Giveaway of The War Lovers by Evan Thomas

by Carol27 Comments
The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898 by Evan Thomas Here's the blurb: On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in the Havana Harbor. Although there was no evidence that the Spanish were responsible, yellow newspapers such as William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal whipped Americans into frenzy by claiming that Spain's "secret infernal machine" had destroyed the battleship. Soon after, the blandly handsome and easily influenced President McKinley declared war, sending troops not only to Cuba but also to the Philippines, Spain's sprawling colony on the other side of the world. As Evan Thomas reveals in his rip-roaring history of those times, the hunger for war had begun years earlier. Depressed by the "closing" of the Western frontier and embracing theories of social Darwinism, a group of warmongers that included a young Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge agitated loudly and incessantly that the United...
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The Three Bears by Robert Southey

by Carol2 Comments
"The Three Bears" by Robert Southey I always knew this story as "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," but apparently in its earliest versions the bears' intruder is actually an old women. Southey's version is from 1837. The story itself is familiar. A family of good-natured, trusting bears lives in a nice house in the woods. Each bear has his own chair, bowl of porridge and bed. One day when the three go for a walk in the woods while waiting for their porridge to cool, an ill-tempered, perhaps homeless, old woman enters their home, making sure no one is around to see her. She eats the little bear's porridge, breaks his chair and eventually falls asleep in his bed. That is where the bears discover her. The small bear cries out that someone has been sleeping in his bed and states she's still there. The old woman awakens and jumps out the...
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Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophecy by Robert “Doc” Gowdy

by CarolNo Comments
Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy by Robert "Doc" Gowdy While I was in the early chapters of this tale, I told my friends that it was like reading a sci-fi geek's lesbian fantasy. My friends, who are male by the way, said, well  that's it then, that's the pinnacle, time to just stop awarding the Hugo and Nebula. Joking, of course. Anyway, the farther I got into the book, the more I appreciated it. This space pirate adventure is engrossing, full of intrigue, secrets and fascinating characters. I'll grant you that the women, slaves, royalty and pirates alike are naked or close to it most of the time, but don't let that fool you. They are intelligent, powerful women. This novel, the first in a planned trilogy, centers on the first steps to bringing down an evil empire. Captain Bonny Morgan, a beautiful, mysterious space pirate with some unusual abilities, has been commissioned to kidnap Princess Cossette, the Emperor's step-daughter, setting into...
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The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall

by Carol4 Comments
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall (Suggested reading level: Grades 4-6) This is one of the few books I have clear memories of from when I first read it. My copy has the cover on the right, but the newer versions just don't have the same feel to me. I loved reading this out loud with Amber (10), seeing her get excited over the characters I fondly remember. The Minnipins are a small people, sedate, somber and conforming. Today Minnipins of all ages were scurrying about the market place, green cloaks flying in the breeze. Round, rosy housewives, their brown-weave dresses tucked up, were scrubbing their doorstones or polishing the silver doorknobs on their watercress-green doors, while children were watering the flowers that grew around the family trees. (pg. 19) They live securely in an isolated mountain valley and never question the authority of the Periods, the leading families. There are a few rebels, though, referred to as "Them" - Curley Green a painter, Walter...
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