Chafin's hobby is writing about Appalachia and its people and places. From West Virginia with Love is the sequel to Noble's Decision, a novel about life, love, and politics in a small Appalachian town. Dawn, does this book work as a stand-alone novel? Or do we first need to read Noble's Decision? Umm, never mind, I can't find thr earlier novel online, anyway. Have you read From West Virginia with Love? If so, what did you think of it?
Monday, July 30, 2007
West Virginia
NOLADawn said, "West Virginia- From West Virginia with Love by Andrew Chafin."
Chafin's hobby is writing about Appalachia and its people and places. From West Virginia with Love is the sequel to Noble's Decision, a novel about life, love, and politics in a small Appalachian town. Dawn, does this book work as a stand-alone novel? Or do we first need to read Noble's Decision? Umm, never mind, I can't find thr earlier novel online, anyway. Have you read From West Virginia with Love? If so, what did you think of it?
Chafin's hobby is writing about Appalachia and its people and places. From West Virginia with Love is the sequel to Noble's Decision, a novel about life, love, and politics in a small Appalachian town. Dawn, does this book work as a stand-alone novel? Or do we first need to read Noble's Decision? Umm, never mind, I can't find thr earlier novel online, anyway. Have you read From West Virginia with Love? If so, what did you think of it?
Nevada
NOLADawn said, "Nevada- Bittersweet by Nevada Barr"
Award-winning author Nevada Barr reveals another side to her remarkable storytelling prowess with this heart-wrenching yet tender tale of two women whose boundless devotion to each other is continually challenged in nineteenth century America. One online reviewer said, "Reminds me of Fannie Flagg's [Fried Green Tomatoes at the] Whistle Stop Cafe except more intense and deeper material. I have had the book two days and read it twice because I read it too fast the first time."
Award-winning author Nevada Barr reveals another side to her remarkable storytelling prowess with this heart-wrenching yet tender tale of two women whose boundless devotion to each other is continually challenged in nineteenth century America. One online reviewer said, "Reminds me of Fannie Flagg's [Fried Green Tomatoes at the] Whistle Stop Cafe except more intense and deeper material. I have had the book two days and read it twice because I read it too fast the first time."
Michigan
NOLADawn said, "Michigan- Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon."
Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, Morrison powerfully evokes in her fiction the legacies of displacement and slavery that have been bequeathed to the African-American community. Her most widely read novel is perhaps Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Song of Solomon, however, is perhaps the most lyrical of her novels, following Milkman Dead as he struggles to understand his family history and the ways in which that history has both been damaged by and transcended the horror of slavery.
Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, Morrison powerfully evokes in her fiction the legacies of displacement and slavery that have been bequeathed to the African-American community. Her most widely read novel is perhaps Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Song of Solomon, however, is perhaps the most lyrical of her novels, following Milkman Dead as he struggles to understand his family history and the ways in which that history has both been damaged by and transcended the horror of slavery.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Georgia
Jill said, "Hi, Bonnie: I have finished my Georgia selection for this challenge - a delightful book called Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. You can read my review here. I know, we need another Georgia book like a hole in the head - but this one does a good job portraying small-town Georgia life!"
The one thing you can depend on in Cold Sassy, Georgia, is that word gets around - fast. When Grandpa E. Rucker Blakeslee announces one July morning in 1906 that he's aiming to marry the young and freckledy milliner, Miss Love Simpson - a bare three weeks after Granny Blakeslee has gone to her reward - the news is served up all over town with that afternoon's dinner. And young Will Tweedy suddenly finds himself eyewitness to a major scandal. Boggled by the sheer audacity of it all, and not a little jealous of his grandpa's new wife, Will nevertheless approves of this May-December match and follows its progress with just a smidgen of youthful prurience. As the newlyweds' chaperone, conspirator, and confidant, Will is privy to his one-armed, renegade grandfather's second adolescence; meanwhile, he does some growing up of his own. He gets run over by a train and lives to tell about it; he kisses his first girl, and survives that too. Olive Ann Burns has given us a timeless, funny, resplendent novel - about a romance that rocks an entire town, about a boy's passage through the momentous but elusive year when childhood melts into adolescence, and about just how people lived and died in a small Southern town at the turn of the last century.
The one thing you can depend on in Cold Sassy, Georgia, is that word gets around - fast. When Grandpa E. Rucker Blakeslee announces one July morning in 1906 that he's aiming to marry the young and freckledy milliner, Miss Love Simpson - a bare three weeks after Granny Blakeslee has gone to her reward - the news is served up all over town with that afternoon's dinner. And young Will Tweedy suddenly finds himself eyewitness to a major scandal. Boggled by the sheer audacity of it all, and not a little jealous of his grandpa's new wife, Will nevertheless approves of this May-December match and follows its progress with just a smidgen of youthful prurience. As the newlyweds' chaperone, conspirator, and confidant, Will is privy to his one-armed, renegade grandfather's second adolescence; meanwhile, he does some growing up of his own. He gets run over by a train and lives to tell about it; he kisses his first girl, and survives that too. Olive Ann Burns has given us a timeless, funny, resplendent novel - about a romance that rocks an entire town, about a boy's passage through the momentous but elusive year when childhood melts into adolescence, and about just how people lived and died in a small Southern town at the turn of the last century.
Friday, July 27, 2007
New York
Neco recommends "The Falls, which is set on the American side of Niagara Falls. Not at all sure which state that is in. I googled the book couldn't find out readily. I'm hoping someone with a better sense of geography than me will know. LOL, this is actually the reason I didn't suggest it before. It's about a romance ended by a death on Niagara Falls back a few generations ago, which leads into the 1950s and a legal battle involving industry pollution of the area. I felt like I was learning about the history of the area, even though it's fiction."
A man climbs over the railings and plunges into Niagara Falls. A newlywed, he has left behind his wife, Ariah Erskine, in the honeymoon suite the morning after their wedding. "The Widow Bride of The Falls," as Ariah comes to be known, begins a relentless, seven-day vigil in the mist, waiting for his body to be found. At her side throughout, confirmed bachelor and pillar of the community Dirk Burnaby is unexpectedly transfixed by the strange, otherworldly gaze of this plain, strange woman, falling in love with her though they barely exchange a word. What follows is their passionate love affair, marriage, and children -- a seemingly perfect existence.
But the tragedy by which their life together began shadows them, damaging their idyll with distrust, greed, and even murder. Joyce Carol Oates explores the American family in crisis, but also America itself in the mid-twentieth century.
A man climbs over the railings and plunges into Niagara Falls. A newlywed, he has left behind his wife, Ariah Erskine, in the honeymoon suite the morning after their wedding. "The Widow Bride of The Falls," as Ariah comes to be known, begins a relentless, seven-day vigil in the mist, waiting for his body to be found. At her side throughout, confirmed bachelor and pillar of the community Dirk Burnaby is unexpectedly transfixed by the strange, otherworldly gaze of this plain, strange woman, falling in love with her though they barely exchange a word. What follows is their passionate love affair, marriage, and children -- a seemingly perfect existence.But the tragedy by which their life together began shadows them, damaging their idyll with distrust, greed, and even murder. Joyce Carol Oates explores the American family in crisis, but also America itself in the mid-twentieth century.
New Hampshire
Neco said, "Anita Shreve (the novelist who wrote Fortune's Rock) lives in (or nearby) Boston and grew up in New England, I think. I have read the majority of her books, which are character driven stories that make one think about why people makes the choices they make and usually have lovely New England settings that feature into the story. I chose this particular book to recommend because not only does it have a complicated romance and complex characters, but the mill towns and factory girls of the early 1900s in New England play into the main story so I thought it shared something about the history of that area of New England. The majority of the book is set at the girl's family's summer home, which is in New Hampshire according to your post (I've read the book more than once but not recently enough to remember for sure), and also in Boston and a mill town in New England. So I'd go New Hampshire, if you use it."
