Virginia Books

I have often wished that I could afford the luxury of a garden consultant to answer the myriad questions that arise when I tend my Virginia garden. No more wishing. Garden design professional, Donna Williamson, has been prescient enough to anticipate all those questions--and more--and put them in a beautifully written book, The Virginia Gardener's Companion. My copy is already dog-eared from constant use. It is an easy-to-read, witty, and practical resource for both the novice and master gardener. While the book is specifically addressed to Virginia, it offers plenty of invaluable advice to anyone living in the mid-Atlantic region who dares to dream about creating a spectacular garden.

I wish I'd had this book when I started gardening in Virginia 25+ years ago, it would have saved me wasted labor, misspent money and failed plantings. The Virginia Gardener's Companion is like a garden coach in your back pocket, walking the beginning gardener through all the basics in a companionable and understandable way. It's chock full of great tips gleaned from the author's years of experience, as well as those of her extensive network of horticultural experts, including current research that debunks some long-held, but counterproductive, gardening practices (turns out it's best not to prune a tree at planting time), so it's also a worthwhile reference for the intermediate or experienced gardener. Now that I've lived in Maryland for two years I realize this is a book for the entire mid-Atlantic region, not just Virginia.

If you want one book to help you make your garden and landscape more beautiful, make it this one. It's clear, concise and to the point ... and filled with practical yet expert advice. The tone is conversational, like sitting down with someone you trust.

For many years, my rite of spring has been to pour through gardening books, making lists, taking notes, and ordering plants from near and far.

The results in my garden hardly seemed worth the effort. Flowers bloomed out of their noted sequence; plants raved over in ink failed when in the ground; and my dreams of a lush, continuous display of interesting flora typically withered by mid-summer.

This book has changed that. It is specific, practical, knowledgeable and totally competent. Ms. Williamson gives accurate guidance on everything from selecting plants to dealing with pests.

She has also sought out expert advice from regional authorities - people who have years of experience and who work at Virginia Tech, the Virginia Arboretum, Chanticleer and local nurseries. Their comments add further credibility to a book that already has a strong foundation in fact and observation.

While even the most advanced gardener will gain from reading this book ... it is a treasure trove for those who have enthusiasm but who need to know more about how to do it well.

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!!! I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!! I've read it 4 times and I cry everytime, Mary is amazing in the book as well as in person!!! I recomend to all

This book is absolutely amazing. It made me sob, laugh, smile, sigh, and get chills down my spine. You don't have to be a horse lover in order to enjoy this book- (even though I am) you just have to be someone who wants a detailed, heart-warming story that you will never put down. Mary Mitchell Barnes describes the relationship with her horse, Chinkers, in such a touching way. She treated him like a human and a life-long friend instead of "just a horse." I think that is what really made this book fantastic. I am so glad I read this book because no other one can match this. A must read for anyone!!!!!

This is a truly WONDERFUL book. I couldn't put it down. It's a hearwarming story of the power of animals (and one horse in particular) and their effect on our lives and souls. The story flows, cativates, and entertains. The author's style is warm and believable. She made me laugh and cry. I wish all books were this good.

The Virginia Germans by Klaus Wust

The University Press of Virginia

1969

Contents:

Part One: 17th Century Forerunners covers the First Germans in Virginia.

Part Two:

In the Piedmont
In the valley of Virginia
First Consolidation
Indian Wars
Revolutionary War
Part Three:

Distribution of Colonial Stock
Bilingual Politics
Slavery
The German Churches
Cultural Resources
Folkways, Crafts & Arts
Vanishing Traces
Part Four:

Isolation and Nativism
Civil War and Reconstruction
German Americanism
Prohibition and World War
Notes

Bibliography

Index

Maps:

German Settlements 1714-1745

German Congregations in 1810

This is a great foundational work on the beginnings of the German element in Virginia. Sections cover the beginnings in the early 1600s and follow through to WWI. Most of the focus is on pre 1850 German settlements but also included is a chapter on the Civil War. If you can find it, get it!

I bought this book when my wife and I visited the Mennonite culture center in Lancaster County, Pa., in Jan. 1992. I've rarely enjoyed a book more, primarily because I was able to read it in very general information about the roots of part of my family, colonial era German-Americans living near persent-day Bristol, Va.-Tenn. who migrated over the Appalacians into Harlan County, Ky., around 1800. Wust describes the migration of the Germans down the Shenandoah Valley, settling the Allegheny side and leaving as remnants 3 isolated Va. German-speaking villages (non-Mennonite) even today. We did not visit those villages, but according to a Mennonite harness-maker in Dayton, Va., two of them still existed at that time. This is not something that you can learn about from official tourist info centers. Many of the German family names mentioned by Wust still exist in E. Ky., often in Anglicized form (Stambach=Stumbo or Stambaugh, Diehl=Deal, Joachim=Yoakim, etc). Written for hillbillies (and others) in search of their roots.

