I finished some of the ones from the list before and a bunch extra.
I didn’t write them all down!
These are some I am still in the middle of or working through!
Girl from the Gulches- The story of Mary Ronan as told to Margaret Ronan
Meetings with Mrs. Collins- Sketches of life and events on Montana’s open range by Colleen Carter This book was amazing! I love the history! These women were strong, confident and they worked so hard! The sorrow in their lives, yet they worked hard to have hobbies, journal and we use these things to learn so much about their lives, what they ate, how their lives functioned. One thing that surprised me was how late she went to bed, even when she got up before 5 am. Yikes! There were sad stories of babies that died of 24 hour cholera and another one of a set of twins…the other I guess survived, was 2 lb. Also, dealing with the “blues” by drinking as medicine.
Vigilante Days and Ways by N. P Langford
Hannah’s Journey by Anna Schmidt- Yes, I know…an Amish book! But this one was back in the 1920’s and I liked it. It was pretty good! I will be reading the sequel!
Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers- re-read for Book club
Shadow in Serenity by Terri Blackstock – This was a story of a con artist who repents and changes his ways through the help of a daughter of con artists. It was interesting reading!
The Betrayal by Jerry Jenkins– sequel to another police story written by Mr. Jenkins. It was a rat race of dirty cops, jail time and other fun things.
Montana women homesteaders : a field of one’s own / Carter, Sarah.– So interesting! This book is full of letters from women homesteaders! It was not that long ago!
Mattie : a woman’s journey West / Weber, Nan.– A grave of a women leads this author on a journey following her relatives and figuring out what really happened to her. I am amazed at how many people died so young not long ago! This is a great book with history of cotton milling in the US and some in England.
The witch of Blackbird Pond / Speare, Elizabeth George– This one I was mostly finishing from having listened to most of it on audio CD with the boys. My!! Superstition went really far!
Love in a time of homeschooling : a mother and daughter’s uncommon year / Brodie, Laura Fairchild– I want to do a full review on this book! This was a very interesting story of a mother and daughter’s struggles with school, her journey with a year of homeschooling, and what they both learned from it.
Where the heart is : a novel / Letts, Billie– I watched the movie based on this book and the book was similar, but had a few different twists. It showed me how sometimes simple things can change a life.
I tried to read The Chasm by Randy Alcorn, but it was too much fantasy for me and The House in riverton…I didn’t like the tense of the words.
A couple of future reads are:
Six ways to keep the “good” in your boy by Dannah Gresh
There is also a crockpot cookbook and some fiction reads by Martha Rogers.
I know these are not complete reviews, but I think they count somewhat to my goal!
I LOVED Girl from the Gulches! I read it after I read Vigilantes of Montana (it was really slow reading. For as popular as it was/is, I thought it was poorly written) but it gave me insight into Mary Ronan’s story since she lived through many of the same event he described. The author of Vigilantes of Montana was Mary Ronan’s teacher.
I didn’t care for the House in Riverton, either. I dragged my way through it but it was a downer.
I have a few others about pioneers of Montana. I’ll send you a list of titles and you’re welcome to borrow them if you are interested :)
Renda
I meant that Vigilantes of Montana was poorly written. Grammer and his way of phrasing things. Still insightful into that time period. Controversial, too. At the Montana History Conference, many authors and historian don’t believe that his account of things is truthful.