OMG

Oh my goodness where does the time go? Probably the same place as those missing socks the dryer ate and my mind when it steps out. Hm..

Finished "No Ordinary Time" by Doris Goodwin. I so enjoyed it. Thanks Dr. B. for mandating it for Seminar. FDR really was at the helm at the right time. Both of the Roosevelt's were amazing people although such different personalities. Goodwin uses the most interesting array of sources to illustrate the political, economical, social and personal. I gotta read more on Churchill now to get a fuller picture of that character. I can just see him in his pajamas walking around the White House, all hours of the night. Love it. This books a keeper for the American History Shelf and it gets the nod because of Sir Churchill, WWII, the Blitz and a million other reasons I am an Anglophile.

Also read "The Yorkist Age" by Paul Kendall. War of the Roses, Edward IV, rising merchant class, mayors and alderman, beginnings of the Renaissance all slamming into the Tudor block of history. Great stuff. Kendall takes information from letters and charters from several layers of society and mixes it with royal edicts and legislative and ecclesiastical papers and it was just a fun read for a nerd such as myself. We Americans are so English. Anway, it obviously gets the Anglicusuam nod.

Just last night finished "Nuns: A History of Convent Life", by Silvia Evangelisti. From the beginning to colonialism. I can well understand women choosing a cloistered life especially in the past. An opportunity for education, independence of sorts, security for the most part, contemplation, service. And, now here we are in modern life and we can vote and everything! Amazing what happens to people when they get access to books. Which I still prefer to ebooks anyday. However, I digress. Evangelisti discusses (among many others) Mary Ward (Yorkshire) of the English Ladies. Religious Order of ladies who founded colleges for Catholic girls. This in the early 17th Century. What a gal, thank you Mary.