In Fortune's Rocks, Shreve turns historical in venue and ultramodern in attitude. Set at the turn of the century — the 20th century, that is — the story concerns Olympia Biddleford, well-born daughter of an erudite, if rather cold father. The precocious Olympia is the kind of girl who might then have been called high-spirited: She has her own opinions about history and literature, for example, and isn't shy about expressing them — at least within the safety of her family. But Olympia is also high-spirited and provocative in other, more dangerous ways — most notably when she embarks on a sexual relationship with John Haskell, one of her father's friends (and 30 years her senior). Nothing good will come of this, Olympia and the reader both know from the outset; it doesn't take long — just about a third of the novel, in fact — for this foreboding to be proved right. The lovers are soon discovered, and their lives are torn asunder. Haskell's wife leaves him, the Biddlefords' reputation is seriously besmirched, and Olympia is sent by her omnipotent father to a school "out west."
But the story hardly ends there. Olivia, it turns out, is pregnant with Haskell's child, and though in a drugged postpartum state she allows her son to be taken from her, she soon returns to Fortune's Rocks intent on reclaiming him.
It's at this point that Shreve begins blending the novel's own particular topicality cocktail. Olympia discovers that her son is living with well-meaning but poor French immigrants, and she decides to use her not insignificant fortune and still powerful (if somewhat tarnished) reputation to prove that she, not the Telesphore Bolducs, should have custody of her boy. The problem is, even Olympia can't deny that the Bolducs are loving parents and that the child is happy and well in their care. What follows is a court case and a soul-searching that liberally borrows not only from the biblical tale of King Solomon (who is the better mother — the one who will allow her child to be figuratively cut in half or the one who allows him to live with the other?) but also from pop culture milestones such as the 1979 movie "Kramer vs. Kramer" and the Mary Beth Whitehead surrogate mother trial (remember that one?).
In Fortune's Rocks, Shreve turns historical in venue and ultramodern in attitude. Set at the turn of the century — the 20th century, that is — the story concerns Olympia Biddleford, well-born daughter of an erudite, if rather cold father. The precocious Olympia is the kind of girl who might then have been called high-spirited: She has her own opinions about history and literature, for example, and isn't shy about expressing them — at least within the safety of her family. But Olympia is also high-spirited and provocative in other, more dangerous ways — most notably when she embarks on a sexual relationship with John Haskell, one of her father's friends (and 30 years her senior). Nothing good will come of this, Olympia and the reader both know from the outset; it doesn't take long — just about a third of the novel, in fact — for this foreboding to be proved right. The lovers are soon discovered, and their lives are torn asunder. Haskell's wife leaves him, the Biddlefords' reputation is seriously besmirched, and Olympia is sent by her omnipotent father to a school "out west."But the story hardly ends there. Olivia, it turns out, is pregnant with Haskell's child, and though in a drugged postpartum state she allows her son to be taken from her, she soon returns to Fortune's Rocks intent on reclaiming him.
It's at this point that Shreve begins blending the novel's own particular topicality cocktail. Olympia discovers that her son is living with well-meaning but poor French immigrants, and she decides to use her not insignificant fortune and still powerful (if somewhat tarnished) reputation to prove that she, not the Telesphore Bolducs, should have custody of her boy. The problem is, even Olympia can't deny that the Bolducs are loving parents and that the child is happy and well in their care. What follows is a court case and a soul-searching that liberally borrows not only from the biblical tale of King Solomon (who is the better mother — the one who will allow her child to be figuratively cut in half or the one who allows him to live with the other?) but also from pop culture milestones such as the 1979 movie "Kramer vs. Kramer" and the Mary Beth Whitehead surrogate mother trial (remember that one?).
Thursday, July 26, 2007
South Carolina
A week or so ago Neco said, "Sue Monk Kidd wrote The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid's Chair. Dorothea Benton Frank has written Sullivan's Island, Plantation, Shem Creek, The Land of Mango Sunsets, Isle of Palms, Pawley's Island, and Full of Grace. Of all the above books, I would most recommend Sullivan's Island or Plantation for strong South Carolina culture/setting fiction while still being light and easy reads and following a personal journey of the protagonist."
I suggested (and posted) the first book on each author's list, but upon further reflection I realize I probably should have posted ALL of these books. (I apologize, Neco.) So I'm doing that here.
In The Mermaid's Chair, Sue Monk Kidd tells the story of Jessie Sullivan, which is a love story between a woman and a monk, a woman and her husband, and ultimately a woman and her own soul. On tiny Egret Island, off the coast of South Carolina, Jessie tries to care for her mother, Nelle, who is not particularly eager to be taken care of. Jessie gets help from Nelle's best friends: Kat, a feisty shopkeeper, and Hepzibah, a dignified chronicler of slave history. To complicate matters, Jessie finds herself strangely relieved to be free of a husband she loves ... and wildly attracted to Brother Thomas, a junior monk at the island's secluded Benedictine monastery.
In Plantation, a poignant mother-daughter story, Dorothea Benton Frank evokes a lush plantation in the heart of modern-day South Carolina, where family ties and hidden truths run as deep and dark as the mighty Edisto River.
In Shem Creek, single parent Linda Breland ditches a dead-end job and life in New Jersey to move back home to Mt. Pleasant and start a new life for herself and her teenage daughters. ("Look, if New Jersey had wanted us, it would have given us a reason to stay. It didn't.") The work she finds -- manager of a restaurant on Shem Creek -- introduces her to its owner, Brad Jackson, a man living out his own second chance.
In Land of Mango Sunsets, Frank gives us one woman's journey toward a hard-won truth, that life isn't always what it appears to be, and the sooner you realize that pride won't keep you warm at night, the happier you will be. When Miriam gets her head on straight, then in a whoosh she's off to the enchanted and mysterious land of Sullivan's Island, deep in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Publishers Weekly says, "This isn't Frank's finest, but it'll sate her fans."
Isle of Palms is set off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Anna Lutz Abbot thinks she has her independence, and therefore her happiness, intact. She is a capable woman, a sensible woman, not someone given to risky living. This all seems true enough until her lovely daughter returns from college for the summer a very different person, her wild and wonderful ex-husband arrives, and her flamboyant new best friend takes up with her daddy, turning a hot summer into a steaming one. All the action unfolds under the watchful eyes of Miss Mavis and Miss Angel, her next-door neighbors of a certain age, who have plenty to say about Anna's past, present, and future.
In Pawley's Island Dorothea Benton Frank delivers a refreshingly honest and funny novel about an artist who suddenly enters the complacent lives of several Lowcountry locals ... and turns them upside down. It's a twist-filled tale of friendship, family, and finding happiness by becoming who you are meant to be.
In Full of Grace, Frank gives us Hilton Head, a South Carolina retirement heaven -- at least it's supposed to be. But for Big Al and Connie Russo, the move from New Jersey to this southern paradise has been fraught with just a few complications. Especially for their daughter, Grace. Well, that's what she likes to be called. Her family insists on Maria Graziella. That might have been okay in New Jersey, but now it's just plain silly, and Grace at thirty-two is, horror of horrors, still unmarried. No wonder her family drives her crazy. Well, that and the fact that she's living with the man she would marry if they both weren't so commitment phobic. Michael is a doctor and a scientist and Grace is pretty sure he's also an atheist. Over the years, Grace has become a bit ambivalent about her faith, but her family is as old-fashioned Italian as they come.
I suggested (and posted) the first book on each author's list, but upon further reflection I realize I probably should have posted ALL of these books. (I apologize, Neco.) So I'm doing that here.
In The Mermaid's Chair, Sue Monk Kidd tells the story of Jessie Sullivan, which is a love story between a woman and a monk, a woman and her husband, and ultimately a woman and her own soul. On tiny Egret Island, off the coast of South Carolina, Jessie tries to care for her mother, Nelle, who is not particularly eager to be taken care of. Jessie gets help from Nelle's best friends: Kat, a feisty shopkeeper, and Hepzibah, a dignified chronicler of slave history. To complicate matters, Jessie finds herself strangely relieved to be free of a husband she loves ... and wildly attracted to Brother Thomas, a junior monk at the island's secluded Benedictine monastery.
