Tag: book lust ii

Salvation on Sand Mountain

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Covington, Dennis. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. Da Capo Press, 1995.

Reason read: October is National Reptile Month and in honor of snakes, I am reading Salvation on Sand Mountain. I also needed a book set in the mountains for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge of 2024.

It all started with a trial. A man in southern Appalachia Alabama was accused of trying to kill his wife with a snake. It’s an interesting way to attempt murder. Glenn Summerford put a gun to his wife’s head and forced her to reach into a box containing a bunch of venomous snakes. She was bitten four times and survived to testify against her husband. After Dennis Covington covered the trial, published his piece, and tried to put the story out of his mind, a book editor came knocking. It didn’t take much for him to convince Covington “this needs to be a full-length book” and Salvation on Sand Mountain was born. Covington immerses himself (and at times, his family) in the mysterious world of praying with dangerous snakes. What makes this journalism different is that Covington has ancestral history with preaching with snakes. As time with the congregation goes on and the more he observes their method of practicing their faith, Covington comes to care for the individual people, even Glenn Summerford. [Confessional: I sense Covington developing a crush on a member of the congregation as well.] Salvation on Sand Mountain culminates with Covington immersing himself completely by taking up a snake and preaching to the congregation he initially only wanted to write about. To think that it all began with a trial and a conviction.

Author fact: Covington has written quite a few books. Salvation on Sand Mountain is the only book I am reading for the challenge.

Book trivia: Salvation on Sand Mountain includes a small series of black and white photographs. Some contain the infamous snakes. All include the people who worship them. Salvation on Sand Mountain was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Playlist: Alabama, “In My Robe of White, I Shall Fly Away”, Liberace, Loretta Lynn, “I Saw the Light”, “How Great Thou Art”, “Only One Rose Will Do”, “I’m Getting Ready to Leave This World”, “Wading Through Deep Water”, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, “Prayer Bells From Heaven”, and “Jesus on My Mind”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Approaching Appalachia” (p 22). Pearl liked Salvation on Sand Mountain so much that she also included it in More Book Lust in the flattering chapter called “Just Too Good To Miss” (p 132).

Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin

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Meade, Marion. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties. Nan A. Talese, 2004.

Reason read: who the hell knows.

The 1920s scene was an era filled with extravagance and excess. Everybody floated through life, seemingly without a care in the world. Jazz music and flapper dresses. Gin and lazy days on the beach. Wild behavior was almost the norm. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin brings to life the women writers of the decade and the men who loved and loathed them. I would call this a tale of trying. Dorothy Parker’s bitchy attitude and botched suicide attempts. Zelda Fitzgerald’s insane attempts to be a professional ballerina. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s scandalous sexual trysts attempting to find true love. Edna Ferber’s tendency to always be alone, attempting to find happiness in solitude. The hysterical behavior of everyone: women liked to toss their expensive jewelry out of windows and off trains as a sign of their theatrical disgust, for example. The decade of the 1920s was an era when pregnancies were an inconvenience to be shrugged off either by handing the offensive newborn babes to nannies or distant relatives, or having illegal abortions to avoid the mess of childbirth and child rearing altogether. Excessive drinking only meant one could dry out from time to time at an exclusive resort. Mental breakdowns and overdoses were treated as cases of hysteria. It was also an era of triumph. Pulitzers were won. Women made names for themselves and carved out writing careers for future generations.
As an aside, it was difficult to read of the tragic endings for some of the greatest writers. No one seems to die of old age in that era. Vincent died of a broken neck after an apparent fall down a staircase. Ferber died of cancer. Zelda burned to death. Hale supposedly starved herself to death. Benchley died of cirrhosis of the liver. F. Scott died of a heart attack. Hemingway shot himself. Other deaths include tuberculosis, spinal meningitis, and cerebral hemorrhage.

As another aside, I was familiar with many of the different regions mentioned in Bobbed Hair: Maine (almost everywhere, but especially Camden and Rockland), upstate New York (particularly Duchess County), the beautiful Berkshires, and New Jersey (Red Bank and Princeton).

Author fact: Meade wrote a bunch of biographies that look really interesting, but I am only reading Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin for the Challenge.

