Reading in the Garden

Olympic Dreams.    Hitler’s 1936 Olympics saw our “ Boys in the Boat ” row to victory. Now we get to learn about the “Fast Girls” on the U.S. track team who made history—specifically three women who had their own personal obstacles to hurdle before they reached the world’s stage.  Gender discrimination, racism, ostracism, and a horrific accident all played against the financial squeeze of the Great Depression. A completely compelling read! Happy reading,  Annette 

Ultimate Devastation. With the 75 th  anniversary of Hiroshima today on August 6, I had finally decided to read this classic non-fiction book about the destruction, mayhem, and long-term devastation caused during WWII when the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.  And what a chilling book it is!  The author follows six survivors of that harrowing day to find out what happened to them. After reading this book the events of that day may just be burned into my brain like the intense heat and flash of the bomb that actually imprinted shadows of objects and people from the blast on walls like photographs. People were burning, vomiting. As flames consumed structures all around, others were squashed and trapped under buildings and debris. Unbelievably, the weather brought more misery to a living hell with storms and a flood. The radiation, which was powerful enough to expose x-rays in a hospital basement volt, would cause more damage for years to come to those that survived.

Which author do you share a birthday with? August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891 – Herman Melville,  Moby-Dick   August 2, 1947 – Lawrence Wright,  The End of October August 3, 1924 – June 21, 2003 – Leon Uris,  Exodus    August 4, 1969 – Jojo Moyes,  Me Before You August 5, 1960 – David Baldacci,  Archer  Series August 6, 1809 – Alfred Tennyson, 1 st , Poet  August 7, 1942 – Garrison Keillor,  Lake Wobegon Days    August 8, 1896-December 14, 1953 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,  The Yearling     August 9, 1927 – June 15, 2014 – Daniel Keyes,  Flowers for Algernon   August 10, 1962 – Suzanne Collins,  The Hunger Games   August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992 – Alex Haley,  Roots   August 12, 1962  – Chris Bohjalian,  The Red Lotus August 13, 1961 – Tom Perrotta,  Election   August 14, 1947 – Danielle Steel, Romance Novels  August 15, 1968  – Erin Gruwell,  The Freedom Writers' Diary August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994 – Charles Bukowski,  Ham on Rye