In Plantation, a poignant mother-daughter story, Dorothea Benton Frank evokes a lush plantation in the heart of modern-day South Carolina, where family ties and hidden truths run as deep and dark as the mighty Edisto River.
In Shem Creek, single parent Linda Breland ditches a dead-end job and life in New Jersey to move back home to Mt. Pleasant and start a new life for herself and her teenage daughters. ("Look, if New Jersey had wanted us, it would have given us a reason to stay. It didn't.") The work she finds -- manager of a restaurant on Shem Creek -- introduces her to its owner, Brad Jackson, a man living out his own second chance.
In Land of Mango Sunsets, Frank gives us one woman's journey toward a hard-won truth, that life isn't always what it appears to be, and the sooner you realize that pride won't keep you warm at night, the happier you will be. When Miriam gets her head on straight, then in a whoosh she's off to the enchanted and mysterious land of Sullivan's Island, deep in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Publishers Weekly says, "This isn't Frank's finest, but it'll sate her fans."
Isle of Palms is set off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Anna Lutz Abbot thinks she has her independence, and therefore her happiness, intact. She is a capable woman, a sensible woman, not someone given to risky living. This all seems true enough until her lovely daughter returns from college for the summer a very different person, her wild and wonderful ex-husband arrives, and her flamboyant new best friend takes up with her daddy, turning a hot summer into a steaming one. All the action unfolds under the watchful eyes of Miss Mavis and Miss Angel, her next-door neighbors of a certain age, who have plenty to say about Anna's past, present, and future.
In Pawley's Island Dorothea Benton Frank delivers a refreshingly honest and funny novel about an artist who suddenly enters the complacent lives of several Lowcountry locals ... and turns them upside down. It's a twist-filled tale of friendship, family, and finding happiness by becoming who you are meant to be.
In Full of Grace, Frank gives us Hilton Head, a South Carolina retirement heaven -- at least it's supposed to be. But for Big Al and Connie Russo, the move from New Jersey to this southern paradise has been fraught with just a few complications. Especially for their daughter, Grace. Well, that's what she likes to be called. Her family insists on Maria Graziella. That might have been okay in New Jersey, but now it's just plain silly, and Grace at thirty-two is, horror of horrors, still unmarried. No wonder her family drives her crazy. Well, that and the fact that she's living with the man she would marry if they both weren't so commitment phobic. Michael is a doctor and a scientist and Grace is pretty sure he's also an atheist. Over the years, Grace has become a bit ambivalent about her faith, but her family is as old-fashioned Italian as they come.
Maine
Bonnie said, "More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon, which is set in Maine, was recommended to me by a friend. I bought a copy of the book a few years ago and have never read it. My friend was impressed by the book, and we don't yet have one for the state of Maine, so here's one suggestion. Has anyone read it yet?"
More Than You Know is a haunting novel that bridges two centuries, two mother-daughter relationships, and two tragic love stories. In a small town called Dundee on the coast of Maine, an old woman named Hannah Gray begins her story by saying, "Somebody said 'true love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about, and few have seen.' I've seen both, and I don't know how to tell you which is worse." Hannah has a passionate and painful story of true love and loss: the story of a ghost that appeared in her life, and in the life of Conary Crocker, the wild and appealing boy who loved her.
Interwoven with their love story is a story of a marriage that took place in Dundee a hundred years earlier. As the parallels and differences between the two families are revealed, the reader comes to understand that someone in the nineteenth-century story has become the very unquiet soul haunting the twentieth. But not until the end do we learn (as Hannah never can) what force of mischance and personality has led to so much damage, and no one knows if such damage is ever at an end.
____________________
Update on August 26, 2007: Yes! Here's a review by Framed on her blog.
Update on September 15, 2007: Here's a review by Bonnie on her book blog.
More Than You Know is a haunting novel that bridges two centuries, two mother-daughter relationships, and two tragic love stories. In a small town called Dundee on the coast of Maine, an old woman named Hannah Gray begins her story by saying, "Somebody said 'true love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about, and few have seen.' I've seen both, and I don't know how to tell you which is worse." Hannah has a passionate and painful story of true love and loss: the story of a ghost that appeared in her life, and in the life of Conary Crocker, the wild and appealing boy who loved her.Interwoven with their love story is a story of a marriage that took place in Dundee a hundred years earlier. As the parallels and differences between the two families are revealed, the reader comes to understand that someone in the nineteenth-century story has become the very unquiet soul haunting the twentieth. But not until the end do we learn (as Hannah never can) what force of mischance and personality has led to so much damage, and no one knows if such damage is ever at an end.
____________________
Update on August 26, 2007: Yes! Here's a review by Framed on her blog.
Update on September 15, 2007: Here's a review by Bonnie on her book blog.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
California
Bonnie said, "Place Last Seen by Charlotte McGuinn Freeman is a novel set in the Sierra Nevada range in California. I wrote a book review about it this morning which you may want to read."
During an idyllic autumn-day hike in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas, the Baker family is hurled into a nightmare when six-year-old Maggie, a child with Down Syndrome, runs away while playing hide-and-seek with her brother. As the Search and Rescue team combs the place where Maggie was last seen, all the family can do is wait and hope that a clue will lead them to her. Much of the story is seen through the eyes of the search and rescue team members, mapping quadrants, sending out tracker dogs, trying to imagine what a little girl might do when she doesn't think like most children in the first place.
During an idyllic autumn-day hike in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas, the Baker family is hurled into a nightmare when six-year-old Maggie, a child with Down Syndrome, runs away while playing hide-and-seek with her brother. As the Search and Rescue team combs the place where Maggie was last seen, all the family can do is wait and hope that a clue will lead them to her. Much of the story is seen through the eyes of the search and rescue team members, mapping quadrants, sending out tracker dogs, trying to imagine what a little girl might do when she doesn't think like most children in the first place.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Book around the World?
This idea to Book around the States is working so well, I thought I'd like to add another aspect to it and Book around the World. I've started a companion blog to this one, where we'll look for books that take place in countries around the world. Only the best, of course, as we are looking for here. Go check it out and see the first book suggestion, a book I recommend. Click on the title of the blog: Book around the World
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Nebraska
Stephanie (Confessions of a Book-a-holic) has just posted a book review of Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, which is about Nebraska. She titled the review "Beautifully Written Tale That will Live On," which I'll take as a recommendation. From her description, it sounds like a wonderful book and one that is especially appropriate for us, according to this annotation at B&N: "A rich evocation of 19th-century American life on the prairie, Cather's novel of immigrant homesteaders in Nebraska celebrates the landscape."
O Pioneers!, Willa Cather's first great novel, is the classic American story of pioneer life as embodied by one remarkable woman and her singular devotion to the land. Having immigrated from Sweden, Alexandra Bergson arrives on the wind-blasted prairie of Nebraska as a young girl and, when her father dies, is given responsibility for the land. Stephanie's review is much better than anything I found elsewhere online, so go read it.
O Pioneers!, Willa Cather's first great novel, is the classic American story of pioneer life as embodied by one remarkable woman and her singular devotion to the land. Having immigrated from Sweden, Alexandra Bergson arrives on the wind-blasted prairie of Nebraska as a young girl and, when her father dies, is given responsibility for the land. Stephanie's review is much better than anything I found elsewhere online, so go read it.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Vermont
Bonnie said, "Jodi Picoult's Second Glance includes the Vermont eugenics project of the 1930s, which I had never heard of before reading this novel."
