Virginia Books

Like the previous reviewer, I too am a descendant (grandchild) of the Spanish immigrants of the Simpson, Harrison, West Virginia area. This book was well-written and very informative.
Any descendants of the Spanish zinc workers want to form an e-mail group, and possibly a reunion? Contact me at ctjedda@yahoo.com

I have to admit, the reason I loved this book is because my grandparents came from Spain and actually lived and worked in this this very same town that Mr. Gonzalez described. In fact, they were probably neighbors. This book allowed me to get a glimpse into what life was like for my grandparents in the early 1900s.

The story is fairly well written and probably would appeal to people simply interested in the history of various minorities in the US.

For those interested in life in early Virginia, especially those that had ancestors there, this is a "must read" book. It offers a fascinating and highly detailed picture of life in those times, and offers some comparison to how it differed from life in New England at that time.

Genealogists studying ancestors mentioned in the book will be disappointed in the lack of genealogical source notes; it is, after all, a social history and not a work on genealogy. However, most of the genealogical information is sourced in the authors' notes which are archived at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.

Everyone who is interested in what life was like for residents of Colonial Virginia will gain a lot of insight on their homes, economics, social strata, and relationship with their servants. For those of us who actually descended from the people who are cited in the book, this is a revelation of how our ancestors fit into the community.

Pat Montella arrives in Colonial Williamsburg escorting a sullen teenager, her future step-daughter. Beth Ann's father Hugh Lee and Miss Maggie Shelby will arrive later in the day so Pat must face her prospective mother-in-law on her own.
Pat has made a promise to Hugh of no more ghosts, but the spirit world will not allow her to keep her pledge. Elena Santangelo has the skill to move the reader back and forth from current time to the 18th century without a feeling of disruption. Ghosts of Christmas past collide with murder in current time in a house filled with doctors who have constant battle of one upmanship. Pat is drawn against her will back to the past and an ancient murder while the family consumes a feast of colonial abundance.
Miss Maggie devours the food and the clues while enlightening the reader on early Virginia history, which makes for an unexpected, but satisfying conclusion.
This is an excellent series for all the right seasons. It has ghosts, murder, romance and mystery.
Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil WarUnder the Liberty OakGuns Across the Rio: A Texas Ranger in Old Mexico

What could be worse than arriving at your future in-laws at Christmastime without your boyfriend, and with his sullen teenage daughter? How about having your gynecologist show up for the family celebration? How about feeling the presence of ghosts in a colonial house in Williamsburg?

Elena Santangelo brings back Pat Montella in this fascinating mystery. Pat has communicated with ghosts before, linking murders from the past with current events. This time, she promised her boyfriend she will have nothing further to do with ghosts. Then she feels fear when she is in the old parts of Gladys Lee's colonial home, and even feels the affects of poisoning. In a parallel storyline, a music master in Williamsburg in 1783 witnesses the illness and subsequent death of a lodger in the Carson house, the house that Gladys Lee lives in two hundred years later.

Santangelo does a wonderful job in combining romance, history, mystery and the paranormal while writing two storylines, one set in colonial Williamsburg, one two centuries later. Pat Montella and her mentor, Miss Maggie Shelby, are fascinating, well-rounded characters who are intelligent enough to make the link between events that occur so far apart.

Highly recommended for lovers of American history and historical mystery.

We have three rabits and I gain a lot of knowledge regarding rabbits with this book. It is easy to read and has many information.

A lot of good information and some good photos. I have yet to find one definitive house rabbit guide, but this covers a lot of the basics: history, deciding if rabbit is right pet, adopting a rabbit, setting up living space and health. There is also a great section on rabbit behavior and behavior problems.

Worth buying before or after bringing a rabbit into your home!

As a marriage & family therapist and school counselor, I highly recommend this book to clients and parents of students. The book describes a step-by-step process that gives struggling parents the practical skills they need to stop the confusion and chaos and move towards creating a happy, loving family. The techniques, while direct and simple, prove powerful and effective. I believe parents who begin using the principles and strategies described in this book will see immediate results.

