Now it is my turn for a First Day of School picture. This was taken a week ago on Aug 13th, the first day of school here in DeMotte. I only insisted on posing like this because Rev. got to have a first day of school during this Sabbatical so I decided I needed one also. I would love to take a class in something again like he did (not at a doctorate level), but working at a school for me right now is the next best thing. 

Another thing I did similar to Rev. was reading. Not 2,000 pages. Not John Owen. Today I will tell you about the books I read. Before that -- yes, to those of you with boy brains still stuck in junior high, that is our cat in the background of my photo doing something unpleasant. Enjoy. I miss my computer and its editing/cropping capabilities!

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II (by Denise Kiernan). I bought this in a great little bookstore in downtown Charleston, West Virginia while on our way to Charlotte. You probably know the date the first atomic bomb was dropped, the city it was dropped on and maybe even the name of the plane from which it was dropped, but did you ever think about what went into the making of the actual bomb? This book tells how the entire city of Oak Ridge near Lexington, Kentucky was created nearly overnight during World War II in an effort to beat anyone else in the world in the manufacture of such a bomb. Even more surprising is that this was a complete secret. Officially, Oak Ridge did not even exist, even though it was using more electricity than New York City and had a population of 75,000 -- many of them young women. As I was reading this I was wondering about the possibility of going through Lexington on the way home to look for this place and see what it is like today, but our plans took us farther west and this adventure will keep for another time.

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice (by Rebecca Musser). Just like the one person wearing red on the front cover stands out, this book jumped out at me on a shelf in, of all places, Wal-Mart. Several years ago I read Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (by Jon Krakauer, who has written a lot of good non-fiction books about topics other than Mormons). I learned most of my recent knowledge from that and have since forgotten much of it. I thought Mormons were all basically, well, Mormons. But there are Mormons (not supporting them in any way, mind you, even though I recently voted for one for US president) and then there are Fundamentalist Mormons. Warren Jeffs Mormons. A very sick and sinful man only recently put behind bars for the rest of life. Jim Jones cult leader sick and sinful. The book is as much about the psychological damage done in the name of religion to his followers as it is about him.

These two will soon be placed in the CCHS library.

To Fetch a Thief (by Spencer Quinn). A second hand store find for 50 cents. A fun fast read about a crime fighting duo of man and dog told from the dog’s point of view. A fun premise but disappointing in that the author decided that this dog and everyone he knows uses bad language and takes God’s name in vain. Will be going back to a second hand store or get recycled.

INSERT COMMENT HERE: This seems like an appropriate place to remind people that it is wrong to take God’s name in vain and that this includes shortening it to the initials OMG on Facebook or elsewhere.

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (by Alexander McCall Smith). I really like this series of books that begins with the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I have read them all, placed them all in the CCHS library where they don’t get read, and was surprised to learn that this was number 14 in the series. Fourteen of anything is usually way too many. They are fiction, easy to read, not great literature but still good and the best part is how they take the reader right around the globe and plop into Botswana so that it feels more like a few days spent there than a book read about it. I have tried to read other books that he writes and cannot appreciate them the same way. The only ones that came close were the ones in the shorter series that begins with Portuguese Irregular Verbs. This series can be devoured with enjoyment by anyone who likes word play and a good turn of phrase without a riveting plot. Best enjoyed, as we did several years ago, in the car on CD’s on a trip to Covenant College.

The Mockingbird Next Door (by Marja Mills). This one is still in progress and I am tempted to put it down and first reread To Kill A Mockingbird. The book is about Harper Lee, the famous book’s author. She wrote only one book and then became very private about her sudden fame. It describes life in small town Alabama which of course interests me, but so far I cannot figure out if it is a biography of Lee or of the Chicago reporter that finally got permission to write about the Lee family members that have successfully stayed out of the limelight for decades. When I finish, unless it really disappoints, it will be in the CCHS library.