A Founding Mother

 This is the October choice of books for the WV DAR bookclub.  I know Abigail Adams from the musical 1776.  And I know about the fact that her husband, John, supported Federalism.....not to mention that he was the second president of our very new country.

Federalist Party: Adams was a prominent leader of the Federalist Party, advocating for a strong central government, a robust national economy, and a loose interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. 

Elite Republicanism: He distrusted pure majority rule and believed that government should be guided by a virtuous, educated ruling class

Constitutional Balance: Adams was a strong proponent of the separation of powers, bicameral legislatures, and a system of checks and balances, which he detailed in his work Thoughts on Government and his Defence of the Constitutions. 

While I heartedly support his ideas of Constitutional Balance...I have some trouble with his leadership in the Federalist Party.....preferring the more Republican stance of Thomas Jefferson.

But so far I am absolutely enjoying this book....Abigail is no shrinking violet....I am sure that is why women of today are writing about her!  

I just finished the first chapter in which she is a brand new mother.  She it totally in love with her infant daughter which her husband has named Abigail Amelia....and she is already promising the infant that she would fight with frying pans anyone who would come to try to take her from her....So I have to like this book.

In the second chapter Samuel Adams calls on John Adams.  I needed to figure out how they were related....and I asked AI: 

So, chapter 2 is much about the death of the 3rd child of Abigail and John Adams.  And it is done quite well.....now we would save that child....then all they could do is endure.

In chapter 3, can I even capture....honestly you just have to read this for yourself.....Abigail is home with her children....with a frying pan in her hands to defend herself and her children when John arrives home.  And he tells of human beings who have been killed by British Soldiers ....and then Samuel Adams asks him to defend the soldiers and he does so.....as a Patriot...I would never have understood this....without this book.  John says EVERYONE deserves fair trial.

John won the trial.  However, John and Abigail moved back to Braintree because the case made John so unpopular that the family did not feel welcome in Boston.  Samuel Adams then helped John to win a seat in the state legislature.   With his seat on the legislature, John made friends with James Warren....the husband of Mercy Otis Warren.  And the author explains how much Abigail looks forward to meeting Mercy as the couple ride to visit Plymouth.  They are actually staying in the home of Mercy and James Warren.

Oh, wow.  How my life circles around.  As Blaine Bettinger would say what are the odds?  I had house guests this weekend.  JoAnn and Tom Peterson.  JoAnn was visiting to present reenactment of Mercy Otis Warren to our combined meeting of the Westmoreland and Buford chapters of the DAR.  So I know all about Mercy.  Part of JoAnn's presentation was a synopsis of the Revolutionary War from the early beginnings of such things as the stamp act to what was happening 250 years ago right now! And to even fit in more, I attended the lecture in Charleston on Thursday night by Rick Atkinson (favorite! favorite!) that was also amazing.  I am over stimulated from all of this!  It has been extraordinary!

It has been fun to see Mercy in another way.  Captured by the thoughts of a contemporary.  Even though this book is historical fiction, I feel that it has been well researched and adds another dimension to what I learned this past Saturday.  Mercy even suggests that Abigail might send her oldest child (a daughter) to her when she is older for tutoring.  

Theo of Golden

So What book is next?

This is the one that grabbed me next.....

And, yes, I really like it.  I think this is one book that is likely better being listened to as the narrator does Theo's voice so well....I honestly believe he captures Theo's personality through his voice.  In July while Mary was home we talked a lot on the porch.  One of the things we talked about was the fact that her book group has an assortment of readers....some read by real print book....some read by kindle on their phone or tablet.....some do as I do and tend to listen to the fiction they read.  And Mary says they have found that some books are liked more by one group than another depending on the method with which they read.

But this morning I could not help but add to my blog the fact of how much at my age everything that I do seems to bring my life into full circle....perhaps it is my age that causes me to feel that way.  But I do like in this book that Theo keeps referring to his age which is relatively close to my own.  We are not young any more.  I wish you were sitting beside me so I could tell you all of my thoughts on this....but I'll do the best I can.  Start with the age thing.  Jason and I were playing golf the other night.  He absolutely hates the fact that our golf carts lock up when one goes where one should not go.  And it has been much worse this year than usual as our Bermuda grass has struggled and thus the golf "people" have chosen to keep us out of the fairways that are the worst and the parts of the good fairways that are worse than the good parts.  I on the other hand have not minded so much and have used a few illegal work arounds that I discover while I watch golfers from my porch.  Jason said:  "Mom, you should ask them for a cart that can go everywhere....."  And my thought was why would I do that....and Jason pointed out that I was almost 80.  And I was adamant that I would not ask for favors because of my age!  Aghast that he would think I would.  So funny!  I live in a house with stairs because I think it was one of the reasons my parents were so well....they went up and down the stairs every day.  OK....that is not why I started working on this post....enough

Last night I read the part of the story where Theo is celebrating a friend's birthday with an excellent bottle of Port as well as a gourmet dinner that a local restaurant has delivered to Theo's apartment for the event.  Theo explains the port comes from the Douro River in Portugal and tells the story of how he might have been one of the young men who worked at the vineyard squeezing juice from the grapes .....for this very bottle.....fascinating....and so weird that I am contemplating doing a knitting cruise on the Douro River this fall.....particularly since I almost never knit....although I look at my yarn a lot quite wistfully....just too busy with my DAR and Dames commitments to knit.....as I was explaining my life seems to continually circle to crazy connections.....

