#306 The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts

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The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie LettsSummary

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts starts off with a look inside the personal lives of several people. We meet our characters. Our characters are a woman named Molly O who knows her daughter is going down a hard path, a man named Caney who sits in a wheelchair after his service in Vietnam, a Vietnamese man named Bui who is waiting for his wife to come to America and a Cherokee woman named Vena Takes Horse who is confused about where her life should be. Each of these characters come together in a small town in Oklahoma. The place that brings them together is The Honk and Holler Cafe Opening Soon.

The name was originally going to be just The Honk and Holler, but a night of a little debauchery and some alcohol, caused the phrase “opening soon” to be added to the neon sign made by Leon Neon. The sign is a town joke, but people have learned to live with it in the twelve years that the cafe has been open.

Caney lives at the cafe and hasn’t been out of it since he first went in it. Molly O is a surrogate mother to Caney who lost his parents when he was younger. Molly O takes care of Caney and she knows he is dealing with some hard times. He never talks about Vietnam. Molly O’s daughter, Brenda, travels around the country with sleazy men singing country songs. Molly O doesn’t know where she went wrong or what to do about it.

Vena picks up an injured dog and begs for a job at the cafe. Caney does not have the heart to turn her away. She gets the bright idea to take food out to people in the parking lot. This causes business to pick up a little at the cafe.

Bui also ends up at the cafe. He runs away from the place he was living because he accidentally hit a woman’s car. The woman was very upset, so Bui left. He doesn’t speak a lot of English. He gets fired from a car washing job and somehow ends up at the cafe. He says he will cook or fix things up. He sets to work right away repairing the cafe.

Everyone is getting repaired in a way. Life Halstead is slowly making progress as far as asking Molly O out. His wife died six months previously and Molly O is a widow as well. Life eats breakfast, lunch and dinner at the cafe every day. Bui learns more English and is taught to read by an elderly woman who is just delighted to have him helping fix up her church, which he does for free. Bui’s wife is in Vietnam and he finds out she has had to do something terrible, but he doesn’t care. Bui is a very forgiving person. Vena has to come to terms with her sister’s death. She has to figure out if having a family is what is meant for her. Caney learns to go outside and trust other people.

The book is set in an earlier period. Because the Vietnam war is so fresh in everyone’s memory, Bui is not taken to kindly in the small town. In fact, he meets a bit of trouble at some point in the book. He is saved by an unlikely character, who also plays a part in saving Caney.

Brenda shows up for a little while and gets Molly’s hopes up.

It seems the book is about mending relationships and forging new ones.

What I liked

This is actually a very sweet book. There are some darker things in it, just like other Billie Letts’ books, but it’s got this feel-good vibe about it. We meet these characters and they struggle with their demons. They learn to trust each other more. They learn to make new friendships. They learn to defy stereotypes. Life changes in a big way for all of them over the course of the book.

At this point, I have to wonder if Billie knows people I’m related to. There is so much in this book that sounds familiar. For example, the name Halstead. My great-aunt, who happens to be an author, has the last name Halstead. The one thing that I find somewhat ironic in all of this is that Life Halstead’s dead wife was actually something of a writer. Seriously, how weird is that? There is also a reference to the Wilhelmina lodge. The Wilhelmina lodge is not in a place called Stony Brook as the book suggests, but is actually in Mena, Arkansas. My grandfather’s family is from Mena. My aunt actually wrote a book about Mena. They actually used to be connected to the Wilhelmina Lodge in some way, but I’m not sure exactly how. I have been to this place, but I was so young that I do not remember the experience. The Wilhelmina Lodge is now a state park. Seriously, does Billie know people I’m related to? I really have to wonder. Billie is from Oklahoma, my family is from Oklahoma. I’m very curious.

