Freckles by Cecelia Ahern

Allegra Bird is known by many people as Freckles – her Spanish mother may have passed other things on to her, but her father gave her freckles. She has made the most of them in a way, compulsively drawing between five of them on her arm, scratching her skin as a girl at boarding school, consolations of stars scarred on her arm. Now, as an adult with some issues communicating with other humans, they make her different, along with several other things such as her job as a parking warden in a settlement on the edge of Dublin. Her rule keeping, her regular routines and secrets, surprises and twists make this a very enjoyable and engaging novel.

The main element is that Freckles, who narrates her own story, is told that everyone is shaped by five people, the five people who one spends most time with…

A Sailor’s Odyssey: At Peace and at War 1935-1945

By Alvin P. Chester

Hardcover in dustjacket, 288 pages, photographs

Published by Odysseus Books, January 1991

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0-9631239-0-4

Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.0 x 9.0 inches

Prior to World War Two the way things moved between the continents was by ship. Crossing the Atlantic between the United States and Europe were several competing shipping lines offering regular service to various ports of call. The majority of ships carried both cargo and passengers, who often counted diplomats and celebrities among their ranks. Dining with the Captain was a mark of social status, and the Captain and his officers were held in some esteem by society.

Al Chester entered this world as a cadet in the New York State Merchant Marine Academy in 1933. Upon graduation in 1935, he began serving on a variety of merchant vessels as a nineteen-year-old Officer Cadet…

Unfortunately, I do not remember which island this story occurred on.

Smitty did not write home about his experience with the showers. .. BUT,

He was coming back into camp after having a nice cold shower.  He walked back with a towel wrapped around his middle and held it closed with his left hand.  The jungle appeared quiet except for the buzzing of the insects whizzing around him.  [The New Guinea “salute” is said to actually be the act of swatting the insects!)

He said, “You know how annoying just one mosquito can be when it’s hovering by your ears.  This was like a swarm and I tried like hell to use my right hand to swat them away from my face.  When I began to approach our tents there was not one man to be seen and I couldn’t imagine where they all went.  As I got closer I could…