The Get-Away Car by Ann Patchett

From Good Reads:

“The journey from the head to the hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write—and many of the people who do write—get lost.”

So writes Ann Patchett in "The Getaway Car", a wry, wisdom-packed memoir of her life as a writer. Here, for the first time, one of America’s most celebrated authors ("State of Wonder", "Bel Canto", "Truth and Beauty"), talks at length about her literary career—the highs and the lows—and shares advice on the craft and art of writing. In this fascinating look at the development of a novelist, we meet Patchett’s mentors (Allan Gurganas, Grace Paley, Russell Banks), see where she made wrong turns (poetry), and learn how she gets the pages written (an unromantic process of pure hard work). Woven through engaging anecdotes from Patchett’s life are lessons about writing that offer an inside peek into the storytelling process and provide a blueprint for anyone wanting to give writing a serious try. The bestselling author gives pointers on everything from finding ideas to constructing a plot to combating writer’s block. More than that, she conveys the joys and rewards of a life spent reading and writing.

From Me:

I wasn't really looking to find out more about writing as a career, so I'm not sure why I picked this up.  But I did and I liked it well enough. It was interesting to see a little bit into Patchett's life.

One fascinating connection--which I thought spoke to me, was that in Elizabeth Gilbert's "Big Magic" and in Patchett's "Getaway Car", they both said  I a writer!  Even if this is all I ever do--write blog posts. Even is all I do is write old-fashioned snail mail letters.  

As long as I enjoy it and find satisfaction in it--I am a writer.  And I am creative--and I never again have to listen to a friend say to me "well, what DO you do then?"  (this said to me when I said I didn't like crafts, sewing, painting, making, anything.)

I do DO something.  I am creative!  I am a writer!

So there!

Thanks Ann Patchett and Elizabeth Gilbert.

Oh... I guess the correlation is that they are real-life friends, who basically said the same thing to me in different words.

Follow that Arrow

From Goodreads:

After losing her center, her marriage, and her future in one stroke, Gwen Van Velsor set off to find a new path. She traveled across the United States before finding her way to the Camino de Santiago, a journey that would redefine her life. Her story is a reflection on love, faith and the food that got her here from there.

From Me:

A  few months ago, I received a message from the author asking if I would like to read her book for review.  I had never done this before, but something in me had me agreeing this time---not so much to get a free book, but because she had a food blog.

Yes, she had me at Food Blog...Gourmet Gwen.

I'm a sucker for food blogs.

So, I agreed, she sent me her book and I set it on my nightstand and there it sat, thru August, thru September and I finally picked it up a few days ago---October.

Let me just state for the record, that you might be thinking, of course she's going to say it's good--she got a free book.  But here's the thing--if I didn't like it, I just wouldn't have mentioned it at all. Ever.

I was under no obligation, but here is the thing, once I started reading it, I fell in love.

It's a memoir. It's reflective.  Two things I love.

She grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  I did too (this had nothing to do with the story, I just found it interesting)

She's a coffee drinker and a walker on a spiritual quest.

AND a food blogger!

She's what I imagine myself to be.

She actually does these things  (I just think about them), and writes about her experiences.

I thought she wrote well, it flowed well and kept me turning the page.

There you have it!  My armature reviewer opinion.

I liked the story and she wrote well.

(this is why I don't review books very often--I don't write well, or explain myself well)

The thing is--I felt very connected to Gwen's story.

I felt as if I knew her journey on the Camino de Santiago,  because in a strange coincidence, I know at least 5 people  who have walked the Camino, from my small little town .

One is my Friday Night Dinner Friend, and one I saw at book club last night. (now bookclub thinks we should walk the Camino next March).

On the back of her book, the description says that her story is: a reflection on love, faith and the food that got her here from there.

I wish I had written that, because that it in a nutshell.

I enjoyed the story.

When Women Were Birds

From Goodreads:

"Brilliant, meditative, and full of surprises, wisdom, and wonder."—Ann Lamott, author of Imperfect Birds
"I am leaving you all my journals, but you must promise me you won't look at them until after I'm gone." This is what Terry Tempest Williams's mother, the matriarch of a large Mormon clan in northern Utah, told her a week before she died. It was a shock to Williams to discover that her mother had kept journals. But not as much of a shock as it was to discover that the three shelves of journals were all blank. In fifty-four short chapters, Williams recounts memories of her mother, ponders her own faith, and contemplates the notion of absence and presence art and in our world. When Women Were Birds is a carefully crafted kaleidoscope that keeps turning around the question: What does it mean to have a voice?

