The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

My kind of book.....I like this a lot.  I will put some of the reviews and etc in later.

Tonight I am listening to a part that speaks to me a bit because it makes fun of me.  Moshe Ludlow is the

main character of the book.  He owns at least one theatre/dance hall?/place that hosts dances/events...

I just read about sometimes he hosts events that are attended by Colonial Dames...etc...and the men in their top hats...and the couples dance ....very staid...very boring....well let me just say that it is the opposite of events that happen when his Black clientele or his Jewish clientele have an event....Do we who are the ones who attend Gypsy wish to be those who attend the Negro or Jewish events?  Could I do that?  I like when books make me think!  The descriptions of the events attended by the Jewish and the Black are just plain fun.  But there is no doubt in my mind that I would be more comfortable attending the Colonial Dames event.  

 Here is a review that I liked.  It is from a reader:  I want to put this in your hands and promise you a magnificent reading experience. It starts off in a shaggy dog kind of way, with an ensemble of characters, several who possess whimsical names like Fatty, Big Soap, Monkey Pants, Dodo. And their names fit flawlessly to their nature. The story starts with a 1972 prologue—a human skeleton is found in an old abandoned well, and then the body of the story begins in 1936 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a place called Chicken Hill, where Jews, immigrants, and Black folks lived side by side, sometimes in harmony, other times in discord, but here’s the thing—the goodness of people, the kindness of their hearts—that is what ultimately rises to the top.

For the story to unfold, there has to be some sinister aspects, too—aren’t we still fighting the fight of ignorance, bigotry, corruption, meanness? But, in the McBride world, well, we also follow the long stretch of yarn as it wends around this way and that, through streets and backyards, dirt roads, onto hills and a shul and a church, through tunnels and a dance hall. And The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.

I don’t need to rehash the plot, but there are a few fun facts about this book worth mentioning in a review. Such as, there are an abundance of characters introduced early on, and then again later on, before the plot actually launches. That’s the shaggy part. We don’t get to the plot too quickly—instead, Mcbride takes his time, builds the characters. They are already leaping off the pages by the time the plot rolls in.

There are subplots, too, but in the end, they all weave their chords and come together. McBride may slow your roll at first, but it’s a winning bonanza of breadth and depth, from the smallest detail to the broadest design. Scenes that seem initially inconsequential become key notes later on.

Early on, we meet the arresting Jewess, Chona. Chona is an unforgettable female protagonist—I’m keeping her in my journal of best. female. characters. ever. She is handicapped with a limp—but her limp doesn’t stop her strength of purpose, her fierce dignity, her bounteous benevolence, her gentle grace, and her consummate integrity. You will fall in love with her, just like Moshe, the theater and dance hall owner, did. Moshe and Chona dared to welcome change and inclusivity to their part of the world.

So I didn't add much as I read the middle part. However I want to add something tonight.  I believe it likely that Chona is dead.  Need to read a few more pages to know that for sure.  But the author speaks about devices in Chapter 18 which is labelled The Hot Dog.  

I finished the book late January.  There were a few rough places.  And the fact of whose body was in the well was a mystery until the very end of the book.  But by the time the book got to the end, there were enough people who deserved to be at the bottom of the well that you knew for sure it would be one of them.  

The Glorious Cause

In preparation for the December luncheon of the DAR, I decided that I would make a very brief talk about General Washington's Decembers.  The idea came about because the National Defender for Nov/Dec had an article about The Decembers of his Life: Highlights in the life of George Washington.

And this is of GREAT interest!  Not only because of my interest in the Revolutionary War, but also because My ancestor, William Morrison was right there with Washington in the Decembers of 1776 when he and his troops crossed the Delaware and December 1777 when his troops stayed alive at Valley Forge.  December 1783, George Washington resigned as commander in Chief of the Continental Army. And then the article pointed out that George Washington died 12 December 1799.

I have spent a great deal of time in the last ten years or perhaps longer studying the Revolution in the southern States.  But I am not nearly so acquainted with the Revolution in the opening years.  Tonight I listened to the information about the Battle of Brooklyn Heights.   I feel moved to make a few notes. The Battle took place 27 Aug 1776.  The British troops had been routed from Boston and General Washington guessed correctly that they would move down the coast to New York.  And he moved his troops to that area to be ready.  

