Guest Post: Debra Brenegan, author of Shame the Devil

by Carol4 Comments
I'd like to welcome Debra Brenegan, author of Shame the Devil, to my notebook today. Learn about history by reading historical fiction By Debra Brenegan By profession, besides being a writer, I am a teacher. Frankly, one of the reasons I chose to write my historical novel Shame the Devil was because I wanted to teach people about Fanny Fern, a trailblazing nineteenth-century journalist, novelist and feminist who has been largely forgotten.  I did enough research to write a biography about her, but I wanted to convey all of the wondrous information I discovered about Fern to as many people as possible. What better vehicle than a historical novel, right? But, does reading historical fiction really count as learning history? According to a survey by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut, professors believe 81 percent of college seniors are at a D or F grade level when it comes to American history. Teachers lament these statistics and search...
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Thursday’s Tale: “Godfather Death” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

by Carol4 Comments
Image source: SurLaLune Fairy Tales Today I'm returning to the Grimms' tales, although "Godfather Death" is a new one to me. The story's about a poor man with a whole batch of kids. When his 13th arrives, he went out to the road to find a godfather for the child. Can you guess who he ends up picking? He turned down God's offer, because God "givest to the rich, and leavest the poor to hunger." He turns down the devil with his usual enticement of  riches and earthly pleasure, because Satan "deceivest men and leadest them astray." Then along comes Death and the father decides that Death will be the perfect godfather for his son, since Death "takest the rich as well as the poor, without distinction." So, with Death as his godfather, the boy grows up. One day, the godfather appears to the young man and gives him his gift. He will make the young man a famous physician. When the young...
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Review: The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill

by Carol14 Comments
The Butterfly Cabinet is engrossing. I was drawn into these two women's stories of being a woman, a mother, a wife. Inspired by a true story of the death of the daughter of an aristocratic Irish family at the end of the nineteenth century,the story of four year-old Charlotte's death is told by two narrators. The first is Maddie, an old woman living in a nursing home. She is telling the story of the history of the family to Anna, who would have been Charlotte's niece. Maddie doles out the secrets and misdeeds that happened 70 years before, when she was a young teenage servant at the big house. She also gives Anna a diary that belonged to Harriet, Charlotte's mother. Harriet was arrested and tried for killing the girl and spent a year in prison. Entries in her diary from that time alternate with Maddie's chapters. I was riveted by the story from the first chapter. Maddie remembers so clearly what...
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Monday Afternoon

by Carol14 Comments
First, I have a winner to announce. Congratulations to Irene of Author Exposure. You won a copy of The Blue Light Project. I've passed your address on to the publicist. I hope you enjoy the book! I had kind of an odd week last week. I was off work but spent every day driving Amber to and from day camp at the art museum and wasting time during the day. It was actually pretty tiring. Then we spent the weekend at the lake, so I haven't had much computer time this week. I did receive a few books over the last couple of weeks. Mailbox Monday is taking a blog tour. This month’s host is Staci at Life in the Thumb. The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams (ARC from Random House) The Silver Skull by Mark Chadbourn (from Paperbackswap) The Best American Short Stories 2011 edited by Geraldine Brooks and Heidi Pitlor (from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley) The Best American Mystery Stories 2011...
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