I actually tried to do some research on Billie. Apparently, she’s kind of hermitish(this is probably not a real word.) Billie has published five books and has been a college professor at the South Eastern Oklahoma University, or something similarly named. She is also the same age as my grandmother. Billie apparently lives in Tulsa; I have never been to Tulsa. Other than that, I couldn’t find anything else out about Billie. Quite frankly, I’m not even sure if she’s still alive.

What I didn’t like

I kind of wish we got to meet Bui’s family. The issue with his car accident also seems unresolved. I guess that’s not a terrible thing though. Brenda seems like a real brat. Goodness, I know brats like her. She sounds like fifty teenagers that I have had the displeasure to know. Billie is definitely good at writing the character of a teenage brat. Kudos Billie.

Overall

I really enjoyed this book. I would suggest you read it if you’ve read Where the Heart Is or you are a fan of Fannie Flagg.

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Nationalism in Literature

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Natinalism in LiteratureSince we’re coming upon the patriotic months of the year, I wanted to talk a little about nationalism in literature. Yes, there is such a thing. The summer months in the United States are very patriotic. It may be something you’ve never noticed before but it’s true. In May we have Memorial Day. In July we have the Fourth of July. In September we have the recently minted Patriot Day. These are days to celebrate the heritage and sometimes suffering(Patriot Day) of our country.

I for the most part am not going to walk around with an American flag T-shirt at any point. I like the United States, but I am certainly not patriotic enough to go around wearing my country’s flag on my shirt. I know that’s probably a little sad, but you can show patriotism to your country without wearing an American flag T-shirt.

Nationalism, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is, “loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of  national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.” 

Let me explain this in terms that are a little plainer. Nationalism basically means you show pride and loyalty to your country. You might be one of those American flag T-shirt wearers or you might do this in other ways. For example, you could show nationalism by writing a song, creating a video or writing a book. There are plenty of other ways to do this as well.

On another note, the United States does not hold the monopoly on nationalism. There are brilliant people all around the world who have created beautiful works glorifying their home country. One person coming to mind now is the composer Bedřich Smetana. He was from what is now the Czech Republic. He composed various songs and operas. The piece I most closely associate with Smetana and nationalism is Ma Vlast(my homeland). This music is basically divided into six songs glorifying the land where Smetana lived. The most beautiful piece, I think, is Vltava or Die Molda( in German). The Moldau is a river that runs through Prague(which I seriously still have to visit some day). The song is so beautiful and you can really tell that Smetana was proud of his home country when you listen to his compositions. He was also a friend of Jan Neruda, a Czech poet.

Moving onto nationalism in literature; it’s everywhere. Whenever you read a book that you feel epitomizes a country or glorifies its past, that is nationalism. Think about the Grimm’s fairy tales being nationalistic in the way they celebrated Germany. Think about those writers that wrote about why their country should be free of a certain regime. It’s not the regime that makes the country. It’s the people and their traditions. Think about Pecos Bill being a purely American fairy tale.

As I was looking for examples of nationalism in literature, I came across Washington Irving. Washington wrote Rip Van Winkle. If you are not familiar with this tale, you should be. The short story is about a man named Rip Van Winkle, who finds that he goes into the woods one day and falls asleep for fifteen years. He wakes up and he has a long beard and sees that the world has changed around him. This tale has elements you might find in European folklore traditions, but it’s American. You also have to look at the way the United States was developing during the time. Things seemed to change in the blink of an eye.

If you really think of the big picture, the United States has gotten where it has quite quickly. Imagine all the ancient cities that other cultures have built upon for years. Jericho is the oldest city in the world. People have been living there non-stop for over a thousand years. Think about how old Tokyo, Cairo, and Rome are. The people who lived there three-hundred years ago had a foundation to build upon. Now think about the United States. It was true that there were a few cities and settlements in the states that had existed for a while, but nothing like what Europe, Asia and Africa had. Think about coming to the United States in the 1600s seeing literally nothing besides some trees, then going away and coming back in a few years to see a bustling city and sea port. That’s rapid progress. That’s a point stories like Rip Van Winkle were making. It seems almost bizarre to move so rapidly, but it’s also a matter of pride if you think about it.