From Me:

May I borrow from Ann Lamott and say "Brilliant?  Meditative?  Full of surprises? Wisdom and Wonder?"

Because, it's all that.

I listened to this on audio, narrated by the author.  That's always a gamble; sometimes it's a winner, sometimes not---this time it was a WINNER!

Loved her narration.

I forget how much I love Terry Tempest Williams -- I live in the west, she writes about and understands the western landscape like no other.

I like birds--she LOVES and knows birds like no other.

I like contemplation-- this book is all about that.

I liked my mother -- she talks about a bond with our mothers that is so special and magical and unbreakable. (makes me shiver just thinking about it)

She does talk about her religion quite a bit in her writings, this book included,  and while I don't share the same views, she writes in such a way that  helps me to understand and appreciate her beliefs and traditions.  Likewise her activism and ecological viewpoints. 

Loved it.

Big Magic

A few months ago my friend Care was reading Big Magic and mentioned how much she loved it and maybe I would enjoy it.  I thought "eh...not a big fan of Elizabeth Gilbert, so I don't know. Not sure"  Then others chimed in that they loved it too---and well, I can't be left out of knowing what's going on--and they all seemed to be 'in the know' about Big Magic, so I decided to give it a listen.

Here is what I thought:

I LOVED it!!

I have no idea why I thought I wasn't a big Elizabeth Gilbert fan...the only other book I've read of hers was "Eat, Pray, Love" and while not a hater, I didn't love it.  I was probably  jealous, because, to be truthful, most of us cannot run off to Europe to find ourselves, we just have to struggle thru-- BUT that was her story, not mine, so why  ?? 

I'm still unsure of what I didn't like, but  ??

(I really loved the Eat part!)

Anyway... BIG MAGIC.

Awesome!

Usually, I tend to shy away from self-help books as I think they are condescending a lot of the time, but this was not. 

I'm not a good enough writer to explain all the feels  (this is a new trendy word, and I'll just have to say it--I feel silly writing it. HA!) --Feelings, all the feelings this book gave me.  I listened to this on Audio, and while I absolutely loved the sound and rhythm of Elizabeth Gilbert's voice (she narrated it herself),  I was sorry not to have a hard copy to make notes and underline important passages.

(my friends tried to tell me so--but I wouldn't listen)

I so appreciated Gilbert's viewpoint of creativity. 

I have never thought of myself as creative, but guess what?

I AM!!

Her essays, her thoughts, her reasoning are inspiring.  And comforting.  And uplifting.

And yes---DAMN--I wish I had a hardcover book to keep notes in.

ARRGGGHHH!!

There is just so much good stuff in this book!

I love thinking that ideas are their own entity looking for a home--and if it's not going to be with you, it will be with someone else.

Okay, that's horribly paraphrased (I don't have the book in front of me, remember?) But you can kind of get it, right?

I am a creative being.  And so are you.

Go.

Read.

It.

Now.

From Goodreads:

Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work,  embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

Dimestore-A Writer's Life by Lee Smith

From Goodreads:

For the inimitable Lee Smith, place is paramount. For forty-five years, her fiction has lived and breathed with the rhythms and people of the Appalachian South. But never before has she written her own story.

Set deep in the mountains of Virginia, the Grundy of Lee Smith’s youth was a place of coal miners, tent revivals, mountain music, drive-in theaters, and her daddy’s dimestore. It was in that dimestore--listening to customers and inventing adventures for the store’s dolls--that she became a storyteller. Even when she was sent off to college to earn some “culture,” she understood that perhaps the richest culture she might ever know was the one she was driving away from--and it’s a place that she never left behind .Dimestore’s fifteen essays are crushingly honest, wise and perceptive, and superbly entertaining. Smith has created both a moving personal portrait and a testament to embracing one’s heritage. It’s also an inspiring story of the birth of a writer and a poignant look at a way of life that has all but vanished.

From Me:

So many great quotes!

Memoirs always resonate with me.  I always feel that I have lived that life too. Is that a sign of a good writer or that I'm just nostalgic?  I mean every memoir I've ever written can't be great, can it?  But they pull me in.

