Fredricksburg, Texas and reading group list

Dear Friend,
Another time we went to Fredericksburg, Texas to stay at the most charming bed and breakfast I’ve ever stayed at and to see the Texas bluebonnets and paintbrushes (wildflowers) in April. The bed and breakfast is Settle's Crossing. (See ink at bottom of page -Travel and Leisure magazine calls Settler's Crossing one of the top 10 country getaways in the USA.) This bed and breakfast is 7 charming houses on 35 acres on the country road to Luckenbach, Texas of Willie Nelson fame. The B and B is 3 1/2 miles outside of Fredericksburg, Texas. Each house is from a different era or place. Each is beautifully furnished in the furniture from the same period that the house was built in. Just a lovely, peaceful place to stay. There is a two story log cabin that was taken apart in Kentucky, I think it was, and each log numbered so that it could be reconstructed at Settler's Crossing correctly. That has been the owner's weekend home. And nearby Fredricksburg is what they would call in England, a "market town." Shopping is plentiful and fun. My favorite shop is a silver shop that sells holloware and flatware that is vintage or antique. Above this paragraph there's a picture of one of the houses at Settle's Crossing. to the right is one I took one morning on the porch of that house.

But back to the real purpose of this particular leterr, our reading group. Once a year we vote on a list of books recommended by members. We select 11 or so books at once and so the members can read ahead if they want to. We like to read the Pulitzer prize winner for the past year if we haven’t read it yet. We also like to include an older book of note, nonfiction as well as fiction. Older books of note have included ones authored by Willa Cather, E, M. Forster, and Wilkie Collins who wrote the first mystery – The Moonstone – back in 1871.

Here’s the list that we have begun reading from in October 2005:

Eventide by Kent Haruf
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Lone Star Nation by H. W. Brands
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
1776 by David MCullough
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
That’s only 11 because in December we meet for cookies, cheese, and wine or tea.


Take care,
MaggieGladYouCame

Link to Bed and Breakfast at Fredricksburg, Texas

www.settlerscrossing.com/