People express their loyalty to their countries in their writing by encompassing the attitude and practices of their country. One person I would like to mention is Chinua Achebe, who did such an amazing job bring his homeland to life in Things Fall Apart. I also recently read Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. If that book does not contain nationalism, I must be a duck or something. Abraham did an amazing job bringing a little corner of Africa to life. He must be truly proud of his heritage.

I also have to point out that you don’t necessarily have to express patriotism to your country to be participating in nationalism. You can express patriotism to your nationality. I read a book called Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog. Mary seems like an amazing woman from what I’ve read of her book. While Mary is technically American, her nationality is Lakota. Her book is her tale about kind of losing her nationality then finding it all over again. She’s proud to be back in her heritage.

I also think authors like Amy Tan and Lisa See exhibit nationalism in their works. While neither of them were born in China, they’re keeping the traditions of their ancestors alive through their books.

I think choosing to write about your heritage even in fiction is a form of nationalism. If I were to write a book about people with weird last names who came either from England or Germany, that would be nationalism for me. I could also write about the United States and southern traditions and that would be another way I could express my patriotism in literature.

So, here you go, I’ve given you at least two separate ways authors can exhibit nationalism in their works. The next time you’re reading a book, ponder over whether or not that author’s work is nationalistic in any way. You might be surprised to find out the theme is more common than you noticed.

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New Dan Brown

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New Dan BrownThere is a new Dan Brown book out on the market named Inferno. I would be remiss if I said I didn’t care, because I do care. I like Dan Brown. Yes, I do realize that I vilified him just a bit when writing about his “lone gunman” approach. Which Dan totally has and no one can deny it. I do not doubt that this new book will take exactly the same approach. Will that keep me from reading it? No, it won’t. The only thing keeping me from reading this book right now is the fact that it’s $14.99 for the Kindle version on Amazon. Can’t I get like a special reviewer price? I’m looking at you Amazon and Dan Brown. It’s not a rhetorical question.

This is not some random Dan Brown novel. This is a Robert Langdon novel. I like Robert Langdon. This is the fourth Langdon mystery novel. There is just something about a nerdy guy running around solving mysteries that is intriguing. Also don’t try to deny that if Robert Langdon was real, you would totally go out with him. I’m not saying Tom Hanks, I’m saying Robert Langdon the character. I don’t know that anybody wants to go out with Tom Hanks these days. Well, maybe somebody does.

This new novel is set mostly in Florence, Italy. I was just talking about Florence a couple posts ago. You will know that I have never been there, but I would very much like to go. This book is going to be steeped in literary classics and classic artwork. Florence was quite the town back in its day. The Medicis were there at one point. If you don’t know who they are, then you need to get with the times. They were like the first mafia family, well, no, well, yes, well, whatever. I say they were a mafia family because they had their hands in everything, although, I am sure, they probably would not like being called a mafia family.

A lot of famous people were known to hang around in Florence. Michelangelo being one of the most famous. You will also recall a man named Savonarola, who was fanatic that was eventually burnt at the stake in his own town. Florence is just full of a lot of history. There is no doubt there are plenty of symbols and mysteries for Dan Brown to pull from.

Here’s the thing about Italy, if you didn’t know already, Italy was not always one country. The country we know and love today shaped like a stylish woman’s boot, didn’t always have those same lines. In fact, those cities which you might consider so essentially Italian, were in fact, their own countries in a manner of speaking. Florence and Rome might not get along at all. They might actually war against one another at points in time. They were what anthropologists like to call “city-states.” They’re the size of a city, but they rule themselves and are essentially a mini-country. Think of the Vatican. Yes, the Vatican is an actual country, but it’s not very large. We already covered that in at least one of Dan’s earlier books. I knew that before I ever read any of Dan’s books though because I took an ancient Roman art history class.

