Happy Thanksgiving!

By the President of the United States of America. 

A Proclamation. 

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

 By the President: Abraham Lincoln

 William H. Seward, Secretary of State

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini
Published September 2013 by Penguin Group
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for this review

Publisher's Summary:
In a life that spanned nearly a century and witnessed some of the most momentous events in American history, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was born a slave. A gifted seamstress, she earned her freedom by the skill of her needle, and won the friendship of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln by her devotion. A sweeping historical novel, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker illuminates the extraordinary relationship the two women shared, beginning in the hallowed halls of the White House during the trials of the Civil War and enduring almost, but not quite, to the end of Mrs. Lincoln’s days.


My Thoughts: 

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley

I started this book almost two weeks ago, an unheard of length of time for me to take to read a book of only 350 pages. I've been struggling trying to pinpoint just why that was. Perhaps because there is so much fact woven into this novel; I tend to read non-fiction much more slowly, trying to absorb it. In fact, there was even more fact in this novel than I first was aware - Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was a real person, this really is her story.

The book is well researched and I enjoyed the inside look at life in the White House during the Civil War and the Lincoln family. Mary Todd Lincoln was a complex woman and Chiaverini does an excellent job making her much more than the caricature she so often comes off as. The political backdrop of the story is well done as is Chiaverini's portrayal of life in Washington City for the slaves flooding into the city following the Emancipation Proclamation.

Mrs. Lincoln in a gown made by Elizabeth Keckley

Unfortunately, the story was uneven and were it fell flat for me was in Elizabeth's story. Too much detail about the dresses and sewing weighed the story down all too often. Perhaps the biggest disappointment may not have been Chiaverini's fault - Elizabeth was just so incredibly passive. For a woman who had the strength to earn her freedom, to start a new life in a new city and to build a business up, she seemed to be unable to ever say "no" to Mrs. Lincoln, allowing herself to be pulled from her life and business to attend to Mrs. Lincoln for months on end. Was this fact or fiction? If factual, then Chiaverini may have felt compelled to stick to the facts and even if fiction, she may have felt that the story had to revolve around Mrs. Lincoln's documented actions. Regardless, it made Elizabeth a much less interesting character than she might have been, to the detriment of the book.

Thanks to the ladies of TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. For other opinions on about Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, see the full tour.

Jennifer Chiaverini is the author of the New York Times bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, as well as five collections of quilt projects inspired by the novels. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, she lives with her husband and sons in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ms. Chiaverini is well known for her Elm Creek novels about quilts. Ms. Keckley did make a quilt out of the remnants from the dresses she made for Mrs. Lincoln and Ms. Chiaverini has included the details of this quilt in the novel It's one of the details of the book that was all the more interesting for being true.

Quilt made by Elizabeth Keckley 

The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
First Published 1947
Source: this copy was purchased for my daughter

Publisher's Summary:
Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annex" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

The journal of a Jewish girl in her early teens describes both the joys and torments of daily life, as well as typical adolescent thoughts, throughout two years spent in hiding with her family during the Nazi occupation of Holland.


My Thoughts:
I first read this book when I was about the age Anne was when she was writing it. It made a lasting impression on me then. It made an even more profound impression on my this time.

Anne Frank repeatedly wrote about there being two Annes. She was referring to the public Anne, the Anne who is ever cheerful and uncomplaining, and the private Anne, the Anne who is quiet and battles depression. But the reader sees two different Annes as well.

There are entries in  The Diary of A Young Girl that read exactly like the diary entries of any thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl. She writes about love, boys, and crushes. She has issues with her father and can't get along with her mother at all.

Other entries left me momentarily wondering if this could actually have been written by such a young girl. Anne Frank was an extremely bright young lady and surprisingly self aware.

"As I need comforting often, I frequently feel weak, and dissatisfied with myself; my shortcomings are to great. I know this, and everyday I try to improve myself, again and again."

Adults always like to say that children want parents, not friends. Anne confirms that. Her mother admits that she looks upon Anne and her sister more as friends than daughters. But, Anne says, "a friend can't take a mother's place. I need a mother as an example I can follow, I want to be able to respect her." Like most girls her age, Anne also wants her parents to treat her like a grownup.

Most impressive were Anne's thoughts about religion, war, and corruption. She is certainly learning a lot by being in such close proximity to adults in such a trying time and by listening to nightly radio broadcasts. She is clearly, however, not parroting what she is hearing. Anne listened, processed, formed her own impressions, and tries to work out what is happening in the world around her.

"Who has inflicted this upon us? Who has made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now? It is God that has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again."

Anne wanted to be a writer, to have an impact on the world. In her death, she achieved her life's dream. She asked "Who besides me will ever read these letters?" More than thirty million people have read some version of her words (there have been several editions, with differing diary entries included).

"I want to go on living even after my death. And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me." 

If you have never read this book, I highly recommend it. As a window into the world of a young girl, and of a Jew during the Nazi occupation of Holland, and as an insight into both the ordinary and extraordinary of life in hiding, it is well worth reading.

Life: It Goes On - November 24

It is well and truly winter here now. Our first sleet, our first snow, our first day to use our scrapers after work. Once again I'm asking myself "why do we live here?" Oh yeah, family.

We got an early Christmas present this week. My computer has been on its last legs for years. I haven't had a word processing program since the last time we had to clean it off and I couldn't use the program I needed to be able to download NetGalley books onto my Nook. I think dust was holding my computer together! Given that we have our own Apple genius living on premises, we decided to get a Mac. Mac users, what's your favorite thing about your computer?

Here's What I'm:

Listening To: I'll finish Anna Quindlen's Rise and Shine this week but, with the holiday, I'm not sure I'll start a new audiobook. We'll be doing some driving over the long weekend but I can't convince The Big Guy that he needs to suck it up and just let me listen.

Watching: Will and Grace reruns. I'd forgotten how funny that show was.

Reading: Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker for an upcoming TLC review. I'm really enjoying the history included with the story. I had no idea when I started the book that Elizabeth Keckley, the title character, was a real person.

Making: Chili, peanut butter cups, toffee bars, peanut soup. It's all about comfort food this week.

Planning: On skipping Black Friday this year. Well, sort of. I refuse to shop on Thanksgiving day and I'm kind of tired of getting up early to fight crowds and stand in long lines. I may be doing a lot more of my shopping online for the deals.

Grateful: To Abraham Lincoln, who, in the middle of the Civil War, still found enough to be thankful for that he proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving. Prior to 1863, states scheduled their own days of Thanksgiving. Thanks, too, to Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote to Lincoln suggesting the idea.

Loving: Scarves. It's so cold in my office that I've been wearing a scarf almost every day trying to stay warm.

Feeling: I'm trying to feel relaxed, trying to go with an "if it gets done, it gets done" attitude about the holidays and reduce the stress. Of course, that's easier to do now, not as easy to do the closer to Christmas we get!

Thinking: Of taking some computer classes at the community college. I'd love to be able to write code.

Looking Forward To: Being with our families this week!