Smorgasbord Christmas Book Fair 2023 – #Memoirs #Biographies – #Canada #Prairies Darlene Foster, #History #Biography S. Bavey, #Memoir #Travel Sally Jane Smith

Welcome to the Christmas Book Fair where I will be sharing books by my recommended authors that I believe would make great gifts. If you are gifting someone a Kindle this year it would be a great idea to stock it up with some great books to be enjoyed.

Memoirs are written from the heart and when you reach a certain point in your life you find reading about another person’s life, challenges, loss, loves is reminder of how many such events we all experience. Whilst they can be heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking, they also inspire and are a celebration of the human spirit. This also applies to biographies of families stretching back in time or remembered childhood memories. Living history is so important to record for future generations and here are three that I can recommend.

Travel and YA author Darlene Foster...has captured the hearts of her readers with her adventure stories in the Amanda travel series and her wonderful blog posts about her own journeys around the world… in this memoir she shares younger life….You Can Take The Girl From The Prairie: Stories about growing up on the Canadian prairies

About the book

A collection of short stories inspired by growing up on a prairie farm in the fifties and sixties. Some of the stories are humorous and others sad, but all heartfelt. Stories about family life, cowboy wisdom, immigrant grandmothers, an inspiring teacher, and the arrival of a new sibling are part of this collection of tales from another time and another place. Proof that you can take the girl from the prairie but you can’t take the prairie from the girl.

One of the reviews for the book

Lauren Scott 5.0 out of 5 stars Touching stories about family and farm living  Reviewed in the United States

Darlene Foster compiles a lovely collection of short stories inspired by her memories of growing up on a prairie farm in Canada. Family is the touchstone in each heartfelt story, and Foster’s writing flows so genuinely as if she’s narrating her memories to a group of friends relaxing around a crackling campfire. She admits in the introduction that she didn’t appreciate her life on the prairie as a young girl. “But over time, I realized that what I had as a child was special – the freedom, safety, fresh air, home-grown food, friendly neighbors…”
You Can Take the Girl from the Prairie reveals how hindsight is twenty-twenty.

I’ve always lived in the city, but as I’ve grown older, the solitude offered in a country setting is appealing. So, I looked forward to reading about Foster’s life on the farm. She pays high regard to her parents and grandparents and everyone she has met on her path. There is no doubt she possesses a grateful heart.

I enjoyed this entire collection, but a few heartwarming favorites spoke about Foster’s baby brother entering her world as though out of a fairytale. The love in her heart for her cowboy, heroic dad shines, and when she writes about a special teacher, I thought of a teacher in my high school years that had the same positive effect. Foster infuses humor in “Good Hands,” which made me laugh when I read about her dad chasing a cow that jumped off the back of a truck on the way to the vet. But one story that made me teary-eyed and tugged at my heart is “Losing Tim,” which gave me a personal glimpse into the author’s life.

Each memory pulled me in deeper, so I read this book in one sitting. Each story draws out various emotions known to the human heart. I highly recommend this beautiful collection to anyone interested in life on a farm, but who also enjoys touching family stories. 

Head over to read the reviews and buy your copy: Amazon US – And: Amazon CA – And: Amazon UK

A selection of other books by Darlene Foster

Read the reviews and buy the books and find out more about Darlene Foster: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – Website/Blog: Darlene Foster WordPress – Goodreads: Goodreads – Twitter: @supermegawoman

The next recommended read for those of you who enjoy history is the biography by S. Bavey about her grandfather who led a very full and colourful life by the sound of it. My own parents were born only a couple of decades later and so many of the references to the era were very familiar to me Lucky Jack (1894-2000)

About the book

“One of the perils of being a sniper during the First World War was the likelihood of a grenade going off right next to you and burying you alive”.

Meet Jack Rogers. Born in 1894, he once locked eyes with Queen Victoria and was one of the first travellers on London’s ‘Tube’. An early car owner, he had many escapades on his days out to Brighton, including a time when his brakes failed and he had to drive through central London without them!

His skills as an entertainer earned him popularity throughout his life, and kept him out of the deadly mines while a prisoner during the First World War. At the tender age of 103 Jack earned the title of ‘The World’s Oldest Columnist’ as he began dictating his life’s exploits to a reporter from the local newspaper.

One of the reviews for Lucky Jack 16th April 2022

MegaReader 5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Memoir  Reviewed in the United Kingdom

Reading this delightful memoir was like stepping back into times past where one did not need a driving licence or driving lessons – one just learned to drive by driving along fairly empty roads devoid of traffic lights. When motoring took off I was interested to read how traffic police hid in bushes and jumped out at motorists in 1930, raking in thousands of pounds in fines if drivers failed to stop at the new ‘Halt’ signs. Hah… so what’s new?

