain by opening her heart.
The Widow Smalls is just one of the stories in this collection by the WILLA Award winning author of Unbroken, Jamie Lisa Forbes, who writes about the hardships of making a living from the land with an understanding that comes from first-hand experience. 
Her deftly drawn characters include star-crossed lovers, a young rancher facing his first test of moral courage, an inscrutable ranch hand claiming an impressive relative, a father making one last grasp for his daughter’s love and a child’s struggle to make sense of the world around her.   Each will pull you into the middle of their stories and keep you turning the pages.

Jamie Lisa Forbes

About Jamie Lisa Forbes:

Jamie Lisa Forbes was raised on a family ranch in southeastern Wyoming.  She graduated from the University of Colorado with honors in 1977 and then lived in Israel until 1979, when she returned to her family’s ranch and raised her own family over the next fifteen years.  Today, she writes and practices law in Greensboro, North Carolina.  She enjoys spending time with her grandsons and playing old time Appalachian fiddle.  With her Arabian horse, Cody, and her cattle dog, Reb, she still devotes part of her life to the outdoors.

Buy Widow Smalls:
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Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository
IndieBound

My Review:

Each of the stories is a good read, but the story about Leah Smalls, “The Widow Small,” is the one that I enjoyed the most. As an older person, the thoughts she processes are much like my wife and I have discussed, many times, should one or the other of us “go first.” Real-life experiences on the ranch are what I enjoy reading, along with the relationships among family members. These relationships are always filled with surprised, even though from experience we should know what to expect from these people. However, in these circumstances, when you hope they will act in your best interest, is when they act most in their self-interest - as is the case with the brothers-in-law, here. This is so very familiar… and presented in just the right tone and spirit through the story.

The addition of the Julian character adds immensely to this story, and makes it truly special. The added dimensions through her relationship with him makes this story a real winner. I can only say “Thank you” for sharing these stories with us! ;-)


The Widow Smalls Tour Schedule:

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Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus Nov 3 Review & Giveaway

Pinky's Favorite Reads Nov 4 Interview & Excerpt

Inspire to Read Nov. 5 Excerpt

Cassandra M's Place Nov. 6 Review & Giveaway

Back to Books Nov. 7 Review

WV Stitcher Nov.10 Review

Dr Bill's Book Bazaar Nov. 11 Review

Deal Sharing Aunt Nov. 12 Review, Giveaway, & Excerpt

Unshelfish Nov 13 Review

Indie Re Behind the Scenes Nov 13 9 PM Eastern Live Interview

My Reading Addictions            Nov. 14 Review

Bound 4 Escape Nov. 17 Review                                               

What U Talking Bout Willis? Nov. 18 Review, Guest Post, &  Excerpt

Room With Books Nov 18 Interview & Excerpt

Manic Mama of 3 Nov 19 Review                                               

Lady in Read Nov. 20 Review

Like a Bump on a Blog Nov. 21 Review & Excerpt

Two Children and a Migraine Nov 24 Review

The Book Binder's Daughter Nov. 26 Review

Happy Reading!
Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Some Luck

It's Monday, What are You Reading? 

Some Luck

Jane Smiley

This post is the eighty-third 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 finally finished the almost 800 words of Robert E. Lee bio… then, got this new book from Jane Smiley on Kindle, and read it in three days! ;-)

I’ve read about a half dozen of her books, including A Thousand Acres, the Pulitzer Prizer!



Book Description from Amazon:

Publication Date: October 7, 2014

Longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award

From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize: a powerful, engrossing new novel—the life and times of a remarkable family over three transformative decades in America.

On their farm in Denby, Iowa, Rosanna and Walter Langdon abide by time-honored values that they pass on to their five wildly different children: from Frank, the handsome, willful first born, and Joe, whose love of animals and the land sustains him, to Claire, who earns a special place in her father’s heart.

Each chapter in Some Luck covers a single year, beginning in 1920, as American soldiers like Walter return home from World War I, and going up through the early 1950s, with the country on the cusp of enormous social and economic change. As the Langdons branch out from Iowa to both coasts of America, the personal and the historical merge seamlessly: one moment electricity is just beginning to power the farm, and the next a son is volunteering to fight the Nazis; later still, a girl you’d seen growing up now has a little girl of her own, and you discover that your laughter and your admiration for all these lives are mixing with tears. 

Some Luck delivers on everything we look for in a work of fiction. Taking us through cycles of births and deaths, passions and betrayals, among characters we come to know inside and out, it is a tour de force that stands wholly on its own. But it is also the first part of a dazzling epic trilogy—a literary adventure that will span a century in America: an astonishing feat of storytelling by a beloved writer at the height of her powers.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)