I write letters.  Old fashioned letters that you put a stamp on and stick in a box at the post office and then a few days later they arrive in another box in front of someone's house clear across the United States,  which is a form of memoir kind of.  Maybe that's why I love them so much---I like people's stories.

I got totally off track---so many great quotes in this book!  I thought I'd share a few and went to get my book, which I thought I had bookmarked, but wait!  There is NOTHING marked. 

No little pieces of paper sticking out, no paper clip in a certain spot, no gum wrapper marking something important.

Hmmmm.   I'm going to blame it on my grandchildren.

I've never read a novel by Lee Smith, but I love her life story.

It's moving and deep---it says so on the cover!  And I know this to be true, because I read the book.

To conclude:

Great memoir about a southern childhood and a town and place she loved, which is no longer.

If you like memoirs, I think you'll liken this.

Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter

I read this book for my Library Book Club this  month.

From Goodreads:

Joe and Rose Kennedy’s strikingly beautiful daughter Rosemary attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the Queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet, Rosemary was intellectually disabled — a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous family.  Major new sources — Rose Kennedy’s diaries and correspondence, school and doctors' letters, and exclusive family interviews — bring Rosemary alive as a girl adored but left far behind by her competitive siblings. Kate Larson reveals both the sensitive care Rose and Joe gave to Rosemary and then — as the family’s standing reached an apex — the often desperate and duplicitous arrangements the Kennedys made to keep her away from home as she became increasingly intractable in her early twenties. Finally, Larson illuminates Joe’s decision to have Rosemary lobotomized at age twenty-three, and the family's complicity in keeping the secret. 

Rosemary delivers a profoundly moving coda: JFK visited Rosemary for the first time while campaigning in the Midwest; she had been living isolated in a Wisconsin institution for nearly twenty years. Only then did the siblings understand what had happened to Rosemary and bring her home for loving family visits. It was a reckoning that inspired them to direct attention to the plight of the disabled, transforming the lives of millions.

From Me:

Very interesting read. 

Years ago, I read every book written about the Kennedy Family---I couldn't get enough.  They intrigue me. 

It's been over 25 years since I've read a book about the family, so when I found out this was a choice for this book club, I was excited to read it.

Would I recommend it? 

 Well... I liked it, but I don't know that learned any new information--but that's just me!  If the family intrigues you and you want to find out more about them,  I suggest you read this.

The Kennedy family, whether you love them or hate them, is fascinating.  

To Marry an English Lord

 

From Goodreads:

From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles--just like Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, the first of the Downton Abbey characters Julian Fellowes was inspired to create after reading To Marry An English Lord. Filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details--plus photographs, illustrations, quotes, and the finer points of Victorian and Edwardian etiquette--To Marry An English Lord is social history at its liveliest and most accessible.

 

From me:

While I enjoyed it very much, I found it hard to read as the layout was very annoying and frustrating,  so I found it was the kind of book that I could put down for a few days and then come back to.  But I really enjoyed the back stories of all the American heiresses who literally gave up everything just for a title.  It was social climbing at its best.   These young women did not marry for love and didn't always have an easy time of it in England, but once in a great while a marriage of convenience did grow into love.

3 stars.

Little Book Store of Big Stone Gap

 

From Goodreads:

A book about losing your place, finding your purpose, and immersing yourself in what holds community, and humanity, together—books

Wendy Welch and her husband had always dreamed of owning a bookstore. When the opportunity to escape a toxic work environment and run to a struggling Virginia coal mining town presented itself, they took it. And took the plunge into starting their dream as well. They chose to ignore the “death of the book,” the closing of bookstores across the nation, and the difficult economic environment, and six years later they have carved a bookstore—and a life—out of an Appalachian mountain community.

A story of beating bad odds with grace, ingenuity, good books, and single malt, this memoir chronicles two bibliophiles discovering unlikely ways in which daily living and literature intertwine. Their customers—"Bob the Mad Irishman," "Wee Willie," and "The Lady Who Liked Romances," to name a few—come to the shop looking for the kind of interactive wisdom Kindles don't spark, and they find friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book in good company.

The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap will make you want to run to the local bookstore, and curl up in an arm chair with a treasure in bound pages.

