Men admire women more than women will
ever know.
Oh, maybe from time time to time the ladies
may have an inkling.
I'm going to tell you, offhand and from memory,
about nine of these exceptional beings that make
the Earth the marvelous place it is.
It is autumn again---the favorite season of many...
for the nightly freezes are upon us...the cold north
winds are a' blowin'...the beautiful golden, jade-
green, and red oak leaves are happily scurrying
with every gust across driveways and down
curbs.
"The frost is on the pumpkin and the fodder's in
the shock." (James Whitcomb Riley?)
These long winter evenings tell us it's time to
throw a log on the fire, set-ourselves -down in
our Lazy-Boys, get out Grandma's old patch
quilt, turn off the TV, and have a stack of good
winter-time books right by our chairs.
Oh, oh I forgot the mug of hot tomato soup!
Of all the books I have ever read, here are the
some of the best---all about women...courageous,
talented, hardworking people who have/had goals
and much determination.
Read every one...and I think you'll rate them at
the top of your lifetime reading experiences.
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1. THE WINDS OF SKILAK by Bonnie Rose Ward
Bonnie and her husband are back in the lower 48
now but they once "chucked it all," sold out,
went to Alaska with all their worldly goods in
a trailer.
They bought land on a lonely island and he
built a cozy cabin (you will delight being there
and reading of her cooking, canning, and their
beloved animals, who thought they were part
of the family.)
He became a well-known cabin builder, and
they stayed many years...even after he
broke his back one day.
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2. WHERE THE PAVEMENT ENDS, A Bicycle
Trip Through Mongolia, China, and Viet Nam
.....by Erika Warmhrunn
This aspiring actress, one day when thirty
years old, decides "to chuck it all," buys
herself a good travel bike, and starts out across
Asia, riding that thing and spending nights
wherever she can ---sometimes sharing beds
with the friendly people.
The Mongolians loved her and built her a "yurt"
on school grounds and enticed her to teach
English for time. An unbelievably gutsy lady.
*********************************************
3. ADA BLACKJACK, A True Story of Survival
In The Arctic ....by Jennifer Niven
This Eskimo lady miraculously survived, not
one---but TWO close calls on the forbidding,
cold, lonely island of Wrangel (check map,
above Siberia, take a left when thru the
Bering Strait.)
As a member of an ice-crushed ship, she made
her way to Wrangel and was finally rescued from
that ordeal. Then someone decided to populate
the island with a dozen or so adventurers,
"living off the land." Ada was enlisted because
of her knowledge of the place and native skills
She alone survived this second trip to Wrangel.
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4. FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS
......by Dolly Faulkner
As a young lady she went to Alaska and
married a pilot. They homesteaded up a
canyon, accessible only by airplane. She
raised a son and daughter there. He was
almost always gone, as he owned a small
flying service.
They devised an intricate plan of heating their
cabin by piping hot water from a spring above
on the mountain. It failed. And she was low on
logs. He was often late in bringing food in by
plane.
The son and daughter had to learn to fly. In
later years; natives filed a claim on her land saying
it was on sacred ground. She is still there, trying
to save her home...by taking in and rehabing war
vets.
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5. A WALK ACROSS THE GOBI
...by Helen Thayer
One you'll never forget....a woman in her sixties
decides she is going to cross the Gobi Desert
on foot, 1600 miles, accompanied by her
husband and two equally reluctant (rented)
camels---Tom and Jerry---one of which falls
and spills all their water, leaving them high
and dry.
They make it, but only after many vicissitudes.
When revisiting the rented camels a few years
later, they remembered and came running across
the pasture.
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6. INTERMISSION...by Anne Baxter, actress
An older book, but one of my favorites, and
well-written. Anne marries an Aussie and lives
for years in Australia...doing without cornbread.
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7. TRACKS: Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of
Australian Outback...by Robin Davidson
This lady decided she would take the big hike,
but had no camels or knew anything much
about them. She went to Alice Springs, a raw
"frontier town," on the edge of the desert, and
worked as a camel puncher...learning their
quirks and foibles.
Finally she acquires two camels (plus a baby
camel, belonging to one) and with a few varying
companions, aborigines and others, she finally
makes it to the Indian Ocean, losing a beloved
companion toward the end of the journey.
A splendid book!
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8. THE RENT COLLECTOR...by Camron Wright
One of the most unusual books I ever read. One
of B.E.'s friends called it "the best book I ever
read." It is based on real people and true events,
as I understand it.
Sopeat, an illiterate woman, living on the edge
of a great city dump covering many acres,
along with hundreds of other poor people, ekes
out a living from the detritus deposited there.
Even squatters on the edges of dump sites must
pay rent, and Sopeat's rent collector turns out
to be a drunken woman...but not known to her
early on---her collector was once a college
professor.
Spotting a torn, soiled book on the floor of
Sopeat's hovel, the collector is reminded of
better times and her teaching days....in the
end, they become friends and Sopeat learns
to read....well, you'll have to read this story...
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9. BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS
......by Katherine Poo
A more beautiful and intriguing book title I've
never heard...and particularly for a book about
the giant sordid city dump, alongside the modern
Mumbai, India airport.
Several courageous women in this book contend
with pain, suffering, legalities, bribery, and a
never-ending effort to keep them and their families
together. Their domiciles are merely nailed-together
detritus.
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BY MIL
11/19/16
