When I read a book I want to be transported to wherever the story takes place. If I am reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott then I want to feel like I am in the attic when the sisters are putting on a play. If I am reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand I want to feel the hot sun on my face and my dry mouth as I’m stranded in the middle of the ocean with Louis Zamperini.
I am an English major, which means when the school years starts I am constantly reading. The books I’m required to read for my major can be taxing, especially when I have an early 1700’s and 1800’s literature course. For example, John Smith’s autobiography was so hard for me to read that it would literally take me an hour just to read ten pages. So, when school is out for the year I often have a hard time picking up a book to read for fun.
I have always loved reading, and when I was little I loved books that made me feel a part of the story. But, once I got into college the thrill of reading for fun started to die. This past summer it took me a long time to work up the mental muscle to read. In part, seeing my husband read book after book about the founders of our nation made me feel like I needed to use my time better and start reading again. I didn’t want to read just any book. I wanted to read something historical and learn from it. But, the catch was, I didn’t want it to feel like I was learning anything.
The first book I tried to read was about John and Abigail Adams. I knew the book had potential to be inserting and engaging. I made it through 100 pages before I couldn’t take it anymore. The book was so boring!
I thought I was done reading for the summer, but thankfully my brother got me a 314 paged book for my birthday. It took me just a week to finish it! This book was everything I was looking for. There was history, a good storyline, and it transported me back in time.
Trials of the Earth by Mary Mann Hamilton, a true pioneer woman, is now one of my favorite books and one that I want to read again. When I think of a pioneer woman I envision a woman with a bonnet tied perfectly under her chin, sitting well
poised in a covered wagon heading West. Hamilton’s story is much different than that. Instead of setting out for Oregon Hamilton marries a man with a mysterious English past
and together they set off to the Mississippi Delta. Between reading about Hamilton’s heavy, daily work load (which will inspire you to work harder) running a boarding house, having a child who seems like she really is an angel, moving several times, and having her husband’s English past mysteriously show up throughout the story, makes for a book that is hard to put down.
The thing I liked best about Hamilton’s book is the conversational tone weaved throughout. I felt like I was sitting at her feet listening to her reminisce about days gone by. When holding her infant son in one arm and the other wrapped around her daughter while sitting on a chair balanced on a tree stump to escape the flood waters rising all around, I could feel the stress, the cold, the wind, and the rain. What I read in this book sticks with me because I felt like I was right there with Mary Mann Hamilton.
Right after I finished Trials of the Earth I found another book entitled The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. The start of this book briefly overlaps with the ending of Hamilton’s. The close time periods of the books helped me mentally connect more with what was going on in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
Larson’s book reads like a historical fiction novel. It takes two completely different stories and weaves them seamlessly together. The book opens with the events that led up to the 1893 Chicago’s World Fair. What it took to get the fair to be held in Chicago and then actually built is incredible. I learned about famous architects like Frederick Law Olmsted who helped designed Central Park, the Chicago World’s Fair, and the Biltmore (which I will hopefully see in a few weeks). I never thought I would enjoy commentary about architecture, but this book has kept my interest for over 200 pages.
The Devil in the White City would be interesting if it was only about the events surrounding 
the World’s Fair, but what makes this book even more intriguing is the serial killer H. H. Holmes who was also in Chicago at the time of the fair. Larson perfectly juxtaposes H. H. Holmes’ sinister actions with the joy and festivity surrounding the fair. Not only was Holmes a serial killer, but the way he went about planning his killings is disturbing. Holmes makes even the mundane, like a hotel, become a castle out of a nightmare.
I started Larson’s book too late in the summer to finish before school started. I still have a little over 100 pages left to read, but I can’t wait to get back to them! The book is not a quick read since there is so much information in it, but it is an enjoyable read. I wanted a book to take me back in time and that is exactly what Larson does. I felt the tension when the newly invented Ferris wheel moves for the first time, and I could almost smell the sterile, hospital like smell of H. H. Holmes’ hotel.
Trials of the Earth and The Devil in the White City are two books I highly recommend if you want to take a break from where you are and travel back in time. After reading these two books you will feel like you have a greater appreciation for what others before you have done. You will also feel satisfied in having read a good book and learned something from it!
Let me know if you have any other books to add to the list of great reads. And, if you have read these books I want to hear what you think about them!
I hope you enjoy these two books as much as I have!
Grace
Fits and Starts 
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