And welcome to the second part of what’s on my bookshelf.  If you haven’t seen/read the first part, go check it out here.  Now we are moving on to the second shelf.  This is mostly historical fiction and books that mean a lot to me and are non-fiction.  (Okay, besides one of my favorite mystery series.)

First up we have…

Vogue Sewing

*Cough* I would not have this book at all, except that my mom has a degree in fashion design and insists every seamstress must have a vogue sewing book.  So, my mom has one, and so do I.  I think mine is a newer edition, though.  Anyway, the moral of this rambling is that if you’re a seamstress like me, you probably need this book.  (According to my mom.)

In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon

Great book, y’all.  I like his other book, Seven Days Left much better, but that’s not on this bookshelf.  It’s an amazing tale of a pastor who is shaken out of his apathy by one simple question: What Would Jesus Do?  No one expected that one question to change the lives of these people in such a drastic way.  I encourage you to read this book!

The Boxcar Children Mysteries

Oh, I love these books (Even though they’re for nine-year-olds, and I’m a teenager)!  Don’t get the newest ones.  Only get up to number 50, because the rest are so-so.  I got these old editions from the thrift store, and I instantly fell in love with Henry, Jesse, Violet, and Benny.  I love these mystery books because they aren’t that cliché, and the characters remind me of my siblings and I.  Since I have roughly 25 books, I won’t give you the details.  The only thing that puzzles me is how they stay the same ages for five summer vacations.  Hmm, strange.  Anyway, next book!

The Last of the Mohicans (Abridged)

I think I have this so I can hand it to my brother next time he comes begging for something to read. 😉  No, not really.  I enjoyed it when I was younger, though I can barely remember the plot line.  Maybe I should request the actual book from the library?  (I have this feud with abridged novels.)

War in the Wasteland by Douglas Bond

Ooh!  What an AMAZING book!  Towards the end of WWI, Nigel finally enlists.  Once he is in the trenches, he battles not only the enemy, but loneliness, illness, and his fellow soldiers.  Along his journey, he meets up with a young lieutenant known as Jack Lewis.  Join the adventure as Jack and Nigel fight together, and are wounded together.  This really is another must read!

(Note: This really is more of a boy book, so if you’re a girl who doesn’t like war, or illness, or rotting feet, please don’t read this and blame me for calling it amazing.)

Faith and Freedom Trilogy by Douglas Bond

Guns of Thunder…Wait, I’m missing the second book!  I’ll have to check my brother’s room.  *Goes into the cave*  *Comes out red-faced* Okay, so I couldn’t find it in my brother’s room, and he’s not here at the present, since he’s at work, so I’ll have to look up the title.  Guns of the Lion, and Guns of Providence.  (I am now really upset I can’t find that book.)  So these deal with the grandchildren great-grandchildren of the characters in the Crown and Covenant series, and they’re set in the revolutionary war.  Really good books.  I need to read them again.  Oh, and it’s such an exciting adventure the boys go on.  I really enjoy books about adventurous kids, but especially boys, if it’s a historical fiction.  Girls for some reason bring the romance into the book, and it’s just not as edible, you know?  Maybe you don’t know.

Crown and Covenant Trilogy by Douglas Bond

Yep!  I do like Mr. Bond’s writing.  This book takes place in Scotland during the 1600s when King Charles the 2nd was on the throne.  The Protestant church (or Kirk, as the Scots called it) was being persecuted by the Catholics, and the Scots had the bravery and valor to stand for what they believed in.  These books are amazing, because Mr. Bond makes the characters talk in brogue.  Aye, an’ ye didnae think it could get better, did ye?

Heroes in History by Douglas Bond

I have Hostile Lands and Hand of Vengeance here on my shelf.  Hostile lands is very fascinating for me, since I can speak a bit of Latin, and it’s about a Latin parchment written by a Roman Centurion.  Very interesting read.  Hand of Vengeance is about vikings, and I can’t really remember what that one is about.  (I know, terrible.)  So, you should really go look Mr. Bond up.  The only book I would tell you NOT to read of his is The Betrayal.  It gave me nightmares for weeks.  *Shivers*. Even that book was just a bit too gruesome for me.  (Or maybe I’m too imaginative.)

Ten Girls Who Changed The World Series by Irene Howat

Um, I really liked these when I was nine.  They’re good history books for young girls, but I haven’t read them in years.  Just reminds me of when I was little. 😉  These books have short chapters about famous women, from Florence Nightingale to Patricia St. Johns.  So, in the series it covers 50 women all together, and each book has ten women in it.  It’s a pretty neat little book series.