 

From Me:

An adorable book.  But aren't most books about a bookstore?

They talk books all the time....thru out the whole book.

They have wacky characters/customers.

It DID make me want to open a bookstore.   I have all the inventory!

 

So.....the Handyman came home from work and I said,  I want to open a bookstore.  I have all the inventory--I'm willing to give up all my books to start it.

And do you know what he said?

He said "okay, right up a financial plan"

WTH?

Why does he have to ruin my fun with logic?

 

It's a good thing that Wendy Welch and her husband did not think of all that stuff before they opened the Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap!

Cute book.

Beatles vs Stones

 

From Goodreads:

A lively examination of the most legendary (and least understood) rivalry in the annals of rock ’n’ roll: “Beatles vs. Stones is one of the best rock biographies I have seen this year…If you thought you knew everything there was to know about these two groups, think again” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

In the 1960s an epic battle was waged between the two biggest bands in the world—the lovable Beatles and the bad-boy Rolling Stones. Both groups liked to maintain that they weren’t really “rivals”—that was just a media myth, they politely said—and yet they plainly competed for commercial success and aesthetic credibility. On both sides of the Atlantic, fans often aligned themselves with one group or the other. In Beatles vs. Stones, John McMillian gets to the truth behind the ultimate rock and roll debate.

Painting an eye-opening portrait of a generation dragged into an ideological battle between Flower Power and New Left militance, McMillian reveals how the Beatles-Stones rivalry was created by music managers intent on engineering a moneymaking empire. He explores how the Beatles were marketed as cute and amiable, when in fact they came from hardscrabble backgrounds in Liverpool. By contrast, the Stones were cast as an edgy, dangerous group, even though they mostly hailed from the chic London suburbs. For many years, writers and historians have associated the Beatles with the gauzy idealism of the “good” sixties, placing the Stones as representatives of the dangerous and nihilistic “bad” sixties. Beatles vs. Stones is “balanced, informed, yet still passionate…Even the most gnarled and intransigent veterans of the debate will emerge enlightened by this book….McMillian negotiates these thickets with insight, care, and a willingness to unsettle clichés”

 

From Me:

It was so interesting!  If you like that sort of thing---and I do.

I do think it was well written and not too gossipy.  The author wrote mostly about their professional lives, leaving their personal lives alone---for the most part. 

 

In our house, there has always been that great divide.... the Beatles or the Stones?!  Everyone knows the Beatles are the best, right?  I mean they're more popular than Jesus.  (John Lennon got in trouble for saying that!)

Just a fun, informative read if the music interests you.

4 stars.

Life From Scratch

From Goodreads:

Witty, warm, and poignant, food blogger Sasha Martin's memoir about cooking her way to happiness and self-acceptance is a culinary journey like no other.

Over the course of 195 weeks, food writer and blogger Sasha Martin set out to cook—and eat—a meal from every country in the world. As cooking unlocked the memories of her rough-and-tumble childhood and the loss and heartbreak that came with it, Martin became more determined than ever to find peace and elevate her life through the prism of food and world cultures. From the tiny, makeshift kitchen of her eccentric, creative mother, to a string of foster homes, to the house from which she launched her own cooking adventure, Martin's heartfelt, brutally honest memoir reveals the power of cooking to bond, to empower, and to heal—and celebrates the simple truth that happiness is created from within.

From Me:

I'm a sucker for a memoir, a sucker for a  food book, and a sucker for a blogger who sticks to a goal!

I just now looked at her blog, but I think I already love it.

4 stars...

I'm adding this to the Foodies Read Challenge

Finally an Answer! Beatles vs Stones!

This Book!

I get that you might not be as excited as I am about this book... I get that.

BUT-- This has always been the elephant in the room in my house.

The Handyman on one side.

Me on the other.

Sometimes not an elephant but rather a huge discussion that could tend to get a little testy, if you know what I mean.

Okay...we don't argue/fight* about  sex, money, in-laws, children -- we kind of have those things down pat after all these years,  but  The Beatles vs The Stones?!

Bring it on!!

*******

*it's true, we don't argue about the big things, but once we had a huge argument about "Lewis and Clark" and the Trail of Discovery.

Because... why not?

We know where our priorities lie!

In other news... I just finished 2 Foodie memoirs (My Homemade life and Life From Scratch)  in which the writer wrote essays about how much they loved their husbands and how much they appreciate them and how much their lives were changed by them and how much they were a part of each other.

