Odds and ends and books

[MGBar]

While away from home, I read a great deal more than I do at home. Actually at home, I read a lot of books with the grandkids but not many 'grown up' books. In the past few weeks, I have read Nora Roberts' Whiskey Beach (more for ladies than guys), John Gresham's The Brethren (not light reading, it was disturbing at times), Shadows of Lancaster County (a Amish country mystery), and more. Some are paperback, some on Kindle, but I enjoy both.
Now I am reading a book about the Red Cross volunteers in WWII; it is titled Beantown Girls and, of course, focuses on a group of girls from Boston.
Hope everyone has had a good summer. SD has been hotter than usual but being with my family is always good.

[rvduo]

One of the very best books I read last year is Becoming Mrs. Lewis. I don't remember the author's name off the top of my head, but it's about the wife of C. S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia Chronicles.

[MGBar]

I shall look up that one, Zerelda, and check it out. I have a pretty long list of recommendations from folks to work on. I read so many different types of books I don't fit any one type of reader. I like getting lost in the story.

[MGBar]

I just finished J. W. West's book about the First Ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt to Pat Nixon. He was the Chief Usher at the White House. It is really interesting as he talks about how they interact with staff and their ideas on how to make the White House their home albeit a temporary one.
I have it on my Kindle.

[MGBar]

My latest read about a real person is MISSION about James Stewart's tour of duty during WWII. He served in the European Theater and was stationed in England. I learned that he loved the military and stayed in the reserve after the war. He rose in rank to Brigadier General (I may be off on that one). After the war, he said he wanted to make comedies not serious movies but the first one he did after the war was It's a Wonderful Life.

[MGBar]

I just finished Woman in the Moonlight a semi-true historical novel about Beethoven. It suggests that he wrote the Moonlight Sonata for a young woman with whom he had an affair. If things were as portrayed in the book, Beethoven was a very strange fellow and there were few people who did not have affairs. Not one I would read again!

[norty]

I'm reading " The Beatles - A Hard Day's Write", The stories behind every Beatles song. Pretty interesting.

[MGBar]

After watching an old Clark Gable movie about the Dutch resistance I read a book about the battle of Arnhem. It was not an easy read; I could not stay with it for long periods of time--details were a bit much. That was a tough time for the Allies and the Dutch people. It was written by a man who survived and helped get others out. Even that part of the book was tough.