And indeed the British ships arrived with the formidable amount of troops.  They marched across Long Island to fight with the Patriot troops under the command of General George Washington.  The book is worth the price for just the description of this one battle.  The battle was a rout.  The patriots were so greatly outnumbered. There is also a description of George Washington eyeing the Maryland and Delaware troops in their valiant bravery as the rest of the army was scurrying to the protection of the fortifications on the hill.  It is said that they saved much loss of life by their bravery.

 There seems to have been a lot of chaos as the British moved en mass up the road and the patriots were forced to scramble for their lives to the defenses that had been put in place on the Brooklyn Heights.  The British dug in for a siege.  And General Washington made the wise decision to move his troops in the middle of the night across the river to the safety of Manhattan Island. Here is wikipedia's description:

Washington evacuating Army, a 175th anniversary issue, published in 1951 and depicting Fulton Ferry House (on right) and flat-bottomed ferry boats in the East River (in background)

Retreat to Manhattan

The Foot of Wall Street And Ferry House – 1746, a portrait depicting the Manhattan side of the East Rivercrossing, known then as the Brooklyn Ferry, as it appeared in the mid-1700s.^[74]

Washington and the Continental Army were surrounded on Brooklyn Heights with the East River to their backs.^[75]As the day went on, the British began to dig trenches, slowly coming closer to the American defenses. By doing this, the British would not have to cross over open ground to assault the American defenses as they did in Boston the year before.^[76] Despite this perilous situation, Washington ordered 1,200 more men from Manhattan to Brooklyn on August 28,^[75] and two Pennsylvania regiments and Colonel John Glover's regiment from Marblehead, Massachusetts responded to Washington, sending troops. Thomas Mifflin, who commanded the Pennsylvania troops after arriving, volunteered to inspect the outer defenses and report back to Washington.^[77] In these outer defenses, small skirmishes were still taking place. On the afternoon of August 28, rain began to fall, and Washington had his cannons bombarded the British well into the night.^[78]

As the rain continued, Washington sent a letter instructing General William Heath, who was at Kings Bridge over the Harlem River between Manhattan and what is now The Bronx, to send every flat-bottomed boat and sloop without delay, in case battalions of infantry from New Jersey came to reinforce their position.^[79] At 16:00, on August 29, Washington held a meeting with his generals. Mifflin advised Washington to retreat to Manhattan while Mifflin and his Pennsylvania regiments made up the rear guard, holding the line until the rest of the army had withdrawn.^[79] The generals agreed unanimously with Mifflin that retreat was the best option and Washington had orders go out by the evening.^[80]

The troops were told that they were to gather up all their ammunition and baggage and prepare for a night attack.^[80] By 21:00, the sick and wounded began to move to the Brooklyn Ferry in preparation for evacuation. At 23:00, Glover and his Massachusetts men, who were sailors and fishermen, began to evacuate the troops.^[81]

As more troops were evacuated, more were ordered to withdraw from the lines and march to the ferry landing. Wagon wheels were muffled, and men were forbidden to talk.^[81] Mifflin's rear guard was tending campfires to deceive the British. At 04:00, on August 30, Mifflin was informed that it was his unit's turn to evacuate.^[82] Mifflin told the man who had been sent to order him to leave, Major Alexander Scammell, that he must be mistaken, but Scammell insisted that he was not and Mifflin ordered his troops to move out. When Mifflin's troops were within a half mile of the ferry landing, Washington rode up and demanded to know why they were not at their defenses. Edward Hand, who was leading the troops, tried to explain what had happened, but Mifflin arrived shortly.^[83]Washington exclaimed "Good God. General Mifflin, I am afraid you have ruined us." Mifflin explained that he had been told that it was his turn to evacuate by Scammell; Washington told him it had been a mistake. Mifflin then led his troops back to the outer defenses.^[83]