DESTINY!

Myself?

I blurt out that we have fought about Lewis and Clark and the Northwest Passage.  Or Trail of Discovery.  NORTHWEST PASSAGE!  TRAIL OF DISCOVERY!  Northwest Passage!  Trail of Discovery!

NORTHWEST...

See how easily it can escalate? 

The Handyman is out of town on business this week.

He sent me a text this morning at  6am

HM: Good morning.  I love you.

Me:  Love, Love me do?

Me:  You know I love you.

HM:  I'll always be true.

blah blah blah--mushy stuff

HM: You sound like a Beatles fan.

He knows me so well.

The Lost City of Z

From Goodreads:

A grand mystery reaching back centuries. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon.

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the 20th century": What happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett & his quest for the Lost City of Z?

In 1925 Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. For centuries Europeans believed the world's largest jungle concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humans. But Fawcett, whose daring expeditions inspired Conan Doyle's The Lost World, had spent years building his scientific case. Captivating the imagination of millions round the globe, Fawcett embarked with his 21-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilisation--which he dubbed Z--existed. Then his expedition vanished. Fawcett's fate, & the tantalizing clues he left behind about Z, became an obsession for hundreds who followed him into the uncharted wilderness. For decades scientists & adventurers have searched for evidence of Fawcett's party & the lost City of Z. Countless have perished, been captured by tribes or gone mad. As Grann delved ever deeper into the mystery surrounding Fawcett's quest, & the greater mystery of what lies within the Amazon, he found himself, like the generations who preceded him, being irresistibly drawn into the jungle's green hell. His quest for the truth & discoveries about Fawcett's fate & Z form the heart of this complexly enthralling narrative.

 

 

For the record-- I don't really  review books.  I don't feel qualified, BUT I do love to talk about them and like to feel part of the book blogging world and this is a good way for me to record my books.

 

From Me:

I'm glad I read this--- I understand they are making a movie of it to be released this year.  I first learned of this book during Non-fiction November and put it at the top of my 2016 list of books to read.

While sometimes non-fiction is dry and hard for me to read, this kept my interest and spiked my  curiosity of the area of the great explorer.

I saw that one reviewer said it reminded him of Johnny Quest and THAT'S IT EXACTLY!

It was like a wild ride---but true---on my favorite cartoon!

You know what it's about from the Goodreads  summary, but just know that it is Johnny Questish too.

A good read.

3.5 stars.

 

Tiny Beautiful Things

From Goodreads:

Life can be hard: your lover cheats on you; you lose a family member; you can’t pay the bills—and it can be great: you’ve had the hottest sex of your life; you get that plum job; you muster the courage to write your novel. Sugar—the once-anonymous online columnist at The Rumpus, now revealed as Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir Wild—is the person thousands turn to for advice. 

Tiny Beautiful Things brings the best of Dear Sugar in one place and includes never-before-published columns and a new introduction by Steve Almond.  Rich with humor, insight, compassion—and absolute honesty—this book is a balm for everything life throws our way.

For the record-- I don't really  review books.  I don't feel qualified, BUT I do love to talk about them and like to feel part of the book blogging world.

 

From Me:

I loved Strayed's book, Wild, but I'm not into self-help books or advice books, so I don't know what drew me to this one---except that during Non-Fiction November, everyone was raving about it.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I listened to the audio version which was narrated by Cheryl Strayed,  herself----- this can be either really good or really bad.  In this case I thought it was really good.  I liked hearing the sound of her voice and since she wrote the book, she knew the right inflections, cadence and pauses, etc.   (when I first started listening, I thought she sounded choppy and it was bugging me.  Then I noticed I had the speed turned up to 1.5x and once I turned it to regular speed it made a world of difference)

This was more than just an advice column book, it was more like a mini-memoir, and I adore (for the most part) memoirs.   I thought she had so many good things to ponder in her 'advice'.   She really was compassionate, but honest. I like her life stories.

 

 Sometimes the language is a bit much.  Do we have to use that 'F' word so often?    I am not opposed to that word, I just think it's overused sometimes. AND that makes me seem old, I know.

