90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey

I borrowed this from a friend.

A devastating road accident results in Don Piper's death, arrival at heaven's gate, and subsequent return to earthly life. He struggles with constant pain, suffering, and wondering why he was "sent back."
This is a very inspiring book for all who have lost loved ones and have reason to believe that they are indeed in "a better place", and for all who are suffering, are despondent and who are wondering what life is all about.
It is unapologetically a Christian book, written by a Baptist pastor telling of his own experiences. I found it very inspiring, and would like to buy copies of my own, to share with others.

The Inimitable Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse

A loosely connected collection of short stories featuring Jeeves and Wooster.

Don't we all wish we had a Jeeves to take care of us, to provide our every need even before we knew we needed it, and to solve all our problems and our friends' problems with ease and diplomacy? Bertie Wooster is a young man of Edwardian England, a socialite who has received a good education and seemingly is not required to work for his living. He and his friends frequently find themselves "in the soup", usually of their own making, and Bertie's valet, Jeeves, always adroitly manages to restore them to the good graces of their families. The contrast between Bertie's casual Edwardian slang ("What ho and all that rot" for example), behavior, and attitude and Jeeves' very proper, conservative manner ("Very good, sir") was part of the fun of reading this.

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

I read this many years ago, but I only remember bits and pieces of it. When I saw it at a yard sale last spring, I bought it to read again. I'm glad I did. There are many gems in it.
On corporate, commercial farming: "Carbon is not a man, nor salt nor water nor calcium. He is all of these, but he is much more, much more; and the land is so much more than its analysis. ...that man who is more than his elements knows the land that is more than its analysis. But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of himself. When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home and his home is not the land."

On the Dust Bowl migration along Route 66: "The people in flight streamed out on 66 .... All day they rolled slowly along the road, and at night they stopped near water. In the day ancient leaky radiators sent up columns of steam, loose connecting rods hammered and pounded. And the men driving the trucks and the overloaded cars listened apprehensively. How far between towns? It is a terror between towns. If something breaks - well, if something breaks we camp right here ...."

The people didn't leave because of the dust. They left because huge corporations bought the land from the owners. The people no longer owned the land their ancestors had settled. Years before, they had had to borrow against it and had been unable to pay their debts. Banks owned it. Land companies owned it. Sold it for profit, and drove the sharecropping tenants out. They had high hopes of a better life in California.

The above is a partial review; I hadn't finished it then. All I can say now is that it is a very deep, rich book. A disturbing, thought-provoking book. It was well worth reading again, I'm glad I did.

Okay, I have finished it, and actually gotten my old atlas of the United States and followed their journey through Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, New Mexico, Arizona, and into California! The town they started from, Sallisaw, OK is in the far eastern part of Oklahoma, near Ft. Smith, Arkansas.

The book told the story of the Joad family, and interspersed this with chapter-long essays on the economy of the nation, the dust bowl migration as a whole and its effect on the western states to which they migrated, and the attitudes and actions of the people they met along the way: auto dealers, who sold the "jalopies" they needed, owners and employees of gas stations and diners whom they approached for fuel, water, and even sometimes food, fellow travelers with whom they camped on the sides of roads, campground managers, sheriffs and state police. This slowed the pace somewhat, but it helped in my understanding of the immensity of the entire situation.

The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins

I bought this book because it was recommended by some of my friends. I tried to start it a few months ago, but distractions kept me from being able to immerse myself in it at that time, and I find that immersion is required for many of the 19th century English classics (Austen, and Dickens, for example).

This is a Bantam Classic paperback in gently used condition. The cover is a little worn and the pages are slightly yellowed with age (3rd printing, 1986). They are not marked nor dog-eared.

The Moonstone is considered the first modern detective novel, but Collins himself called it "A Romance". Certainly, it had romance in it, but the major plot revolved around the solving of the mysterious disappearance of a large diamond which had been presented to a young lady on her 18th birthday.
The story begins many centuries before, with a large golden-yellow diamond set in the forehead of an Asian Indian idol, the moon god. It is constantly watched by three Brahmin Indians, succeeding in turn by three more in each generation. It is their duty to always know where the diamond is, and if possible, to return it to its rightful place. Its turbulent history includes a curse, many wars and invasions, desecration and theft. Finally, another invading army, the British, sack and plunder the castle, and when it's all over, the diamond has been removed to England.
Two years after the Moonstone has been discovered missing from the sitting room of Miss Rachel Verinder, a family member and their lawyer decide it is worthwhile to have a written record of all the events of that evening and following. Thus we have the story, written as reports from the principals, beginning with the family's elderly and faithful servant, the butler and steward, Mr. Gabriel Betteredge. Reports are also given by Miss Clack, a "poor relation" spinster lady who is much concerned with missionary endeavors and is given to writing in excessively flowery language; by Mr. Bruff, the family's solicitor, mentioned above; by a cousin and suitor of Miss Verlinder, Franklin Blake; by physician's assistant Ezra Jennings; by the famous London detective, Sergeant Cuff; and by the family doctor, Mr. Candy.
The Epilogue consists of three more reports: by Sergeant Cuff's man, by a ship captain, and by Mr. Murthwaite, a man known to the family, who is well traveled in Asia and in Europe.
Of all the characters, I liked Mr. Betteredge best. (I'll have to re-read Robinson Crusoe now!) I also liked Ezra Jennings and Sgt. Cuff, and I learned to like Rachel Verinder. She began as a spoiled teenager, but grew to a wise, forgiving, and loving young lady. Of course, the most pitiable was poor Rosanna Spearman, who loved in vain.
There are several suspects who had motives for stealing the diamond, and I confess I was unable to guess who was the guilty party.