Memoir Monday... or rather Ironing out the Truths of History

The Wager, A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann... On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is on all the Buzz lists. Descriptions like Masterful, a Tour de Force, Incredible have all been used to describe it. Although not a Memoir, the base of its' essence is memoirs. The diaries and journals David Grann could find to lay out all the players and their accounts of the HMS Wager and what happened to the ship and its' crew. Years of research. It sounds so interesting to me. And I am also curious as to the different accounts of what happened. Published by Doubleday ( and found on the Penguin Randomhouse website), The Wager is available at your favorite bookstore! 

Memoir Monday...

On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?

Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.

In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.

“A book lover’s dream…an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.

Not really a Memoir, but if we can stretch the terminology a bit here, maybe a memoir of libraries. And if not that, maybe we can just categorize it as interesting as anything, especially if you love libraries! On my TBR list. I've heard so many great things about this book!

All The Presidents' Gardens by Marta McDowell... A Review

All the Presidents' Gardens: Madison’s Cabbages to Kennedy’s Roses, How the White House Grounds Have Grown with America by Marta McDowell... The eighteen acres that surround the White House have been an unwitting witness to history—a backdrop for soldiers, suffragettes, protestors, and activists. Kings and queens have dined there; bills and treaties have been signed; and presidents have landed and retreated. The front and back yard for the first family, it is by extension the nation’s first garden. All the Presidents’ Gardens’ tells the untold history of the White House Grounds.  Starting with the seed-collecting, plant-obsessed George Washington and ending with Michelle Obama’s focus on edibles, this rich and compelling narrative reveals how the story of the garden is also the story of America.  Readers learn about Lincoln’s goats, Ike’s putting green, Jackie’s iconic roses, Amy Carter's tree house, and much more. They also learn the plants whose favor has come and gone over the years and the gardeners who have been responsible for it all. Fully illustrated with new and historical photographs and art, refreshingly nonpartisan, and releasing just in time for election year, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the red, white, and green. 

History, Plants, & illustrations! Plus, photographs...If you love gardening, you will enjoy All the President's Gardens! I found it fascinating! I have a journal for 2 of my gardens that I have planted. One was my butterfly and bird garden, and one was what I called the "Pathetic" garden because the soil was a huge challenge. I drew out the way I wanted the gardens to look, recorded plants and took notes on how the plants did. Over the few years that I kept those journals, it was fun to see what worked and what didn't. All the President's Gardens is like my journal except it spans decades, a vast amount of lands, and an amazing array of people. Of course all the presidents and their first ladies are covered, what they did for and to the gardens, but also all the first gardeners too!  The men behind those plantings! Plus a closer look at all those plants and some of the interesting pitfalls and successes that happened planting them.

I read an eGalley of All The Presidents' Gardens and would have loved to actually have a physical book to look through, so I could put post it notes on pages I'd want to refer to again. My other "wish" would be that this would have been a coffee table book! I thought it had to be with all the photographs and historical illustrations. It screamed Coffee Table book to me! But when I just happen to look to see what size the book was going to be published in, Amazon said it was going to be 6.6 x 9.1, which is larger than a trade paperback, but not quite what I was hoping for. But, putting the size aside (because size doesn't really matter, right?!) this would make a welcome addition to any gardeners shelf, any american history readers shelf, and definitely make a great gift! It would also make a great book to read prior to visiting the White House Gardens, which is permitted twice a year! And after reading this book I definitely want to visit the gardens in person! 328 pages, Hardcover and published by Timber Press. Coming April 27th to your bookstore!

My Final Thoughts...What makes this really special is that All The Presidents' Gardens gives us is behind the scene looks at the trends of the day, and how the personalities of the residents shaped the gardens that exist today! I give it 4 garden sheers! (It would have been 5 had it been a coffee table book)  And I want to thank Timber Press for sending along an eGalley for me to read and review!