Do we love across time? Or in spite of it? A developer has slated an ancient Abenaki Indian burial ground for a strip mall, and now strange happenings have tiny Comtosook, Vermont, talking of supernatural forces at work. Ross Wakeman is a ghost hunter who's never seen a ghost -- all he's searching for is something to end the pain of losing his fiance Aimee in a car accident. He tried suicide, any number of times. Now Ross lives only for a way to connect with Aimee from beyond. Searching the site for signs of the paranormal, Ross meets the mysterious Lia, who sparks him to life for the first time in years. But the discoveries that await Ross are beyond anything he could dream of in this world -- or the next. Expertly entwining a powerful drama of the heart's redemption and the disturbing real-life history of the VT eugenics project of the 1930s, Second Glance asks if truth is always something that can be measured ... and if what can be measured is indeed always true.
Missouri
Jill said, "I enjoyed a new companion novel to Huckleberry Finn called Finn: a novel by Jon Clinch. It's the story of Huck's dad - a racist, sexist drunk who is one of the most interesting characters I have read this year. Here's my book review if you're interested. Oh, it's set in Missouri (for the most part) too!"Jon Clinch takes us on a journey into the history and heart of one of American literature’s most brutal and mysterious figures: Huckleberry Finn’s father. This is a novel about race; about paternity in its many guises; about the shame of a nation recapitulated by the shame of one absolutely unforgettable family.
Minnesota
Jill said, "Hi, Bonnie: I just finished my second book for this challenge: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik. This book is set in Minnesota where these lively women meet monthly to talk about books, love and life. Minnesota is featured prominently throughout the book, from snowball fights to big-breasted snow women, which was a welcome delight to this Florida girl sweltering in the oppressive heat! You can check out my blog for my book review if you're interested."The women of Freesia Court have come together at life’s table, fully convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can’t fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together, the foundation of a book group they call AWEB —- Angry Wives Eating Bon Bons —- an unofficial “club” that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline.
The five women each have a story of their own to tell. There’s Faith, the newcomer, a lonely housewife and mother of twins, a woman who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beautiful Audrey, the resident sex queen who knows that good posture and an attitude can let you get away with anything; Merit, the shy, quiet doctor’s wife with the face of an angel and the private hell of an abusive husband; Kari, a thoughtful, wise woman with a wonderful laugh as “deep as Santa Claus’s with a cold” who knows the greatest gifts appear after life’s fiercest storms; and finally, Slip, activist, adventurer, social changer, a tiny, spitfire of a woman who looks trouble straight in the eye and challenges it to arm wrestle.
Holding on through forty eventful years -- through the swinging Sixties, the turbulent Seventies, the anything-goes Eighties, the nothing’s-impossible Nineties -—the women take the plunge into the chaos that inevitably comes to those with the temerity to be alive and kicking.
Thanks, Jill. I'll add this book to our list for everyone. Here is Jill's review of Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons of Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, and here's her review of Billy Bathgate, representing New York. (I went back to the NY post to put the link with there, too.) Click on the links to read her reviews.
West Virginia
Bonnie said, "Rocket Boys, a memoir by NASA engineer Homer Hickam, is a good one for West Virginia. He paints a vivid portrait of the harsh West Virginia mining town of his youth, evoking a time of innocence and promise, when anything was possible, even in a company town that swallowed its men alive."
From the publisher: "The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquely American memoir, a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s, of a mother's love and a father's fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outer space."
Homer Hickam looks back after a distinguished NASA career to tell his own true story of growing up in a dying coal town and of how, against the odds, he made his dreams of launching rockets into outer space come true.
From the publisher: "The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquely American memoir, a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s, of a mother's love and a father's fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outer space."Homer Hickam looks back after a distinguished NASA career to tell his own true story of growing up in a dying coal town and of how, against the odds, he made his dreams of launching rockets into outer space come true.
Missouri
NOLADawn said. "Well, for Missouri there's Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn..."
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is perhaps the best-loved nineteenth-century American novel. Mark Twain’s tale of boyhood adventure brings to life an array of irresistible characters: self-confident Tom, his best buddy Huck Finn, indulgent Aunt Polly, and the beguiling Becky, as well as such unforgettable incidents as whitewashing a fence, swearing an oath in blood, and getting lost in a dark and labyrinthine cave.
Below Tom Sawyer’s sunny surface lurk hints of a darker reality, of youthful innocence and naïveté confronting the cruelty, hypocrisy, and foolishness of the adult world, a theme that would become more pronounced in Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Despite such suggestions, Tom Sawyer remains Twain’s joyful ode to the endless possibilities of childhood.
T. S. Eliot said, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the only one of Mark Twain's various books which can be called a masterpiece. I do not suggest that it is his only book of permanent interest; but it is the only one in which his genius is completely realized, and the only one which creates its own category."
Huckleberry Finn, rebel against school and church, casual inheritor of gold treasure, rafter of the Mississippi, and savior of Jim the runaway slave, is the archetypical American maverick.
Fleeing the respectable society that wants to "sivilize" him, Huck Finn shoves off with Jim on a rhapsodic raft journey down the Mississippi River. The two bind themselves to one another, becoming intimate friends and agreeing "there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."
As Huck learns about love, responsibility, and morality, the trip becomes a metaphoric voyage through his own soul, culminating in the glorious moment when he decides to "go to hell" rather than return Jim to slavery.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is perhaps the best-loved nineteenth-century American novel. Mark Twain’s tale of boyhood adventure brings to life an array of irresistible characters: self-confident Tom, his best buddy Huck Finn, indulgent Aunt Polly, and the beguiling Becky, as well as such unforgettable incidents as whitewashing a fence, swearing an oath in blood, and getting lost in a dark and labyrinthine cave.Below Tom Sawyer’s sunny surface lurk hints of a darker reality, of youthful innocence and naïveté confronting the cruelty, hypocrisy, and foolishness of the adult world, a theme that would become more pronounced in Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Despite such suggestions, Tom Sawyer remains Twain’s joyful ode to the endless possibilities of childhood.
T. S. Eliot said, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the only one of Mark Twain's various books which can be called a masterpiece. I do not suggest that it is his only book of permanent interest; but it is the only one in which his genius is completely realized, and the only one which creates its own category."Huckleberry Finn, rebel against school and church, casual inheritor of gold treasure, rafter of the Mississippi, and savior of Jim the runaway slave, is the archetypical American maverick.
Fleeing the respectable society that wants to "sivilize" him, Huck Finn shoves off with Jim on a rhapsodic raft journey down the Mississippi River. The two bind themselves to one another, becoming intimate friends and agreeing "there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."
As Huck learns about love, responsibility, and morality, the trip becomes a metaphoric voyage through his own soul, culminating in the glorious moment when he decides to "go to hell" rather than return Jim to slavery.
Washington
NOLADawn said, "Washington- Snow Falling on Cedars"
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson is an award-winning book. In 1954 a fisherman from San Piedro Island in Puget Sound is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese-American is charged with his murder. The trial, on the rugged island of San Piedro in Puget Sound, is haunted by memories of what happened to the Japanese residents during World War II when the entire community was sent into exile. The story is a beautifully crafted courtroom drama, love story, and war novel about the ambiguities of justice, the racism even between neighbors, and the necessity of individual moral action.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson is an award-winning book. In 1954 a fisherman from San Piedro Island in Puget Sound is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese-American is charged with his murder. The trial, on the rugged island of San Piedro in Puget Sound, is haunted by memories of what happened to the Japanese residents during World War II when the entire community was sent into exile. The story is a beautifully crafted courtroom drama, love story, and war novel about the ambiguities of justice, the racism even between neighbors, and the necessity of individual moral action.
Montana
NOLADawn said, "Montana- A River Runs Through It"
One reviewer who is an educator wrote about A River Runs through It and Other Stories: "The man was able to write a simple book with far reaching messages. He is the person that allowed us to see the culture of a place and the power of a fly rod." Norman Maclean grew up in the western Rocky Mountains in the first decades of the twentieth century. As a young man he worked many summers in logging camps and for the United States Forest Service. The two novellas and short story in this collection are based on his own experiences, the experiences of a young man who found that life was only a step from art in its structures and beauty.