The other thing that bugged me---and this is just a personal thing---is her use of pet names like Sweet Pea and Honey Bun.  I don't want someone I don't know calling me a nickname like that. SEE--I told you it was just personal. (I hate more than anything when a waitress calls me Honey!)  Strayed used those terms a lot and I had to get over it.  But now I notice that those pet names are on the tip of my tongue and I know I am going to end up calling someone Sweet Pea soon!

 

So, besides the "F" word and Pet Nicknames,  I really liked the book.  I liked how she can see issues from a different side.

She made me think about things.

3.85 stars!

 

Travels With Charley

From Goodreads:

An intimate journey across and in search of America, as told by one of its most beloved writers, in a deluxe centennial edition

In September 1960, John Steinbeck embarked on a journey across America. He felt that he might have lost touch with the country, with its speech, the smell of its grass and trees, its color and quality of light, the pulse of its people. To reassure himself, he set out on a voyage of rediscovery of the American identity, accompanied by a distinguished French poodle named Charley; and riding in a three-quarter-ton pickup truck named Rocinante.

His course took him through almost forty states: northward from Long Island to Maine; through the Midwest to Chicago; onward by way of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana (with which he fell in love), and Idaho to Seattle, south to San Francisco and his birthplace, Salinas; eastward through the Mojave, New Mexico, Arizona, to the vast hospitality of Texas, to New Orleans and a shocking drama of desegregation; finally, on the last leg, through Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to New York.

Travels with Charley in Search of America is an intimate look at one of America's most beloved writers in the later years of his life—a self-portrait of a man who never wrote an explicit autobiography. Written during a time of upheaval and racial tension in the South—which Steinbeck witnessed firsthand—Travels with Charley is a stunning evocation of America on the eve of a tumultuous decade.

For the record-- I don't really  review books.  I don't feel qualified, BUT I do love to talk about them and like to feel part of the book blogging world.

From Me:

I wish!  I wish!  I wish I  had kept a notebook and written down quotes as I listened to this audio version of Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley."

I love books of essays.  I love when people write about their 'searches' and this is what Steinbeck did.  He traveled the US in a big circle and wrote about the people and places he encountered.
I would LOVE to do that.
I want to be a traveler, NOT a tourist
I wish I had the words to describe how intimate (yes, I stole the word from Goodreads review) Steinbeck's writing is in this book.  He set out to find out what American's are like today... I'm not sure any of us could ever get a true answer to that, but his observations of different people and regions was very insightful.  I'm not sure if he was disappointed in what he saw/found or not.  Perhaps I'll have to re-read--but that would be okay... I loved the book!
I also loved how he made Charley a 'real' character in the stories.  He played a very important part in the book, in the travels, in Steinbeck's life.

I listened on audio and Gary Sinese did a great job of narration.

Monkey Town

From Goodreads:

In Evolving in Monkey Town, Rachel Held Evans recounts her experiences growing up in Dayton, Tennessee, a town that epitomized Christian fundamentalism during the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. With fearless honesty, Evans describes how her faith survived her doubts and challenges readers to re-imagine Christianity in a postmodern context, where knowing all the answers isn t as important as asking the questions."

This book is also available, with this same ISBN entitled "Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions"...with a published date of 2010 by Zondervan...it has the reddish cover, not this cover.

From Me:

3.5 stars!

A very interesting book about  soul searching, questioning, challenging and processing a growing and changing Christianity, within the author's self.

(if that makes any sense)

Jimmy Carter

From Goodreads:

The world's discrimination and violence against women and girls is the most serious, pervasive, and ignored violation of basic human rights: This is President Jimmy Carter's call to action.

President Carter was encouraged to write this book by a wide coalition of leaders of all faiths. His urgent report is current. It covers the plight of women and girls–strangled at birth, forced to suffer servitude, child marriage, genital cutting, deprived of equal opportunity in wealthier nations and "owned" by men in others. And the most vulnerable, along with their children, are trapped in war and violence.

He addresses the adverse impact of distorted religious texts on women, by Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims. Special verses are often omitted or quoted out of context to exalt the status of men and exclude women. In a remark that is certain to get attention, Carter points out that women are treated more equally in some countries that are atheistic or where governments are strictly separated from religion.

Carter describes his personal observations of the conditions and hardships of women around the world. He describes a trip in Africa with Bill Gates, Sr. and his wife, where they are appalled by visits to enormous brothels. He tells how he joined Nelson Mandela to plead for an end to South Africa's practice of outlawing treatments to protect babies from AIDS-infected mothers.

