Saturday, September 24, 2016

What Books Do You Read? -- Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 
time for some more Genealogy Fun!!



Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) 
What kind of books do you read now and do they reflect your genealogy hobby? What was the last book you’ve read?

2)  Share your response in a comment on this blog post, in your own blog post (and provide a link in a comment on this post), or on Facebook or Google+.

My thanks to Jacquie Schattner for providing this challenge via email.

Here's mine:

The last genealogy book I read from cover to cover was George G. Morgan's Advanced Genealogy: Research Techniques.   I am reading Nathan Goodwin's latest book, The Spyglass File, at present on my tablet while watching baseball games.  I have the Blaine Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne book, Genetic Genealogy in Practice, on my reading table in the family room. 

I usually read mysteries, thrillers and historical fiction when I'm watching TV in the evening.  The current book is Stephen Frey's Trust Fund.  Before that it was James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge's Alert.

I have read and pretty much exhausted the books by David Baldacci, C.J. Box, John Grisham, John Sandford, Brad Thor, Jack Higgins, Daniel Silva, Vince Flynn, Harlan Coben,Edward Rutherford, Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen Cannell, Michael Palmer, Michael Connelly, Stephen Frey, Lee Child and several others.  

If anyone has suggestions, I'm open to them!


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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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11 comments:

Unknown said...

http://jessicaandgracie.com/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-92416/

Janice Harshbarger said...

I try to read for three hours a day, although I don't always get there. Right now I'm reading James Macgregor Burns' "The Vineyard of Liberty" and Alison Weir's "Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen." My reading is all over the map, from all kinds of time periods, and leans more towards nonfiction than fiction. If I don't learn something about history or genealogy from reading a book, it is pretty much time wasted, in my opinion!

William R Zeigler said...

Randy - Have you read any of the Brother Cadfael Series by Ellis Peters, which take place in the 12th century? Or the Hangman's Daughter Series by Oliver Potzsch, which take place in the 17th century, or his book on Mad King Ludwig? Good mysteries with LOTS of historical context. I also highly recommend books by Laurie King, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and Ariana Franklin.

Shirley Ann Rankin said...

My favorite genealogy book is "White Cargo," subtitiled "The forgotten story of the thousands of Britons who lived and died in bondage in Britain’s American colonies" by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh.

"In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more than 300,000 white people were shipped to America as slaves. Urchins were swept up from London’s streets to labor in the tobacco fields, where life expectancy was no more than two years. Brothels were raided to provide “breeders” for Virginia. Hopeful migrants were duped into signing as indentured servants, unaware they would become personal property who could be bought, sold, and even gambled away. Transported convicts were paraded for sale like livestock."

I've read this book all the way through at least five times. I definitely recommend it to anyone who has early American ancestors. It's an eye opener!

Janice M. Sellers said...

Almost everything I read is nonfiction. Most of it has some connection to genealogy.

http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2016/09/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-what-books.html

Lois Willis said...

Here's mine
http://loiswillis.com/2016/09/25/sunday-afternoon-genealogy-fun-what-books-do-you-read/

Seeds to Tree said...


I usually read histories, or biographies. Not fiction. My last book was "Trials of the Earth" by Mary Mann Hamilton, an autobiography of the post Civil war era. The review said “Little House on the Prairie” it’s not. It includes some grim stories from her past. As a child, I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder books, which were considered autobiographical at the time. I wanted to be a writer like her.

I recently read "Boys in the Boat" about a college rowing team. It's one of the books that although you know the ending, it's their journey and the author's descriptions of the depression that made it so interesting.

As for genealogy books, I don't always read them cover to cover, although I have read all of Emily Croom's and W. Daniel Quillen's for general information. I recently read huge portions of "Forgotten Doors: The Other Ports of Entry to the United States" by M. Mark Stolarik about the smaller immigration ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Linda Stufflebean said...

Much of my reading is related to genealogy or history - here's my post: http://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2016/09/what-books-do-you-read-saturday-night-genealogy-fun/

Mary Rohrer Dexter said...

I am late again. I attended a fund raiser for Women's Reproductive Cancer Support last pm called "Bunco For Boobies" and did not get home till late. Here is my post for this week. http://skeezicks1957.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-what-books-do-you-read-challenge.html

Mary Rohrer Dexter said...

I left comments at each of the blogs that added links here. I am going to try to comment on the others all in one comment because since last week when I added a comment for each one Randy's spam alert on comments has me flagged and I have to ID bunches of pictures before it will post my comment.
Janice - three hours a day. Just wow. I try to read thirty minutes before bed. Of course I read online and that sort of thing a lot more.
William - I am currently listening to The Hangman's Daughter on audio. I will be looking up the others you mention and adding them to my wish list. To mix the historical fiction and the mystery genres is a cool thing.
Shirley - I have heard of that book. I will have to add it to my wish list.
Jacquie - I will add your suggestions to my wish list too!

Trish said...

I love Edward Rutherford, and have read all of his books. If you like him, try Margaret George. She has written excellent historical novels about Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, and Cleopatra. The Ellis Peters books mentioned above are also good. As are the books by Michael Jecks, centered around a 14th century knight in England who solves mysteries/crimes in Devonshire, England.