Caddie Woodlawn by Carolyn Ryrie Brink

Carol Ryrie Brink is a superb author, even though some of the books she writes are questionable.  (Why do I know so much about the authors?  If I like an author, I go a request all their books from the library until I’ve had my fill of the author.  😂)  Caddie Woodlawn is a dashing story of an elven-year-old in the year of 1864.  The end of the Civil war is in sight, but that doesn’t affect young Caddie’s life in Wisconsin.  She and her two brothers, Tom and Warren, have grand adventures.  One day they’re visiting an Indian camp, and the next they’re plowing a field.  It’s a sweet book about the author’s grandmother.  I’d highly recommend this book, and the sequel, Magical Melons.

Abigail Adams by Evelyn Witter

A wonderful book about a wonderful woman.  It’s a book for a younger crowd, complete with engaging sketches, and adventures.  It’s about Abigail Adams, from her life as a young girl to her life as the wife of the second president.

Annie Henry and the Secret Mission by Susan Olasky

Ooh, another fun book!  I always wanted the rest of the books in this series, but I never got them.  Annie Henry, the daughter of Patrick Henry, is anxious to hear what is really happening between Britain and the Colonies.  When she hears her father state the well-known words, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” Annie decides that she too will do her part for her country’s independence.

The War Rages On by Cecelia Schmidt

I love these books!  My friend, Cecelia, wrote this trilogy, and I’m hoping to do a review in the hazy future.  Anyway, the first book, The War Rages On, is about Grace Johnson, a sixteen-year-old Christian girl.  Her father is not a Christian, and that complicates things when Grace falls head over heels for the preacher’s boy.  Life is rocky as the peace of the country and the peace of her home hang on a thread.

The War Within by Cecelia Schmidt

Well, okay, I probably can’t tell you much without it being a spoiler for the first book.  Grace finds trouble, or trouble finds Grace at the end of the Civil war.  The newly started Ku Klux Klan is threatening Grace, and those she loves.

The War’s End by Cecelia Schmidt

This is my favorite out of the three.  It’s the longest as well.  Fifteen years have passed since you last visited Grace, and now she is a mother to her own children, and an adopted child.  This adopt child battles with heart-break as she learns a secret that involves her past.  To make matters worse, two outlaws show up in town, determined to destroy the town’s peace.

Toddy by Jane Peart

It’s 1890, and Toddy is in a crowded orphanage where her mother left her a few years before.  One day, a man and a lady come saying they want to bring some children out west for people to adopt.  Toddy and her three friends are chosen, and that starts an adventure of a lifetime.  Who will adopt Toddy?  What will her life be like?  Will anyone actually love her?  Read the book to find out!

Laurel by Jane Peart

Laurel and Toddy were two of the three musketeers at Greystone orphanage, and together they all adventured out west.  Laurel was really an orphan, her father and mother both dead, when she steps on the hissing train.  When she reaches her destination, she is adopted by a doctor and his grieving wife.  Will she ever reach her new mother’s broken heart?  Will she ever be able to pursue her dreams?  Or is she still stuck in her past?

Kathleen’s Shaken Dreams by Tracy Leininger Craven

Ooh!  I always wanted the other books in this series, but I’ve never gotten them.  I usually hate Life of Faith books because they take books and abridge them (Like the Elsie Dinsmore series!!!!), but I don’t think this book is abridged.  Anyway, Kathleen lives happily in her family, full of dreams for the future, and contentment with the past until that fateful day in 1929 when the stock markets crashed.  After that day, all Kathleen’s dreams come crashing down.

If The South Had Won the Civil War by MacKinlay Kantor

Oh, this is one of my old books.  Published in 1961, this book is kinda missing it’s cover.  Before I begin anything else, I must say this book isn’t exactly politically correct, so read at your own risk.  If history had just had a few changes in it, what would the fate of this nation look like?  What if Grant had been thrown from his horse during Vicksburg, causing him to die?  What if Stuart had eliminated certain cavalry group? What would have happened?  This humorous account of how the South won, and what the South did once they one is worth an afternoon of reading.  🙂

Anne Frank’s Diary by Anne Frank

Wow, this book is TERRIBLE!  Can you believe what happens in this book?  Not only what happens, but how Anne processes it all?  Before I move on to the second reason not to read this book, I’ll give you the first.  The whole time Anne is in the secret room, she’s only thinking about herself.

