Jack Says...

I read a couple of negative reviews on the book which doubted that the writer had done proper research.

I bought the kindle version of the book and started reading. One instance that the reviewer mentioned was about John Brown and saying that the book stated that he was executed in 1861. No. I got to that point of the book and it has the correct time period of John Browns execution and it does later mention that Jackson wrote a letter in 1861 about John Browns execution. Perhaps the reviewer was confused. Another point that the reviewer said was inaccurate was that Major General Robert E. Lee, a ranking officer, gave Jackson his first command at Harper's Ferry. His claim is that Lee was not a major general or ranking officer at that time. So I did the research and YES Robert E. Lee was appointed April 18th as a Major General, a ranking officer and he gave the orders to Jackson on the 26th of April.

So the book is right and the reviewer wrong. One of those cases where you don't believe the reviews.

Discussion of The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause

We met December 3rd to discuss L Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause.

In attendance were:

Dave
Mary
Darryl
Barbara
Jack
Shelia

 This book was a short quick read. This one was chosen for it's holiday theme, and because those of us associated with schools are very busy at this time of year and we needed something light and fast. 

The discussion was entertaining and lively. Unfortunately I posted this quite late and backdated it (!!) so I'm afraid I don't remember much of the discussion.

Our next book was chosen at this meeting, it will be S. C. Gwynne's "Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson". We will meet to discuss that book January 21st.

 We also chose the next book, Gregory McGuire's Wicked, which we will discuss Feb 25th.