Book trivia: to read Meade’s afterword is to confront epic sadness. Words like pain, addiction, decline, loner, cancer, destitution, depression, poisonous, and reclusive
Audio trivia: listen to the audio read by Lorna Raver. She is wonderful.

Music: Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, “Cuddle Up a Little Closer”, “March of the Toy Soldiers”, “Old Man River”, “Make Believe”, “Life Upon the Wicked Stage”, “The Treasurer’s Report”, Al Jolson, “The Calendar”, “The International” Paul Robeson, Jerry Kern, and Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Group Portraits” (p 108).

Crossing California

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Langer, Adam. Crossing California. Riverhead Books, 2004.

Reason read: You probably have never heard of Matt Vongsykeo, but when he was a teenager, he saved a baby from a burning car.

Meet the members of a Jewish community in Chicago, Illinois. Jill Wasserstrom is a liar. She told Lana she gave Muley Scott a hickey. Lana, the lied-to party, comes from a wealthy family (father is a radiologist, mother is a psychologist, and brother Larry was accepted into Brandeis). Lana wants to be an actor. Fake hickey recipient Muley wants to be a film maker and has a mother who works in the library and cleans houses for a living. Muley is in love with Jill. Jill’s father, Charlie, was fired from a restaurant job (owned by Alan Farbman) because he talked to a reviewer (Gail Schiffer-Bass) who he later marries. Jill’s sister, Michelle, is a tough cookie. Brandeis-accepted Larry wants to be a rock star drummer. The list of characters, some important, some not, goes on and on. It is this group of characters who drive the plot of Crossing California and make the story interesting. California Avenue itself (of Chicago, Illinois), lives and breathes like another character in Crossing California. This is a slice of Jewish life in a early 80s Chicago community at its best and worst.

Lines I liked, “She briefly considered going back, but she had her pride and besides, the door had locked behind her” (p 14).

Author fact: Crossing California is Langer’s first book.

Book trivia: Langer marks the era with punctuations of songs that were popular at the time. It is obvious he is a huge fan of music. Is Larry his doppelganger? See setlist for the music.

Setlist: Aerosmith, Al Jolson’s “California, Here I Come”, Al Stewart’s “On the Border”, “Angie”, Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”, Bach, “Back Door Man”, Barbra Streisand, the Beatles, Bill Haley and the Comets, Billy Joel’s “The Stranger”, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Bob Dylan’s “Seven Days”, Bobby Vinton, Boston, Bruce Springsteen, “Buttercup’s Song”, Cheap Trick, Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now”, Chuck Berry, Chuck Mangione, Clancy Brothers, the Clash, “Come Saturday Morning”, Dan Fogelberg, “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”, David Crosby, Debbie Harry’s “Call Me”, Deep Purple, Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing”, “Dream On”, Edith Piaf’s “Non Je Regrette Rien”, Electric Light Orchestra, Elton John and Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, Elvis, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, “Flirting with Disaster”, Foghat, Foreigner’s “Head Games”, Frank Sinatra, “Free Bird”, Gerard Lenorman, the Guess Who’s “American Woman” and “No Sugar”, Harry Belafonte, “Hava Nagilah”, Heart’s “Barracuda”, ” Herb Alpert, “Hey Ho Nobody Home”, “If I Were a Rich Man”, “In the Light”, “Is She Really Going Out with Him?”, Isaac Hayes, Jack Dupree, Jacques Brel, Jefferson Starship’s “Miracles”, Jethro Tull, Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown”, Jimmy Durante’s “Inka Dinka Doo”, John Denver’s “Annie’s Song”, John Entwistle, Johnny Hallyday, John Lennon, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow”, Kenny Jones, Kiss, “Le Freak (C’est Chic)”, “Learn How to Fall”, Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir”, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mahler’s Symphony #9, “Making Whoopie”, Mick Jagger, Modern Lovers, Molly Hatchet, “Mr. Bojangles”, Muddy Waters, Nazareth, Neil Diamond, “One Tin Soldier”, Paul Simon’s “Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy”, Paul McCartney, Pete Seeger, Philip Glass, Pink Floyd, “Quando El Ray Nimrod”, “Raisins and Almonds”, Ray Charles’s “Hit the Road, Jack”, and “Georgia On My Mind”, “Refrain, Audacious Tar”, REO Speedwagon, Rod Stewart, Roger Daltry, Rolling Stones, Ron Woods, “Runaround Sue”, Rush’s “Fly By Night”, Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag”. “Shaft”, “Slow Ride”, “Squeezebox”, Styx’s “Come Sail Away with Me” and “Lorelei”, “Sunrise Sunset”, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, Tom Paxton, Tommy Dorsey, “Top of the World”, “Tonight”, “Troika (Prokofiev’s Lieutenant)”, “Trouble in Mind”, the Who’s “Baba O’Riley”, “Music Must Change”. “Sister disco”, and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, the Weavers, Wings, Working Man, Yes, “Y.M.C.A.”, “You’re in My Heart”, Yves Simon, and Zoltan Kodaly’s “Harry Janos Suite”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in two places: “Maiden Voyages” (p 159) and again in “Teenage Times” (p 215).

