I read these three books -- about the same three sisters -- repeatedly in middle-school: Journey to America books I found them again recently and re-read them all. The first book in the series is "Journey to America" and that's about a family leaving Germany right before World War II. And the two other books… Continue reading Journey to America books
Once upon a time, I was at a university, and a high-ranking fancy person from Shell Oil showed up. It was a university in Texas, maybe that was why. He was from the top brass, I think -- he was actually Dutch, all smooth and tall and polished. But if you listened carefully to what… Continue reading The smooth-talker from Shell Oil
Remember how I wrote that the Arabic translation of Harry Potter #1 (Sorcerer's Stone) pretty much followed the original English to the letter, baring some few slight deviations? Well, unfortunately, the translation of the second book does not. The book's font is bigger, there's far fewer sentences squeezed in per page, and it's barely longer… Continue reading Harry Potter in Arabic: The Chamber of Secrets
#1 Boxcar Children -- Henry 14, Jessie 12, Violet 10, Benny 5 (this is baldly stated by the author, something she stops doing just a few books in, which is why I have to compute their ages in other ways.) #2 Surprise Island -- Henry 15, Benny 6 (as stated by the author). Jessie and… Continue reading Boxcar Children — their ages book by book
I recently found out that many of the books that Lucy Maud Montgomery mentions reading in her journals -- obscure books from the 1800s -- can be found in the Loserville Library. When I say obscure, I mean they are obscure today. They were best-sellers back in their time. One of them is Beside the… Continue reading Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
When I was little, I had a secret fantasy of attending Claremont McKenna College. If I had known then as I know now that it's right by Loserville, I probably would have squashed that idea. But I hadn't really researched the place. My romantic notions of the place were based solely on the fact that… Continue reading Claremont McKenna
Every year at Christmas time, the Norwegian embassy puts a Christmas tree in the main train station in Washington DC. It's an ugly looking tree: Norwegian Tree at Union Station They do this every year. I don't know for how long, but back when I was passing through Union Station all the time in the… Continue reading The Norwegian Tree at Union Station
I was reading a book called "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written By Herself", published just before the Civil War. The author is Harriet Jacobs. Harriet was born a slave in 1813 on the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, and she spent about 10 years trying to escape. When she finally did,… Continue reading When evil overplays its hands
The Home is a book about a family in Sweden in the early 1800s. They have like 7 kids. The author is Fredrika Bremer. I got to know her through an exhibit I saw at the Swedish museum in Philadelphia. I found The Home in the Loserville Library, in Swedish. In the original Swedish, the… Continue reading The Home: a book from the year 1839 sounds like it was written today
I have been to San Antonio twice now, so you might assume that I saw the Alamo. Yes, the Alamo of "Remember the Alamo" fame. However, both of my visits lasted only about an hour, and took place in the middle of the night, because my visits to the city have actually been train stops… Continue reading Sneaking off to see the Alamo while at the San Antonio train stop
mejshasan.com 