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What Are You Reading? June 2011.

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Chris Little
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Posts: 64
Joined: February 2010
Location: Going back in Time

Worse than empty mailbox

Post by Chris Little » Sun June 12th, 2011, 4:31 pm

“Captain McKay stood by the window and watched the small cavalcade go past toward the post gateway. Lucky that his wife had come with him, even on this last assignment to this Godforsaken station lost in the prairie wasteland. Without her they would have been in a fix with the woman. As it was, the woman looked like a woman now. And why shouldn’t she, wearing his wife’s third-best crinoline dress … except shoes. Those were too small. The woman seemed to prefer her worn moccasins anyway ... still with that strange shrinking air about her, not so much frightened as remote … And there beside the woman, shadowing her in the mid-morning sun, was that extra incongruous touch, the great granite hulk of Sergeant Houck …

“Sergeant Houck took the boy from the woman’s lap and stood him on his box. He measured the offerings against the small body and chose a small red flannel shirt and a small pair of faded overalls. He peeled the boy with one quick motion, ripping away the old cloth, and put the shirt and overalls on him. He set the one pair of small stuffed shoes aside. ‘Kids don’t need shoes,’ he said. ‘Only in winter.’ He heard the sound of hooves and stepped to the door to watch the stage approach and creak to a stop, the wheels sliding in the dust. He looked back to see the men inspecting the boy to that small individual’s evident satisfaction and urging their other offerings upon the woman. He strode among them and scooped the boy under one arm and beckoned the woman to follow and went out the door to the waiting old Concord coach. He deposited the boy on the rear seat inside and turned to watch the woman come out of the store escorted by the male population of the settlement. He helped her into the coach and nodded up at the driver on his high box seat and swung himself in. The rear seat groaned and sagged as he sank into it beside the woman with the boy between them. The woman peered out the window by her, and suddenly, in a shrinking, experimental gesture, she waved at the men outside. The driver’s whip cracked and the horses lunged into the harness and the coach rolled forward, and a faint suggestion of warm color showed through the tan of the woman’s cheeks.”

The story of what happens when Sergeant Houck returns the rescued long held captive to her distant husband is one of the tales in the Collected Stories of Jack Schaefer. It is one of those rare purchases made after reading an interlibrary loan copy. If you liked Shane, you might find much pleasure in this much wider array of Schaefer’s talent. When it arrived, I could see it through the open door of the mailbox; however, there was a problem.

The mailbox is one of those structures holding several dozen small opening for recipients, with a larger door on the opposite side for the rural carrier to distribute contents. The little door has an interior frame that slightly reduces the size of the opening; thus for some close fitting packages which the carrier can slip into the large opening, there isn’t room to pull them out the small rectangle. Even after cutting away the packaging, I couldn’t quite pull Schaefer collection of gems through the door … leading into a three day weekend.
Last edited by Chris Little on Sun June 12th, 2011, 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Vanessa
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Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Mon June 13th, 2011, 9:10 am

I'm reading Black Rock by Amanda Smyth, a more contemporary story set in Tobago and Trinidad.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Brenna
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Joined: June 2010
Location: Delaware

Post by Brenna » Mon June 13th, 2011, 11:41 am

Almost 2/3 of the way through Carol Goodman's The Night Villa and loving it! I started it yesterday and ended up taking is everywhere with me to read.
Brenna

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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Mon June 13th, 2011, 5:01 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]Almost 2/3 of the way through Carol Goodman's The Night Villa and loving it! I started it yesterday and ended up taking is everywhere with me to read.[/quote]

*Beams* I knew you'd like it! I've really enjoyed all her books though some more then others.

SM
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Original Join Date: Mar 2006
Previous Amount of Posts: 2,517
Books Read In 2014: 109 - June: 17 (May: 17)
Full List Here: http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... p?p=114965

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Mon June 13th, 2011, 5:15 pm

Finished Cecelia Holland's The King's Witch (thought it was OK - some of the medical stuff was interesting and liked seeing Joanna as more of a main character) and now onto an old OOP from my book case - A Mistress for the Valois by Julia Watson (Francois I).

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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Tue June 14th, 2011, 4:03 am

I've finished "Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson" by Paula Byrne (420pgs, 2006)*. A very good book about an amazing woman from the 18th century. She became an actress, caught the eye of the Prince of Wales (future George IV), after she became very ill, she started to writing poetry, essays, articles, and novels. She became friends with Coleridge, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft (who died giving book to the future Mary Shelley, author of "Frankenstein"), and others. Highly recommended.

SM
Last edited by SonjaMarie on Tue June 14th, 2011, 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Lady Jane Grey Internet Museum
My Booksfree Queue

Original Join Date: Mar 2006
Previous Amount of Posts: 2,517
Books Read In 2014: 109 - June: 17 (May: 17)
Full List Here: http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... p?p=114965

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Tue June 14th, 2011, 11:12 am

[quote=""Tanzanite""]Finished Cecelia Holland's The King's Witch (thought it was OK - some of the medical stuff was interesting and liked seeing Joanna as more of a main character) and now onto an old OOP from my book case - A Mistress for the Valois by Julia Watson (Francois I).[/quote]

Which Joanna is that Daphne. Richard's sister?
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Tue June 14th, 2011, 12:34 pm

I'm about halfway through Devil's Consort by Anne O'Brien. It's definitely on the fluffy side :confused:
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Tue June 14th, 2011, 1:28 pm

[quote=""SonjaMarie""]*Beams* I knew you'd like it! I've really enjoyed all her books though some more then others.

SM[/quote]

I have 20 pages left!! I brought it to work just in case I have some time to finish it because I couldn't wait until tonight!
Brenna

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Tue June 14th, 2011, 2:22 pm

Change of plans. Lady of the English landed at the office last night right after I'd left :)
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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