Customer Reviews:
Stone versus Chesnut.......2007-02-07
Like Mary Boykin Chesnut, Kate Stone wrote her diary during the Civil War. They were both members of the slaveholding planter class and at the start of the war both were surrounded by servants who met their every need. But twenty year old Kate Stone's life would be more directly affected by the war. Her young uncles and brothers went to join up at the onset and before the war ended several were dead of injuries or disease. Kate Stone's Louisiana home was occupied by the Yankees forcing the family to flee to Texas. Both describe the deprivations of the war years, lack of shoe leather, lack of cloth and the unavailability of new books, and both were at times cheered by false reports of great southern victories. The two diaries complement each other.
An Extraordinary Lady in Extraordinary Times.......2001-03-26
Kate Stone is one of my favorite Civil War diarists. She is an admixture of a great privilege, passionate beliefs, lover of literature, keen social observations and amazing fortitude. Her Civil War was dangerous, turbulent and life changing.
Brokenburn was a large plantation containing over 150 slaves in Madison Parish, LA. From 1862 on, it was in the center of the Union Army's fierce assault to gain control of the Mississippi River and divide the Confederacy in half. Plantations were commandeered and slaves were encouraged to revolt. The civilian population was helpless before the demands of military control. Madison Parish had a population of approximately 9,000 of whom 7,000 were slaves. After 1861, the Parish was emptied of able-bodied white men, most of whom had been sent to far-off Virginia and Tennessee, leaving none to protect the civilians.
In 1861, Kate was 20 years old, her immediate future being beaus, courtship, and a gay social life before she settled down to become a proper southern matron. She was unsure whether this route was ideal, as she remarked, "women grew significantly uglier in wedlock and ignored and abandoned their former female friends." This comfortable world was turned upside down, never to reappear again. With great enthusiasm and some trepidation, she watched her three older brothers go off to war. Her widowed mother made it clear that 14-year-old James was now in charge of the running of the plantation and the protection of the rest of the family. I was amazed at the serene assumption that a young teenager was thrust in this role, but it seems that was the custom of the times. If you had to grow up fast, you did. Yellow fever was a constant in the area, and longevity was not a norm. Both Generals Grant and Lee wanted their troops out of these areas during "the seasons of pestilence." This was not to be, and both armies suffered devastating losses to disease. Kate treated the "fever season" as a fact of life, and planned around it with remarkable briskness.
By 1862, the Stone family was desperate. The Federal leadership demanded that they stay on their property; yet there were serious slave insurrections that threatened the lives of the plantation holders. Those slaves who were not hostile were running off, and there was no labor to farm the crops. Many southerners could not believe that their "loyal" slaves would run away. Kate was not among them, saying, "If I were in their place, I'd do the same." She was by no means sympathetic, just practical.
The family finally escaped through the bayous in a rickety canoe with nothing, not even underwear, and finally made it across the border into Texas. They were refugees along with many other prominent Louisiana families. Kate was convinced they had arrived at "a dark corner of the Confederacy." Upon noting the barefoot but hoop skirted frontier ladies, she sniffed "there must be something in the air of Texas fatal to beauty."
Kate agonized over the increasingly bad war news and was devastated by Lee's surrender. Kate is one of the most vivid, perceptive diarists of the Civil War. Her diary is one of social history, a time of calamitous change and invaluable for understanding this crucial time in American history. Kate is a natural writer and observer. A highly enjoyable read.
Amazon.com
This fictionalized autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett, captured in Daisy's vivacious yet reflective voice, has been winning over readers since its publication in 1995, when it won the Pulitzer Prize. After a youth marked by sudden death and loss, Daisy escapes into conventionality as a middle-class wife and mother. Years later she becomes a successful garden columnist and experiences the kind of awakening that thousands of her contemporaries in mid-century yearned for but missed in alcoholism, marital infidelity and bridge clubs. The events of Daisy's life, however, are less compelling than her rich, vividly described inner life--from her memories of her adoptive mother to her awareness of impending death. Shields' sensuous prose and her deft characterizations make this, her sixth novel, her most successful yet.
Book Description
The Stone Diaries is the story of one woman's life; a truly sensuous novel that reflects and illuminates the unsettled decades of our century.
Born in 1905, Daisy Goodwill drifts through the chapters of childhood, marriage, widowhood, remarriage, motherhood and old age. Bewildered by her inability to understand her own role, Daisy attempts to find a way to tell her own story within a novel that is itself about the limitations of autobiography.
Customer Reviews:
I'm not sure what to think...or what I'm SUPPOSED to think..........2007-09-26
The first thing that came to my mind upon finishing this novel was, "THIS won a Pulitzer?"
I will be kind and say that when I started the book, I was actually interested--for about the first third of it--although I wondered how it was supposed to be a book about Daisy Stone Goodwill when it hardly said anything about HER. But then it started delving into her life, and that's when it began to get boring! Daisy did absolutely NOTHING interesting. About the most interesting thing that happened to her was her first husband dying. If she had actually had a great love with her second husband, as I expected by the chapter entitled "Love", there might have been some redeeming qualities, but that was not the case.
I was left itching to know more about other characters, Magnus Flett, "Fraidy" Hoyt, and Maria (Cuyler Goodwill's second wife) in particular, but the only thing that caught my eye about Daisy was her dying thoughts about her life, or lack of it. Then came the chapter entitled "Death", which was a hodge-podge of senseless blather, and at that point I realized that nothing would make this a GOOD book, but at least I could claim that I finished it.
Classic Canadian Literature!.......2007-07-01
Carol Shields was awarded both the O.C. (Officer of the Order of Canada) and the C.C. (Companion of the Order of Canada) before her death. Despite being born an American citizen, she lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Victoria, British Columbia in the Dominion known as Canada. I love Canada and this book is a wonderful legacy of a great writer and author who brought alive characters like Daisy, Cuyler, Mercy, Mrs. Flett, Barker, and others without so much flash. They are quite ordinary characters in an ordinary story but the storytelling is extraordinary because the author really allows us to become enthralled with Daisy's life in Canada and in America. It's an easy book once you get into it and you feel like these characters are very real. There is a family tree and pictures in the copies that I have.
Fun Historical Fiction.......2007-06-12
This book is in fact written very much as a journal or diary, which would naturally include the real, human gaps of time for recordings in its volume. Even though it's mostly comprehensive in the lifeline of Daisy (Stone) Goodwill Flett, the coverage of her children's lives (her own offspring, grandchildren as well as those of her cousins), her friends' lives, her parents' lives fill the pages, only some of their information was integral to progress the story. I didn't feel compelled to want to know how anyone fares; there is no suspense or real intrigue. I enjoyed the gardening and botanical references since that is among my own hobbies.
Unique worthiness - like a heirloom passed down.......2007-06-03
I picked up this well worn book at a used book sale somewhere, liking the summary on the back and curious about the Pulitzer Prize winning. I just finished the last page and walked away with a deep sense of loss and a tad bit of depression. Here is a story (beautifully presented) of a woman who never exactly felt she had found her place in the world although at different periods of her life she came close. She became what would be viewed by many standards as a successful mother, a moderately successful wife (of course debatable), a gardener deluxe, an enjoyed columnist, a cherished friend, and loved grandmother and aunt. And yet, she always felt from beginning to the end, through every phase of her life, the echo of being utterly alone in this world. Maybe to really "get" this book, you need to have passed through many of the phases of life. Those phases like separate rooms of a house, standing for childhood (with Clementine then father), young adulthood (Beans and Fraidy - college then Hoad), marriage/rearing children (Barker), middleage settling (column writing - feeling "worthy"?), then an unsettling (depression and where have I really been and where am I going?), then the slippery slide into loss of health and clear mindedness. And to never have heard the words "I love you, Daisy." (Shudder) Maybe this isn't just the story of a woman living a rather unremarkable life, but the story of each one of us, just with different life events and responses. It's a book that will stick with me, maybe a bit too close for comfort.
Yawn , Yawn , Yawn.......2007-04-12
The book is sort of a "Chick Book " as in "Check Flick".
Feels something like the airing of the family laundry... with pictures.
Passionate about petunias might be an alternative title?
The writing isn't at all bad, but the material is about
very forgettable people.
My mostly California normal family
makes these people seem emotionally retarded.
Who are judging this trash as Pulitzer Prize worthy anyway?
I had to actually force myself to finish reading it:
it kept putting me to sleep.
Book Description
As tensions rise between the Tories and Patriots, Hope's life in Philadelphia becomes more confusing. Will Papa ever return from his voyage? Has he been killed, or worse become a Tory? When Hope's thirteen-year-old brother Ethan proclaims that he too is a Tory, it seems that the family is falling apart. Hope ends her diary sure that Papa and Ethan will return.
Customer Reviews:
Five Smooth Stones.......2006-02-09
It is 1776 in Phildelphia,Pennsylivana Hope Potter, Mrs.Potter (Hopes mother, and Ethan Potter (Hopes brother) are tring to make a living while Mr.Potter is at war against King Georege. They have a family buesseness on Bread St., the name of the beuness is Potter Pies they make all kinds of Pastrys. It is hard to hae a family beussinesswith only 3 people to help, but Mrs. Quinn come to help after her husband dies from a war accident. One night Ethan found out his dad switched sides, to be on King Georges side. In about a week Ethan vanishes. He left a note saying,"Went to find dad." Mrs.Potter and Hope were sad, they couldn't beleive Ethan let them. Read Five Smooth Stones to find out if Hopes brother and father comes back and what elese is going to happen.
Do judge this book by it's cover.......2002-10-22
Five Smooth Stones is about a regular girl in the Revolutionary War period.Hope has her father is at war, her brother is away and her mother is expecting a baby. This novel revolves around the lifestyle and history of the late 1700's and gives you a great lesson about that time period and has you conncet with a girl in that world. Although this book is only 93 pages not counting photos and drawings and has a little bit large typing the book give you a lot of feelings to take in and the use of the words, shall, ye, and thou are many.I reccomend this book to girls or boys with an avid interest in history within a diary formed book.
Interesting but lacking........2002-08-10
"Five Smooth Stones: Hope's Revolutionary War Diary" is a decent book for younger readers learning about the lifestyle led by colonists during The Revolutionary War. For historical points, this book is lacking, until the Historical Note at the end of the story. Read "The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777," also by Gregory, with or instead of this book, to get a bigger and better picture of The Revolutionary War. A good book for younger readers interested in history, but might be boring for older more knowledgeable history buffs. I "kind of" recommend.
A great historical novel.......2002-05-03
Nine-year-old Hope Penny Potter is finding the Revolutionary War tearing apart her family. Since Christmas her father has been gone for purposes still unknown to her family and now her brother Ethan is accusing her father of being a Tory and abandoning the family. Hope finds little comfort but she does have her best friend Polly who she confides in about her family problems. There is also hope in the family of better times for Hope's mother is expecting a new baby. However their happiness is shattered when one day Ethan runs away from home, most likely looking for his father. As the British press closer and closer the Philadelphia Hope finds that she might have to leave her beloved home too. Will Hope's family ever be reunited again? Or will the Revolutionary War keep her apart.
A great read that takes place un such an interesting place.......2001-01-15
I loved Hope's diary, and I think you will too. Of the four now published My America's, Five Smooth Stones was by far the best. If you have read Winter of Red Snow which takes place in Valley Forge, PA. not too far from Philadelpha, it will be neat for you to read about a girls journey in Philadelphia this time, instead of Abigail in Valley Forge. Some parts of it are sad, but a lot of history is, and a happy part marked by great joy when a birth occurs in such an uncertain time. To anyone out there who needs to read a book for school, or just cooped up on a snow day, read it right away.
Average customer rating:
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Keeping a Spiritual Journal With Thomas Merton: A Personal Book of Days
Thomas Merton
Manufacturer: Doubleday
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ASIN: 0385238258
Release Date: 1987-08-04 |
Book Description
Glory hallelujah—the nuns are back! Truly “habit-forming” (Maxim), the NUNS HAVING FUN CALENDAR is on a roll, with 2006 sales up 27% for a total of 96,000 copies. Who can resist these sweet, nostalgic images depicting the lighter side of convent life? In black-and-white and sepia, the photographs are from the 1950s and ’60s. Here are nuns frolicking through the waves (yes, in full habits). Nuns at the bowling alley. Nuns on a roller coaster, nuns singing, nuns in a chorus line, nuns playing jump rope, nuns on a road trip, nuns in bumper cars. Oh, and what fun they’re having! From Maureen Kelly and Jeffrey Stone, co-authors of the New York Times bestseller Growing Up Catholic, it’s a wonderfully fresh, entertaining look at the stern-looking sisters many of us remember from our childhoods.
Customer Reviews:
Nuns Having Fun!.......2007-01-03
This calender is great! If you have ever been traumatized by a nun and seek some harmless revenge this is the calender for you!
Book Description
For more than six years Seattle architect Caroline Wynn and her attorney husband, Jeffrey, have been trying to have a baby. Now, finally, Caroline is pregnant. Both Caroline and Jeffrey are thrilled. And, wanting a lasting memory of the happiness she feels, Caroline decides to keep a pregnancy journal, writing to the baby she already loves.
Caroline's pregnancy coincides with the trial of Jeffrey's career, the murder of a pregnant woman by her celebrity fiancé. For father-to-be Jeffrey, a man murdering his unborn child is as incomprehensible as it is painful.
But there are other dangers for pregnant women and their babies, perils that lurk in silence amid the joy. For Caroline, such perils are medical. Her pregnancy is placing her health -- and even her life -- in jeopardy. But when it comes to a choice between her own life and her baby's, there's never, for Caroline, the slightest doubt.
It's a decision of love -- for the baby she cherishes and the husband who loves Caroline more than she believed any man ever could. A man who deserves the chance to become the father he was meant to be.
Customer Reviews:
Sweet Story.......2006-09-24
This was an easy read. It was a sweet and tender story. It shows what women will do and what they are willing to go through to become mothers.
fine thriller.......2006-08-02
In Seattle for six years attorney Jeffrey Wynn and his wife Caroline have tried to have a baby without success until now. As Jeffrey begins to prosecute a media circus nasty homicide involving former two-time Superbowl MVP Kevin Beale having killed his girlfriend Susannah and their unborn child, Caroline is finally carrying their baby.
While the media and the radio talk show have a field day accusing Jeffrey of taking out his frustrations on a hero and blaming Susannah for her death and that of her fetus due to her lifestyle, Caroline struggles with her health as she carries her child. She begins to keep a diary, but worries about her increasingly tired spouse battling a case in which celebrity status and wealth is defeating justice and the truth.
When the journey focuses on either Caroline's health or the trial, the story line is loaded with exciting angst that grips the audience. However, when the plot veers into sidebars such as the reconciliation between sisters Caroline and Meg, it adds too much suds to the mix. Still the cast is solid and the spotlights on an at risk pregnancy and on a celebrity murder trial are fascinating.
Harriet Klausner
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Growing Up in Boston's Gilded Age: The Journal of Alice Stone Blackwell, 1872-1874
Manufacturer: Yale Univ Pr
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0300047770 |
Book Description
Studies show that dieters who keep a journal lose more weight than those who don't keep a journal. My Diet Journal includes on each page a space for the date, weight, calories, fat, carbs, food and beverage description, water intake, and exercise. The journal also features a weekly progress report. The weekly progress report includes measurements, average calories, average carbs, pounds lost, and a space for notes. The journal is 8.5 x 11 inches.
Customer Reviews:
Awful--buy the spiral bound green one.......2006-02-08
This diet diary was just awful. It is large and awkward, and omits important information. The smaller green one is cheaper and much more thorough--easier to use and doesnt look like a child's elementary school workbook. I did not like this item at all, and ended up only using it one day before tossing it in the trash. Definately not worth $25.
Average customer rating:
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Stepping Stones: A Gardener's Journal
Manufacturer: Hobby House Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 087588606X |
Book Description
Whether you're a novice or expert gardener, you'll want this beautifully illustrated journal. Stepping Stones - A Gardener's Journal takes gardeners through each season, inspiring thought with questions about one's gardening passion. There are also gardening tips for each season and 112 charming watercolor illustrations which make this journal a “must-have” for all gardeners. Just like one's own garden, this journal has no end to the creativity and individuality it inspires!
Gardeners will record their successes and challenges, and their triumphs and defeats. With over one hundred pages to document one's thoughts, observations, hopes, and aspirations for their garden this journal makes the perfect gift for that very special gardener!
Average customer rating:
- Simply Beautiful
- a reader from Seattle, Washington
- Book Club Choice!
- Background for Carol Shields's best book!
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Carol Shields's The Stone Diaries: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries)
Abby H. P. Werlock
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
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ASIN: 0826452493 |
Book Description
This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from 'The Remains of the Day' to 'White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.
Customer Reviews:
Simply Beautiful.......2003-08-07
The Stone Diaries is my favorite book, and I've read a lot of books.It's difficult to put this book into words or to clearly convey the emotion it evokes. It is the story of Daisy, a quite ordinary woman, and the author, who I'm sorry to say recently passed away, shows us how it is exactly that ordinariness that makes every human being so precious. She shows us that people have common threads that unite us. She also shows us that we ordinary folk still have qualities and experiences unique to us. As for Carol Shield's writing: Extraordinary.
a reader from Seattle, Washington.......2001-11-01
This book came out at just the right time! My book group is reading Pulitzer Prize winning novels, and we're scheduled to read The Stone Diaries next week. Imagine my delight when I found Werlock's Reader's Guide in one of our local bookstores....and discovered that she has actually asked Carol Shields some of the questions that our group would like to ask her! This book is filled with great background information, useful interpretation, and thought-provoking questions. If all the books in the series are this good, I'll buy them all!
Book Club Choice!.......2001-10-29
Even though my Chicago-based book club had already read Carol Shields's The Stone Diaries, we all went out and bought Abby Werlock's guide to our favorite novel. What a help this book has been to us! When we first discussed the novel, we had all sorts of questions, especially about whether Daisy or someone else was speaking at any given time. Well, Werlock's explanation solves it all! And even though she provides many answers to common questions, she asks questions herself, providing even more issues to delve into in this very complex and satisfying book. I recommend it to all devotees of Carol Shields.
Background for Carol Shields's best book!.......2001-10-29
As a long-time fan of everything by Carol Shields, I was glad to see the United States starting to pay more attention to this Canadian writer, especially for The Stone Diaries, in my opinion her best book. The background information that Abby Werlock provides is incredibly helpful (for instance, Shields is not responsible for the title!). Ms. Werlock's interview with Shields is a plus, especially because she wisely avoids the q and a format and instead spreads Shields's comments throughout the book. I love The Stone Diaries, but now, after reading Werlock's book, I understand it even better!
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