Lasting Impressions: Current Reads With My Book Club at The Armed Forces Retirement Home

Both in person and "virtually," our book club at The Armed Forces Retirement Home, Washington, D.C. continues to read some extraordinary books.

"The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek," written by Kim Michele Richardson, is a fascinating novel. This writing was inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930's. The Kentucky Pack Horse program was implemented in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration(WPA) to create women's work programs and to assist economic recovery and build literacy. "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" is deeply rooted in the history of Appalachia. My very own father was born and spent most of his younger years in a farming community in Lebanon, Kentucky. I was able to learn from the many conversations with my father, about the challenging times that took place during the late twenties and well into the 1930's for both himself and for his family. Author, Kim Michele Richardson herself grew up in extreme poverty, spending the first decade of her life in a rural Kentucky orphanage, moving on to foster care, and then finding herself homeless at the age of fourteen. Ms. Richardson's research and thirst for wanting to introduce her readers to this time in history and to its people is truly captivating.

"Bunker Hill," written by Nathaniel Philbrick, has a cast of characters that emerge throughout prerevolutionary Boston and the American Revolution to include, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Joseph Warren. The Battle of Bunker Hill was the most ferocious conflict of the Revolutionary War."

Our book club is just beginning, "Educated," written by Tara Westover. "Educated" will be a book that will afford our group of avid readers some very interesting conversations. Stay tuned...