Currently reading

Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:52:09 -0600

Jeannette Walls was raised in poverty and hardship by eccentrically idealistic and unfit parents. If you read The Glass Castle you probably wondered: How did these characters come to exist in America, in the 1960s and ’70s? I know I did.

In her new book, Half Broke Horses, she introduces Lily Casey Smith, her maternal grandmother in a novelistic re-creation of her hard scrabble, yet colorful life.

Lily lived in the first haft of the 20th century, and grew up during the depression. Reading about her hardships gives a partial answer to that question.

Lily Casey was born in a one-room mud dugout in West Texas, on the banks of Salt Draw River; At age 5, she helped her father train carriage-horse teams and, once a week, drove to the nearby town to sell eggs.

Floods and tornadoes caused the Caseys to move to a ranch in New Mexico. Because her father had physical and vocal impairments, it was Lily, at age 11, who hired and fired laborers and oversaw the workers on the ranch. Her dainty mother was of no help.

At 13, Lily was permitted to leave the ranch and go to school in Santa Fe, where she thrived, but after her father squandered her tuition money on one of his get-rich schemes, she had to leave midway through the 2nd term.

At 15, Lily took a job at a lonely prairie school. With only a pistol for protection, she rode out alone over 600 miles on horseback to the school house where she lived and worked. The trip took 28 days. Lily got the job because during the First World War, men were overseas, and certified lady teachers had left their schoolhouses for factory jobs.

Teaching was her calling and for four years, she taught, but when the seasoned teachers returned after the war, she had to start over.

In Chicago, she worked as a maid and there made a disastrous 1st marriage to a scoundrel who helped himself to her hard earned savings. Lily had to return home and start over.

Once more Lily found herself as school teacher, this time in Red Lake, where she moonlighted racing horses. At one such horse race, where her horse got spooked and threw her, she met the man, Jim Smith, who would become Jeannette Walls’s grandfather. It was right before the start of Great Depression.

I “read” the book in audiobook form with Ms. Walls own voice reading the story. I heartily recommend it.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2012)

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:53:28 -0500

Take modern gladiators at Texas Stadium during the Super Bowl, sweet and saucy Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, lots of booze, and America’s true soldiers on leave from Iraq to be honored for bravery and what do you get but an absurd theater of Americana post “nina leven”.

This bawdy, colorful and heartbreaking novel by Dallas author Ben Fountain (Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories 2006) was on the short listed for the 2013 National Book Award.
Fountain has put his finger on the pulse of the times in this one day snapshot of the life of young soldier Billy Lynn whose war experience gives him a head shaking perspective on the home field drama. Highly recommended. C. Wallace

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:45:55 -0500

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant is set in Cape Ann Massachusett's in the 1800's. It tells the story of several fascinating characters, most of them cast-offs, who live a hardscrabble life in a dying settlement. K. Harns

More detail from Amazon.com Set on the high ground at the heart of Cape Ann, the village of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, scoundrels, whores, free Africans, and "witches." Among the inhabitants of this hamlet are Black Ruth, who dresses as a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of his aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave. At the center of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself against all imaginable odds.
Rendered in stunning, haunting detail, with Diamant's keen ear for language and profound compassion for her characters, The Last Days of Dogtown is an extraordinary retelling of a long-forgotten chapter of early American life.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (2012)

Fri, 5 Oct 2012 14:42:04 -0500

Tired of the Texas plains? Let this amazing first novel carry you away to the rich and magical wilderness of 1920’s Alaska where homesteaders find out if they are strong enough to survive the back breaking work and fearsome territory. Jack and Mabel are sadly childless and have fled their comfortable but disappointing life in Pennsylvania and find that when they open their hearts to all possibilities their dreams may come true. Or are they deceiving themselves? Are they beginning to live a fairy tale life or are they victims of their desperate desires? Inspired by a traditional folk tale this wonderful novel is a mix of surprising magic and realistic struggles in an extraordinary setting. Enjoy this novel with a cup of steaming hot chocolate and your furry dog at your feet on a long fall Saturday. Highly recommended!
Chris Wallace

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

Fri, 5 Oct 2012 09:52:54 -0500

If you read the National Book Award winning Cold Mountain or saw the movie, you were introduced to a writer who could vividly bring to life a tragic love affair in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the years ending the Civil War.

In Thirteen Moons, you’ll meet an orphan named Will Cooper, who at the age of 12, is given a horse, a key, and a map and then sent on a journey through the uncharted wilderness of the Cherokee Nation. The story takes place in the era of the Trail of Tears, the name given to the voluntary resettling of many indian tribes from the American Southeast to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he learns to do business in this lonely outpost, he finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief; and is adopted by him and his people. This relationship ultimately helps to forge Will’s character and make him an advocate for the Cherokee people.

He meets Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, and unwittingly gives his heart up to her. In a voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion.

The voice of Will Patton brought the life of Will Cooper to vivid life in the audio version of Thirteen Moons: it was one of the best read audio books of my listening life. A. Adams