Perfect Daughter

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Linscott, Gillian. The Perfect Daughter. Macmillan, 2001.

Reason read: Linscott celebrates her birthday in the month of September. Read in her honor.

It is difficult to be the prim and proper daughter of a military father and a snobbish mother in 1914 England. [It’s probably difficult to be a child of such parents in any given era.] Giving in to the pressure of perpetual perfection, did Verona finally commit suicide? Or was something more sinister at play? Found with a clever noose around her neck, it looks like the former. When details are revealed, readers must consider the era. Left-wing politics are raging, women are fighting for the vote, and Verona went from being a well-mannered daughter to a runaway, albeit talented, artist living in squalor with a group of Bohemian anarchists. Her life while she lived and breathed was fraught with contradictions, but it is her death which confounds us more. Her autopsy reveals she had been pregnant and had a great deal of morphine in her system. Her friends and family report her behavior was so strange they hardly knew her anymore. Maybe she led a promiscuous life. Maybe she was an addict. Was Verona’s cousin to blame? Suffragette and political agitator, Nell Bray had little contact with Verona; she barely knew the girl, and yet she finds herself trying to solve the mystery. Curious by nature, Nell wonders how a young girl from a well-to-do family could end up deceased on her parents’ property. Is her strange death a message to her society-slaved parents? Or was someone else to blame for her demise?

Author fact: Linscott worked for the BBC before she became a novelist.

Book trivia: This could be a movie.

Setlist: Chaliapin, “O Dem Golden Slippers”, and Schubert.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Ms. Mystery” (p 169).

Common to This Country

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Munger, Susan H. Common to This Country: Botanical Discoveries of Lewis and Clark. Illustrations by Charlotte Staub Thomas. Artisan, 2003.

Reason read: August is Friendship month. Read in honor of Lewis and Clark’s relationship.

Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an exploring match made in heaven. Lewis’s specialty was botany and Clark was an expert at creating topography maps. Together, they spent two and a half years traveling the country from the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean in search of a waterway passage. Along the way, they were tasked with collecting, preserving and recording thousands of artifacts for President Thomas Jefferson. With the help of Sacagawea and varying native tribes, the members of the Corps of Discovery made their way over hundred of miles of prairies, mountains, cataloging and describing every rock, bird, animal, flora and fauna along the way.
Munger had a diplomatic way of describing conflict with certain Native American tribes. She called their relationship “edgy.”
In addition to sharing parts of Lewis and Clark’s journals and interesting facts about each plant, Munger shares if the particular plant can be purchased in a garden center.

Here are the flowers Munger highlighted in Common to This Country:

  • Osage Orange – supposedly this plant is still growing on the University of Virginia campus. It is said to be the direct descendant of the cutting sent by Lewis.
  • Calliopsis – used as a dye or tea. I want to see if I can grow this in my garden.
  • Bur Oak – fire, drought, and pollution resistant.
  • Narrow Leaf Coneflower – used to “cure” the bite of a mad dog or rattlesnake.
  • Lewis’s Prairie Flax – each bloom only lasts one day
  • Prickly Pear – probably my favorite from the southwest.
  • Western Serviceberry
  • Snowberry – planted on the banks to hold soil in place and prevent erosion.
  • Angelica – used for respiratory ailments and as a sweetener.
  • Camas – used the root to make bread.
  • Bearberry
  • Oregon Grape Holly
  • Lewis’s Syringa – used to make needles or combs.
  • Glacier Lily – the bulb, leaves, flowers and seed pods are all edible.
  • Ragged Robin – beautiful and uniquely shaped flowers.
  • Silky Lupine – probably my favorite of the bunch highlighted since they remind me of the lupine we have at home.
  • Old Man’s Whiskers – a unique looking flower that resembles an old or wisps of smoke.
  • Shrubby Penstemon – related to the Indian Paintbrush.
  • Monkeyflower – it needs a “cool situation” in order to thrive.
  • Bearberry Honeysuckle – not edible
  • Gumbo Evening Primrose
  • Bear Grass – a very beautiful plant that can lapse for ten years between blooms.
  • Ponderosa Pine – Indians ate the inner bark, seeds and rosin.
  • Bitterroot – the state flower of Montana.
  • Wood Lily – the official flower in the emblem for the Province of Saskatchewan.

As an aside, I was thrilled to learn of the pen pal relationship of Bartram and Collinson. while they never met, the exchanged letters for thirty-five years. I find that remarkable.

Book trivia: the map to plot Lewis & Clark’s journey is stunning. Common to This Country was dedicated to “The Tennis Group” whoever they are.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Lewis and Clark: Adventurers Extraordinaire” (p 136).

Boy Meets Boy

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Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

Reason read: August is the new back to school month. Since most of Boy Meet Boy takes place in a school, read in honor of lockers everywhere.

The world inside Boy Meets Boy is the fantasyland where we all want to live, or at least visit whenever the mood strikes us. A place where kindness reigns supreme and hate just does not seem to exist. At. All. Main character, Paul, is unlike any teenage boy you will ever meet. He is sensitive, smart, funny, romantic, thoughtful, and a serious empath. His environment is a high school where students, dissatisfied with clubs of the cultural norms, create groups like the Joy Scouts, the French cuisine club, and the Quiz bowling team. The janitors are closet (pun totally intended) wealthy day traders. The parents form groups like P-FLAG (Parents and friends of lesbians and gays). The town itself is ultra-accepting – there is a bar called the Queer Beer bar where straight guys sneak in to hit on lesbians. It’s like a paradise for the LGBTQ community: the perfect world where everyone is welcomed and joyfully accepted. Even insults are always playful and harmless. The quarterback can also be the homecoming queen – shoulder pads and manicured nails come together in one character, Infinite Darlene. Cheerleaders can afford Harleys. Mothers make pancakes that resemble the topography or states or continents. Imagine that.
But. In order to have an interesting story, you need conflict. Right? The conflict is love and all of its broken hearts. Paul was once dumped by Kyle. Now Kyle wants Paul back, but only after Paul has started something with a new boy, Noah. Noah has been burned himself. So when Noah finds out Paul kissed another boy, he’s a goner. Now Paul wants Noah back while Kyle chases Paul. Then there is Ted who was dumped by Joanie for Chuck. Somehow, Paul tries to mend all these hearts, including the ones he has no business mending. The big question is, will he win Noah back or will Kyle win his heart?

Author fact: Even though David Levithan wrote a long list of books, I am only reading Boy Meets Boy for the Challenge.

Book trivia: I could easily see this being made into a movie.

Music: Dave Matthews Band’s “All Along the Watchtower” (but not really DMB) and “Typical Situation”, “One More Day”, Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”, “We Are the Champions”, Cole Porter, Pink Floyd, “Bizarre Love Triangle”, “I Will Survive”, “She’s All Mouth”, Elvis’s “Love Me Tender”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, “All Shook Up”, Ella Fitzgerald, PJ Harvey, Erasure’s “Always”, Indigo Girls, Chet Baker’s “Someone to Watch Over Me”, Beatles, “If I Had a Hammer”, “Time after Time”. “It’s Always You”, and “Let’s Get Lost”, and “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Best for Teens” (p 23). Interestingly enough, Pearl thought Boy Meets Boy was more appropriate for boys than girls.