As a parent of three children (5 -7 -9)and a former teacher, I found this book to be very helpful and comprehensive. One basic premise of the book is that the marriage relationship is critical to a happy family. The authors also realize that most people have some of their own problems or isues to deal with and/or do not have extensive parenting education. Many chapters come with easy-to-do exercises that allow parents to do their homework, so to speak, on some of their own values and how they want to handle things in their own home. You will get more out of the book if you read it simultaneously with your partner, do the exercises, and discuss each chapter. The layout of each chapter has a nice consistent format: Summary of the key points, the actual information, with expansion through anecdoes, tips, and traps. I especially liked the traps: all of the things that could cause you to fail. Attention is also given to single parenting, divorce, special problems, and relationships with adult children. My favorite chapter: 'Parents are in charge' *Stick togethr *Make rules *Define consequences *Stay in charge If you like the no-nonsense format of the above ideas, you will love this book!

Eleven-year-old Andrew Saintleger lives with his family on a farm in Devon, England. Since Andrew's older brother will inherit the farm, other prospects must be arranged for Andrew's future. So, in the spring of 1584, when Andrew finishes school, his father surprises him with the opportunity of a lifetime. Andrew travels to London to join the staff of Sir Walter Raleigh, a famous entrepreneur, a favorite acquaintance of the Queen's and a man with a dream to explore America.

Andrew settles into his new life in the loud, bustling city, despite missing home and being bullied by one of the other pages. Since he hails from a farm and is talented in such tasks, he is assigned to spend most of his hours assisting Pena, the gardener, and learning about the experiments Pena conducts on foreign plants in English soil. In addition, Sir Raleigh sets dangerous tasks before him to test his intelligence, his trustworthiness and his bravery. In one such test, Andrew must go undercover as a wine clerk to sneak into a mapmaker's home and obtain a new and supposedly very accurate map. After proving himself worthy, Andrew earns the grandest adventure ever --- to join the expedition to explore America.

Andrew now also assists with the preparation for the voyage, including visiting the Queen for her support, calculating for supplies needed and recording all transactions. He even befriends the two Native Americans brought back from a previous voyage, seeing to their needs and learning their language. They will return to America with Sir Raleigh's expedition and aid them in exploring the new lands.

They set sail the following spring. Even with all of their preparations and research, no one could have prepared Andrew and the crew for the most extreme of all tests --- mere survival. When they lose their supplies in a shipwreck, they must rely on the native Indians for food through the long, cold winter. Yet, despite every hardship and challenge, Andrew grows to love this new land and sees so much promise in the fertile soil, the thick forests and the freedom existing for everyone. He knows America is his future.

Alan Armstrong received the Newberry Honor Award for his first novel, WHITTINGTON. He has thoroughly researched RALEIGH'S PAGE, creating an adventure for everyone to enjoy. Filled with fascinating historical facts and richly detailed descriptions, readers will learn a bit of history while experiencing the adventures and dangers of early explorers.

--- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT and THE BLACK POND

As the youngest son, Andrew Saintleger is destined for whatever life his father decides he should have. When his father chooses, just before Andrew's twelfth birthday, to take him to London and arrange for him to train and work under Sir Walter Raleigh, Andrew knows he is the luckiest boy around.

Rumor has it that Sir Walter has turned his sights on America. Andrew knows all about America. His teacher, Master Tremayne, is nearly obsessed with the New World and has been drilling all of the students on it all year. So much so that half of the students have become enthralled with it. And now, Andrew may actually get to go!

Adventures on the road to London are nothing compared to the life that Andrew is about to jump in to. Nothing can prepare him for the strange life that Sir Walter leads, and the amazing things he will learn, or the crazy things he will be asked to do. And that's just in London! Just when Andrew begins to feel somewhat comfortable at Durham House, Sir Walter is ready to leave for America. What Andrew finds during the journey and in America will change everything for him, forever.

This book is fantastic on so many levels. It's adventurous and exciting. It's well written. The characters are interesting and believable. It's historically accurate whenever possible. Whether you are a reluctant reader, you have a thirst for adventure, you enjoy the stories in history, or you just want to read a good book, this book can deliver. Simply put, this one is definitely worth the time!

On a personal note, I wish history was taught more like this. Or that someone had gotten me into historical fiction when I was much younger. I knew the name of Sir Walter Raleigh, and I had a general idea of his time period in history, but after reading RALEIGH'S PAGE I will never forget the story.

Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman

Raymond Bushell was part of the occupying US military after World War Two, and he found two loves of his life, netsuke, where he became a leading collector and writer on the art form, and his wife, who helped organize this exhibit and wonderful book. The color photography is superb and the text contains important scholarly insights.

The International Netsuke Society (formerly known as the Netsuke Kenkyukai Society) is devoted to the study and collection of netsuke and related sagemono art forms. There are over 625 society members living in 31 different countries. The Society publishes the International Netsuke Society Journal, which is an excellent source of information on both antique and contemporary netsuke. (Consider becoming a member if you enjoy netsuke or Japanese art in general.)

The Society recommends this as this book as one of the best books to learn about netsuke:

"In The Raymond and Frances Bushell Collection of Netsuke, exquisite color photography and scholarly insights bring alive this amazing tradition. It features more than 820 netsuke, with accompanying text that gives a complete overview of changing tastes in netsuke collecting and carving throughout its history and into the present day. Each netsuke has a detailed description that places the subject in the context of Japanese life and history, and gives important information about the carver or technique. The enormous variety of netsuke subjects are thoroughly examined, including famous battles and samurai, kabuki and noh actors and plays, scandalous stories, animals and imaginary creatures, Buddhist sages, and Shinto rituals."

As collectors of netsuke for many years, my wife and I find this book to be a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the art form, or in the culture and history of Japan.

Robert C. Ross 2007 2008

It is very useful book for any collectors, carvers and other people who love netsuke! There are a lot of images, the perfect quality!

I grew up with this cookbook. It was the ONLY cookbook used by my grandmother & mother. It's the one I use any time I want something with an old fashioned, down home taste I grew up with...especially for biscuits & pies. Check out the buttermilk biscuits, chocolate, pecan & chess pies.

This book was given to me in 1977 as a wedding gift and it is undoubtedly the best cook book I have ever had ever since. Try the banana nut bread and the Colonial Peach Cobler. It's all great!

This important reference book evaluates the dependability of quotations attributed to Lincoln. They are listed alphabetically by name of the person who claimed to hear Lincoln. A copious index to this nearly 600-page book gives further assistance in locating alleged quotations. The book was compiled by two Lincoln experts and is authoritative as any Lincoln book can be.

I can not imagine how many hours of checking and rechecking it took for the Fehrenbachers to compile this book. They offer not only the words of Lincoln as recalled by others, but also their opinions on the probable accuracy of the person who recalled the words. I found quotes I had never heard and I noted that some quite famous "quotes" were debunked. This is as close to the "real words" of Lincoln we are able to get outside his writings and newspaper reports of his speeches. Of course, written words, carefully crafted speeches and spontaneous spoken words are all different. Thanks to the editors for massive amounts of careful work.

Return to a time when life was simpler. Discover classic river towns, mountain retreats and coastal fishing villages, small towns where you can still shop on Main Street, where the hardware store and the bookstore are not part of a national chain, old buildings are restored and historic places are preserved. The Burnhams, also co-authors of The Virginia Handbook, have discovered and explored scores of these delightful towns. Destinations include Onancock, on Virginia's Eastern Shore; Irvington, a hip town built around The Tides resort; Strasburg and Front Royal, towns rich in Shenandoah Valley history; as well as coastal towns such as St. Michael's, Crisfield and St. Mary's. The places featured in this book have charming inns and B&Bs, in addition to good, locally owned restaurants. There are enough attractions to satisfy any traveler, but there is also space and time to tarry, to sit in a park or on a shaded bench and watch life pass by.

Return to a time when life was simpler. Discover classic river towns, mountain retreats and coastal fishing villages, small towns where you can still shop on Main Street, where the hardware store and the bookstore are not part of a national chain, old buildings are restored and historic places are preserved. The Burnhams, also co-authors of The Virginia Handbook, have discovered and explored scores of these delightful towns. Destinations include Onancock, on Virginia's Eastern Shore; Irvington, a hip town built around The Tides resort; Strasburg and Front Royal, towns rich in Shenandoah Valley history; as well as coastal towns such as St. Michael's, Crisfield and St. Mary's. The places featured in this book have charming inns and B&Bs, in addition to good, locally owned restaurants. There are enough attractions to satisfy any traveler, but there is also space and time to tarry, to sit in a park or on a shaded bench and watch life pass by.