Overdue Library Books

I love Pearls Before Swine, this comic. Love, love, love.

On my TBR short list

I've got several classics high on my TBR list.

The Virginian by Owen Wister


The Virginian is set just down the road. It's one of those books that I feel as a Wyomingite, I need to read.

Silas Marner by George Eliot

And, for when I'm feeling really motivated: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I have good intentions with it, but it'll probably sit on my shelf for years.

Letter of a Woman Homesteader

There are a number of books that I feel like I need to read as a Wyomingite. Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart was one of those books.

Letters of a Woman Homesteader is not a novel or memoir, it's the actual letters Stewart wrote to a friend after she moved to western Wyoming in the early 1900s. The letters tell the story of her arrival and subsequent years. For me, the book was kind of slow. However, I highlighted line after line because so much of what Elinore wrote spoke to me. (yay for Kindle highlighting!)

"The quaking aspens were just beginning to turn yellow; everywhere the purple asters were a blaze of glory except where the rabbit-bush grew in clumps, waving its feathery plumes of gold. Over it all, the sky was so deeply blue, with little, airy, white clouds drifting lazily along."

"All westerns are likable, with the possible exception of Greasy Pete."

"I can think of nothing that would give me more happiness than to bring the west and its people to others who could not otherwise enjoy them. If I could only take them from whatever is worrying them and give them this bracing mountain air, glimpses of the scenery, the smell of the pines and sage."

The Day the World Came to Town

I'm not sure how I stumbled upon The Day the World Came to Town, but I'm glad I did. I've had it on my shelf for awhile, and finally picked it up for the 10 year anniversary of September 11th.

This year I didn't watch any of the tv coverage, though I did read some stories and look at pictures on the internet. I really didn't want to bring back all the sadness. So why would I pick up a book about 9/11 you ask.

The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede was about 9/11, but a good side-- how the people in Newfoundland, Canada came together to help people whose planes were grounded survive a few days marooned in the Atlantic.

When the US closed airspace because of the attacks, planes flying into the US were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. Residents of Gander and surrounding towns opend up their homes and helped in every way imaginable to host the stranded travelers.

The Day the World Came to Town was a heart warming piece of the larger tragedy of 9/11. It was nice to read this as a way to remember that day instead of watching the towers fall on tv over and over again. It's definitely worth picking up, though save it for next Sept 11 when you need to see some good in people.

Speak

I heard of Speak from my online book club. I had seen it on banned book lists, Recently Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was challenged because some idiot (I'm editorializing) said the rape scene from the book was pornographic. At the time I tuned it out as another moron spouting off about YA books. I figured I should read it to see what all the love and hatred of the book was about.

Upon reading the book, I was even more appalled than before. Speak is the story of a teenage girl's year after having been raped. The story is heartbreaking, how this teenager is falling apart because of her experience. While I thought the ending was a bit far-fetched, I really enjoyed (as much as you can about a book of depression and rape) it.

I think this is a must-read for anyone who works with teenagers. I'm including that moron who said it was pornographic. Maybe he'd get some clue if he actually read the book.

Happy Banned Books week!

Three Cups of Deceit

I grabbed this when Krakauer posted the free PDF on the magical world wide web. (Seriously, have you guys of it? Wonderful.)

Three Cups of Deceit is about Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. In his books, Mortenson talks of a program he started in Pakistan to build schoolhouses. Krakauer details lie after lie from Mortenson: how Mortenson uses money from the foundation to purchase his books so they will stay on the bestseller lists, how many of the schools don't actually exist, how Mortenson's story of being held by the Taliban is baloney.

This book upset me because I felt hoodwinked by Mortenson. I read Three Cups of Tea a couple years ago and enjoyed and felt inspired by it. Though, Three Cups of Tea is terribly written.

If you've read Mortenson's books, you really need to pick this up. I think you'll be shocked by everything Mortenson has done. If you haven't read Three Cups of Tea, I think Krakauer does a good job of explaining things that it'd still be worth your while to pick Three Cups of Deceit up. It's really short, about 75 pages, so it's a quick read.

Alice

"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
-Alice Roosevelt Longworth

This is all I knew about Alice Roosevelt Longworth before I read Alice. Based off that quote, I thought I'd love Alice (the person).

Alice is a New York Times notable book. Alice Roosevelt was one of the first big celebrites in America. The media followed her as much as her father, Theodore Roosevelt. This biography follows her entire life. It also talked a lot about her family.

I really enjoyed this biography because of the connection Alice had with so many people of the 1900s. I've picked up a couple biographies of some of the people Alice was acquainted with.

Surprisingly I didn't like Alice as a person as much as I thought I would. I didn't agree with some of her politics and she just didn't seem like someone I'd want to be friends with. I really enjoyed the book even though I didn't enjoy its main character as I had expected to.