I finished the book and liked it quite well.  I honestly think that listening to the book added to the pleasure as the narrator did such a good job with Theo's accent.  I don't think I will say more....don't want to tell anyone too much about the story.  But for me I will add that Theo comes to Golden and begins to buy the portraits on the wall at the local coffee shop in order to give them to the people to which they belong.  He also makes friends with a few men and women in town.

The Calamity Club

 Erin Haughey has been playing tennis with my Friday group when we need an extra.  I like Erin a lot and she is reading The Calamity club and suggests that I might like it too.  I finally finished The Correspondent after  Mary fast forwarded me through the segment in which the son drowns.....I just could not read it.  So I am starting this book tonight.  I am reading via audible.

Mary and I had some discussion while sitting on my porch this summer about the fact that in her book club some of the women read actual books.....Mary mainly reads on Kindle on her phone.....and others do what I do and listen.  And that the different methods do influence whether the reader enjoys the book or not.  And after reading a couple of hours I decided to put this book away.  Perhaps it was because I became tired of the southern accent?  Going on and on.....

But the odd coincidence is that there was an article that came across my computer screen from the Morning from the New York Times.  The article is written by Milissa Kirsch.  It is about Good Reads Did Not Finish designation (DNF).

Just a couple of quotes from the article:

"I feel strongly that life’s too short to spend time on books one doesn’t like. But sometimes I wonder if the problem isn’t with the books but with me: impatient, seduced by novelty, impossible to satisfy."

"And yet Alice finishes more books than anyone I know. I never hear about the ones she abandons, because she does it quickly and without fanfare, without self-excoriation. ......Not finishing a book isn’t the same as never finishing a book. There’s no shame in putting aside a book that you don’t like, but finding a book that you do like takes commitment. "

The Correspondent

My daughter, Mary, suggested this book to me.  She said that the book reminded her of me.  I like the book a lot.  I wish that I had started it in a time period in which I had more time to devote to it.  Virginia Evans has thrown in so many ideas that are of interest to me,....including DNA.  I may have to sit on the porch this weekend and really pay attention to the rest of the book!  I am reading it via audible.

And Then I Got to a place in the book where I knew her son was going to drown.  And I could not read any more.  And I could not seem to start a book until this one was finished and I was stuck.  Last night Mary listened for me until the part was done.  It is too hard to read about someone loosing a child.  And I was glad that I did finish as some good things happened in the end.

Mount Vernon Love Story

Oh, my.  I have only read a few pages, but I can already tell that this will be my favorite book of the year!  It is easy to read.....I don't know how Mary Higgins Clark makes reading history so enticing.  And it is hard to say how much is imagination and how much is really based on documents and research.  But here is a good example of why I like the book so much.  The scene is the last day of George Washington's two terms as first president.  He decides to walk to the inauguration of John Adams.  And we get to share in his thoughts as he leaves office.  And then as he walks into the inauguration site the crowd begins to clap and his entrance is to a room full of people clapping to show their appreciation of a great man.  

I will write more as I read more......

Then back to the story when George was 23 and accepted a commission as an officer under General Braddock.....I understand Braddock's defeat after reading only a few pages of Mary Higgins Clark's book better than if I had read an entire book on the incident.....But there is no doubt that it is the beginning of George's career as a military leader!  As Braddock died, he made it known that he wanted George to have his horse and his body servant.  And in turn George buried Braddock in the road that the entire group would trample so that his grave would not be found by Indians who might mutilate the body......And Mary Higgins Clark says that the soldiers that accompanied George ....well her words are that George blamed himself for his part in the failure....and did not see the worshipping glances of the troops who were still at camp as he rode away.  He did not know that all of Virginia was telling the tale of his bravery.  He did not even consider the fact that he was riding the dead general's horse and attended by the dead general's servant.

He did not consider that the mantle of leadership had settled firmly on his shoulders.

Then on page 176 George's very best friend, George William Fairfax, tells George Washington that he and his wife, Sally, are moving back to England.  George William tells George that the consolation in this move is that he will be removed from the position of having to take sides for or against the mother country.  If he remained in Virginia he would be forced to alienate either family or friends by taking a side. 

And George William Fairfax says:  

I couldn't help but enjoy the part of the story when George is worried about Patsy in Virginia ....and well....just worried about everything.  And one night there is a party and Nathaniel Green's wife, Kitty.....Mary Higgins Clark describes her as desperately in love with her husband but a bit of a flirt...says to George: "Your excellency rumor has it that you are the finest dancer in all Virginia. May I help you prove worth of that reputation?"  and at the end of the dancing she says:  

And George was reminded of Sally Fairfax and her husband, George William, who sat on the sideline with his rheumatism.  And George decided to write and ask Patsy to come to him.

And she answered:  "if you had not sent for me, still I would have come to you"  And Lund, the overseer, wrote George that Patsy had all the slaves near collapse preparing food to take to Cambridge.  She would be accompanied by Mr and Mrs Custis (Patsy's son and bride)

 

The Book of Lost Things

Very Odd book.  When I finished the book I was not sure if I liked it or not.  However, I rarely finish a book that I really DON"T  like....

Basically John Connolly intertwines a Harry Potter kind of character with a plot where a child enters a land other than his own homeland.  And then the author throws in fairy tales that we all recognize, but often they have a twist.  Such as Snow White is FAT and unpleasant.....
 

Information from Audible

Audible sent me a recap of my fiction reading in 2025 on Audible: