Julie ~ "Lucky" 2013 ~ Booklist

[vodkafan]

Hi Julie some interesting books you have going on.

[julie]

Thanks James

 Yep, I have tended to be on a really long true crime streak. Every time I think about reading something different, I end up finding another true crime book that grabs my attention . I guess it's fascinating trying to figure out why people do what they do, and how they almost always get caught in the end . I guess I find nonfiction stories about people in general pretty interesting .

I hope you're finding some good reading time this year ,too .  

[pontalba]

Both sound interesting Julie, and congratulations on finishing!    I have Canada on the shelf waiting for us to get to it.  I like Ford.

 

btw, I've ordered a Kindle Fire.....   lol  Finally caved, mostly on account of being able to carry it around in my purse and get online for maps and stuff easily.  All else is lagniappe.

[julie]

I hope you enjoy the Fire . I think they are pretty handy-dandy . I've been watching lots of videos on mine now ,so it gets lots of use for that now too .

I think you'll enjoy it . It's a pretty neat gadget  .  

[bookmonkey]

Julie - I plan to look into my family history more one day, but at the moment I don't have time.  Someone has traced back as far as Scotland.  Somewhere along the line there's a Maori chief in there too, so it'd be interesting to find out.  We have a really good genealogy section at our library with people to help too.

 

I need to make a note of the true crime books you've read and see if our library has them.

[julie]

Bookmonkey

Yea, it does take a lot of time to research your family tree ,but well worth it, so I hope someday you will get the chance to do it . It's interesting when we can find out more about where we came from .

 

I'll bet your library will have some true crime books . I'm not real sure how popular they are compared to other books ,but I read a lot of them . Usually when I'm dealing with a difficult situation in my life  ,the only type book I can keep my mind on is true crime .  There are lots of good ones out there .   Give me a holler if you find one. I'd be interested in hearing what you are reading .

[julie]

Australia's Strangest Mysteries #1   --- Author was John Pinkney for both ...     4/5

 Australia's Strangest Mysteries #2

 

 

These are 2 separate kindle books ,both relating to the same type things ,so I'm putting them together for a review . They are both short story type books, telling of all different types of unsolved incidents :  sightings of creatures that sound like Bigfoot-type animals, Loch-Ness Monster type creatures , missing boats and ships ,with all passengers also missing , UFO sightings , and unsolved crimes and missing people who have been missing for several decades .

I enjoyed reading the books because I like reading about anything unsolved. It leaves you with an interest to know more and wonder what really happened . Some of the stories weren't quite as interesting to me as others . I don't have a huge fascination with UFO's ,although I guess I'd like to know what people are really seeing . Something has to be up there or there wouldn't be so many people seeing them .

Probably the most fascinating story to me was the one about a rich family called the Clements . 2 of the elderly unmarried daughters built a huge mansion and hired several caretakers and people to keep track of their money ,etc. Sadly, they didn't choose these people very carefully ,and ended up having people around them who took advantage of their positions to steal from them ,cheat them, and not take care of things properly. The area in which they lived had to have drainage ditches built around it and keep cleaned out frequently or their land and home would become flooded. To make a long story short, that is exactly what happened . The 2 sisters enjoyed life and had parties ,went on expensive trips all over the world ,bought things extravagantly , all while their home was slowly eroding due to mismanagement .The grounds began flooding, and soon the water reached the house and started flooding it . It eventually became so bad, that it wasn't safe to live in, but the 2 elderly sisters refused to leave. One died in the house and they had to have people slosh through flooded lands up to their waists to get the old lady out. They tried talking the remaining sister into leaving ,but she refused . It becomes a little foggy here as to what happened to her, other than the fact that she died about 2 years later .

This story was in the first book ,so I did a little research on Amazon and found that another book was written about them called :

Swamp : Who Murdered Margaret Clement   by Richard Shears .

 

As most of you would guess, I ended up buying this book too, because now I need to know the rest of the story, as they say . I want to know more about these 2 ladies and why they think the last one left was murdered and who they think may have done it .

 

Anyhow, I'm a sucker for anything labeled "unsolved" ,so these books were right up my alley . A couple of the cases were ones I had read a bit about before ,but there were others I hadn't heard of so it was interesting reading .

 

4/ 5

[chaliepud]

Hey Julie, just thought I'd stop by and see how you are doing?

[pontalba]

Yeah, me too...Julie, hope all is ok.

[julie]

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for checking in with me .. I'm ok . Life has kinda gotten in the way of other more pleasant things, such as reading . I've added a few more books to my "read" list since  I was last here  , but behind for the year if I wanna hit my 50 like last year .

 

Anyhow, there's only one book I've read recently that I'd like to review ,mainly because it was so interesting .

 

The Lost Rocks: The Dare Stones and the Unsolved Mystery of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony

David La Vere -5/5

 

I'm always fascinated by the unsolved type stories from history ,and this one has ranked right up there in the top for a long time .

This all started when I saw a video online called America Unearthed and one of their shows was about the lost colony of Roanoke . .  I had never heard about these Dare Stones until seeing that show .

Anyhow ,a group of settlers traveled from England over here in hopes of settling a colony ,and eventually more people would join them .The first group contained ( I think) 117 people -- sorry it's been a month or more ago that I read this .

 So the group ends up settling off the coast of the Carolinas -- they had brought provisions ,clothing ,tools , etc in hopes that they could get a good group of cabins and a fort-like wall built around them for some protection . They were soon befriended by one group of Indians, but quickly became enemies with another tribe . Anyhow, the leader of the group ended up leaving after awhile to head back to England and bring more supplies for them . He was the Grandfather of the first white person to be born in our country ,named Virginia Dare . So he left his daughter and new granddaughter, planning to be gone for a short voyage ,and coming back with more help and support for their small community . Sadly , it was quite a long time before he was able to return ,and by the time he did, and actually made it to the "fort " surrounding the settlement , everyone was gone. No signs of a struggle, death, etc . Everything was pretty much left as if the whole community had taken a stroll through the woods .

 They had devised a signal to leave for him in case of emergency --to carve the symbol of a Cross if there had been sudden illnesses and possibly deaths . There were no crosses carved anywhere ,but on one post of the fort was the word Croatoan ,carved into the wood ,and the beginning of the same word carved on another one .

This word caused a bit of confusion ,because there were a friendly tribe of Indians with that name, but there was also an area a short distance away with the same name, which today would be I think in the Cape Hatteras area .

To make a long story a bit shorter, no sign was ever found of this group .. they were just gone without a trace .

 

Forward the story up by several hundred years -- In the mid 1940's , a man and his wife on a car trip to see a bit of the country ,happened upon an odd stone in the woods right off the roadway . I think the man had stepped into the woods to "relieve himself ", with no restrooms anywhere nearby. While there, he saw an unusual stone with random carvings of words and names on it . He carried it out of the woods and put it in his trunk . They then asked around to find out where the nearest college might be that had a history department ,assuming the stone was old and might have some historical value . ( They were from California, so not real familiar with the area or history of the location where the stone was found .

 

Come to find out ,the professors that were lucky enough to be given the stone ,were to spend the rest of their lives researching this stone , and getting the word out in the newspapers about it and its location . Soon, they were getting many more stones that all seemed to have carvings on them that were all related to the lost colonists of Roanoke .

 

In the end ,they had around 30 stones, I think, spaced over a 3 state area, and traced on a map to look as if the colonists had probably traveled inland, maybe due to weather ,illness ,looking for more food or help, etc . If you read all the carvings ,it sounds as if an Indian tribe had been with them . some of the stones told of people's deaths due to sickness , others to hunger or exhaustion , some to possible violence .

 

Anyhow , I've rambled on long enough -- let's just say the book was extremely interesting and gives a possible answer to what happened to this missing colony . It kinda leaves you dangling to decide for yourself ,if the stones were authentic ,or just a hoax .

