Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Posts Tagged ‘The Giver of Stars’

Latest Reads

Posted by terrepruitt on November 18, 2019

So have you started listening to books? Roughly a year ago I posted about how my husband and I used to listen to books on tape. They were on cassette tapes and we used to borrow them from the library. We would have a case full of tapes that held one book. I am not sure if Books On Tape ever went to CDs, but now there is Audible and I am sure there are other sources that have books you can download and listen to. As I mentioned in my post about the Pack Horse Library, my husband is the one that started on Audible and so he has a few books in his library. I am picking through some of them after his initial push of me listening to some series. Here are the latest books I have listened to lately.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin YogaAfter the Black Ocean series and Robot Geneticists there was the series of Reckoner books. It is a series about a group of people fighting against the people that have superpowers. The superpowers make people power hungry and basically not nice so the Reckoners fight against them. There were four books in that series.

The next book was the Audible original related to the Amazon Prime Video series Carnival Row.   It is the backstory about how Tourmaline and Vignette met. It is read by the actress that plays Tourmaline. She has such a lovely accent and way of speaking I was sad that it was only three hours long.Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin Yoga

Then I read The Giver of Stars which was a fictional tale about some of the Pack Horse Librarians.  It’s going to be turned into a movie.

Then came a horror story, Let Me In.  It had some really graphic and gruesome parts. It was engaging. Still not entirely sure what it was about . . . but, if you like horror stories I would recommend it.

After the bloody story, I wanted something light, something that would be rather quick. Let Me In was almost 17 hours long. My hubby had gotten a free book called You Can Thank Me Later. While it kinda isn’t a light story with a death taking front stage, it was sweet and entertaining. I really loved the way Kelly Harms, the author, described things and the silly way she started most chapters.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin YogaThen I went to another mystery . . . .well Let Me In wasn’t really a mystery, but it kept me listening to find out what was going on, so I somewhat think of it as mysterious. And really The Silent Patient, my next read wasn’t really a mystery either . . . . ahhh, maybe it was what they call a thriller? This was one that I had my husband purchase for me.

Then I moved on back to his library list and read Skyward, another book written by Brandon Sanderson the author of the Reckoners series. This was another space book — my husband loves space books. It has a character in it that – to me – makes me think of if two of the characters in the Black Ocean series were combined. It is like Wesley Wesley and Kubu were made into one character. So needless to say I love that character and wished there was more of him. I just saw on Mr. Sanderson’s website that there is a sequel to Skyward called Starsight. It will be available on 11.26.19.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin YogaSometimes after listening to a long book it is nice to listen to a short book. But then I am sad because the short ones are over too fast. But my next listen was The Christmas Hirelings. It was short and sweet. It was a reminder of simpler times when simple little things could delight a child.

Now I am listening to The Impossible Fortress. I am almost done. I was talking to my husband about it yesterday telling him how the beginning really made me laugh and he couldn’t quite remember. He said this was the second book he had listened to. He made me laugh because my comment was about Vanna White and he said, “Oh, I forgot she was even in it.” That was hilarious because the whole book is based on Vanna White’s playboy spread. The whole entire story stems from that and he forgot. I guess that the story stemming from it isn’t really the story, so I will give him that.

Anyway, I thought I would share the latest books that I have listened to. Maybe one will interest you. Maybe you’ll be intrigued to try Audible. It’s nice to be able to listen to a book while stuck in traffic or while cleaning the house. It makes both more bearable.

What books are you reading?

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin Yoga

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin YogaDance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin Yoga

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin YogaDance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin Yoga

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Library Books Delivered By Horseback

Posted by terrepruitt on November 13, 2019

I have mentioned a few times that my husband and I listen to books via Audible. My husband has a long commute that gets longer each school year. What used to be 45 minutes is now pushing 90. He is the driving force regarding Audible. He is a sci-fi fan, he likes books about aliens and fighters, spaceships and black holes. I have shared a few of his picks before. And actually he does have a lot of different types of books in his library, but a big portion of it is the sci-fi and part of that is because we have gotten hooked on a few series. He has read three series by J.S. Morin. I have only read two. I think some of the books in his library were free or he thought they were such a good deal he didn’t want to pass them up. I had just finished one book – I think it might have been a free one – and it was a bit gruesome. So I wanted something light and quick. I didn’t want to start another series. He pointed me at one he got for free and it was really short and enjoyable. But I still wanted something else. So I looked at Audible’s “Discover” and I came across a book I decided I wanted to read. I texted him and he when he answered he said, “It’s in the library.”

So I started reading “The Giver of Stars”. I was interested in the story and also that it was going to be made into a movie. I figured it would be a movie I would want to see and I like to read the books before the movies so I thought I could get a jump on things.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD, Yin YogaWell, the story was fiction but it had some truth to it. I don’t think the main character’s story is actually true, but the job she takes on was real. And I am sure that some of the situations in the story happened. The story is about a short period of the lives of the some of the women of the Pack Horse Library. I was happy to learn of such a thing. Of course I want to know more.

During the Great Depression there was an initiative paid for by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that set out to delivery books to people settled in the remote areas of the Appalachian Mountains, between 1934 and 1943. The Pack Horse Library was a group of women that would deliver books and other reading materials to people that might not have the means to make it down into a town to visit a library. Many of them couldn’t even read. They would have their children read to them or the librarians would sometime take time to read to them. Even though little over 30 percent of the population in eastern Kentucky couldn’t read in 1930 many of them understood that learning to read might help allow them to improve their economic status.

Many locals participated in the “libraries” themselves as anyone that had the means was encouraged to store the books for lending. In addition to storing books, many places needed to help by storing the supplies and things the Pack Horse Librarians would need. There would be a head librarian that worked at each place and she would give the books to the riders to take them to the various homes and schools. The head librarian would also make any repairs that may have been needed on the books themselves.

Some books would get in too bad of shape to lend out so the librarians would keep what they could save and create new books. They would use binders to hold stories and pictures that had been salvaged. They created recipe books and binders of quilt patterns.  These patched together books were very popular among the clients.

The Pack Horse Librarians would use their own horse or mule. Some were leased. It’s been documented that a woman would average walking or riding almost 5,000 miles a month. Each book pack could hold up to 100 books. The Pack Horse Librarians would ride out at least twice a month and cover 100 to 120 miles a week. Their salary was $28.00 a month. The books and reading material they delivered to the people on their assigned routes had been donated from multiple sources.

There were about 100,000 people that were the recipients of the work of the Pack Horse Librarians and by 1937 they were also bringing books to 155 public schools.

In 1943 the program stopped due to no more funds and the end of the WPA. For nine years there were woman who rode out in the cold, in the rain, in the snow, in the heat – whatever – just like mailmen, to deliver reading material to people wouldn’t have had access to it normally.

I thought that was pretty interesting. The story had a few of those details and a lot of information, but when reading a story I don’t always know what is true and what is fiction. I was very happy to learn that there really had been such a thing as the Pack House Librarians.  Oh, and the story, it was good too!

Did you know about the Pack Horse Librarians?

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