I wish programmers of many applications I use had read this book. It provides significant insight regarding how the interface affects the user; any programmer who reads the book will have happier users.
The book proves its own points via its own beautifully done "user interface".

This is a great book for a number of reasons:

1.It is short and practical.

2.This book is surprisingly thorough. I thought that this book might be too tactical and too focused on Microsoft Windows. It turned out to be full of general principles that could be applied in any software design situation. In fact it is full of information that would help any type of design process.

3.This book is well written and easy to read. I enjoyed reading this book.

4.Most of the principles in the book are timeless. Even though the examples are dated the principles can be applied today.

5.This book is written by someone who has had a huge impact on lots of real world software. The book reflects a lot of successful experience with high profile products. It is obvious that the author knows how to work with engineers and designers under high pressure situations and still manage to ensure strong design.

This book is a good introduction to the principles of interface design and how it affects the usability of a software product. It includes many examples and illustrations of the ideas outlined in the book. The content is easy to read and the full-color graphics are high quality. I think it is well worth reading and very helpful for both programmers and designers. My only caveat is that due to Howlett's work experience at Microsoft, many of her examples involve Microsoft products that follow the Microsoft interface standards. These standards may be limiting to some software products. But I was impressed with the overall quality of the information.

Virginia Beach can be a bit overwhelming and this book made my trip less stressful.

I didn't actually walk any of the suggested walks, but did see many of the sights highlighted in this book.

This little book is packed full of information. It's arranged in a logical manner and it's inexpensive. What more can you ask for?

As a resident of Virginia Beach I found new insight into the area. This informative guide is packed with history, information on natural resources and local trivia. I was not surprised to see Jackson's credentials. She knows her stuff! Congratulations Virginia Beach!

a great manual for a insider's look at a otherwise typical beach resort. the author shows you how with a little foot work you can visit first hand things that have a little more signifigance than a tacky t-shirt shop.

This is an interesting and informative book about the gardens that George Washington spent 45 years planning and tending for his home, Mount Vernon. The stylish new photographs are supplemented by historic drawings, some from the archives of the museum. Various out-buildings are shown along with the landscape garden, kitchen garden, pleasure garden and a botanical garden where Washington experimented. In addition, there is a listing of Washington's trees and shrubs, eighteenth century flowers, bulbs and roses currently grown at Mount Vernon, and a list of what George Washington grew from seed. This a good reference for all interested in the history of gardens in America.

This lovely book, full beatiful photographs is a must for any one interested in American history and garden history in general. In fact it gives us Americans a garden history (slavery excluded) to be as proud of as the British are of theirs.
Lots of well researched interesting facts, useful advice, historical insight and pretty pictures make this book thoroughly enjoyable and I recomend it highly.

This lovely book, full beatiful photographs is a must for any one interested in American history and garden history in general. In fact it gives us Americans a garden history (slavery excluded) to be as proud of as the British are of theirs.
Lots of well researched interesting facts, useful advice, historical insight and pretty pictures make this book thoroughly enjoyable and I recomend it highly.

My daughters, ages 8 and 6, listened intently as I read 'Way Down Deep'. We truly enjoyed this book. We found it difficult to stop reading each night as they would ask for 'one more page'. The characters are colorful and vivid and charming. We laughed out loud when the townspeople turn the attempted bank robbery into an 'opportunity' and adopt the bank robber and his family. We breathed a sigh when Ruby made her decision about where her home is... who her family is. We will certainly re-read this book in the future.

Ruth White's WAY DOWN DEEP tells of a toddler found abandoned in a small town. Miss Arbutus takes her in and she leads a good life - but when Ruby is twelve a new family arrives in town with news of her past - and to learn more she must travel far from her newfound home. Is it worth it? A fine story of bonds and community connections evolves.