 

I usually like to read a book where all the loose ends are tied up ,but this one leaves you wondering ,which actually makes it even better . some things, such as the Roanoke Colony SHOULD remain unsolved . A mystery with no ending ........

[vodkafan]

 

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for checking in with me .. I'm ok . Life has kinda gotten in the way of other more pleasant things, such as reading . I've added a few more books to my "read" list since  I was last here  , but behind for the year if I wanna hit my 50 like last year .

 

Anyhow, there's only one book I've read recently that I'd like to review ,mainly because it was so interesting .

 

The Lost Rocks: The Dare Stones and the Unsolved Mystery of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony

David La Vere -5/5

 

I'm always fascinated by the unsolved type stories from history ,and this one has ranked right up there in the top for a long time .

This all started when I saw a video online called America Unearthed and one of their shows was about the lost colony of Roanoke . .  I had never heard about these Dare Stones until seeing that show .

Anyhow ,a group of settlers traveled from England over here in hopes of settling a colony ,and eventually more people would join them .The first group contained ( I think) 117 people -- sorry it's been a month or more ago that I read this .

 So the group ends up settling off the coast of the Carolinas -- they had brought provisions ,clothing ,tools , etc in hopes that they could get a good group of cabins and a fort-like wall built around them for some protection . They were soon befriended by one group of Indians, but quickly became enemies with another tribe . Anyhow, the leader of the group ended up leaving after awhile to head back to England and bring more supplies for them . He was the Grandfather of the first white person to be born in our country ,named Virginia Dare . So he left his daughter and new granddaughter, planning to be gone for a short voyage ,and coming back with more help and support for their small community . Sadly , it was quite a long time before he was able to return ,and by the time he did, and actually made it to the "fort " surrounding the settlement , everyone was gone. No signs of a struggle, death, etc . Everything was pretty much left as if the whole community had taken a stroll through the woods .

 They had devised a signal to leave for him in case of emergency --to carve the symbol of a Cross if there had been sudden illnesses and possibly deaths . There were no crosses carved anywhere ,but on one post of the fort was the word Croatoan ,carved into the wood ,and the beginning of the same word carved on another one .

This word caused a bit of confusion ,because there were a friendly tribe of Indians with that name, but there was also an area a short distance away with the same name, which today would be I think in the Cape Hatteras area .

To make a long story a bit shorter, no sign was ever found of this group .. they were just gone without a trace .

 

Forward the story up by several hundred years -- In the mid 1940's , a man and his wife on a car trip to see a bit of the country ,happened upon an odd stone in the woods right off the roadway . I think the man had stepped into the woods to "relieve himself ", with no restrooms anywhere nearby. While there, he saw an unusual stone with random carvings of words and names on it . He carried it out of the woods and put it in his trunk . They then asked around to find out where the nearest college might be that had a history department ,assuming the stone was old and might have some historical value . ( They were from California, so not real familiar with the area or history of the location where the stone was found .

 

Come to find out ,the professors that were lucky enough to be given the stone ,were to spend the rest of their lives researching this stone , and getting the word out in the newspapers about it and its location . Soon, they were getting many more stones that all seemed to have carvings on them that were all related to the lost colonists of Roanoke .

 

In the end ,they had around 30 stones, I think, spaced over a 3 state area, and traced on a map to look as if the colonists had probably traveled inland, maybe due to weather ,illness ,looking for more food or help, etc . If you read all the carvings ,it sounds as if an Indian tribe had been with them . some of the stones told of people's deaths due to sickness , others to hunger or exhaustion , some to possible violence .

 

Anyhow , I've rambled on long enough -- let's just say the book was extremely interesting and gives a possible answer to what happened to this missing colony . It kinda leaves you dangling to decide for yourself ,if the stones were authentic ,or just a hoax .

 

I usually like to read a book where all the loose ends are tied up ,but this one leaves you wondering ,which actually makes it even better . some things, such as the Roanoke Colony SHOULD remain unsolved . A mystery with no ending ........

