The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, A Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History

This is a book that I requested and received from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I requested it, thinking it was simply a biography of a U.S. president I had admired, but knew little about. I found his life story interesting, his poor health as a young child and his hard work to make himself fit and well, and his early fascination with the study of animals. I admire him for his work to promote conservation of natural resources and of wildlife, but the unending accounts of killing grizzlies, bison, elephants, hippos and rhinos were distressing to me. I note one quote from the book in particular, a narrative on hunting hippos: "As Roosevelt later pointed out, the cow's (female hippo) object may have been as benign as an escape to deeper water, but its wide-open jaws seemed to indicate that it was 'bent on mischief.' " Seemed like Roosevelt was the one bent on mischief; the hippos were minding their own business. I confess, I am one of the "mushy sentimentalists" like those deplored by Mr. Roosevelt. That said, his legacy cannot be denied, that of natural history and of conservation.

Since writing this review, last night (June 7) I enjoyed watching a Nova episode on PBS (American public television) titled "Wild Ways". It was about modern methods of studying and conserving wildlife: tracking animals with GPS enabled collars, and trying to open up corridors for migration. Very interesting and encouraging!

The Watsons Go To Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis

An award winning children's/young adult story about a typical African American family of the upper midwest who travel to Alabama to visit relatives before a fateful September Sunday. Mr. Curtis very skillfully blends humor with tragedy.

The Road Taken, by Rona Jaffe

A public library book read and reviewed on LibraryThing in March, 2014

A quick paced family saga, focusing on the life events of the family of Rose Smith Carson, born on January 1, 1900, and still living in 1999. Most of the major events of the 20th century affected some member or members of her family: World War I, the influenza epidemic, World War II, beatniks, polio, the women's movement, gay pride, the sexual revolution, the Pill, advances in medicine, and many more. I found it interesting; I wanted to keep reading to find out what happens next, but I wished many parts of it had been more fully developed.

The Gentleman from Indianapolis: A Treasury of Booth Tarkington by John (editor) Beecroft, Booth Tarkington (Author), John Alan Maxwell (Illustrator)

An old book of my mother's, an anthology of short stories and novels by Booth Tarkington. I never have finished reading all the stories, but I read and reviewed one for LibraryThing in February, 2014.


I found this volume in my mother's home after her death and decided to keep it. It's in fairly good condition with the exception of the dust jacket, which I threw away keeping the end notes (blurbs).

Alice Adams (complete novel)
Reading from a 21st century perspective, I found the 1920s characters of Alice Adams and her mother very annoying and harmful to their family. The mother was constantly nagging her husband to better himself by leaving his secure if lowly position in a company to start a new business. Alice was a very cheerful person who seemed to get along happily with everyone, but she pretended to be of a social class higher than she was. She had been popular in high school, and thought that popularity alone could get her through adulthood. I found it strange that a 22 year old woman whose family's finances were almost stretched to the limit (partly because of hers and her mother's demands) would not be earning her own way.

I finally got through the novel, just to see how it would turn out, but it has put me off wanting to read the others in this volume: The Magnificent Ambersons and Penrod. I will give them a try though.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Read and reviewed in February, 2015, keeping for my personal collection

I rarely buy a new book, but I bought this one at Books-a-Million yesterday, Monday Feb. 16. I also pre-ordered Go Set a Watchman, the recently discovered manuscript by the same author, Harper Lee.
I thought I had read it years ago, but I didn't remember anything as I read it this time. I have seen the movie, so I recognized the characters and some of the plot from that. I don't know how I missed reading it, but apparently I did. So, I am all the more grateful that I decided to buy this one now.
A wonderful book of childhood in small town 1930s America.
Brother and sister Jem and Scout Finch live what seems an idyllic life with their widowed attorney father and their maid/housekeeper/surrogate mother until the summer that their father takes on a very controversial trial, defending an innocent African American man against all odds.
Other characters featured in this story are the children's friend Dill who comes every summer to visit his aunt, the Finches next door neighbor, and Boo Radley,
their reclusive, possibly mentally challenged neighbor down the block.
This is a classic in American literature, required reading for most high schools and many lower grades as well. (I graduated not many years after it was first published, so it hadn't yet made the required reading list in my time.) Its reputation is well deserved; it is wonderfully written, and the characters are drawn with precision. A delightful book, it kept me interested from beginning to end. I am looking forward to Go Set a Watchman, which is to feature Scout as a young woman.

The Last Hotel for Women: A Novel, by Vicki Covington

Read, reviewed, and released in April, 2014

A fictional account of the Civil Rights Freedom Rides as seen through the eyes of a pre-teen girl and her teen age brother. They lived in a hotel run by their parents, where many news reporters from all over stayed, as well as one Freedom Rider, and which was frequented by the infamous Bull Conner.

It was interesting for the most part, but ended abruptly with too many questions left hanging.

A Bond Never Broken (Daughters of Amana, Book 3), by Judith Miller

Read, reviewed, and released February-March, 2013

This was a very enjoyable quick read with mystery, intrigue, danger, and a hint of romance. Set in an Amana community of Iowa in the early days of U.S. involvement in WW I (aka The Great War), the German-Americans suffer mistrust during the patriotic fervor of the times. Reminded me of post-9/11 anti-Muslim feelings in current times. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Although is is #3 of a series, I detected no disadvantage in not having read the previous books.