The beauty he found was in reality, and so he leaves a careful record of what it was like to work in the woods when it was still a world of horse and hand and foot, without power saws, "cats," or four-wheel drives. Populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, and set in the small towns and surrounding trout streams and mountains of western Montana, the stories concern themselves with the complexities of fly fishing, logging, fighting forest fires, playing cribbage, and being a husband, a son, and a father.
Bonnie says, "Another excellent book about Montana and fishing is The River Why by David James Duncan."
Since its publication by Sierra Club Books nearly two decades ago, The River Why has become a classic, standing with Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It as the most-read fiction about fly-fishing of our era. Duncan's protagonist, Gus Orviston, is an irreverent young flyfisherman--a vibrant character who makes us laugh easily and feel deeply, and who speaks with startling truth about the way we live.
Leaving behind a madcap, fishing-obsessed family, Gus embarks on an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery along his beloved Oregon rivers. What he unexpectedly finds is man's wanton destruction of nature and a burning desire to commit himself to its preservation.
The River Why is a tale that gives a contemporary voice to the concerns and hopes of all living things on this beautiful, watery planet. It is the story of one man's search for meaning, for love, and for a sane way to live.
Two decades ago, I read this novel for a seminary class in ethics and especially like the man's humor. Now I have discovered a new book he wrote, called God Laughs and Plays: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right, which was published in February 2007. I'll have to get a copy of this one, too. The publisher says:
Maybe this isn't exactly a Montana book, but it does tell you something about the author of The River Why. He also wrote The Brothers K.
One reviewer who is an educator wrote about A River Runs through It and Other Stories: "The man was able to write a simple book with far reaching messages. He is the person that allowed us to see the culture of a place and the power of a fly rod." Norman Maclean grew up in the western Rocky Mountains in the first decades of the twentieth century. As a young man he worked many summers in logging camps and for the United States Forest Service. The two novellas and short story in this collection are based on his own experiences, the experiences of a young man who found that life was only a step from art in its structures and beauty.The beauty he found was in reality, and so he leaves a careful record of what it was like to work in the woods when it was still a world of horse and hand and foot, without power saws, "cats," or four-wheel drives. Populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, and set in the small towns and surrounding trout streams and mountains of western Montana, the stories concern themselves with the complexities of fly fishing, logging, fighting forest fires, playing cribbage, and being a husband, a son, and a father.
Bonnie says, "Another excellent book about Montana and fishing is The River Why by David James Duncan."Since its publication by Sierra Club Books nearly two decades ago, The River Why has become a classic, standing with Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It as the most-read fiction about fly-fishing of our era. Duncan's protagonist, Gus Orviston, is an irreverent young flyfisherman--a vibrant character who makes us laugh easily and feel deeply, and who speaks with startling truth about the way we live.
Leaving behind a madcap, fishing-obsessed family, Gus embarks on an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery along his beloved Oregon rivers. What he unexpectedly finds is man's wanton destruction of nature and a burning desire to commit himself to its preservation.
The River Why is a tale that gives a contemporary voice to the concerns and hopes of all living things on this beautiful, watery planet. It is the story of one man's search for meaning, for love, and for a sane way to live.
Two decades ago, I read this novel for a seminary class in ethics and especially like the man's humor. Now I have discovered a new book he wrote, called God Laughs and Plays: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right, which was published in February 2007. I'll have to get a copy of this one, too. The publisher says:
In this multiple award-winning and bestselling diagnosis of the contemporary American spirit, David James Duncan suggests that the de facto political party embodied by the so-called "Christian Right" has turned worship into a self-righteous betrayal of the words and example of the very Jesus it claims to praise. In a bracing and often hilarious response to this trend, God Laughs & Plays offers "churchless sermons," stories, memoir, conversations, and cosmological reflections that scorn riches and embrace the poor; bless peacemakers, not war-makers; celebrate creation, diversity, empathy, playfulness and beauty; and insist that Divine Mystery is indeed mysterious and compassion is literally compassionate. The spiritual kingdom described by Jesus, this unusual book reminds us, is located not "in the Sky" or beyond a disastrous future, but within us, to be sought and embodied in the here and now.
Maybe this isn't exactly a Montana book, but it does tell you something about the author of The River Why. He also wrote The Brothers K.
23 of 50 states
create your own visited states map.
We have suggested books for 23 of the 50 states, but there's a lot of blank space on this map! Don't stop now. Who can help fill in these blanks?
NOTE: This state map is too wide to fit here, so I'll post it at the bottom of this page so you can see ALL of the states in the east.
P.S.: As we continue to add books, I won't change THIS map, but I will update the map at the bottom of the page.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Texas
Gracie said, "Hi again, Bonnie. I'm so intrigued by this idea that I found myself thinking of books that seemed to me to be very specifically about a place. I will try not to be a blog hog, but wanted to share the following: TX - Terms of Endearment and The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry."
In Terms of Endearment a memorable mother and her fiesty daughter (Aurora Greenway and her daughter Emma) find the courage and humor to live through life's hazards and to love each other as never before. Aurora is the kind of woman who makes the whole world orbit around her, including a string of devoted suitors. Widowed and overprotective of her daughter, Aurora adapts at her own pace until life sends two enormous challenges her way: Emma's hasty marriage and subsequent battle with cancer.
Set in a small, dusty, Texas town, The Last Picture Show introduces the characters of Jacy, Duane, and Sonny: teenagers stumbling toward adulthood, discovering the beguiling mysteries of sex and the even more baffling mysteries of love. Populated by a wonderful cast of eccentrics and animated by McMurtry's wry and raucous humor, The Last Picture Show is a wild, heart-breaking, and poignant coming-of-age novel.
In Terms of Endearment a memorable mother and her fiesty daughter (Aurora Greenway and her daughter Emma) find the courage and humor to live through life's hazards and to love each other as never before. Aurora is the kind of woman who makes the whole world orbit around her, including a string of devoted suitors. Widowed and overprotective of her daughter, Aurora adapts at her own pace until life sends two enormous challenges her way: Emma's hasty marriage and subsequent battle with cancer.
Set in a small, dusty, Texas town, The Last Picture Show introduces the characters of Jacy, Duane, and Sonny: teenagers stumbling toward adulthood, discovering the beguiling mysteries of sex and the even more baffling mysteries of love. Populated by a wonderful cast of eccentrics and animated by McMurtry's wry and raucous humor, The Last Picture Show is a wild, heart-breaking, and poignant coming-of-age novel.
California
Gracie said, "CA - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck."
Of Mice and Men was John Steinbeck's first masterpiece. Originally published in 1937, it's the timeless story of George Milton and Lennie Small, ranch hands who drift from job to job, always one step ahead of the law and a few dollars from the poorhouse. George is small, wiry, sharp-tongued and quick-tempered; slow witted Lennie is his opposite—an immense man, brutishly strong but naturally docile, a giant with the mind of a child. Despite their difference, George and Lennie are bound together by a shared vision: their own small farm, where they'll raise cows, pigs, chickens, and rabbits, where they'll be their own bosses and live off the fat of the land.
When they find work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley, the dream at last seems within reach. If they can just save up a little money. But their hopes, like "the best-laid schemes of mice and men," begin to go awry. The story unfolds with the power and inevitability of a Greek tragedy, as Lennie commits an accidental murder, and George, in a riveting, deeply moving finale, must do what he can to make things turn our right.
