Today’s author is Joni Eareckson. All her life she has been paralyzed from a swimming accident when she was a teenager. She learned how to draw, started a business, got married and recently has had breast cancer.

Joni. copyright 1976. A biography of her life and how she sought God.

Choices and Changes. Copyright 1986. Tells about her movie, her business and her marriage. Mostly thought about her relationship with God.

The author today is Dick Francis. I love mysteries and he is one of my favorite authors of mysteries. His characters are always to laid back and he does’t used profanity in his writings.

I have two Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. I keep them because they both have books by Dick Francis. One is Volume 2, 1992. It contains Comeback by Dick Francis, Scarlett (sequel to Gone With the Wind) by Alexandra Ripley, and The Deceiver by Frederick Forsyth. The other one contains Stillwatch by Mary Higgins Clark and Proof by Dick Francis.

The others are Rat Race, 10 Lb. Penalty, and Field of Thirteen (13 short stories). Refusal is by his son Felix Francis.

The author today is Elswyth Thane. She is the author of the Williamsburg Novels of which there is eight. I have all of them except the first one, Dawn’s Early Light which took place during the fight for liberty from England. The generations of the same family move down through the books.

Yankee Stranger, copyright 1944. Takes place during the Civil War. Ever After, copyright 1945. Takes place during the war in Cuba. The Light Heart, copyright 1947, in the beginnings of the First World War. Kissing Kin, copyright 1948. Takes place during the time between the first and second world wars. This Was Tomorrow, copyright 1951. Takes place during World War II. Homing, copyright 1957.

I am entering four books today all by different authors. They are all romance novels except the last one, which is a historical novel.

The Substitute Guest by Grace Livingston Hill. Copyright 1936.

A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich. Copyright 1929.

St. Elmo by Augusta Evans. Copyright 1866.

Yonder Sails the Mayflower by Honore Morrow. Copyright 1934.

I’ll add three books today. None of them are novels.

How Plants Grow by Asa Gray. Copyright 1858. This is a botany for young people and common schools. Must have been used as a textbook.

A Guide Book of United States Coins by R. S. Yeoman. 1952-53.

Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Chas. Cowman. Copyright 1925, 27th printing. This is a book of messages for daily prayer time. It was very popular in its day, I guess that’s why I picked it up when I run across it. The former owner used it as sort of a dairy. Every once in a while you run across a note that says someone died today.

In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon. The subject of the book is What would Jesus do? It has no copyright but the Foreword was written in 1935. This book has had so many copies sold they say it is next to the Bible in the number of copies sold. The first publisher was not familiar with the copyright laws and therefore it has no copyright. But the publisher of the book I have recognized the moral right of the author and shared the sale of the books. That publisher was Grosset and Dunlap–publisher of many of the old books I have.

The Crucifixion of Philip Strong, by Charles M. Sheldon. This one also has no copyright.

The author today is Lloyd C. Douglas. I have nine of his books and I’ve enjoyed them very much. We’ve already seen My Robe, so we’ll go from there.

Magnificent Obsession, copyright 1929. Forgive Us Our Trespasses, copyright 1932. Green Light, copyright 1934. White Banner, copyright 1936. Disputed Passage, copyright 1938.

Doctor Hudson’s Secret Journal, copyright 1939. Dr. Hudson is a character in Magnificent Obsession, so is sort of a sequel to that book. It was a little hard to read because he included this thoughts and opinions of the war.

The Big Fisherman, copyright 1948. And last of all, his biography, Time To Remember, copyright 1951, which I am sorry to admit I found rather boring.

Today’s author is Gene Stratton Porter (1864-1924). I thought Gene was a man for the longest time. I first read her books when I was a teenager. One summer when I was working at Mackinac City, we stopped at her birthplace museum in Indiana and picked up her biography. I am including it here.

Gene Stratton Porter, Novelist and Naturalist by Judith Reick Long, Copyright 1990.

The Song of the Cardinal. Copyright 1903. A lovely story about a bird. The Harvester, Copyright 1911. The Keeper of the Bees. Copyright 1925. I love this book; I have read it at least three times.

I did Freckles at an earlier date and I also have Michael O’Halloran but it is not complete as it is missing the first chapter.

I’m changing things a bit. Sometimes I have collected books by a certain author and when that happens, I am going to list them all under the same date. The author today is Harold Bell Wright. He lived from 1872 to 1944. He was a minister turned author. His novels were about morality and social problems. So here is the books I have by him.

That Printer of Udell’s. Copyright 1902. The Shepherd of the Hills. Copyright 1907. This is probably one of his most famous books. I saw the play of it many years ago in Bronson, Missouri. The Winning of Barbara Worth. Copyright 1911.

The Eyes of the World. Copyright 1914. This is one of the first books I read by him. When A Man’s A Man. Copyright 1916. I like this book. The illustrations and pen drawings are by the author himself which adds a lot to the book. And, I confess, I like the name of the book!

The Re-Creation of Brian Kent, Copyright 1919. The Mine With The Open Door. Copyright 1923.

None of these books have bookmarks! I’ll see what I can find.

The Heart Remembers by Faith Baldwin. Copyright 1941

Faith Baldwin wrote many books, mostly romance I would guess. It’s been a long time since I read this book so I’m not sure. It’s the only book I have of hers, too.

And it’s missing a bookmark! Have to correct that.