Part scholarly examination, part fan led inquiry, and part novelist
envy, these eight essays take Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his creation
seriously while making them more approachable than ever before. Laurie R. King’s Sherlock Holmes covers
over ten years of scholarship and discovery about all things
Sherlockian. Why does Doctor Watson’s leg injury migrate? How old is
Sherlock? And why on earth are the stories about a rude, dissociative,
Edwardian detective written by a man who didn’t even like his own
creation still so compelling? King probes Sherlock Holmes’s genius with
delightful and self-deprecating wit. Author of the extremely
successful The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and Kate Martinelli
series, King understands the inner workings of the detective fiction
novel and those who admire them. Delve into this book for entertainment
and emerge with a whole world of mystery.
Born as a ward of the state of Maine, the child of an unmarried Yankee
blueblood mother and an unknown black father, Victoria Rowell beat the
odds. The Women Who Raised Me is the remarkable story of her
rise out of the foster care system to attain the American Dream—and the
story of the unlikely series of women who lifted, motivated, and
inspired her along the way. From Agatha Armstead—a black Bostonian who
was Victoria's longest-term foster mother and first noticed her spark
of creativity and talent—to Esther Brooks, a Paris-trained prima
ballerina who would become her first mentor at the Cambridge School of
Ballet, The Women Who Raised Me is a loving, vivid portrait of
all the women who would help Victoria transition out of foster care
and into New York City's wild worlds of ballet, acting, and adulthood.
Though Victoria would go on to become an accomplished television and
film star, she still carried the burden of loneliness and anxiety,
particularly common to those "orphans of the living" who are never
adopted. Vividly recalled and candidly told, her story is transfixing,
redemptive, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, inspiring.
Susan Tracy Rice’s collection of essays, stories and poems about
Mother’s Day by various authors, including Louisa May Alcott, Robert
Louis Stevenson, Thomas Moore, Alfred Tennyson, Walt Whitman, and
William Wordsworth, is a delightful compendium on the love of mothers
and motherhood.
This book sought to elevate women in the household by discussing
the unacknowledged skill level required to run a household, while also
serving as a text for women who were required to master as many skills
as men are in their workplaces but seldom received commensurate
training. Originally published in 1869, The American Woman’s Home was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister Catherine E. Beecher.
“There is at the present time an increasing agitation of the public
mind, evolving many theories and some crude speculations as to woman’s
rights and duties. That there is a great social and moral power in her
keeping, which is now seeking expression by organization, is manifest,
and that resulting plans and efforts will involve some mistakes, some
collisions, and some failures, all must expect...”
- Catherine Beecher
“The great aim of all cooking is to retain all the valuable elements of
the food, and to put them into such forms as shall awaken desire,
stimulate digestion, and secure to the eater, in the readiest and most
pleasing way, all the nutriment these viands afford.” This is a
wonderful little book of recipes and food writing, illustrated and
compiled by “skilled housekeepers of large experience.” Excellently
written and focusing on both food preparation and food service, The Latest and Best Cookbook
includes sections on meats, breads, pickles, candies, and the pros and
cons of various types of stoves, along with many highly inventive
recipes. Published in 1884.
Before the Tour de France there was a tour de force: Thomas Stevens’s
travels around the globe on a bicycle in 1889. With fascinating
original illustrations, Stevens’s classic book of travel literature will
delight bicycle enthusiasts of all ages.
Filled with whimsical stories that feature the anthropomorphized dog and cat characters of Animal Land, this unique book also includes hilarious photographs of the pets posed in the stories' settings.
A delightful book, Stout’s guide is an elementary school gardening instruction dating from 1891 that opens with the background, importance, and methodology of gardening. The chapters that follow take on every aspect of the gardening process, including seeds, watering, timing, food, soils, and insects. This thorough yet easy-to-ready book makes a suitable gift for aspiring gardeners as well as those looking to teach the joys of gardening to young ones.
Enthusiastic gardener and writer Helen Ashe Hays discusses her own Maryland garden in detail, spending particular time on the use of wildflowers, climatic restrictions and floral specialties throughout the four seasons, and her own garden's layout and landscaping. Though published in 1909, this book can easily be used as a charming guide to growing a garden in Maryland.
Edward Dolnick is a great storyteller, but he outdoes himself with Down the Great Unknown. John Wesley Powell, with one arm and confidence that knew no bounds, decided to map the Grand Canyon by navigating the Green and Colorado rivers. The expedition started with ten men, but ended with six. Powell’s own book about the expedition describes him as a heroic leader who led men through incredible adversity. Dolnick’s book tells the truth. It is an amazing story of adventure, folly, danger, death and the larger-than-life character of John Wesley Powell.
