{"id":371,"date":"2016-01-22T12:34:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/22\/currently-reading\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T17:00:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T17:00:04","slug":"currently-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/22\/currently-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Currently Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\"hyacinth\"<\/a><\/div>\n

I thought I would show you a picture of my hyacinth now that it is blooming. \u00a0It is so pretty and fills the whole room with its scent. \u00a0I love having a bit of spring in the house. \u00a0We will just ignore the fact that we are supposed to get snow this weekend. \u00a0The kids are annoyed that snow might come this weekend because they want a snow day from school, so Monday would be better, and I am annoyed that it might snow at all because I want spring.<\/p>\n

If it does snow (which I doubt, I think it will all just blow past us and all the hype will be for nothing) there is nothing better than curling up with a good book. \u00a0I have a few Persephone books that I have been saving for the right moment. \u00a0Maybe a snowy weekend will be just that moment.<\/p>\n

\"Millions<\/a><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, here is what I have been reading lately. \u00a0My obsession with the British home front continues with Millions Like Us<\/em> by Virginia Nicholson. \u00a0It is a comprehensive look at women’s lives during and just after the war. Through interviews and diaries, she examines the way lives and attitudes changed over the course of ten years. \u00a0I have read a lot about the logistics of life during that time, about ration cards and the blackout and the blitz. \u00a0This is more an examination of how the women themselves changed. \u00a0Before the war women were usually at home and it was taken for granted that the home was a woman’s place. \u00a0Then the war came, the men went off to fight and the women filled the empty spaces in factories, on farms, in offices, and in many, many other positions. \u00a0Many of these positions were ones of great responsibility. \u00a0For example, women who worked at Bletchley Park and helped in breaking the secret German codes were instrumental in helping to win the war. \u00a0Then the war ended, the men came home, and it was impossible for things to go back to the way they were. \u00a0Some men and women wanted life to return to what it had been. \u00a0Some men and women embraced the changes. \u00a0Either way, it was a time of great upheaval. If you have any interest in this time period, I highly recommend this book. \u00a0It is absorbing and detailed.<\/p>\n

One of the women extensively quoted in Millions Like Us<\/em> is Helen Forrester. \u00a0She went on to become an author and also wrote a four-volume autobiography of her life in Liverpool. \u00a0I was able to find ebooks of a few of her works on Open Library<\/a>. \u00a0Right now I am reading Lime Street At Two<\/em> which covers the war years. \u00a0I also read Liverpool Miss<\/em> which deals with her early teenage years. \u00a0She had a difficult and unpleasant life in many ways but it is interesting to read the books in conjunction with Millions Like Us<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Lastly, I just started The Claverings<\/em> by Anthony Trollope. \u00a0I really haven’t read enough to say much about it yet. \u00a0Other than that in the first chapter we have a woman marrying a rich older man (he is 36, hah!) for his money and position, and we also have the young schoolmaster who is in love with her and who she has pledged her love to previously. \u00a0So we start off with a love triangle and I am sure the drama will only multiply. \u00a0I do like Trollope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought I would show you a picture of my hyacinth now that it is blooming. \u00a0It is so pretty and fills the whole room with its scent. \u00a0I love having a bit of spring in the house. \u00a0We will just ignore the fact that we are supposed to get snow this weekend. \u00a0The kids are annoyed that snow might come this weekend because they want a snow day from school, so Monday would be better, and I am annoyed that it might snow at all because I want spring. If it does snow (which I doubt, I think it will all just blow past us and all the hype will be for nothing) there is nothing better than curling up with a good book. \u00a0I have a few Persephone books that I have been saving for the right moment. \u00a0Maybe a snowy weekend will be just that moment. Meanwhile, here is what I have been reading lately. \u00a0My obsession with the British home front continues with Millions Like Us by Virginia Nicholson. \u00a0It is a comprehensive look at women’s lives during and just after the war. Through interviews and diaries, she examines the way lives and attitudes changed over the course of ten years. \u00a0I have read a lot about the logistics of life during that time, about ration cards and the blackout and the blitz. \u00a0This is more an examination of how the women themselves changed. \u00a0Before the war women were usually at home and it was taken for granted that the home was a woman’s place. \u00a0Then the war came, the men went off to fight and the women filled the empty spaces in factories, on farms, in offices, and in many, many other positions. \u00a0Many of these positions were ones of great responsibility. \u00a0For example, women who worked at Bletchley Park and helped in breaking the secret German codes were instrumental in helping to win the war. \u00a0Then the war ended, the men came home, and it was impossible for things to go back to the way they were. \u00a0Some men and women wanted life to return to what it had been. \u00a0Some men and women embraced the changes. \u00a0Either way, it was a time of great upheaval. If you have any interest in this time period, I highly recommend this book. \u00a0It is absorbing and detailed. One of the women extensively quoted in Millions Like Us is Helen Forrester. \u00a0She went on to become an author and also wrote a four-volume autobiography of her life in Liverpool. \u00a0I was able to find ebooks of a few of her works on Open Library. \u00a0Right now I am reading Lime Street At Two which covers the war years. \u00a0I also read Liverpool Miss which deals with her early teenage years. \u00a0She had a difficult and unpleasant life in many ways but it is interesting to read the books in conjunction with Millions Like Us. Lastly, I just started The Claverings by Anthony Trollope. \u00a0I really haven’t read enough to say much about it yet. \u00a0Other than that in the first chapter we have a woman marrying a rich older man (he is 36, hah!) for his money and position, and we also have the young schoolmaster who is in love with her and who she has pledged her love to previously. \u00a0So we start off with a love triangle and I am sure the drama will only multiply. \u00a0I do like Trollope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,23,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anthony-trollope","category-currently-reading","category-wwii"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2883,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions\/2883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}