On my Kindle, I’ve been reading Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff whenever I take a long bus ride, wait in a doctor’s office, or get a haircut. It’s a wonderful book I can enjoy without feeling an urgency to read it straight through and quickly get to the end. Each time I read, I am back in the ancient world (I’ve always loved history), having previously vague notions of famous rivalries and battles sorted out, seeing incredible pageantry and spectacle, and spending time in the company of the genius Cleopatra was.Stacy Schiff is an amazing writer, combining brilliantly researched material with a style that speaks directly to the reader. Occasionally, a dry aside makes me laugh out loud (LOL), as in her description of Cleopatra with the dying Antony: “The two had been together for the better part of a decade; Cleopatra wiped the blood from his body and smeared it across her face. She beat and scratched at her breasts. She called Antony master, commander, husband; she always knew how to talk to a man.”
I’m delighted to recommend Cleopatra: A Life to sister ElderChicks.
ElderChicks 
I love the death scene. What a woman !
Two book/author recommendations – stupendous book and one of my all-time favorites.
Cutting For Stone – Abraham Verghese
Another excellent author – Ann Patchett. Two of her books:
Bel Canto and State of Wonder. Terrific reads, both.
A book due out this month (November, 2011) should be of great interest to gals of our generation. It is entitled “Pearl Harbor Chrismas,” by Stanley Weintraub. Stanley is a native Philadelphian who taught at Penn State for many years, and is now retired, but still working at it, as he has written a number of very well-received books over the last several decades. My husband and I intend to go down to Washington,DC when Stanley is at The National Press Club signing books. His wife, by the way, Rodelle Horwitz Weintraub is a Girls High of Philadelphia grad, as am I.
If any of you were around on December 7, 1941 you will remember that day quite well. That was 70 years ago and, as I recall my parents were listening to a radio broadcast of The New York Philharmonic. Around 3PM that afternoon a voice broke through (the voice of John Charles Daly) announcing the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The nation was in shock, and, thank heavens we had a President like FDR. who knew how to speak to us. He told us that December 7 would be “a day that would live in infamy.” Those words have resounded through the years.
As a matter of fact, Henry, my husband, and I have been watching a movie called “The War Against Mrs. Hadlley” released originally in 1942 that captures that day and the atmosphere surrounding the war in a way we’ve not seen on film before. The movie from MGM’s golden era stars Fay Bainter as Mrs. Hadley. If you can find it, it is on DVD you have a treat in store for you, because a young Van Johnson is here as a serviceman named Michael Fitzpatrick. Van is in a terrifically amusing scene with Pat, Mrs. Hadley’s daughter, in a USO canteen, and I don’t want to give too much away, but there is, despite all the events to do with The War-at-home, a Happy Ending.
Well, this is my Happy Ending, and as I am part of an effort to get a US Postal Stamp to honor Van Johnson, I’m happy to let you in on the website: vanjohnsonstamp.org. Thanks for “listening!”
The one that I read that stood out the most was “Fallen Leaves”. It is a story of a woman who went through horrific times and also had to deal with a “wicked stepmother” in China. It tells of her journey through life, and is something we can all realte to.