Showing posts with label soldier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soldier. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Large Print Memoirs For Your Enjoyment

      "This Cider Still Tastes Funny!: Further Adventures of a Game Warden in Maine" is a memoir by John Ford. The author spent twenty years as a game warden in Waldo County in central Maine after completing a four year stint in the Air Force. Upon his retirement in 1990, he was elected county sheriff and re-elected in 1994. He carved out a reputation as a man of the law, but he wasn't a by-the-book enforcer. His quick wit and gift as a storyteller afforded a good quip as he slipped the cuffs on a criminal, but he wasn't above accepting a lesson learned as sufficient penalty for breaking the law. The fact that he is also able to laugh at himself endears him to the readers of his newspaper column and the Northwoods Sporting Journal to which he regularly contributes material.  
   

     "We Were Brothers" is a memoir by Barry Moser. Barry and Tommy Moser were born of the same parents, raised in the same small Tennessee town, and were both indoctrinated by their family's deep racism and anti-semitism. As the two grew older, however, their perspectives and paths diverged further and further apart. Their attitudes about race, politics, money, and even food became so different that they could no longer find any common ground. They could not talk to each other as they once had and, for many years, there was more strife than affection between the two. When Barry reached his late fifties and Tommy his early sixties, their simmering tensions reached a boiling point and their relationship shattered. From then on, the two would not speak to one another. Barry, recalls the raw, emotional reasons for their final reconciliation.  


    "Tough As They Come" is an autobiography by SSG Travis Mills with Marcus Brotherton. United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was sure he would become another statistic when he was caught in an IED blast four days before his twenty-fifth birthday. Against all odds, however, Travis lived, but at a severe cost—he became one of only five soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to survive a quadruple amputation. He was suddenly forced to face the fact that he had no arms or legs and that his future would be drastically different than what he had always envisioned. He would never again be able to lead his squad, stroke his fingers against his wife's cheek, or pick up his baby girl. It took tremendous willpower and endurance, not to mention the unconditional love of his family and a huge helping of faith to get through the painful and anxious days of his rehabilitation. Travis made a remarkable recovery, however, and even without limbs, he still swims, dances with his wife, rides mountain bikes, and drives his daughter to school.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A fascinating series in our Children's Department is the 'You Wouldn't Want To' series from Scholastic.  Written by a variety of authors, each one explores a part of history from the viewpoint of how it would have been to have had to live in those times.  We currently have twenty-seven books from this line in our collection ranging from ancient history ('You Wouldn't Want to be a Slave in Ancient Greece! A Life You'd Rather Not Have') to early American history ('You Wouldn't Want to be a Pony Express Rider! A Dusty, Thankless Job You'd Rather Not Do') to more modern times ('You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Titanic! One Voyage You'd Rather Not Make').

All of the books contain a timeline, handy hints for the era in question and a glossary.  The details they pull out of the daily lives of the everyday people that were a part of history brings the past to life in a way that is as interesting to adults as well as children.