Throughout, Carter reports on observations of women activists and workers of The Carter Center. This is an informed and passionate charge about human rights abuses against half the world's population. It comes from one of the world's most renowned human rights advocates.

From Me:

3 stars

I love Jimmy Carter, but I only 'liked' this book. And I feel guilty for saying that.

It was very interesting, I learned a lot, but sometimes I felt like he was patting himself on the back.

I know that's not fair because he is a very humble man --- I think it's just the nature of writing a book like this one.

Still----LOVE him!

The Oregon Trail/It's Monday, What are you Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile!

It's Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

I've fallen behind and now I need to post about 6 books before the end of the year.

When you last left me---It was Nonfiction November--at least in my book blogging world. And while I joined in all the challenges and posts (it was a great fun-filled month), I didn't get a chance to finish  this  book until last night ( I read half and set it down when we had company and picked it up again a few days ago):

From Goodreads:

In the bestselling tradition of Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz, Rinker Buck's "The Oregon Trail" is a major work of participatory history: an epic account of traveling the 2,000-mile length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way, in a covered wagon with a team of mules--which hasn't been done in a century--that also tells the rich history of the trail, the people who made the migration, and its significance to the country. 

Spanning 2,000 miles and traversing six states from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean, the Oregon Trail is the route that made America. In the fifteen years before the Civil War, when 400,000 pioneers used it to emigrate West--historians still regard this as the largest land migration of all time--the trail united the coasts, doubled the size of the country, and laid the groundwork for the railroads. The trail years also solidified the American character: our plucky determination in the face of adversity, our impetuous cycle of financial bubbles and busts, the fractious clash of ethnic populations competing for the same jobs and space. Today, amazingly, the trail is all but forgotten. 
Rinker Buck is no stranger to grand adventures. "The New Yorker "described his first travel narrative, "Flight of Passage," as "a funny, cocky gem of a book," and with "The Oregon Trail "he seeks to bring the most important road in American history back to life. At once a majestic American journey, a significant work of history, and a personal saga reminiscent of bestsellers by Bill Bryson and Cheryl Strayed, the book tells the story of Buck's 2,000-mile expedition across the plains with tremendous humor and heart. He was accompanied by three cantankerous mules, his boisterous brother, Nick, and an "incurably filthy" Jack Russell terrier named Olive Oyl. Along the way, Buck dodges thunderstorms in Nebraska, chases his runaway mules across miles of Wyoming plains, scouts more than five hundred miles of nearly vanished trail on foot, crosses the Rockies, makes desperate fifty-mile forced marches for water, and repairs so many broken wheels and axels that he nearly reinvents the art of wagon travel itself. Apart from charting his own geographical and emotional adventure, Buck introduces readers to the evangelists, shysters, natives, trailblazers, and everyday dreamers who were among the first of the pioneers to make the journey west. With a rare narrative power, a refreshing candor about his own weakness and mistakes, and an extremely attractive obsession for history and travel, "The Oregon Trail" draws readers into the journey of a lifetime.

From Me:

I loved this book.

Can I steal from my friend JoAnn at Lakeside Musing and just say it was an entertaining combination of history and adventure?

That pretty much says it all.

I would recommend this book without any reservation at all.

To be frank, I got very sentimental at the end of the book--that author ended his route at a place in Oregon that we pass a few times each  year, and I never knew I was so close to history!   I guess I just never thought about it---we don't pay much attention to what is in our own backyards.

The original wagon ruts are still there, near Baker City, Oregon.  On our next trip thru, we are stopping and standing on part of the original Oregon Trail!

There was so much about this book that was 'sentimental' for me.  I live in the west and this book was all about--heading that way!

My great-grandparents came out on a covered wagon and homesteaded in north-east Oregon---not far from Baker City.

When we were newly married we lived in Walla Walla, Washington, the  home of the Whitman Mission--Narcissa Whitman was mentioned more than once in the book.

And the kindness and the generosity and hospitality of the western people mentioned by the author was very gracious.

So, yes, I did get sentimental at the end of the book.

Oh...and I have a crush on mules now.

Thanks JoAnn for reading the book and bringing it to my attention.

4 stars!