Summer Reading, Part Three

This hasn't really come up before, but I'm a historical junkie.  I love pretty much any story that involves people wearing corsets, or wars that have already happened (don't get me started on my WWII obsession), or immigrants.  If the story takes place between, say, 1500 and 1975, I will read it or watch it.

But I also love a really witty story.  I had a theatre professor who once described theatre as "real life, only better," and that's what I want from a story.  I want main characters who have those perfect comebacks on the tip of their tongue and always have more brass than I have ever had.

Enter Deeanne Gist.

The first book I read by Ms. Gist was A Bride Most Begrudging.  It's an amazing story about a noble English woman put on a ship and sold as a "mail order" bride to a man in early Virginia.  Of course, it ends with love and all kinds of great gooey stuff, but the part that got me was an encounter with a skunk.

I digress.

This summer, I read Gist's newest book, It Happened at the Fair.  The story is set at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.  It involves the history of ASL, Alexander Graham Bell's School for the Deaf, the history of fire sprinklers, and the sights, sounds, and events of the World's Columbian Exposition.

If you pick the book up at Walmart (not that you need to do so),

 you'll also get a sneak peek of her next book!

Holy Hannah.  The research put into this book is fabulous.  I honestly don't know if I did this much work my entire four years of college.  Okay, I did, but still.  The descriptions and photos included in the novel, set a beautiful scene.  Even though Gist admits in her Epilogue to changing certain facts to fit her story, she creates a detailed list of the actual events and her version.

The plot line keeps you turning the page as well.  The story centers around a man who wishes to sell his invention, an automatic sprinkler system, but is held back by his steadily declining hearing and the stigma surrounding deafness.  Enter in a beautiful woman, who can teach the inventor to read lips so no one will know his trouble - but of course, it's just not that simple.

If you're a history junkie like me, you have to pick up this book.  Everyone knows stories of the Civil War and the Great Depression, but how many books can you find about the suppression of sign language teaching and ways to fight fires?  Grab it now, and the 400 pages will keep you busy for a while.

Summer Reading, Part One

As I mentioned before, I am a big reader.  If I leave the house, I almost always have a book packed with me.  I choose my purse based on whether or not it can hold a paperback.  I have a section of my bookshelf dedicated to books I've purchased but not yet read.  It's a glamorous life of staying up later than I should, measuring daily accomplishments by how many chapters read, and making Post-Its lists of to whom I loaned which series.

Since graduation, I've already devoured seven books (that's a low figure for me, but I've been working, helping with our home remodel, and I didn't read over my five-day vacation). Most of them have been what I refer to as Semi-Trashy Romance Novels (distinguished from Trashy Romance Novels because the Semi-Trashy are historical, lending them a small bit of decorum).  Two of the novels I've read that fall outside this category were the first two novels in the newest Cindy Woodsmall trilogy.

Woodsmall writes Amish fiction, focusing on Amish life in the current time period.  Because of the Amish focus, Woodsmall's writing examines ideas of God, community, belonging, and the nature of modern living.  I find that, for many, these themes prevent books like Woodsmall's from even been picked off the shelf. 

The third book of Woodsmall's trilogy comes out in August.

Don't let that put you off right from the start.  Woodsmall's prose makes Amish life, language, and ideas easy to access, even for someone with no experience with Amish customs.  The ideas of God brought out in the characters' thoughts and speech are not the fire-and-brimestone that many people expect, but rather a gentle exploration of beliefs.  In the world of Christian fiction, Woodsmall creates beautiful settings and characters without trying to force her readers into a belief system.