Florence was essentially its own entity for a while. You can imagine all the history that goes along with that. You can imagine the troubles it had incorporating under one flag with other city-states. I can definitely see this novel being very interesting in historical aspects.

You really have to hand it to Dan, he gives a person a whole bunch of history and it sounds interesting. All history texts should be like a Dan Brown novel. Dan does bring out prominent historical events, but also brings out these historical happenings that aren’t so widely known. The people who read Dan’s books get to know these things.

This actually brings to mind a show I watched a couple of days ago. I was watching a show called 10 Things You Didn’t Know About.  Each episode has to deal with a person or event. The show looks at ten items that are uncommonly known and explains the background of these items. It is an interesting show. I’ve only watched the episode on Benjamin Franklin so far. I did not know that he invented the glass harmonica or that he was caught at fifty-eight years old making out with an eighteen year old. I guess that kind of thing was more common back then, but forty years is a lot of years. There is even a picture, well a drawing, because somebody walked in on this debauchery and sketched it after they left.

I was going to post that sketch in this post, but because it isn’t widely known I can’t find a copy of the sketch. I’m afraid to Google too deeply because I might end up with something I really don’t want to see if I start typing in variations of “Benjamin Franklin Making out with an eighteen year old girl.” If you want to Google it, go ahead.

My point in this little side rant is that history is not always how we have heard it. History has these neat little mysteries, secrets and puzzles. Dan Brown does an extensive amount of research to bring these little pieces together.

When I do get a chance to read the new Dan Brown book, Inferno, I will definitely enjoy it.

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#305 Educating Alice by Alice Steinbach

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Educating Alice by Alice SteinbachSummary

Educating Alice by Alice Steinbach is another one of those travel/life memoirs written by published authors or bloggers that seem to be so popular currently. Other books I would put in this category are Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. Books written by Mike McIntyre also fall into this category.

These types of books are interesting because A) it’s a memoir and memoirs are always neat and B) the reader gets to learn about places they haven’t been to through the eyes of someone else rather than a bland overview from some history or travel book.

This book is about a woman named Alice. She spends an unspecified amount of time traveling around the world learning how to do various things. Apparently she also gets paid for doing all of this. I’m going to have to figure out how she landed this sweet gig so I can do the same. How come I can’t go to Havana? Seriously, who doesn’t want to see Havana at least once in their life?

Each section of Alice’s book is divided by location. The first place she goes it to Paris where she enrolls in the cooking academy at the Ritz Hotel. The Ritz Hotel, not the Ritz-Carlton, or whatever it’s called. We’re talking about the original Ritz Hotel in all its expensive glory. I have never desired to learn how to cook French food. I do like Julie and Julia, but I would rather cook other things. Call me rustic, or whatever. I also can’t have wheat so that kind of puts a damper on all those heavy French sauces and pastries, too bad, so sad. Alice summarizes her entire experience in Paris. She learns to cook, she makes some friends, and she plays at being wealthy by buying wine at the Ritz cafe. I do have to admit that I have never really desired to visit Paris before. About the only reason I would want to go is to see the Louvre, but Alice kind of opened up another view of Paris for me, which sounds much more interesting than people talking about how romantic the Eiffel Tower is.

After that, Alice goes to Kyoto, which I never had a chance to visit while I lived in Japan. It’s quite the shame because Kyoto has such a vibrant history and culture. In Kyoto, Alice learns several Japanese arts flower arranging, dancing and tea ceremonies. She talks to some actual Geishas and learns that the profession is not as illustrious as it used to be. It’s a really neat look at Kyoto.

Next she goes to Florence, Italy. I would also like to go to Florence and see all the frescoes and sculptures by all those seemingly similar named Italian artists. Alice’s description of Florence is great. She learns a lot about the art and architecture of the area. She also learns of a very damaging flood that swept the area in 1966. The people of Florence fought valiantly to save the priceless works of art that call the city of  Florence home. I found it quite touching that rather than looting a flooded shop for the newest tennis shoes, the people of Florence rushed to save the works of art they considered their heritage. Oh, New Orleans, you make us ashamed sometimes.