Secret Dream, by Muriel Fontenot Blackwell

Book image courtesy of journalpics

Read, reviewed, and released in September-October, 2012 (I don't know why I didn't keep this for my grandchildren. I wish now that I had.)

A children's book.
This was very quick to read and with a happy ending (I needed that!). A book about an Acadian family (Cajun) in Louisiana and the dreams of a young girl to further her education. Set in the early days of World War II when drastic changes were coming to everyone.

Ms. Blackwell is of Acadian heritage herself. She wrote in the Preface, "This book is not autobiographical. However, the characters have been drawn from many persons I knew and loved in my childhood. It is an attempt to present a true picture of the Acadian people and the struggles they went through as World War II brought abrupt changes to their way of life." The book was dedicated to her son and daughter "that they might better understand their maternal heritage, a simple but noble one."

Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier

Read and reviewed in October, 2012, released later

This is a compelling novel about a wounded Civil War deserter and his heroic, almost superhuman efforts to return home and to the girl he thinks he loves. Meanwhile, the girl, an ex-Southern Belle, is struggling to survive after the death of her father, without ever having learned how to garden or cook or keep house. As this book deals with the harsh realities of war and life and death in 19th century America, it is very graphic and gory in parts.

Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns

Read, reviewed, and released in June, 2012

I'm glad I did get it at the thrift shop! I enjoyed it very much. It's a sort of coming-of-age narrative about a teenage boy coming to terms with himself and his unusual family and straight-laced community. Interesting tale of acceptance, forgiveness, grief, and the meaning of life and love told in a Southern country dialect. (Easy for me, I live in Alabama!)

Water for Elephants: A Novel, by Sara Gruen

Read and reviewed in January, 2012. Released later

Wow! What a powerful book! One that will stay with me for a long time, especially Rosie the elephant. Her personality shone through.

This is a novel based on 1930s American circus life - the big top, the train, the animals, the performers, the bosses, the cruelty, the inhumanity, the love and loyalty. So many layers, so many things going on.
I couldn't help comparing the dehumanizing way old Jacob was treated in the nursing home to the dehumanizing way young Jacob was treated in the stock car of the circus train.

Out Of The Dust, by Karen Hesse

Read and reviewed in December, 2011. It is no longer in my possession.

I finished it a week or so ago. It is a young adult novel, a winner of the Newbery Medal. It deals with a young girl living through the Depression of the 1930s and the Oklahoma Dust Bowl years, written in first person in a sort of free form poetic style. Very well done!

The cover photo is by Walker Evans, of a young girl in 1930s Alabama, the daughter of a sharecropper. Her story is told here:
Wall Street Journal article

Forgiving, by LaVyrle Spencer

Read and reviewed in November, 2009. Released later.

"Romance" is not my usual genre, I was not happy with all the details of every French kiss and episode of heavy petting. It did have a lot more substance than that, though, and I learned about life in a 19th century goldmining boom town: newspaper publishing and printing, law enforcement, gold mining and stamping gold dust, and the sex industry.

The gold rush town of Deadwood, in 1876, seems very much like what we were told about Skagway, Alaska and the gold rush days of 1897, when we were there last summer on a cruise. I wish I had had it to release there.
It is a story about a young woman who arrives to find her wayward sister, to set up a newspaper and printshop, and to reform the town. Her first enemy is the town's marshal, Owen Campbell.
The central characters were an unlikely foursome, two couples: a marshall, a newspaper publisher, a businessman, and a prostitute. As we know, the course of true love never runs smooth, especially in novels, but it seemed unusually rocky for these four.

Raney, by Clyde Edgerton

Book image courtesy of Google.com

Read, reviewed, and released in May, 2006

It was a very quick read, light-hearted, gentle and funny. I wish some of the characters had been more fully developed, especially "Mama." I liked her.

Here are a couple of excerpts that I particularly enjoyed:

On the death of Raney's beloved Uncle Nate, "It was all a shock. There was this giant black hole in my life. And it couldn't hit me all at once. It was like a hourglass was holding things back."

On Raney's and Charles' marital difficulties: "Sometimes I think life is a bed of rose thorns."

One thing that took some getting used to, even for this south Alabamian, was Raney's North Carolina southern accent. I never could get used to her use of "won't" for the past tense, until I substituted "weren't" (even if it wasn't grammatically correct; I'm used to hearing ungrammatical speech). For example: "It won't Mel Tillis...It won't a Mel Tillis record." equals, "It weren't Mel Tillis..." meaning, "It wasn't Mel Tillis..."

A Painted House, by John Grisham

Read and reviewed in April, 2004; no longer in my possession

This book was wonderful - I couldn't put it down! I was so interested in the characters and their lives, and I still wonder how some of them turned out.
Unlike most of Grisham's novels, this is a "coming-of-age" type story about a boy in rural Arkansas in the early 1950's - the trials and tribulations of farming,
and the people who populate the town and their own farm during harvesting season.
It involves detailed descriptions of violent scenes, so it is not for the squeamish.