Artillery, supplies, and troops were all being evacuated across the river at this time but it was not going as fast as Washington had anticipated and daybreak soon came.^[83] A fog settled in and concealed the evacuation from the British. British patrols noticed that there did not seem to be any American pickets and thus began to search the area. While they were doing this, Washington, the last man left, stepped onto the last boat.^[76] At 07:00, the last American troops landed in Manhattan.^[84] All 9,000 troops had been evacuated with no loss of life.^[84]

 

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

This was a fun read.  I am not the right age....but then who is the right age?  I think back to when my children were young.  I liked the games.  They liked the games.  We played.  Why did I buy this book?  It was set in places I know.,...Boston and Harvard.....Venice Beach and Los Angeles.  Even though there is sadness in the book, it is hopeful.  Friendship is important.  Life goes on.  

 

The Echo of Old Books

I liked this book.  A bit of a romance which is not my favorite genre, but I read it to the end and liked the fact that Barbara Davis tied up the ends very neatly. 

Here is the publisher's synopsis:  Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.

With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers’ tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story—and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.

 

 

Too soon for Adios

This book was definitely a Romance.  That is not the genre that I am most drawn to.  However, I stayed with the book because not only was it a romance but it was also a book about the characters having reached into the stories of their ancestors.  I found the book worth reading for that!

 

Tom Lake

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. I found this book

to be entertaining.  Lara's story unfolds in a way that brings surprises along the way.  

 

The Plot

 This book has a great many twists and turns.....a book within a book.  It was a book that drew the reader in and was read quickly as I thought about what was happening next.  Do not read any more if you have not read the book nor watched the movie as I am going to ruin the end for you if you read on.  I did not like the end of the book.  I did not like seeing Diana/Anna win.  I wanted the main character of the book to jump up and vomit the drugs up and figure out how to move on.  I wanted him to send the e-mail to Diana/Anna confronting her with the fact that she had as much to loose as he did if the story behind the plot was released to the public.  It gave me a discontent to think that she was going to inherit all of his money and live on.....even though the plot did indeed belong to her.  

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

This book is a change of pace read recommended by Sarah Denman.  I started it last night and I like it a lot so far.  Here is the amazon Summary:

Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate - the first automobile any of them have seen - and a stranger arrives. 

In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her audience. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. 

Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. 

After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley's happy home life, she wonders about her origins, and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family's destiny for generations. 

A powerful story about a family separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

I am particularly drawn to the ideas in this book of young people making mistakes in their lives that are life-changing with parents who know that it is a mistake.  Because of the Akha tradition Li-yan can not go home after her life-changing mistakes.  But her mother is there to help her transition to a new life.  And the thought is that the mother is making a huge sacrifice for Li-yan to have a better life. And then the love between mothers and daughters is well portrayed as we switch back and forth between the US and China as the young mother works to receive training for life while her adopted orphan daughter in the US is intrigued by her birth family. 

The end which is perhaps a bit too neat comes full circle.  I am not sure that the reader could have stood to have had a different ending even when there are almost too many ends tied up neatly.  

 

Jefferson's Daughters

Thomas Jefferson had three daughters: Martha and Maria by his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson, and Harriet by his slave Sally Hemings. Although the three women shared a father, the similarities end there. Martha and Maria received a fine convent school education while they lived with their father during his diplomatic posting in Paris. Once they returned home, however, the sisters found their options limited by the laws and customs of early America. 

Harriet Hemings, the daughter of a slave,  followed a different path. She escaped slavery—apparently with the assistance of Jefferson himself. Leaving Monticello behind, she boarded a coach and set off for a decidedly uncertain future.

 

For this groundbreaking triple biography, history scholar Catherine Kerrison has uncovered never-before-published documents written by the Jefferson sisters, as well as letters written by members of the Jefferson and Hemings families. The richly interwoven stories of these strong women and their fight to shape their own destinies shed new light on issues of race and gender that are still relevant today—and on the legacy of one of our most controversial Founding Fathers.  (from Amazon)

The first of the book deals with the hardships that Thomas Jefferson's wife bore during her marriage.  She had bad luck with pregnancies and lost children and died young.  Her husband was often absent.  However, she used her time to visit relatives and friends and her surviving two daughters were raised in the homes of people she loved while Monticello was never finished in her lifetime.  Much of Martha and Marie's childhood was spent at Eppington with her mother's sister's family and after Martha's death they lived there full time while Thomas Jefferson was in France.

