High Summer Read-a-Thon Update and Mini-Challenge

UPDATE

I wonder what it is about a read-a-thon that always makes my personal life go into interference mode?  On Monday, I spent most of the day taking care of read-a-thon business; organizing the mini-challenge/giveaway post, visiting blogs to welcome, inform, and encourage, and making sure that everyone was signed-in properly (I also read a bit of The Widow of the South).  All this is to be expected when hosting a read-a-thon and I don't mind it a bit because I love interacting with people.  So, Monday was a success in a different way. =O)  On Tuesday, I read Part III of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson for TuesBookTalk, but it still was a sad accomplishment.  Constant distractions from my sons are ever present! Wednesday was the day that the personal stuff really came into play.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned it yet, but I'm going on vacation next week.  We--my mom, myself, and my sons--are headed up to Michigan to visit my sister for a week and a half and I will also be attending my 25 YEAR class reunion.  My husband isn't going because of work so we are taking Mom's car...we thought! The air was not working in her car and she had the free-on recharged in it.  A week later, it was out again.  She called me yesterday to tell me that her mechanic told her the compressor was gone and it was going to take $800 to fix it.  Long story short, Mom has put a lot of money into that car and she is finished doing it.  So, guess what I was doing yesterday instead of reading?  Yes, that's right...researching rental car rates and specials at local auto dealerships.  It took me half the day! Mom has pretty much decided to buy a new car so that's what we will be doing on Saturday (part of the day).  Yes, quite a read-a-thon sob story, I know.  Anyway, here are my plans for the rest of today/tomorrow.

--Finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
--Finish The Widow of the South
--Catch up on To the Lighthouse (for read-a-long)
--Start Vlad: The Last Confession tomorrow

MINI-CHALLENGE


Laura at Book Snob is hosting this fun mini-challenge.  The task is to find pictures of actual places/locations in your book or find images that relate to the time period or theme you are reading about and put in your blog post.   Then describe the significance of the images you are using so we can understand it and include a picture of your book cover, in case we might want to read it later.

I have been alternating between The Widow of the South and Dragon Tattoo, but I decided to go with Widow for this challenge because it's historical, my favorite genre, and it has significance to where I've lived for the past 20 years.  It has been interesting reading this book and imagining actual places I've visited and driven near in a town just a few miles from where I live in Nashville.

The Battle of Franklin (Tennessee) was fought on November 30, 1864.  Historians have called the battle "the bloodiest five hours of the American Civil War."  2000 men were confirmed killed in the battle, with about 1750 of the dead being Confederate soldiers.  Many more soldiers were wounded or lost/missing.  All told, close to 9,000 casualties of war.

Painting: The Battle of Franklin

Carnton Plantation, owned by John and Carrie McGavock, quickly became a field hospital for the wounded.  Carrie McGavock herself helped nurse the wounded men, even using strips of her own dresses for bandages.

Carnton Plantation

A couple of years after the battle, the graves and markers of the dead soldiers became deteriorated and relocation was discussed.  John and Carrie McGavock generously donated 2 acres of Carnton land and it became the McGavock Confederate Cemetery.  A record of the dead was compiled and Carrie kept track of that record for over 40 years.  She is said to have corresponded with many of the families of the dead soldiers.  1500 confederate soldiers are buried there.

Carrie McGavock

McGavock Cemetery

I was born and raised a Yankee girl, but living in the South for 20 years has made me more sympathetic to the Confederate army.  Not sympathetic to their motivation for fighting the war, which I detest, but sympathetic to the  sad state of the soldiers who fought in the war.  In war, it's true that one side usually wins, but everyone loses in the long run.  The soldiers on both sides lose their lives and the families they left behind lose fathers, brothers, and sons.  It really is a sad thing to think about no matter what side you're on.

Book description from Goodreads:
The title character of this haunting historical novel is Carrie McGavock, whose farmhouse was commandeered as a Confederate field hospital before the tragic battle at Franklin, Tennessee, in November 1864. That day, 9,000 soldiers perished. This tragic event turned McGavock into "the widow of the South." She spent the rest of her life mourning those lost, eventually reburying nearly 1,500 of them on her property. Robert Hicks's first historical novel captures the life-altering force that war exerts even on noncombatants.