Alice goes to England, where she does something. This section wasn’t that exciting. I’m having a hard time remembering what she did there. It had to deal with shoes.

Then Alice goes to Havana, Cuba. I would like to visit Havana, if you haven’t guessed already. Because of the way the government has worked in Havana for many years and the way other governments have treated Cuba, Havana has had this ability to develop its culture in something of a bubble. They have their own culture defined in ways by the United States, but not defined by anyone but themselves in other ways. I really enjoyed reading Alice’s descriptions and narrations of her adventures. If I ever get a chance to go to Havana, I’m going.

Alice goes back to France to visit a lot of gardens. I like gardening and all, but I’m totally not into the structured pleasure garden methods described in this section of Alice’s books. It was interesting to learn that there was such a market for olive trees several hundred years old just for people’s flower beds.

Alice then goes to Prague. I would like to go to Prague. She takes a writing class there and that’s about all she does. She does delve into the history of Prague during WWII. Prague was invaded by the Germans in 1939. All the stories of German invasion during WWII seem similar, but each invaded country adds its own feel to the invasion.

Last, Alice goes to Scotland where she works with sheep dogs. Honestly, I would like to visit Scotland, but I don’t want to play around with a bunch of sheep dogs when  I go. I like dogs, I have a dog, but I don’t want to stand around a bunch of sheep and a dog. While reading this entire section I was thinking of the movie Babe, you know the movie with the pig that herded sheep?

What I liked

I really enjoyed reading about all of Alice’s adventures. I know she does have another book that is similar. It was a precursor to this book. I might read it someday if I ever come across it. I admit I am kind of jealous that Alice gets to travel around the world and then write about it.

Attention people who pay other people to travel around the world and write about it, I will willingly take your money and travel around the world, then write about it.

I can tell Alice really enjoys her adventures; it shows in the way she writes about them. I’m glad that she got to have all these experiences then turn them into a book for other people to experience.

What I didn’t like

A couple of sections were kind of boring. I forgot what Alice did while she was in England. I wasn’t overly impressed with her Scotland section or her second France section. All the other trips were pretty good though.

Alice kind of weaves some personal, hopeful romantic relationship in her book. I don’t know if it was really the place for it because this is a travel memoir, but then again, it also adds this personal touch. Elizabeth Gilbert did much the same thing in her book, but she did actually have some resolution in her relationship. The relationship Alice keeps feeding, perhaps one-sided, doesn’t seem to go anywhere. I kind of wanted to reach through the book and be like, “Look either say you like this guy and go move to Paris or Japan or where ever in the heck he lives, get married in Vegas, travel together the end. If that doesn’t work out for you, stop pining over this guy and be by yourself or go find another man. Someone did write a book one time called He’s Just Not That Into You.” The relationship may have actually had more meat than Alice lets on. I can’t see her boyfriend/friend/whatever ok’ing her writing this much about him in her book if they weren’t on good terms.

Overall

I liked Alice’s adventures, in Wonderland, no, not in Wonderland, in the world.

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Imperfect Small Towns

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Imperfect Small TownsThe idea of imperfect small towns has been on my mind after finishing Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg. This did put me on a train of thought about Fannie’s other books, primarily Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. There is a movie based on this book and if you haven’t seen all the Kathy Bates/Jessica Tandy wonderfulness, you need to do so. I happen to like Kathy Bates. Whistlestop was not a real town. Fannie makes her towns up, but it was filmed in a very real town, Juliette, GA, which has experienced renewed growth since the movie was filmed there. You can actually go to the cafe and have fried green tomatoes. That’s pretty neat. Now that I know that, I’m going to have to go there sometime, but I won’t be having the fried green tomatoes because A) I’m not a big tomato fan and B) I can’t have wheat flour.

