Reported by Garry
Sleeping at the
Starlite Motel: And Other Adventures on the Way Back Home by Bailey White. A couple of weeks ago, we
had a review of Mama Makes Up Her Mind, and this second book continues
the comfy, down-home feelings for which White is known. Each chapter in this
book is a self-contained capsule of eccentric small town Georgia. According to
our reader, this collection of stories is enjoyable light reading that can be
put down and picked up again at a later time, just like continuing a
conversation with an old friend. NH
Ninety Percent
of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry that Puts Clothes on
Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate by Rose George. If you were able to remove
everything from your life that had to be shipped to you, either by a local
carrier, or by an international one, you would be stunned to realize how little
you had left. Without shipping, we would have no clothes, very little food, no
furniture, electronics, or any of the other conveniences and comforts of modern
life. In this fascinating book, George investigates the international shipping
industry and its impacts (both positive and negative) on not only our immediate
lives but on our civilization and the world as a whole. CD
Winter Harvest by Norah Lofts is about a particularly
gruesome part of the history of 1840s American westward migration. Loosely based
on the ill-fated Donner Party, this 1947 classic novel introduces well-to-do
businessman Kevin Furmage who has been given a map showing a shortcut to
California from Missouri. A rag-tag group joins Furmage and they set out to cross
the Sierra Nevada mountain range to disastrous and horrifying results. Our
reader really enjoyed the back stories of the various characters in the book,
and highlighted the excellent character building. WJ
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau is about a 14-year-old
girl who lives a sheltered life listening only to show tunes and being taught
to be a good wife by her mother. The high point of her week is singing in the
church choir and she has a great talent for harmony. Then comes the summer when
she is hired by a local doctor as a babysitter to his adorably precocious
daughter, Izzy. Mary Jane immediately falls in love with the child and begins
to organize the chaotic household, even cooking supper for the family each
night. But unbeknownst to her mother, she is also becoming privy to an entirely
different lifestyle and viewpoint than the one she was raised to appreciate. By
the end of the summer, she will have witnessed a lifestyle that includes sex,
drugs, and rock and roll. Mary Jane begins to realize that there are many
different ways of living her life and a whole new world begins to open up for
her. This wonderful coming of age novel was thoroughly enjoyed and highly
recommended by our reader. LK
Also mentioned:
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
Mama Makes Up
Her Mind by Bailey White
Ellie Dwyer’s
Startling Discovery by
Diane Winger
Mountain
Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia by Larry Thacker
I Let You Go by Claire Mackintosh
The Red Cotton
Fields by Michael
Strickland
Why Nations
Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity,
and Poverty by Daron
Acemoglu and James A. Robinson
The Gentle Art
of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free
Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson
Mosquito Bowl: A
Game of Life and Death in World War II
by Buzz Bissinger
The Queen of the
Summer’s Twilight by
Charles Vess
Killers of A
Certain Age by Deanna
Raybourn
Billie Starr’s
Book of Sorries by Deborah
E. Kennedy
Real Queer
America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen
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