Especially Dogs

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Taber, Gladys. Especially Dogs…Especially at Stillmeadow. J.B. Lippincott, 1968.

Reason read: I call books that make you happy “ice cream” books. In the month of July, ice cream is one of the most sought after cool treats. Additionally, I needed a book for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge for the category of a book that makes you happy. Even though I am a cat person, this made me smile.

Dogs, dogs, dogs. All things dogs. In the beginning of Especially Dogs, Taber writes a memoir of the dogs in her life, beginning with her first dog, Timmie, the Irish Setter. [As an aside, I cannot imagine putting a dog on a train! Her parents thought it would be a good idea for Timmie to visit Gladys when she got married, so Timmie made the trip from Wisconsin to Virginia in a crate.] To name a couple more special dogs in Taber’s life, the reader will meet Honey, the Cocker Spaniel, and Holly, the Irish Setter. You might think she is obsessed when you read that, at one point, Taber had thirty-five Cocker Spaniels, three Irish Setters, and three cats, all at the same time. This was the creation of Stillmeadow Kennel with her friend and former roommate, Jill.
Moving further into Especially Dogs, the reader will get a primer on how to housebreak a dog, how to feed a dog (I had no idea oatmeal could deteriorate a dog’s coat), how to introduce new or strange dogs to one another, how to make a dog heel when walking down a busy or distracting street, and even how to put your special pooch in competitions… the list goes on.
There is no doubt Taber loved her dogs. The love and humor in her writing makes that abundantly clear. This was a joy to read.

Quotes to quote, “Her approach to anything was always that there must be a book about it and she read them all” (p 89) and “We never bought a horse because I couldn’t figure out how to get it into the house” (p 177).

Author fact: Taber has written a plethora of books on various topics. I am only reading three for the Challenge. I already finished Stillmeadow Road and will have — after Especially Dogs. Taber is a self-professed addict of professional football.

Book trivia: really cute blank and white photographs of puppies and adult dogs are sprinkled throughout Especially Dogs…Especially at Stillmeadow.

Music: Tijuana Brass.

Nancy said: Pearl shared an interesting tidbit about Taber’s origin story.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Cozies” (p 57). See what I mean?

Carnival

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Mackenzie, Compton. Carnival. D. Apple & Company, 1921.

Reason read: the Culzean Summer Fair happens in July in Scotland. A good portion of Carnival takes place in Glasgow.

The life of Jenny is a complex story with themes of identity, love, and sacrifice. Her journey is a verbose exploration of the human experience, filled with unexpected twists and turns. Throughout the narrative, Jenny’s internal struggles and external choices paint a vivid picture of a woman who is unafraid to defy societal norms and follow her heart, despite the challenges she faces. The exploration of her gender identity, her romantic entanglements, and her passion for ballet all contribute to a rich and multi-layered portrayal of her character. For lack of a true plot in Carnival Jenny navigates the tumultuous seas of love and self-discovery. Her interactions with the men in her life, Maurice, Fez and Zack, reveal the complexity of her emotions and the depths of her desires. Her willingness to make bold decisions, such as sacrificing her career and friendships for a life in the country, highlights the fierce and unyielding nature of her convictions. Jenny’s story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the complexities of the heart. It does not come without a warning.

Lines I liked, “There is nothing to counterbalance the terrors of childhood in Hagworth Street” (p 30) and “It was glorious to think of someone who could make the worst headache insignificant and turn the most unsatisfactory morning to a perfect afternoon” (p 196).

Author fact: Compton Mackenzie’s full name was Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie.

Book trivia: Carnival was interpreted on the big screen three different times. Of course I have not seen any version.

Music: “March of the Priests”, “Athalie”, Wagner, Brahms, Verdi, “Tannhauser”, “Lucky Lindy”, Chopin, Victoria Monks, “The Eton Boating Song”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Tickle Your Funny Bone” (p 217). But, here is the thing. Carnival is only listed because it is one of the first ten books reprinted by Penguin. None of those ten books were necessarily known for their humor. Mackenzie, however, did write some funny stuff.

X President

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Baruth, Philip. The X President. Bantam Books, 2003.