Now, the whole point of this post was not to exude how interested I was about there actually being a Whistle Stop Cafe; it was to talk about the small literary towns that we encounter in books. Fannie Flagg is not the only author that creates small little towns. Billie Letts is prone to creating small towns. There are also other authors who capture everything a small town is in their writing. I know I have addressed the fact that when you read a book about the south it’s almost always set in a small town. I’m not thinking specifically of small towns in the south. I have read other books with small towns in Utah, New York, Illinois, or just wherever. No matter where a small town is, it has the same feel.

Granted there will be different small town traditions according to the regional area in which a small town is located, the behavior of the citizens there will be the same. People behave in a small town manner in the north just as they do in the south. The rules for small towns are different.

I’ve touched on this before, but small towns seem idyllic, but they’re really not. In a small town everyone knows your business. If you do something embarrassing, everyone knows about it. Your kindergarten teacher will see you in the local store, when you’re nineteen and say hi. You know who left their spouse to be with someone else’s spouse. You will know who got themselves “in trouble.” You will know where the police have been called out to during the week. You will know that the police will cover up for people who are their friends. That’s how a small town works despite all the claims of Mayberry-ness.

We expect corruption in a large city. It’s expected. Crime is expected. Drugs are expected. The police being called to your neighbor’s apartment is expected. Getting mugged is not a matter of if, but when. Murder happens down the street from your apartment building, maybe even inside your apartment building. Money is stolen. Officials are corrupt. Threats are made. School systems resemble a prison rather than an educational institution. This is what you expect out of a large city. You don’t expect this out of a tiny little town, but you know what, you should.

Getting back to the literature connection here, Fannie and Billie, two women I prize in my head for writing about small towns, are very good about sticking these bad things in their small towns. They’re very, very good at making their towns look clean and pretty on the outside, but under that outside layer of Mayberry, there are darker things. I just love how Fannie, Billie, and other similar authors know how to take the small town experience and describe it so perfectly in their books.

Fannie, at one point, actually includes a murder in one of her novels. The town goes along with it. They even do something terrible to the dead man’s body, but nobody ever says anything. I will agree that this was a terrible thing to do, but I will not agree that the man didn’t deserve it. I love how the small town still looked clean and neat on the outside, but on the inside everyone was harboring this secret.

What this ability reminds me of is a story. I want to say it’s called The Lottery. I was right, it is called The Lottery and was written by Shirley Jackson. This story also takes place in a small town. The town is very small, only about three-hundred residents. Each year the town observes a ritual. They draw slips of paper. If the paper has a black spot, the members of that person’s family draw papers again. Whoever gets the black spot in that round is murdered. The town goes along with it and has for many years. On the outside this town seems normal, but you wouldn’t guess they were into ritualistic sacrifice.

I don’t think a lot of towns are into ritualistic sacrifice, that was just an example I wanted to make about small towns and the secrets they hold. I could totally be wrong about a lot of towns not performing ritualistic sacrifices though.

Stephen King also wrote a book involving a small town and a ritual. I don’t actually remember if it was a one time thing or it happened every year. I do remember that the families drew stones and whoever got the black one had to give up their child. It was quite odd as all Stephen King stories are, but it was interesting at the same time. Stephen made this point about how sometimes people of small towns will hold this mob mentality even if a terrible tradition is involved. People want to keep the feeling that they’re a part of the community, even if they have to make sacrifices of their own.

Originally I just wanted to point on the less harmless ways small towns are imperfect, but I do kind of like how Stephen King and The Lottery became involved in the conversation. Just remember, the next time you decide to visit a small town, there might be something more sinister lurking in the shadow under the water tower.

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Book Haul: May 11, 2013

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Book Haul: May 11, 2013My book haul for May 11, 2013 brought in a little more than usual. I went to a different place. We had to look around for some items for our rental house and one of those places happened to be a Habitat for Humanity. While I was there I got to peruse the very large book section categorized alphabetically instead of all thrown together. It was nice. I think I’m going to have to go back soon. It was almost overwhelming seeing all those books so neatly organized and ready for me to look at all of them. There was a lot of choice. I’m happy I made the trip there.