Jack was there to see the new London ‘tube’ trains. He remembers no escalators, and how people had to queue for a lift to take them down to the underground platform.

Jack was very good at billiards as a young man, and won some prizes (he tried to play again when elderly but couldn’t see the end of the cue!). At twenty one he joined the Sherwood Foresters Regiment and fought in the First World War until he was taken prisoner. He remembers the ever present mud, lice and death, and so much noise from guns that he lost his hearing in his left ear. He remembers being buried alive and his helmet falling over his face and saving his life. He was too old to enlist in WWII, but spent the war working as an air raid warden.

Also interesting was the fact that the Isle of Wight (now where we have our caravan) was turned into a mini-fortress during WWII. Tourists were evacuated and barbed was put up everywhere, along with mines on the main beaches. Nobody was allowed to go anywhere near the beaches. The PLUTO pipeline, some of which can still be seen at Shanklin Chine, was assembled on Shanklin beach to carry fuel under the English Channel to the Allied Forces when they reached the French beaches.

I was interested to read how Heathrow airport started out as just a very small aerodrome just before WWII. Noise increased as the airport expanded and people living in the area qualified for double glazing from the council and for new rooves as planes could cause a vortex which would rip off roof tiles from houses below the flight path. Jack and his wife and son had had enough of the airport’s noise by 1958 and moved to Seaford on the Sussex coast, but tragedy befell them within a year of moving there.

Jack eventually began to receive fan mail and became somewhat of a celebrity in his later years, after a young journalist from a local newspaper came to visit him to undertake a series of interviews which resulted in 75 articles for the newspaper. He became Britain’s oldest man in 2000 and the oldest survivor of the First World War.

A recommended 5 star read for fans of memoirs.

Read the reviews and buy the book: Amazon US and Amazon UK

Also by  S. Bavey

Read the reviews, buy the books and found out more about Sue Bavey: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – More reviews: Goodreads – Website: Sue Bavey WordPress – Facebook: Sue Bavey – Twitter: @SueBavey

The final book today is the wonderful memoir that I can definitely recommend  Unpacking for Greece: Travel in a Land of Fortresses, Fables, Ferries and Feta by Sally Jane Smith.

About the book

When Sally sets out for Europe with her mother’s 1978 travel diary in her pocket, she is searching for the wanderlust she lost in a devastating overseas road accident.

As she ventures into the heart of the Mediterranean – wandering volatile landscapes, exploring historical sites, pairing books with places and savouring the tastes of Greece – she finds it is possible for a clumsy, out-of-shape woman on a budget to experience a life-changing journey.

In a story told with warmth, humour and a fascination with Greece’s natural and cultural heritage, Sally connects with her past, overcomes her fears and falls in love with life again, one olive at a time.

One of the reviews for the book

Lisa 5.0 out of 5 stars beautifully written and totally enthralling  Reviewed in the United Kingdom

Sally Jane Smith finds herself in ‘middlesence’, determined to rediscover her travel mojo, ten years after a devastating head-on crash in Sri Lanka left her fearful and broken.

Through the story run themes of discovery; about Sally herself, and about her relationship with her mother, whose travel diary Sally takes with her – dipping in and out as she visits some of the same places. The diary is a thread which weaves itself through the book, but there’s another tiny thread too; Sally begins the trip hating olives, and ends it ‘eating them with gusto’. Is this a metaphor for the author’s changing feelings about travelling solo once more?

Sally says this memoir is not a Shirley Valentine story. No, it’s something far deeper and far more beautiful. As a debut work, this is incredible. Sally’s prose is wonderfully descriptive yet surprisingly sparse at times. A few well-chosen words paint a vivid picture of her travels that many established writers fail to achieve, whilst tiny vignettes of people and places make this into something far more than a simple travel story. It’s immersive, informative but never dull, and totally enthralling. I first read this as a beta reader, but bought and re-read the finished book because I wanted to return to Sally’s Greece. I was as enthralled the second time round. Now that is good travel writing. 

Read the reviews and buy the book: Universal Link – Amazon AU – Amazon US – And: Amazon UK

Find out about Sally Jane, read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon AU – Amazon US – Amazon UK – Follow Sally Jane: Goodreads –  Website – Facebook: Journeys In Pages – Twitter: @JourneysInPages

 

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books.. Sally.