Reason read: I read somewhere that the topic of social studies is best read in July. I have no idea where I read that or if I even believe it.

We start X President in 2055 and Sal Hayden is in Little Rock, Arkansas, trying to write the biography of former president, William J. Clinton. She is his official biographer with all-access privileges, and Bill, at 109 years old, has given her a lot of years to cover. During this time, American is throat-deep in world war III (AKA the Cigarette Wars) and the nation is choking on the reality that it is losing badly. The fight has come to American soil and soldiers are dying by the thousands every minute. What if, by chance, Sal could rewrite history? Change one small detail and set history on a different course? The powers that be are convinced that if Bill could talk to his younger self, a global crisis can be averted. And so begins Sal’s adventure back in time. The year is 1963…
[I don’t know why, but Las Vegas as the location for a central militarized zone of the Allied Freeman does not surprise me. It’s a lawless place where the military can be shut down, and frequently are. If someone can prevent Timothy McVeigh from bombing the Murrah Federal Building, the need for the Allied Freeman movement would go away.]

Author fact: at the time of publication, Baruth was a professor at the University of Vermont.

Book trivia: The X President is Baruth’s third novel. It’s the only one I am reading for the Challenge.

Playlist: “Star Spangled Banner”, Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “No Woman No Cry”, Liberace, Sam Cooke, Lawrence Welk, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Brahms, Patsy Cline, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Gipsy Kings, Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Sting, and Madonna.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about X President.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Time Travel” (p 220).

Last Chronicle of Barset

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Trollope, Anthony. The Last Chronicle of Barset. Illustrated by G.H. Thomas. Classic Books, 2000.

Reason read: to finish the series started in April in honor of Trollope’s birth month being in April.

While The Last Chronicle of Barset technically can be read as a stand-alone book, there are a few subplots left over from Small House at Allington. Lily Dale’s relationship with Johnny Eames, for one. The main thread of the story is Reverend Josiah Crawley. Did he steal a cheque for twenty pounds? Who cares? Admittedly, I found the Last Chronicle of Barchester to be a bit of a bore. I was pleased when the entire saga mercifully came to a close. The plot was too slow for me. It plods along in a slow meandering way with all of the subplots. Made worse was Trollope’s habit of repeating himself. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of gossip and scandal, romance and betrayal. I just didn’t care for many of the characters.

Author fact: The Last Chronicle of Barset was published in 1867 when Trollope was fifty-two years old.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 15).

Meetings with Remarkable Trees

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Pakenham, Thomas. Meetings with Remarkable Trees. Random House, 1998.

Reason read: Arbor Day is in June in some states (the National Arbor Day is in April).

Thomas Pakenham proclaims Meetings with Remarkable Trees to be a “book of British tree portraits” and indeed, he has personified trees into categories of natives, travelers, shrines, fantasies, and survivors. He will tell you from where certain trees have immigrated like they are refugees of war. He will give their ages like gossip out of the tabloids.
My favorite section was about the trees he called shrines. These are the mystical trees that were sacred to the landscape and continue to hold ancient secrets. Remarkably beautiful.
In reading Meetings with Remarkable Trees I discovered that I absolutely love the Ginkgo biloba tree, but the Davidia Involucrata, the Handkerchief or Dove tree, is also truly beautiful. Another jaw-dropping fact I enjoyed learning concerned the Himalayan Magnolia and how its blooms grow to be almost a foot in diameter.
The unexpected delight of Meetings with Remarkable Trees was Pakenham’s subtle humor. I giggled when he called Aelian a killjoy. When Pakenham said he didn’t normally hugged trees I had to laugh because I do hug trees on a regular basis.
The true mastery of Meetings with Remarkable Trees is Pakenham’s ability to demonstrate the sheer size of each tree. Most photographs have a person standing next to the tree’s massive trunk for perspective. At the end of the book Pakenham includes a gazetteer which provides information on the National Trust trees, the Forest Enterprise trees, the trees that are regularly accessible to the public and those that are on private property.

Author fact: Pakenham is an Earl.

Book trivia: take the time to read Pakenham’s acknowledgments. He actually takes the time to thank landowners for allowing him to photograph trees on their property.

