reviews

100 Years of Vicissitude... Author:  Erik Larson We have a lot different words for it – luck, chance, fate or fluke to name a few – but they don’t really succeed in capturing the persistent astonishment we so often experience when we realize how momentous events can turn on the most trivial of details. “If only…” is the phrase we often tack on the beginning of such observations, unwilling to recognize that everything that ever happens is composed of trivial details if you look at it closely enough. So it was with the great British ocean liner RMS Lusitania. As [...]

Another Cozy Little House Novel Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder With Fall in the air and pumpkin spice lattes proliferating from every coffee shop, it was time to return to the cozy Laura Ingalls Wilder series I enjoyed so much as a child. While Laura, Mary, Pa, and Baby Carrie are off exploring the prairie for the first time, Laura’s future husband, Almanzo Wilder is growing up in New York state. Although better than the hand-to-mouth existence of Laura’s pioneering family, Almanzo’s days are still dictated by hard work and rich reward. Offered a life of schooling and a merchant’s apprenticeship, [...]