Sure, a few times she thinks about Peter…But only in the way of how he affects her, and why she needs him, and why he needs her.  Often she writes that she wishes she was better, but she never becomes better.  Even if it’s a great biography of a Jew during the holocaust, Anne doesn’t realize her danger, or what is going on beyond her own little world.

I don’t think anyone needs to read it.  Here, even though I risk copy right, I’ll add an excerpt.

Sometimes I have the same feeling here with Peter [referring to physical attraction], but never to such an extent until yesterday, when we were, as usual, sitting on the divan, our arms around each other’s waists. (p. 217)

Pause just a minute.  Do you see what I see?  This young girl and young guy, are ALONE sitting in a room, and they’re hugging each other. If that doesn’t sound wrong to you, please listen to this verse before I continue with Anne.

“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22)

Do you think sitting on a couch together, arms around each other, is fleeing youthful passions?  Now, we shall proceed and skip a paragraph.

He came towards me, I flung my arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on his left cheek, and was about to kiss the other cheek, when my lips met his and we pressed them together. (p. 218)

Um, Anne, didn’t you know that you’re supposed to keep yourself pure?  Where is your dad?  Why haven’t you told your parents?  And kids are supposed to read this book in school?  We (Americans) admire Anne Franks.  Every girl I know that goes to school loves this book.  Look at what they do!  And they don’t stop there, but I’m too ashamed to have it on my blog.

Please spare yourself.  Don’t read this book.

Unless, of course, you have no value for the purity of your heart and mind.  This book does not in any way, shape, or form fit up with Philippians 4:8.  I actually refrained from throwing it away so I could give it a review on my blog.

It’s (Not That) Complicated by Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin

What a fitting book to have right after Anne Frank.  This book is for all young women out there.  As it says on the cover, “How to relate to guys in a healthy, sane, and biblical way.”  This is a book EVERY girl needs in her teenage years.  I’ll just quote the back of the book for y’all.

“Ever been confused about friendships with boys?  How to handle crushes?  How friendly is too friendly?  How close is too close? What to do when a guy is being too friendly?  What guys think about all this?  What it means to be a “sister, in all purity”? Guy-girl relationships have always been complicated, but perhaps never more so than today.  It’s (Not That) Complicated is a humorous, hopeful, and deeply thought-provoking new look at guy-girl relationships in our times.  Dealing practically with such complications as online interaction, Hollywood expectations, undefined relationships, and unrequited love, the Botkin sisters offer enduring biblical principles that can make it all much simpler.”

Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson

Ooh!  This is a GREAT book.  One you can’t put down, even if you ain’t a duck hunter.  This book is full of good life lessons, basic principles, and Phil’s love for God.  Read the story of a drunkard being turned into a millionaire by God’s redeeming love, and a simple love for ducks.  It’s one book you’ll never regret reading.  (For some reason this guy really reminds me of my dad.  😂)

Growing Up Duggar by Jana Dugger, Jill (Dugger) Dillard, Jessa (Dugger) Seawald, and Jinger (Dugger) Vuolo

Another splendid book for girls, and even for boys.  My mom made my older brother read this so he can understand “us girls.”  I’m sure you’ve heard of the Duggars, with their crazy (not so crazy) 19 children.  This book is full of stories from their growing up years, and biblical advice about your relationship with: yourself, parents, siblings, friends, boys, God, your country, and the world.

The Complete Works of Hannah More by Hannah More

Ah!  A book full of biblical and hilarious plays, all written in Elizabethan English. I suppose if you really wanted to use them besides reading them, you could change all the thee’s with you’s.  My favorite is “The Search After Happiness.”

Fierce Convictions by Karen Swallow Prior

A biography about Hannah More, a poet, reformer, and abolitionist.  I have a lot of friends that really admire her, and use her as an example for modern-day abolitionism.  It’s a great, inspiring book, but I find the part of her writing plays much more inspiring than the last part of her life.  And what was her big deal with disliking men?  Anyway, it’s a good book if you’re into that kind of stuff.  Maybe I’ll read it again someday.

And that is all the books on my second shelf of my bookshelf!  Next week, hopefully, you will see what is on my third and final shelf.

Adieu!

~~Amie~~

P.S. Have you read any of these books?  Did one of them prick your interest?  Have you ever read Anne Frank’s diary? Do you enjoy sewing?  What are your thoughts on Vogue sewing book?

P.P.S. Check out this reading challenge! 

P.P.P.S I really should have included this in the post, but sorry for a pictureless post.  It takes so much longer to search up those pictures.  🙂