Playlist: Handel

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Dewey Deconstructed: 500s” (p 70).

Giants in the Earth

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Rolvaag, O.E. Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie. Translated by Lincoln Colcord. Harper & Brothers, 1927.

Reason read: a celebration of spring and Minnesota became a state in May.

Volume One of Giants in the Earth was published in Norway in 1924. The second volume was published a year later. Vern Lewis Parrington (editor) wrote an introduction. Rolvaag wrote the foreword. Forty-six pages later we begin the story…Per Hansa is moving his family from Minnesota to the the Great Plains of the Dakota Territory in the hopes of putting down roots.
A lot of comments have been made about Beret and her mental illness. Her uncontrolled fear of the Midwest was justified. She was in a strange land without the comfort of true community. There was an underlying fear of Indians – fear and fascination in equal measure. I am reminded of the 10,000 Maniacs’ song, “Gold Rush Brides” written by Natalie Merchant. The lines, “The land was free and the prices was right”, and “Who were the homestead wives? Who were the gold rush brides? Does anybody know?…Accounts of madness, childbirth, loneliness, and grief” are particularly poignant. When Beret uncovers an evil secret wrongdoing her husband committed she starts to question their entire relationship. She fears that evil everywhere and her husband seems oblivious to her growing concerns. No one in the community notices her distress until it is beyond breaking. They even make fun of her nonsense. Were they distracted by opportunity? Were they preoccupied with adversities such as the strain of long, harsh winters and plagues of locusts in the summers? Did they want to slough off their old world identities identities in the new world by choosing new names? The question becomes how does one honor traditions of Norway while forging a new existence in America?

Quote to quote, “But it was easier to warm his body than thaw his soul” (p 277).

Author fact: Rolvaag was born in 1876 on the island of Donna almost in the Arctic Circle.

Book trivia: The title comes from a Bible quote.

Nancy said: Pearl said Giants of the Earth is one of the earliest sagas written about the immigrant experience (More Book Lust p 123).

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Immigrant Experience” (p 123).

Titan

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Chernow, Ron. Titan: the Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Narrated by Grover Gardner. Blackstone Publishing, 2013.

Reason read: April is Banking Month.

Chernow has a knack for digging into the details of a person’s life, personally and professionally. He took on the project of writing John D. Rockefeller Sr’s life story after he studied other biographies about the man and discovered that significant parts of Rockefeller’s life had either been glossed over or omitted altogether. Other biographers (who shall remain nameless) focused more on Rockefeller the business man than Rockefeller the person after retirement. Even though it is true that John D. Rockefeller was history’s first billionaire, he had an interesting life beyond the lifelong quest for money. Never mind the fact that at a young age he did declare that someday “he was going to be the richest man in America.” There was more to the man than business smarts. He was a man of great contradictions. While he was a ruthless businessman hell bent on crippling competitors, he also understood the benefits of philanthropy and gave generous to causes and people in which he believed. He continuously bailed his brother out of debt time and time again while disowning his father just as often. More on that later.
By having unrestricted access to interviews and papers and by using Rockefeller’s own memoirs, Chernow was able to weave a first person voice throughout the history of the times.
I was always taught to respect my elders, no matter what my relationship to them. Rockefeller disowned his father at a very young age, telling people his father was dead; his mother, a widow. Indeed, “Big Bill” was a bigamist, scam artist, and liar. Not someone John D. wanted to be associated with. Luckily, John’s relationship with his own son, Junior, was not a contemptuous relationship.
By the end of Titan I was overwhelmed by number of projects to whom the Rockefeller name is attached: the Museum of Modern Art, the Grand Tetons, Acadia, Colonial Williamsburg, I could go on and on.

Confessional: I do not understand how someone considered frugal with a rural background cannot be fastidious. Maybe what Chernow was trying to say was that Rockefeller was frugal, and from a poor background, a skinflint. Rockefeller bought expensive clothes which he wore with impeccable immaculacy.

One degree of separation from Natalie Merchant: she and John D. Rockefeller, Sr. share a fascination with Joan of Arc.

Author fact: Chernow won a Pulitzer in 2011 for nonfiction biography. He also has his own website.

