Above All Things, by Tanis Rideout

A book from the public library, read and reviewed July-August, 2013

A fictional account of a group's effort to scale Mt. Everest. Focuses on two climbers, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine, and on George and his wife Ruth.

The cover art is captivating and provocative. It seems to represent the mountain as a woman, almost like a siren calling men to danger, to risk their lives in their quest to answer her call.

*******SPOILER ALERT***************


Now that I've finished the book, I've learned that it is a work of fiction based on the actual events of real people. George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine did attempt to climb Mt. Everest in 1924. George's beloved wife Ruth was left at home to be single parent to her three children, Clare, Berry, and John. She was a deep, introspective woman (according to the novel). I found two quotes particularly poignant: "When I was small I imagined love as something safe, something without sharp edges, only the sweeping, enveloping curves of romance and happiness. But it isn't. Not now, anyway. There are edges and they cut." (p. 191) and "Duty is something men step inside and fasten around them, like uniforms. For women, duty is a cloak draped over us, that weighs us down." (p. 262)

Although I have no interest in climbing mountains, or even hiking, I was drawn into this book. In the middle of an Alabama hot, sticky summer, I was cold reading about their experiences in high altitude. And, I kept wanting to shout at them, "Use your oxygen! Use your d*** oxygen!" (And I'm not a cursing woman.)

Sadly, George and Sandy disappeared very near the summit of Mt. Everest. It is not known if they ever reached the peak.

Burning Bright, by Tracy Chevalier

A book from the public library, read and reviewed in July, 2013

I've read two of Tracy Chevalier's books (Girl with a Pearl Earring and Lady and the Unicorn) and enjoyed them, so was looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint! Fascinating story weaving William Blake, the poet and printer with Astley's Circus of late 18th century London, along with fears concerning possible repercussions of the French Revolution in England. All brilliantly told from the viewpoint of a young boy who has just moved to London with his family from a country village.

Spring Moon, by Bette Bao Lord

Read, reviewed, and given to a friend in June, 2015

I didn't want this book to end!
Spring Moon is a family saga, continuing through several generations, through many wars and revolutions. China has had a very turbulent history, and this is reflected in the fictional families of Chang and Woo. We follow the young girl, Spring Moon (born in 1877) into adolescence and womanhood, marriage, motherhood, heartbreak and tragedy. Her mother-in-law, on her deathbed, predicts that Spring Moon will live to see five generations.
Mrs. Lord is an excellent writer, conveying the history of China through the eyes of one woman and her family. At the same time we are brought into the sequestered world of 19th century privileged women, confined and bound by tradition, but still feeling hope, love, and despair behind closed doors. Each chapter begins with ancient tale, legend, or note of history, which adds understanding. Also, there is a timeline of the events of Chinese history from the ancient legendary era to 1981, the date of the book's publication.

The Oblate's Confession, by William Peak

Read and reviewed in November, 2014. Released later

I found this a very interesting although slow moving narrative. I am learning about the Roman Catholic Church in medieval times, as I am looking up words and concepts unfamiliar to me. Winwaed was given by his father to the monastery at Redestone as a young child, as a fulfillment of a pledge, a vow made to God. He grows up in the silent monastery, learning the ways of the monks, and is befriended by a hermit who lives nearby and who teaches him about spirituality, praying, and living in the woods.

A beautifully written, descriptive book. I felt like I was there, in the monastery, climbing the mountain, and in the woods with Winwaed and Father Gwynnedd. Written from the perspective of an older man recalling his early years, the narrative seemed to skip the parts that led up to the need for his confession at a later time. He had already confessed to Father Gwynnedd, although Gwynnedd's advanced age and senility prevented him from fully participating in the hearing of it and the absolution of it. The reader is left wondering how the monastery had changed after the second plague and what Winwaed's life was like in his adult years.
*****
I received this Advanced Reader's copy from the publisher as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers, in exchange for an honest review.

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

The Time It Never Rained, by Elmer Kelton

Book image courtesy of Amazon.com


Read and reviewed in August, 2010. Released later

This is a novel about a historical event, a devastating years-long drought that occurred in West Texas, USA during the 1950s.

Here are some quotes from the author in his Introduction: "I hoped the novel would give urban people a better understanding of hazards the rancher and the farmer face in trying to feed and clothe them."
"Many people over the years have asked me if I based Charlie Flagg on their fathers. My mother was convinced that I wrote it about *my* father. The truth is, I did, in part. I wrote it about him and about many, many others I knew, people who still retained an old frontier heritage of fighting their own fight, testing one strategy and when it failed trying another, but above all simply enduring, and enduring."
"... not the traditional Western fictional heroes, standing up to a villain for one splendid moment of glory ... quiet but determined men and women who stand their ground year after year in a fight they can never finally win, against an unforgiving enemy they know will return to challenge them again and again so long as they live."

A historical perspective of the 1950s drought: from the Lower Colorado River Authority
(LCRA = Lower Colorado River Authority, a Texas utility)

A book I thoroughly enjoyed. I had not heard of the 1950s drought in Texas, even though I visited my grandparents in San Antonio during that time. If the adults had ever discussed it, I didn't hear it (or maybe don't remember). This novel deals with the hardships of farming and ranching in a drought-stricken land, and with family relationships, and relationships between Caucasian landowners and Hispanic laborers, both legal and "wetbacks".

The Centurion's Wife, by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke

Read, reviewed, and released in July-August, 2009

I finished reading this a few weeks ago. It was very interesting, a historical fiction set in the first century, after Jesus'crucifixion and resurrection, but before His ascension. The centurion is the one whose servant was healed by Jesus, related in the book of Matthew.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is Number 1 in the Acts of Faith series.