Of Mice and Men was John Steinbeck's first masterpiece. Originally published in 1937, it's the timeless story of George Milton and Lennie Small, ranch hands who drift from job to job, always one step ahead of the law and a few dollars from the poorhouse. George is small, wiry, sharp-tongued and quick-tempered; slow witted Lennie is his opposite—an immense man, brutishly strong but naturally docile, a giant with the mind of a child. Despite their difference, George and Lennie are bound together by a shared vision: their own small farm, where they'll raise cows, pigs, chickens, and rabbits, where they'll be their own bosses and live off the fat of the land.When they find work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley, the dream at last seems within reach. If they can just save up a little money. But their hopes, like "the best-laid schemes of mice and men," begin to go awry. The story unfolds with the power and inevitability of a Greek tragedy, as Lennie commits an accidental murder, and George, in a riveting, deeply moving finale, must do what he can to make things turn our right.
Iowa
Gracie said, "IA - A Thousand Acres and Moo by Jane Smiley."
Oops! I already posted A Thousand Acres, Gracie, but I don't think I mentioned that it won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Excellent book!
Moo, by the same author, is about Moo University which is, of course, an agricultural school. The publisher says: "Nestled in the heart of the Midwest, amid cow pastures and waving fields of grain, lies Moo University, a distinguished institution devoted to the art and science of agriculture. Here, among an atmosphere rife with devious plots, mischievous intrigue, lusty liaisons, and academic one-upmanship, Chairman X of the Horticulture Department harbors a secret fantasy to kill the dean; Mrs. Walker, the provost's right hand and campus information queen, knows where all the bodies are buried; Timothy Nonahan, associate professor of English, advocates eavesdropping for his creative writing assignments; and Bob Carlson, a sophomore, feeds and maintains his only friend: a hog named Earl Butz. In this wonderfully written and masterfully plotted novel, Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres, offers us a wickedly funny comedy that is also a darkly poignant slice of life."
Oops! I already posted A Thousand Acres, Gracie, but I don't think I mentioned that it won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Excellent book!
Moo, by the same author, is about Moo University which is, of course, an agricultural school. The publisher says: "Nestled in the heart of the Midwest, amid cow pastures and waving fields of grain, lies Moo University, a distinguished institution devoted to the art and science of agriculture. Here, among an atmosphere rife with devious plots, mischievous intrigue, lusty liaisons, and academic one-upmanship, Chairman X of the Horticulture Department harbors a secret fantasy to kill the dean; Mrs. Walker, the provost's right hand and campus information queen, knows where all the bodies are buried; Timothy Nonahan, associate professor of English, advocates eavesdropping for his creative writing assignments; and Bob Carlson, a sophomore, feeds and maintains his only friend: a hog named Earl Butz. In this wonderfully written and masterfully plotted novel, Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres, offers us a wickedly funny comedy that is also a darkly poignant slice of life."
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Louisiana
Gracie said, "LA - A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole."
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize, A Confederacy of Dunces was not published until a decade after the death of the author. This wildly inventive and amusing novel features one of the most unforgettable characters in modern fiction: Ignatius Reilly. He's a mammoth misfit Medievalist hilariously at odds with the world of the twentieth century, and his adventures take him to way down, to New Orleans' lower depths.
The publisher claims this book "outswifts Swift, one of whose essays gives the book its title. As its characters burst into life, they leave the region and literature forever changed by their presences - Ignatius and his mother; Miss Trixie, the octogenarian assistant accountant at Levy Pants; inept, wan Patrolman Mancuso; Darlene, the Bourbon Street stripper with a penchant for poultry; Jones, the jivecat in space-age dark glasses."
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize, A Confederacy of Dunces was not published until a decade after the death of the author. This wildly inventive and amusing novel features one of the most unforgettable characters in modern fiction: Ignatius Reilly. He's a mammoth misfit Medievalist hilariously at odds with the world of the twentieth century, and his adventures take him to way down, to New Orleans' lower depths.The publisher claims this book "outswifts Swift, one of whose essays gives the book its title. As its characters burst into life, they leave the region and literature forever changed by their presences - Ignatius and his mother; Miss Trixie, the octogenarian assistant accountant at Levy Pants; inept, wan Patrolman Mancuso; Darlene, the Bourbon Street stripper with a penchant for poultry; Jones, the jivecat in space-age dark glasses."
Alaska
Gracie said, "AK - The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (it's set in Sitka)."The starting premise of Michael Chabon's novel rests on a single historical factoid: On the eve of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested that European Jewish refugees be resettled in the Alaskan territory. From this tiny nugget, the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist constructs a richly hued noir alternate history/mystery fable, complete with Yiddish jargon and gangster argot.
For sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Proud, grateful, and longing to be American, the Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant, gritty, soulful, and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. For sixty years they have been left alone, neglected and half-forgotten in a backwater of history. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end: once again the tides of history threaten to sweep them up and carry them off into the unknown.
__________
Jill loved this book and gave it five stars. Here's her review.
Sharon, who likes mysteries, gave it a 3/5 rating. Here's her review.
Maryland
Gracie said, "A few more suggestions (ones I came up with immediately after hitting the Publish button on my last comment): MARYLAND - anything by Anne Tyler, whose books are so specifically set in Baltimore. For example, The Accidental Tourist.Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life.
Washington
Gracie said, "WASHINGTON - Citizen Vince by Jess Walter is set in Spokane."
A petty thief bucks one system to join another. Notching his first felony at 15, Marty Hagen, the quintessential New York City street kid, has a rap sheet to be reckoned with by the time he's 36. Not that there's anything really lurid on it-certainly nothing violent-it's just nonstop. And then suddenly, almost by accident, Marty becomes a person of interest to the feds, a circumstance that leads to a new name, a new location, and the makings of a new life. Farewell Marty, hail Vince (Camden), reborn, as it were, courtesy of the Witness Protection Program.
Though at first Spokane, Washington, rattles his urban sensibilities ("Everyone drives everywhere, even the ladies"), Vince soon grows fond. He gets to like the quirkiness, discovers that the measured pace suits him after all, allowing time for an interest in things that would once have seemed exotic: presidential politics, for instance. The time is 1980, eight days short of the election between Reagan and Carter, and Vince plans to do what he's never done before: vote. Moreover, there are women in his life, two of them, actually, good women in their differing ways. He even likes the kooky job the feds have found for him, donut maker-manager of the estimable Donut Make you Hungry establishment.
Then, after two years, a hit-man from the mob arrives with an overdue bill in his bloodied hands. Is there a way Vince can square himself in time to render the contract null and void? The answers are admirably unpredictable. This story is full of small surprises, among them Vince's way of finally achieving citizenhood.
A petty thief bucks one system to join another. Notching his first felony at 15, Marty Hagen, the quintessential New York City street kid, has a rap sheet to be reckoned with by the time he's 36. Not that there's anything really lurid on it-certainly nothing violent-it's just nonstop. And then suddenly, almost by accident, Marty becomes a person of interest to the feds, a circumstance that leads to a new name, a new location, and the makings of a new life. Farewell Marty, hail Vince (Camden), reborn, as it were, courtesy of the Witness Protection Program.Though at first Spokane, Washington, rattles his urban sensibilities ("Everyone drives everywhere, even the ladies"), Vince soon grows fond. He gets to like the quirkiness, discovers that the measured pace suits him after all, allowing time for an interest in things that would once have seemed exotic: presidential politics, for instance. The time is 1980, eight days short of the election between Reagan and Carter, and Vince plans to do what he's never done before: vote. Moreover, there are women in his life, two of them, actually, good women in their differing ways. He even likes the kooky job the feds have found for him, donut maker-manager of the estimable Donut Make you Hungry establishment.
Then, after two years, a hit-man from the mob arrives with an overdue bill in his bloodied hands. Is there a way Vince can square himself in time to render the contract null and void? The answers are admirably unpredictable. This story is full of small surprises, among them Vince's way of finally achieving citizenhood.