Book trivia: Titan includes two sections of black and white photographs. I have to say Rockefeller was a stern looking man.

Playlist: Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, Chopin, “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”, and “Hesitation Waltz”.

Nancy said: Pearl said if you like Chernow, you should read Titan.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Founding Fathers” (p 91). Confessional: this book shouldn’t be in this chapter. Rockefeller was not a founding father. Pearl included Titan because of Chernow’s other biographies.

Poker Face

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Lederer, Katy. Poker Face: a Girlhood Among Gamblers. Crown Publishers, 2003.

Reason read: Chris Ferguson is a famous American professional poker player who celebrates his birthday in April.

To be honest, I am not sure what to think about Poker Face: a Girlhood Among Gamblers. I found Lederer’s short memoir to be incredibly sad. While she has reached critical acclaim with her poetry, I am left wanting something else by the end of Poker Face. I can’t put my finger on why or what is missing. I found everyone in the Lederer family to be depressing and I have to wonder what they thought of Lederer’s tell-all book. Dad was a teacher at a New Hampshire boarding school before authoring books on word games, while the rest of the family takes up gambling in one form or another (mom goes to work for her son). While on the surface, Poker Face is the personal memories of one woman’s coming of age, the story takes the reader deep inside the mysterious world of gambling in New York and Vegas; specifically the card game that made her siblings famous, poker. In truth, it is more a primer on the ins and outs of learning the game. I learned more about professional gambling then I ever thought possible. I had no idea someone wrote a book on “tells” – the mannerisms and facial expressions that inadvertently give away a player’s hand or next move.

As an aside, when Lederer’s mother goes on the gameshow, “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” I couldn’t help but think of the Oxygen taping of Natalie Merchant’s concert. The end result, what viewers at home saw, was nothing like what happened live in the studio. The magic of editing!

Confessional: if I saw my mother sitting in the dark drinking and crying, and playing solitaire I would be freaked out.

Author fact: at the time of Poker Face‘s publication, Lederer was not even calling herself a writer. She worked for a proprietary trading firm.

Setlist: the soundtrack to Alanis Morrissette, Bob Marley, Chopin, Copland, “Convoy”, Duran Duran, Elvis, Phish, Sinatra, and Tracy Chapman.

Nancy said: Pearl called Poker Face fascinating.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Me, Me, Me: Autobiographies and Memoirs” (p 162).

Small House at Allington

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Trollope, Anthony. Small House at Allington. Illustrated by John Everett Millais. Robert Hays, LTD Rosebury House, Breams Buildings, E.C.4. 1925.

Reason read: Trollope’s birthday is in April. Read in his honor.

Here is an ah-ha moment for you: you cannot have a small house without the presence of a big house. Here is another: croquet is best played by the light of the moon.
Trollope is a bit like my mother when she hasn’t talked to another living soul in over three months. Her main story takes forever to tell because she is sidetracked with subplots and tangled details. She goes down rabbit hole after rabbit hole, all the while getting more bogged down by superfluous minute he-said, she-said that have nothing to do with the point of the story. Trollope’s side stories in Small House at Allington have nothing to do with the main plot and are mostly ignored by reviewers. Some would argue Trollope is masterfully setting up his next series by introducing minor characters like Plantagenet Palliser and Lady Glenora (Duke and Duchess of Omnium) as they will be focal to the Palliser Series. But I digress.
The basic plot of Small House at Allington is one of relationships and a society full of gossips. Lillian (Lily) and Isabella (Bell) Dale are sisters with different successes in romance. Bell marries the local doctor while Lily falls for Adolphus Crosbie. Crosbie only cares about social status and when a more prosperous match comes along he leaves Lily. Enter Johnny Eames, the childhood friend with a secret crush on Lily. His outrage over Lily’s abandonment prompts him to violently attack Crosbie when their paths cross. Despite this show of valiant devotion, Lily proclaims her everlasting love for Crosbie and cannot be swayed.

Here is a master description of someone’s face: “…face was destroyed by a mean mouth with thin lips” (p 4). Can’t you just see it?

Author fact: many people believe Trollope modeled Johnny Eames after himself.

Book trivia: Small House at Allington was originally published as a serial from September 1962 to April 1864.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 20).