 Hi Julie great to hear from you.....I have read about the Roanoke colony recently it was in Bill Bryson's book Lost Continent... there is another mystery in the same area, a group of black people with blue eyes, their name begins with M I think.....They live apart and nobody knows how they got there they just appeared .

I am reading a lot about America lately you lot are a lot more complicated than TV shows would have us believe. Tell me again what part do you live in ?

[poppyshake]

Hi Julie .. lovely to see you The Lost Rocks sounds fascinating .. I like it too that the mystery remains unsolved .. it's all the more intriguing. 

[julie]

Hi James

 Good to hear from you . How are you liking Lost Continent ?  The tribe of people you are describing are the Melungeon group of people. and I'd heard the rumors that they may possibly be ancestors of the Roanoke colonists who had co-existed with another group of people, possibly an Indian tribe . That is an interesting theory too . Roanoke has always been a fascinating subject to me ,wondering how that many people just disappeared without a trace .

 

I'm from Ohio --- some of the states near us are Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania ---- sort of an ordinary state if I were to describe it. Green grass and trees , lots of farmland . The further south you go in our state, it becomes more hilly . It's fairly level ground here in our area, although our town is sort-of on a hill  .

 

I'm interested in hearing about us being more complicated than our tv shows . What seems complicated ? Maybe I could give you some info if it's anything I know about . I'm not real familiar with all the states , as far as having seen them. I think I've been in 13 states on vacation . 

 

 

Miss Poppy

How are you, my friend ? It's good to hear from you . I need to stop by some of the other people's threads in here . Just haven't had the opportunity yet ,but I'll be by to visit you ,and some of the others to see what you all have been reading and eating ,etc ...

[Athena]

It's nice to hear from you, julie . Sorry to hear you haven't had much chance to read lately. I hope things get better for you in the future.

[julie]

Hi Athena

Good to hear from you . How have things been with you ? I need to drop in and check out your latest reading, etc . I'm far behind on seeing what everyone has been up to lately .. 

[Devi]

Hello Julie, glad to see you back!

[Kidsmum]

Hi Julie - I've never heard of the Roanoke Colony but it sounds like an interesting read. I hope you are well & that life has been treating you kindly 

[julie]

Devi

Thanks -- it's good to be back again .  

 

Kidsmum --

 Yes, the Roanoke book was the best I've read in a really long time . As for Life ,it's kinda like a roller coaster that never lets you off .

Sometimes you're on the top of the hill ,then the floor drops out from under you .

 

 

I guess everyone has that ,though ... 

 

Thanks for dropping by ,guys ~~~  

[pontalba]

YEY!!  Julie, it's great to see you back again!  Welcome Home!!

 

The book on the Roanoke colony looks fascinating.  I've ordered it. lol

It's a fascinating story, and I can't wait to read all of the author's thoughts and research.

[julie]

HiYa Kat --

 

 How have you been ? Getting hot down in your neck of the woods ?  We've had the strangest weather this summer . Everyday ,something new . You go from needing a jacket ,to needing shorts, to an umbrella to a drought  ....

 

 I hope you enjoy the book about Roanoke . The TV show about it is what got me interested in it . We don't get cable, but it's on youtube . Pretty interesting stuff .

 

The same show (America Unearthed ) had an episode about Meriwether Lewis ,saying he had actually been murdered instead of committing suicide . I have seen several books an Amazon about it ,so will probably be looking for one of them in the near future . I'm a sucker for old unsolved things from the past .

 

Anyhow, good to talk to you again .  

[lauraloves]

Glad your back Julie

[julie]

Thanks Laura -   

[pontalba]

Hey Julie.  Well, except for a couple of incidents, we've been ok.  Had a rear end collision yesterday evening.  That wasn't any fun! hah

 

I've been fascinated with the Roanoke story for years, but hadn't heard of this book. 

 

Glad to have you back!

[julie]

Kat

Hope you guys didn't get injured when you got hit . Did it do much damage to the car ? 

[Devi]

I love anything and everything history myself. I just bought a book about the Berlin Wall, and another on Britsh and Australian p.o.w's of Sandakan.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Devi