New Mexico
Gracie said, "NEW MEXICO - Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather captures the essence of this state."Death Comes for the Archbishop sprang from Willa Cather's love for the land and cultures of the American Southwest. Published in 1927 to both praise and perplexity, it has since claimed for itself a major place in twentieth-century literature. The narrative follows Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant, friends since their childhood in France, as they organize the new Roman Catholic diocese of Santa Fe subsequent to the Mexican War. While seeking to revive the church and build a cathedral in the desert, the clerics, like their historical prototypes, Bishop Jean Laury and Father Joseph Machebeuf, face religious corruption, natural adversity, and the loneliness of living in a strange and unforgiving land.
Oklahoma
Gracie said, "Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, is my recommendation for Oklahoma. This Newbery Medal book is easy enough for a child to read but deep enough for an adult of any educational level to enjoy. It's a good book for parents and children to read together, too - could spark a lot of discussion and opportunities to research and learn more about many of the topics raised in the book."It's 1934 in the Oklahoma Panhandle and fourteen-year-old Billie Jo must face the devastation of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Billie Jo creates incredible images to keep her soul alive in the bleakness. Through her eyes we see the dust's coming "like a fired locomotive" that "hisses against the windows" and feel its textures as "my lowered face was scrubbed raw by dirt and wind. / Grit scratched my eyes, / it crunched between my teeth...." She tells of its treachery too, until it becomes almost a character in the book. Billie Jo writes of how she accidentally sets her mother on fire with a bucket of burning kerosene. Billie Jo's swollen lumps of hands won't let her help her suffering mother, or play the piano, which once comforted her.
After reading that online, I (Bonnie) want to know if things get better for Billie Jo. Thanks for suggesting this book, Gracie. It brings to mind a similar book I read a few years ago. Treasures in the Dust by Tracey Porter is about half as long as Out of the Dust, and the two girls in it are only 11 years old.Eleven-year-olds Annie and Violet are best friends growing up in Cimmaron County, Oklahoma, during the Great Depression. The day Annie learned to walk the first dust storm hit. Hardship is the only thing the girls have known in their short lives, but like children everywhere they adapt, play, and go to school together. Their families help each other out during the hard times. Annie loves her home and digging through the dust for arrowheads, and dreams of becoming an anthropologist. Violet loves to pretend and act out stories; she dreams of getting away from the dust and moving to California.
When things take a turn for the worse in Violet's family, Violet is forced to stay home from school to help out. Finally, in order to save their land from the bank, Violet's family boards up their home and heads to California like so many before them. Annie mourns the loss of her friend and the two vow to keep in touch. Their contrasting letters chronicle the return of the rain (and hope) in Oklahoma and the despair of life in the California migrant worker camps. In the end, Violet and Annie discover that the "treasures in the dust" are truly found in each other and their families.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
New York
Jill said, "Hi, Bonnie! Me again! I just finished a book that I would like to submit for the great state of New York. It's Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow. (And my first official book of this challenge). This book explores the Bronx and surrounding burroughs during the Great Depression. You get a real feel for what it was like to live in NYC during the 1930's - complete with gangsters, ferry trips, elegant hotels and busy city streets."Here is Jill's book review of Billy Bathgate.
Florida
NOLADawn said, "Ok, some more Southern Lit here... FL- Their Eyes Were Watching God- by Zora Neal Hurston"
Their Eyes Were Watching God, about a proud and independent black woman, was first published in 1937 and generally dismissed by reviewers. It was out of print for nearly 30 years when the University of Illinois Press reissued it in 1978, at which time it was instantly embraced by the literary establishment as one of the greatest works in the canon of African-American fiction. This novel tells the story of Janie Crawford, a fair-skinned, long-haired, dreamy woman who comes of age expecting better treatment than what she gets from her three husbands and the community. Then she meets Tea Cake, a younger man who captivates Janie's heart and spirit and offers her the chance to relish life without being one man's mule or another man's adornment. Their Eyes Were Watching God created controversy because it refuses to admit black inferiority while simultaneously refusing to depict its characters as victims of a world that thought them inferior.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, about a proud and independent black woman, was first published in 1937 and generally dismissed by reviewers. It was out of print for nearly 30 years when the University of Illinois Press reissued it in 1978, at which time it was instantly embraced by the literary establishment as one of the greatest works in the canon of African-American fiction. This novel tells the story of Janie Crawford, a fair-skinned, long-haired, dreamy woman who comes of age expecting better treatment than what she gets from her three husbands and the community. Then she meets Tea Cake, a younger man who captivates Janie's heart and spirit and offers her the chance to relish life without being one man's mule or another man's adornment. Their Eyes Were Watching God created controversy because it refuses to admit black inferiority while simultaneously refusing to depict its characters as victims of a world that thought them inferior.
Louisiana
NOLADawn said, "Ok, some more Southern Lit here... Another LA book- A Lesson Before Dying- by Ernest J. Gaines"
A Lesson Before Dying is a novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country and teaches a black youth, who is on death row for a crime he didn't commit. In the end, the two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting -- and defying -- the expected. This book was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Library Journal said in its review:
The novel by Gaines that I (Bonnie) cannot forget is A Gathering of Old Men. Set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s, A Gathering of Old Men is a powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man. A group of men stand up for this black man who represents all blacks who have suffered the indignities and pain inflicted on them over the years.
A Lesson Before Dying is a novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country and teaches a black youth, who is on death row for a crime he didn't commit. In the end, the two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting -- and defying -- the expected. This book was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Library Journal said in its review:What do you tell an innocent youth who was at the wrong place at the wrong time and now faces death in the electric chair? What do you say to restore his self-esteem when his lawyer has publicly described him as a dumb animal? What do you tell a youth humiliated by a lifetime of racism so that he can face death with dignity? The task belongs to Grant Wiggins, the teacher of the Negro plantation school who narrates the story. Grant grew up on the Louisiana plantation but broke away to go to the university. He returns to help his people but struggles over "whether I should act like the teacher that I was, or like the nigger that I was supposed to be." The powerful message Grant tells the youth transforms him from a "hog" to a hero, and the reader is not likely to forget it, either.
The novel by Gaines that I (Bonnie) cannot forget is A Gathering of Old Men. Set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s, A Gathering of Old Men is a powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man. A group of men stand up for this black man who represents all blacks who have suffered the indignities and pain inflicted on them over the years.
Mississippi
NOLADawn said, "Ok, some more Southern Lit here... MS- Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty"
Delta Wedding is a vivid and charming portrait of a large southern family, the Fairchilds, who live on a plantation in the Mississippi delta. The story, set in 1923, is exquisitely woven from the ordinary events of family life, centered around the visit of a young relative, Laura McRaven, and the family's preparations for her cousin Dabney's wedding. Eudora Welty uses this book to explore the limits of family and sexuality.
Delta Wedding is a vivid and charming portrait of a large southern family, the Fairchilds, who live on a plantation in the Mississippi delta. The story, set in 1923, is exquisitely woven from the ordinary events of family life, centered around the visit of a young relative, Laura McRaven, and the family's preparations for her cousin Dabney's wedding. Eudora Welty uses this book to explore the limits of family and sexuality.
Alabama
NOLADawn said, "Ok, some more Southern Lit here... AL- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee."
As Winner of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Fiction, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is definitely a good book for our list. Thanks.
At the age of eight, Scout Finch is an entrenched free-thinker. She can accept her father's warning that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because mockingbirds harm no one and give great pleasure. The benefits said to be gained from going to school and keeping her temper elude her.
The place of this enchanting, intensely moving story is Maycomb, Alabama. The time is the Depression, but Scout and her brother, Jem, are seldom depressed. They have appalling gifts for entertaining themselves — appalling, that is, to almost everyone except their wise lawyer father, Atticus.
Atticus is a man of unfaltering good will and humor, and partly because of this, the children become involved in some disturbing adult mysteries: fascinating Boo Radley, who never leaves his house; the terrible temper of Mrs. Dubose down the street; the fine distinctions that make the Finch family "quality"; the forces that cause the people of Maycomb to show compassion in one crisis and unreasoning cruelty in another.