Way Down Deep is a small town that is cradled between hills in the Appalachian Mountains. This special town "did not do things by the book". In 1944 on the first day of summer, a small redheaded girl is found abandoned in front of Way Down Deep's courthouse "she was in her petticoat, just sitting there on that bench where the old-timers like to hang out and swap lies" A toddler she can only respond that "woo-bee" is her name so the town adopts Ruby informally, " if Ruby's people were dumb enough to lose something as valuable as a child, then finders keepers, losers weepers". The sheriff whose "heart was way too soft and his mind too fuzzy for sheriffing" looks the other way rather than try to locate any relatives when Miss Arbutus who runs the rambling three-story boardinghouse called The Roost volunteers to raise the little girl until "her people" are found. Ruby, now eleven, thrives on the love extended to her by the townspeople. The setting is well established: A charming little map shows: Busy Street and Ward Street where there are businesses like Bevins's BarberShop, Pure Gas Station whose owner also runs the Boxcart Grill and the medical office of Mr. and Mrs. Doctor, one is a dentist, the other is a doctor.
The cast of delightful characters include: a man who arrives with a goat which he offers Miss Arbutus in exchange for lodging and food; this goat loves to stand on a Studebaker to view his new town, Ruby's classmate Reese who loves to sing but sings off-key "In his own mind he was the second coming of Hank Williams, but to everybody else he was as off-key as a hillbilly slung up drunk on moonshine", Mrs. Thornton Elkins a "cultured lady" whose husband died in their first year of marriage so she moves into the Roost to recuperate for a few weeks, then a few months, then a few years; when she runs out of money, donations of food items and bolts of dress material are left for her so she could wear "simple but stylish dresses". One day an inept bank robber who is easily confounded, scared of real guns and so carries a plastic gun, cries when he tries and fails to hold up the town bank successfully. When it turns out he arrived in town on a bus and plans to leave on a bus, the townspeople are too polite to suggest to him a getaway on a bus was not the best idea. Nevertheless, the townspeople "adopt" his family since he is down on his luck. When Ruby is eleven years old, an uncle shows up to reclaim her; the interior motive proves to be that she is required to take care of a constantly angry and bitter grandmother. Ruby ingeniously starts telling her stories about the nurturing town where she grew up. Later when Ruby insists on returning to Way Down Deep, the grandmother wants to move there too where she might finally have some friends. This is a charming and uplifting story of a community that treasures its children (the adults put on a Kid's Day to celebrate all of them) and offers help to those in need. Yes, the residents are nosey and news travels fast, yet who would not want to live in this unique town where the residents are respectful of each other's idiosyncrasies and extend their love and care to residents and strangers alike. This is a powerful story of redemption and acceptance that is humorous and filled with interesting characters.

I've always been interested in what's happening around the world and with this book you can go back in history and read about it. The audio CDs, which allow you to listen to the book while on the go, are a great addition to the book.

The table of contents (toc) was organized very well. I liked the fact that each story had a picture to go along with it for a quick visual connection to what you are looking for. The disk and track information is side by side with the regular (toc) so whether you are wanting to read or listen, finding the story will be easy. It's the little seemingly unimportant details like this that help make a good book even better.

What I enjoyed the most about this book was being able to listen to the broadcast while following along with the book and looking at the pictures. Overall, I'd say this is an excellent book. A book that should be on the shelf of every home.

I have long been an avid fan of photojournalism. I was a subscriber to Life Magazine for many years when I was a teen and in college, even purchasing some of the "photos of the year" books. When I saw that this book was available, I was anxious to read it. I love the concept of keeping a record of those stories that made us stop in our tracks and tune in, becoming a part of a "collective viewing" (a term from the afterword), those moments where we can tell others later where we were when we heard the news.

The thing this book does well is that it gives us a context in which to appreciate these events as they happened. Did you know that the Hindenburg was primarily financed by Nazi money? And for that reason the US made it impossible for their company to purchase our helium (which apparently, we held the market on at the time?) Or that this is the reason the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen instead, which is more flammable? Yeah, me neither. Over and over again I learned things that added depth to the sketchy facts I knew about different news stories.

Because most of us have heard of these events countless times, they have lost their impact and because many of them happened either before I was alive or when I was too young to understand, I cannot personally read about them with the emotion that they certainly elicited when they actually happened. Listening to the cds, however, and hearing the raw emotion and terror with which some of these stories were reported truly can give you a sense for how shocking and traumatic it was to have lived at the time. Sometimes, like when Robert Kennedy or Lee Harvey Oswald were actually assassinated while a reporter was talking on the air, my heart began racing because the reporters were reporting on these horrible things as they were happening in front of them. This was also the case with the Hindenburg, when the reporter was yelling at people to run and get out of the way or they will be hit by a flaming zeppelin as it crashes to the ground in their midst. The cds really do add great dimension and are worthwhile all on their own.

Can you tell I'm a fan of this book? It's extremely well done. It gives the biggest headlines not only background but also consequence. The modern history of our country and the events that shaped it are laid out in readable but not simplified text. The photography, those frames that represent the moment to us, are both stirring and familiar. If you are a news buff or a history buff or just a generally curious person, I think you will find something worthwhile in We Interrupt This Broadcast.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book; I pre-ordered it months ago & forgot about it until Amazon shipped it to me. I treasured the first edition of this book because of my love of history and news. It is a rare ability to have the audio tracks of the news events that shaped our world and lives.

