You know how Mom and I love history, write? (That’s not a typo.) So when we saw William C. Davis’ An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government at a library book sale recently, we snapped it up right quick. Thought we’d chew on it awhile. After all, it smelled like a good idea!
Yeah. You. Can ya spare a cake the size of New York? Cuz today’s Mom’s birthday. And that’s how big the cake’s gotta be in order to accommodate all them thar candle thingies.
I was gonna tell ya how old Her Momness is today. But let’s just say she was an eye witness to the parting of the Red Sea and leave it at that, okay?
Anywho. In honor of this auspicious occasion, Mom came up with a list of 40 Things I’ve Learned Since the Earth’s Crust Cooled. We’re calling it The Birthday List. The short version. In no particular order. It goes like this:
By John Bruning
Via’ Library
Genre: Narrative Non-Fiction/Military History
Pages: 436 + Epilogue, Final Note, Their Legacy, Appendix, Bibliographic Essay, Notes, and Index
Note: We’re posting this review today because November 10 is a very important day in our household. Dad was a Marine. And November 10 is the Marine Corps Birthday. In honor of The Few. The Proud, we thought we’d look back at a historic battle in a long line of historic USMC battles via this book. From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli…
Hi, Dad!
We’ve had several requests for an encore of our post about a popular indie review site, Reedsy Discovery. So here it is:
You’re welcome.
Mom calls November the “in-between” month. Not quite winter. Not really full fall. Lots of trees have dumped their leaves. Temperatures are dropping. But not low enough for snow. Here on the Olympic Peninsula, the rains return. And return. And return.
When the weather turns wet, Mom insists on dragging out The Dreaded Orange Raincoat. Why does she do this? Is she averse to getting soaked to the collar, crashing through every puddle in sight, or galumphing around town up to her nose in rain water?
Me, I’m fine with all of the above. (I am part Lab, you know. As in water dog.)
Anyway, did I mention they closed the book place awhile back? For “renovations.” About a million dollars worth. I don’t know what that means. Can you eat it?
But it means we haven’t been able to walk over to the library lately. One of us really hates that.
Good news: The book place is supposed to re-open in about a week or so.
So you might call November the “in between month” for reasons not related to weather. Or seasons. It’s in between closures and re-openings of a favorite place in town.
At least for one of us.
The other just wants to shed her stupid rain coat.
Someone say, “Make like a tree and leaf”?
Bet you think we’re gonna do a “Halloween” post today, huh? Nah. Her Royal Momness and I? We’re not big Halloweeners. But we are big Frank Peretti fans. Ever since This Present Darkness.
So when we found a copy of an old Peretti novel we hadn’t yet read at a library book sale the other day, we scooped it up like The Kimster after a T-bone steak. We’re talkin’ nano-second here. Especially since it was a hardback book. For like, a quarter. Oh yeah.
Anyway, here’s the 4-1-1 on Peretti’s thriller novel, Monster:
More terrifying than any nightmare, something has scathed a very real path thru the Idaho hills, paving it in blood and echoing screams. It lives, it hunts, and it’s just getting started.
This time, the monster is real.
Moms are a Special Kind of Someone. Silent and strong. Mouthy and mushy. 1600+ kinds of beautiful.
I know this is so because Mom says so.
Moms are sometimes sentimental. Like the other day. Mom, The Kid and I were walking home from the library. All of a sudden Mom gets all misty-eyed. Something about Fridays and Storytime at the library.
“Do you remember how we used to walk over to the library every week for Storytime when you were a little kid?” she says to my brother. He’s the youngest. I have three other brothers older than him. “How did you get to be 19 so fast?” she asks.
You don’t have to say it. I know I’m beautiful. Also shy, modest, and retiring.
Kimber here with another edition of Fine Wine Fridays. (I was holding out for Excellently Scrumptious and Splendiferous Book Lists That Are So Delicious, They’re Even Better Than My Fave Dog Chow or Squeaky Toy. Mom nixed that. Ugh.)
Anyway, today we’re highlighting books set in exotic locales or other continents. So if you liked Peter Pan or Narnia, you may like… Oh, wait. Scratch that. These are set in real places, not Neverland or Aslan’s Country (Mom, you are no fun!)
Squirrel!
Wait. Where was I?
Oh yeah. Fun, interesting, engaging reads in other settings. Some titles are old. Some are new. They may be even better than my squeaky toy. (But I’m still holding on to it. Just in case.) So here, in no particular order, are:
Kimber the Magnificent here. Her Momness can’t come to the blog write now (that’s not a typo.) She’s being a lazy slug. Slacking on this post-y/bloggy thing. So I decided to step in and take over. After all, someone has to be the adult in the room. (And we all know who that leaves out, right?)
Anyway, the Slug and I? We’ve read like, 98 million books since our last post-y thing. Well. Okay. Maybe not “98 million.” Maybe only 97. But anyway. I wanted to tell ya about the last historical fiction thing-y we read. Cuz someone has to, Slugville notwithstanding. So here goes:
‘Wait. Is that Sasquatch?’
If you’ve been with us for any length of time – say, 20 minutes or so – you know that Mom and I are like, totally unimpressed with the words “Best-selling author.” Or its kissing cousins, “(fill in the blank) Award Winner.” Ditto“Over a bazillion copies in print.” The fact that everyone and their neighbor’s cat is crowing about a new release impresses us about as much as a plate of overcooked cabbage. Without the plate.
Yeppers. We’ve heaped praise on unknown indie authors who’ve earned it. We’ve also panned Pulitzer Prize winners who deserved it. Ya just never know.
So here, in living technicolor, is our latest round of best-sellers that bombed. According to us. We read these so’s you don’t have to. You’re welcome:
Pages & Paws 