Books I Read In August

It's been a while since I've read this eclectic of a group of books all in a row, and it was such a fun month! I've been trying to read through my TBR pile so I'm ready to dig in to my new book sale books. (In case you didn't know, the Pages for Pennies sale I host is September 25-27. The books are pouring in!) These are the seven I finished in August, and I'm part-way through three more that we'll talk about in a month!

Storm Kings: The Untold History of America's First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin. From the 1800s to present day, have we really come that far in tornado research? This book traces the history of storm and tornado research through the years, all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, and showing how the questions remain despite the expert input into the topic. Being from Iowa, and writing this while in an actual tornado warning, this book and its information really connected.

Grace Livingston Hill Collection 1. I spent part of my birthday money on a set of Grace Livingston Hill books from an online collector, and this one has Aunt Crete's Emancipation, A Daily Rate (which I loved!), The Girl From Montana, and her aunt Isabella Alden's book Mara. I haven't read any new (to me) Hill books in several weeks, so I was rocked to my core by the truth of God's word she intertwined into her stories of love and survival in the early 20th century. Mara address false religion and false doctrine, and I was so angry with the enemy and his lies by the time I finished it,  I was literally and physically shaking. Praise the Lord He has already claimed the victory!

View from a Hearse: Lighten Up by Bruce Goddard. Part memoir, part hilarious storytelling, and part inside look into a multi-generational funeral home, this is a classic book for the undertaker's wife. Yes, Danny brought it home for me from a national cremation convention. And yes, I love it! There are stories about his family of funeral home owners, stories from the most interesting services he worked, and lots of stories that just make you laugh out loud. It's delightful and insightful all in one package.

Highlights Along the Sawdust Trail by Albert Peterson. After hearing D.L. Moody preach and getting saved, Ottumwa's very own Albert Peterson went on to spend 16 years in evangelist William A. "Billy" Sunday's organization. The first half of the book is his salvation story and stories of some of the millions of people who were saved during Billy Sunday's ministry. The second half is a a reprinting of Billy Sunday's funeral service from December 1935. The book is a lovely tribute to both men and the power of the gospel over many decades.

The Blue Book of Crime by T. G. Cooke. A former director at the Institute of Applied Science in Chicago, Cooke published this guide in 1941 as a guide for young men interested in becoming investigators. It's a behind-the-scenes look at what life could look like for an up-and-coming expert in fingerprinting, secret service methods, Bertillon Identification, criminal photography, and firearms identification. Then Cooke tells several very dramatic and very 1940s-vibe stories about crimes past graduates of the institute solved using their methods. It's a fantastic peek at that decade and the state-of-the-art crime solving techniques of the day.