This 10th anniversary edition does not disappoint. The first two discs are virtually the same as the 1st edition. There is a 3rd disk, which picks up where the 1st edition left off: Princess Diana's death. Included in this volume are the events from President Clinton's impeachment to Virginia Tech. Most of the events in the books took place before my time; a few of them created my lifelong love of politics & news and remind me of being a young teen. The newest ones I remember clearly as an adult and won't ever forget. I will cherish this book. It is a must-have for history buffs.

This is a touching book with realistic characters that could almost be our neighbors or friends. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this book is the ability of each character's tale to stand on its own, but also work together as one book or "novel." Anderson is a very talented writer whose work will indeed delight her readers. She is truly one of the most memorable writers of Appalachian fiction as well as one of the most talented writers I have ever known. Her work is very touching and her characters' tales tug at our heart's strings and invite us to feel something for someone we have never met before. But a closer look shows that these characters may not be such strangers at all. Their pain is so real and so familiar.

A great work, certainly meant for the shelf or even the coffee table of all frequent readers of fiction.

If you feel a little guilty after reading `The Well Ain't Dry Yet 'you were probably raised to believe eavesdropping is impolite. Sure, eavesdropping on the lives of fictional characters may not seem such a crime-after all, we do it all the time with books, TV, films, etc. But there's something about the characters and settings of Belinda Anderson's collection of eighteen short stories that just might fool your conscience.

We know these characters as people before even turning the first page. They are our friends, our enemies, our neighbors, our relatives and sometimes even ourselves. We wouldn't be surprised to find them in line with us at the grocery store or sitting two pews down from us at church. And like any community, Anderson's characters pass through one another's lives (stories) just as easily as the people they remind us of pass through our own.

For instance, if you don't currently have a cranky, troublesome neighbor like Mr. Wood from the story `Rainbow Ranch', you either have before or one day will and can take a tip on how to deal with him now. Or if you haven't yet been run off the road by a de facto member of the crazy old lady drivers club, who meet monthly in the story `Delivery', count yourself lucky and keep both eyes on the road when driving near the Princeton Cracker Barrel. And though you probably haven't driven around for years with your dead sister's ashes taking up space in your trunk, you can probably sympathize with the long-standing jealousy leading the main character of `Hauling Evelyn' to do so.

Some of Anderson's tales take on a dark subtext, such as `Marital Bliss', or infuriate you at the pure selfishness of people, as the story `Junior' does. Ultimately, though, even these stories remain hopeful that a better day is just around the corner.

`The Well Ain't Dry Yet' is cross-section of life as we know it in West Virginia. Anderson's characters feel as though they were living their lives before we opened the book and will go on living them after we've closed it again. She's merely allowed us to eavesdrop on them for a little while, with perhaps a little guilt for having done so. This is Anderson's true accomplishment.

(This review originally appeared in the Reader's Corner weekly column of the West Virginia Daily News, April 1, 2002 edition.)

In The Well Ain't Dry Yet, prize-winning author Belinda Anderson shares with her audience her insider's eye about a collection of people who come from the hills of West Virginia, but who could have come from just about anyplace where the people have spunk and care about each other. Characters in The Well Ain't Dry Yet, such as quilter Twilight Dawn Johnson, who puts bits of other people's lives in perspective to patch together a lifetime of memories and hopes in each quilt for her friends and neighbors, remind us of ourselves and our neighbors at our best and funniest moments.

This is a fantastic book. Lots of great recipes with new adaptions to ones that have been around for awhile. Using a different spice or combining of various ingredients gives news twists to old standbys and favorites. I am an avid reader of cookbooks and don't have that much time to cook now that my family is grown and left the nest, but with this book, I am very anxious to get back in the kitchen and create some new and exciting things. Cookbooks by Jr. Leagues always have some of the very best recipes and this one is certainly no exception. Highly recommend whether just for reading, or looking for something new and different.

I love cookbooks and own a lot of them. I bought this book two years ago and have given many copies as gifts to peple who like to cook. My family loves the recipes. We made some of the recipes for my niece's wedding brunch in Denver last year and the guests raved about the food. The recipes and instructions are well-written and the results are great.

Of all the regional cookbooks I own, this is one of my favorites! This cookbook has great suggestions for things to take to different gatherings from Gold Cup Horse Races to Neighborhood Picnics. I especially love the tips and suggestions at the bottom of the recipes. So far, I have tried about 20 recipes and all of them have been fabulous! The recipes are clear and easy to follow. This book is a necessity for delicious homemade treats to impress your friends. It also makes a great bridal shower and teacher gift.