Below is a 1888 map of Chesterfield County, Virginia showing the location of Eppington.

I did not take notes while I was reading about the lives of Martha and Maria.  Probably the thing that made the most impression on me was that Martha seems to have been strong and smart.  She had many children and led a productive life.  The book says she looked like her father while Maria was very pretty.  Maria had a very happy marriage according to the author.  She died very young leaving a young child and her husband was so devastated that he could not talk about her even to his child  even after he married again.  And again children were taken into the home of Thomas Jefferson's sister-in-law to be raised as Thomas Jefferson spent many of the following years in DC in public life.

The smallest part of the book is about Maria.  The author says she was very pretty.  But it is interesting to note that there were no likenesses of her. No paintings...nothing to save for future generations what she looked like.  

I just started the third part of the book when the author talks about the life of Harriet, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.  The author explains that when Jefferson left for the eight years he spent as President.  He left instructions that the overseer had no power over the house slaves which included Sally and her family.  Many of the slaves that Jefferson owned were Hemings family.  One Hemings man was a genius with woodworking.  Others had special gifts that set them apart,  Many of the house slaves were Hemings.  The actual family that served in the house were cooks and other specialized workers.  One can read that the fabric for their clothes was nicer than that of the field hands.  Because Jefferson was absent and the overseer did not bother the house, there was little for the house slaves to do except air out the house when Jefferson was due to arrive.  So Harriet was raised by a mother who had time for her.  And Sally Hemings had had an unusual experience and was quite worldly for the time.  She had accompanied Jefferson's daughter to Paris. She had braved the voyage to Paris with no male to accompany her as the chaperone for Jefferson's youngest daughter.  She had learned French.  She had seen balls and the beginning of the French Revolution.  She was probably more worldly than many Virginia wives.  

A google search brings up the names of the children reported to be the children of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson:

Sally Hemings had at least six children fathered by Thomas Jefferson. Four survived to adulthood. Decades after their negotiation, Jefferson freed all of Sally Hemings's children – Beverly and Harriet left Monticello in the early 1820s; Madison and Eston were freed in his will and left Monticello in 1826.

and

In 1873 Madison Hemings left the only known account of his sister's life after Monticello: Harriet married a white man in good standing in Washington City. ... She raised a family of children, and so far as I know they were never suspected of being tainted with African blood in the community where she lived or lives.

The author of this book did a great deal of historical research but was never able to find anyone living in Washington City who appears to have been Harriet.

I found the book to be of great interest.  

 

Lessons in Chemistry

So, when I put the addition book down, I picked this book up.  And this was totally entertaining.  A story about a serious Chemist in the 1950's in a time period when women walked in the room and it was expected that she was not a chemist...she might get coffee for the group or take notes as the secretary.  I liked the book.  The end was a bit weak as the author tied up the loose ends very neatly.  But it was fun read,  Probably my favorite thing was 12:30's thoughts on everything that happened.  

 

Demon Copperhead

I was very excited to start this book.  It was recommended to me by Charlie who told me that his sister-in-law said it was her favorite book EVER!  And truly it was that good for the pages that I read.  I laughed out loud,  I marveled at how Barbara Kingsolver caught the exact words for a young man growing up in a trailer with a less than perfect home life.  And then I just happened to read the part about the first Pharm party in the foster home at exactly the same time that I ran into Charlie again and he said: "it is basically a book about addition",  I have read several very good books about addiction in the last few years,  I just can't do that again right now.  So I have put the book down.

 

The Book Woman's Daughter

A great story about a young woman who finds the freedom to take care of herself in her family's home on Troublesome Creek.  Honey is a blue.  But she manages find a job delivering books to the families living in the hollers of the East Kentucky mountains.  The story is Honey's triumph to live day to day in spite of prejudice and injustice.  It is about the fellowship of women in managing in a male dominated world of early 20th C Kentucky.