Carnegie's Maid

 Marie Benedict wrote wrote The Other Einstein and I enjoyed the story about Albert Einstein's first wife very much. She also wrote Carnegie's Maid and I liked that too. This story is more fictional than the Einstein book because the maid in this story is fictional whereas Einstein's first wife was a world famous physicist. No one knows if Carnegie's maid was from Ireland or how much, if any, influence she had on Andrew Carnegie. Somebody had an influence on Andrew Carnegie to turn him into a philanthropist in his later years. The author has a theory that an Irish immigrant maid named Clara Kelly influenced Andrew as she worked as a lady's maid for his mother. Working at the Carnegie house gave Clara the funds she needed to support her parents and sisters in Galway, Ireland.  Did she give him the idea to put telegraph poles next to the rail lines so damaged lines could be noticed and repaired more quickly? Did she give him the idea that free public libraries were so important that he decided to build them all over the United States, Scotland, and Great Britain? Did she convince him that money isn't what made a person valuable?  All we know is Andrew Carnegie, once the richest man in the nation, gave away nearly all his money to improve education, music, and the prospect of world peace. 

The Spanish Daughter

 Lorena Hughes is the author of The Spanish Daughter. She was born and raised in Ecuador until she came to the United States at the age of 18. Ecuador is where most of the story takes place. Vinces is the city in Ecuador where the Spanish daughter came to visit after her father died. Puri is the name of the Spanish daughter which is short for Maria Purificacion deLafont. Puri grew up in Spain. Her father left for Ecuador when she was two years old. After he died, he left part of his cacao growing plantation to her. After getting a notification of his death and her inheritance, she travels to Vinces, Ecuador to learn more. The year is 1920. Puri has always been interested in cacao. She opened a cacao shop in Spain where she sold hot chocolate and chocolate truffles. This was an interesting family drama where I learned much about cacao plantations too.

The Day The World Came To Town

 There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Gander. The streets are not laid out in the typical grid pattern nor the wagon wheel pattern of Washington, D.C. The streets are laid out in the shape of the head of a male goose or a gander. This town, on an island in the Atlantic Sea, has a huge airport and was used during WWII to refuel planes. So when Sept. 11, 2001 happened and the United States shut down all airports, many flights from Europe were rerouted to Gander. The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFede is a history of that time. 42 planes landed in Gander. The number of stranded passengers and airline crew totaled 6,800. The people in the town banded together to help. The airline crews were sent to the hotels. The passengers were sent to schools, churches, and community centers. Community members cooked food and opened their homes so people could take showers. Telephone companies set up phones for passengers to use. Passengers and crew were frustrated with the changes in travel plans but no one acted our their anger. In fact, some connections were made during those four days the strangers came to Gander that still are alive today. The generosity of the people who live in Gander was astounding and a pleasure to read about.

The Ever After

 I read The Ever After which is a family drama novel written by Sarah Pekkanen. Josie and Frank have been married for 16 years. They have two young girls and naturally life is busy in the suburbs of Chicago. One morning Josie asks to borrow Frank's phone while he stops to get coffee. As she uses his phone to call a pharmacy, she sees an email pop up that indicates frank is having an affair. Josie is furious. Frank is remorseful. The book explores the marital crisis and the fall out when her trust in him is broken. I thought Josie's character was authentic and real. This novel almost read like a self-help book on how to deal with infidelity.

Stay Close

 Harlan Coben wrote Stay Close which is set in Atlantic City. In the book the author talks about a Korean war memorial and a giant elephant that has stores inside on the board walk. So if I ever get to Atlantic City, I do want to see those two things. The story is about a crime. A guy went missing. A detective never stops trying to solve the case. The woman in the story, Megan, also known as Cassie, makes one stupid decision after another stupid decision. Honestly, she was very frustrating. But without her stupid decisions we would never have found out what happened to the missing guy. This was not my favorite book.

Desert Solitaire

 Desert Solitaire was published in 1968 by Edward Abbey. This environmental journal was based on the notes he kept when he worked as a park ranger in the late 1950's from April through September at what is now Arches National Park. When he worked there the park was called Arches National Monument. Very critical of the National Park system, Edward Abbey called it Arches National Money Mint. He lived in a mobile home alone out in the park far away from the roads and the campground. At that time Arches had no paved roads and was quite a rugged park. The author wanted it to stay that way. He didn't want paved roads and hordes of tourists coming to Arches. I have been to Arches National Park and the roads are now paved and there are hordes of tourists climbing around the hard rocks and looking at the arches. Most of the time the author was alone in the wilderness. He writes about being alone but he also writes about the nature. He writes about the constellations in the night sky. He is very knowledgeable about the wild flowers and the various ecosystems. When he wasn't working as a park ranger, he worked with a local rancher to round up cattle. He also went hiking with friends. He took a friend on a ten day raft trip through Glen canyon. He writes about the pictographs and petroglyphs he finds. He gives a detailed description about quicksand which can be found in the desert. Reading this book reminded me of my trip to Arches years ago. At one point all the mice in his mobile home draw the attention of rattle snakes. After finding rattle snakes under his home twice he decides to take care of the problem. He goes elsewhere in the park and finds a gopher snake. He takes the gopher snake  home and puts it in the house where it promptly takes care of the mice problem before crawling away to find a new spot to live. This author doesn't think in conventional ways and I think that is why I enjoyed this book as much as I did.

America's First Daughter

 Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie wrote a long book about Martha (Patsy) Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter. The audio version of America's First Daughter was over 23 hours long. The book may have been long but it was never boring. Patsy was ten years old, red haired and freckled like her father, when her mother passed. On her death bed her mother asked Patsy to watch over her poppa. Patsy took that vow seriously. She gave up her own choices to be with her father all throughout his life including 8 years of living in Paris when he was ambassador there. In Paris Patsy got a great education. She could speak four languages, sew, dance, and read. Sally Hemmings, his slave, was Patsy's age and also in Paris. When they left Paris, Sally was pregnant with her first child and Patsy knew all about it. At his side, Patsy lived through the American revolution and the French revolution. Patsy married Thomas Randolph and had a dozen children with him. When her father was elected to be the third President of our nation, she served as his hostess in the White House. Some of the book includes excerpts of actual letters between Patsy and her father or her father and other people. Some parts of the book were based on conjecture. We know that Patsy's husband beat his children but we don't know for sure if he beat Patsy too as is indicated in this book. Reading this book gave me a sense of what it was like for women living in Virginia on a farm trying to make a living while raising a family. I have admired Jefferson as a President but now I admire his daughter for helping him. He would not have been as successful without Patsy.