Also because Atticus is what he is, and because he lives where he does, he and his children are plunged into a conflict that indelibly marks their lives — and gives Scout some basis for thinking she knows just about as much about the world as she needs to.
As Winner of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Fiction, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is definitely a good book for our list. Thanks.
At the age of eight, Scout Finch is an entrenched free-thinker. She can accept her father's warning that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because mockingbirds harm no one and give great pleasure. The benefits said to be gained from going to school and keeping her temper elude her. The place of this enchanting, intensely moving story is Maycomb, Alabama. The time is the Depression, but Scout and her brother, Jem, are seldom depressed. They have appalling gifts for entertaining themselves — appalling, that is, to almost everyone except their wise lawyer father, Atticus.
Atticus is a man of unfaltering good will and humor, and partly because of this, the children become involved in some disturbing adult mysteries: fascinating Boo Radley, who never leaves his house; the terrible temper of Mrs. Dubose down the street; the fine distinctions that make the Finch family "quality"; the forces that cause the people of Maycomb to show compassion in one crisis and unreasoning cruelty in another.
Also because Atticus is what he is, and because he lives where he does, he and his children are plunged into a conflict that indelibly marks their lives — and gives Scout some basis for thinking she knows just about as much about the world as she needs to.
Ohio
NOLADawn said, "... and one from the North :) ... OH- The Bluest Eye- by Toni Morrison ... This is fun :)"
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove - a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others - who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove - a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others - who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Florida
Neco said, "Where is Joe Merchant? by Jimmy Buffet is a crazy tale set in and around the Florida Keys. Big Trouble by Dave Barry is a crazy tale set in Miami. I chose those two books because I think the nearly unbelievable craziness exemplifies living in Florida, where stuff you'd say could never happen anywhere else happens easily there. Marley and Me, a story about a man and wife raise a large dog, family, and careers, is also set in Miami and a good non-fiction. But I think I'd have to give my Florida vote to something by Hemingway, who lived in the Florida Keys. He's one of my favorite authors but his books that I can recall off the top of my head are all set elsewhere."
First, Dave Barry's book Big Trouble. In the city of Coconut Grove, Florida, these things happen: A struggling adman named Eliot Arnold drives home from a meeting with the Client From Hell. His teenage son, Matt, fills his Squirtmaster 9000 for his turn at a high school game called Killer. Matt's intended victim, Jenny Herk, sits down in front of the TV with her mom for what she hopes will be a peaceful evening, for once. Jenny's alcoholic and secretly embezzling stepfather, Arthur, emerges from the maid's room, angry at being rebuffed, again. Henry and Leonard, two hit men from New Jersey, pull up to the Herks' house for a real game of Killer, Arthur's embezzlement apparently not having been quite so secret to his employers after all. And a homeless man named Puggy settles down for the night in a treehouse just inside the Herks' yard. In a few minutes, a chain of events that will change the lives of each and every one of them will begin, leaving some of them wiser, some of them deader, and some of them definitely looking for a new line of work.
Where is Joe Merchant? by Jimmy Buffet seems to be more about bopping around the islands of the Caribbean than about Florida. Five years ago, the rock star Joe Merchant committed suicide, yet he keeps popping back into the tabloid headlines like a piece of toast. Will Frank Bama ever be able to talk with a woman? Will Trevor Kane succeed in calming a deadly storm by taking off her clothes? Why did the Jet Ski Killer cross the road? Who is that weirdo with eyes tattooed on his eyelids so he can see while he sleeps? And where is rock star Joe Merchant? Find out in Buffett's modern-day pirate story.
Marley and Me by John Grogan makes us ask, is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans. John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same. Marley grew into a barreling, 97-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever, who crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good -- Marley was expelled. But Marley's love and loyalty were boundless, too. (Hmm, does location come into this anywhere?)
Would anyone like to suggest a Floria book by Ernest Hemingway?
First, Dave Barry's book Big Trouble. In the city of Coconut Grove, Florida, these things happen: A struggling adman named Eliot Arnold drives home from a meeting with the Client From Hell. His teenage son, Matt, fills his Squirtmaster 9000 for his turn at a high school game called Killer. Matt's intended victim, Jenny Herk, sits down in front of the TV with her mom for what she hopes will be a peaceful evening, for once. Jenny's alcoholic and secretly embezzling stepfather, Arthur, emerges from the maid's room, angry at being rebuffed, again. Henry and Leonard, two hit men from New Jersey, pull up to the Herks' house for a real game of Killer, Arthur's embezzlement apparently not having been quite so secret to his employers after all. And a homeless man named Puggy settles down for the night in a treehouse just inside the Herks' yard. In a few minutes, a chain of events that will change the lives of each and every one of them will begin, leaving some of them wiser, some of them deader, and some of them definitely looking for a new line of work.
Where is Joe Merchant? by Jimmy Buffet seems to be more about bopping around the islands of the Caribbean than about Florida. Five years ago, the rock star Joe Merchant committed suicide, yet he keeps popping back into the tabloid headlines like a piece of toast. Will Frank Bama ever be able to talk with a woman? Will Trevor Kane succeed in calming a deadly storm by taking off her clothes? Why did the Jet Ski Killer cross the road? Who is that weirdo with eyes tattooed on his eyelids so he can see while he sleeps? And where is rock star Joe Merchant? Find out in Buffett's modern-day pirate story.
Marley and Me by John Grogan makes us ask, is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans. John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same. Marley grew into a barreling, 97-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever, who crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good -- Marley was expelled. But Marley's love and loyalty were boundless, too. (Hmm, does location come into this anywhere?)Would anyone like to suggest a Floria book by Ernest Hemingway?
South Carolina
Neco said, "Sue Monk Kidd wrote The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid's Chair. Dorothea Benton Frank has written Sullivan's Island, Plantation, Shem Creek, The Land of Mango Sunsets, Isle of Palms, Pawley's Island, and Full of Grace. Of all the above books, I would most recommend Sullivan's Island or Plantation for strong South Carolina culture/setting fiction while still being light and easy reads and following a personal journey of the protagonist."
Why don't we start with the first ones on each list? In Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees Lily Owens is living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father. Lily has a blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was only four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-hearted, and sometimes just fierce, Rosaleen, a black woman who acts as her stand-in mother. After watching President Johnson on television as he signs the Civil Rights Act, Rosaleen insults three of the deepest racists in town, she is arrested and Lily knows it's time to spring them both free. They take off in the only direction Lily can think of, toward a town called Tiburon, South Carolina, a name she found on the back of a picture amid the few possessions left by her mother. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters named May, June, and August. Lily thinks of them as the calendar sisters and enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honey.
Sullivan's Island, set on the coast of South Carolina, opens with Susan walking in on her husband and his young lover, a shocking surprise to her and an annoyance to him. Susan throws them both out, packs her husband's toiletries, and begins a new chapter of her life. With the support of her sister, Susan's appreciation for her roots deepens as she tries to come to terms with divorce and raising a teenager. Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivan's Island.
Why don't we start with the first ones on each list? In Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees Lily Owens is living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father. Lily has a blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was only four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-hearted, and sometimes just fierce, Rosaleen, a black woman who acts as her stand-in mother. After watching President Johnson on television as he signs the Civil Rights Act, Rosaleen insults three of the deepest racists in town, she is arrested and Lily knows it's time to spring them both free. They take off in the only direction Lily can think of, toward a town called Tiburon, South Carolina, a name she found on the back of a picture amid the few possessions left by her mother. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters named May, June, and August. Lily thinks of them as the calendar sisters and enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honey.
Sullivan's Island, set on the coast of South Carolina, opens with Susan walking in on her husband and his young lover, a shocking surprise to her and an annoyance to him. Susan throws them both out, packs her husband's toiletries, and begins a new chapter of her life. With the support of her sister, Susan's appreciation for her roots deepens as she tries to come to terms with divorce and raising a teenager. Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivan's Island.
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