What I got

Book Haul: May 11, 2013Printmaking: History and Process by Donald Saff and Deli Sacilotto

I actually already own a copy of this book. This was one of my text books while pursing my art degree. I did have an emphasis in printmaking. Printmaking is a process in which you can produce more than one image over and over again without a photocopier. To be fair, you can use copier toner to create something called a transfer print.

Printmaking has a very interesting and important history. You must remember that the practice eventually led to the movable type printing press, which eventually led to us having books to read. Be grateful for all those print makers back in the day who made books and illustrations possible.

I don’t know what I’ll do with the second copy of this book. Mine is in better shape than this one. We’ll see what I come up with. It will probably just sit in my collection of art books.

Book Haul: May 11, 2013American Vision: The Epic History of Art in America by Robert Hughes

Yes, this is another art book. This one is an American art history book. I never took American art history. I took modern art history. I took two general art history surveys. I took philosophy of art. I also took Ancient Greek and Roman art, but I never took American art history. That’s kind of sad, I suppose. I am American. That doesn’t mean I don’t know about American artists. I learned a lot about them even though I never took an official American art history class.

This book is quite heavy. It’s a paperback, but it’s dense. There are lots of wonderful images, in color, which is great. An art book wouldn’t be a good art book if all the images were in black and white, unless, of course, all the images were supposed to be black and white. It would be totally ok for an art book to have black and white images in that case.

Book Haul: May 11, 2013The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts

I really like Billie Letts books. She reminds me so much of Fannie Flagg. I recently read a Fannie Flagg book, so this will be fun to read on the heels of that.

Billie’s books are set mostly in Oklahoma. I’ve been to Oklahoma and I do have family there. It’s definitely its own kind of place. This is one of Billie’s newer books, which I am quite pleased to find. I’ve been seeing this book floating around Amazon for a while, but, of course, I’m not going to pay $9.99, or whatever it is, to read this on my Kindle. I find that $1.00 is a much more feasible price. I’m so glad that there are still places I can buy a book for a dollar. There should always be places like that.

Book Haul: May 11, 2013My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki

At first, I was intrigued by the spine of this book. It just looked interesting. Then when I read the little blurbs about it, I decided to buy it. This book used to belong to the Inman library. It was sadly discarded.

This book is about Jane Takagi-Little, who is a documentary film maker. This is another reason I had to buy the book, not the documentary film maker part. My mother’s family name is Little and the only other Little I’ve encountered in literature is named Stuart.

Jane connects with women around the world as she launches a new project and learns some not so savory parts of life along the way. I don’t really know what to expect out of this book yet, but hopefully it’s good.

Book Haul: May 11, 2013Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Oh, these books are so gross. I have another book that belongs to this series. When I saw this one I couldn’t resist bringing myself one step closer to having the whole series, even though I thoroughly think these books are gross. GRRRROOOOOSSSSS! Stephen Gammell has to be the grossest illustrator I’ve ever heard of. I mean there are a few people I might consider to be grosser artists, Jeff Koons, but this is supposed to be a children’s book.

We actually used to read these in school when I was in first grade or so. The teachers would read them to us. These days parents would freak out if they found out a teacher had read this book series to their children. These books just come from a different era in the world of children’s literature.

Book Haul: May 11. 2013Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian

This is a memoir and I like memoirs. I like learning about history and others people’s lives. This will be the first book I have ever read authored by an Armenian. I don’t know how I’ve gone so long in my life without reading a book by an Armenian.

This book is about Peter. He’s from an Armenian family that lives in New Jersey. This book is about his coming to terms with the fact that many members of his family were slaughtered in 1915 by the Turkish. This is something I’ve never heard of, so it’s definitely going to be eye-opening and probably a little sad. We can’t forget events in history though. You know what they always say, “Something, something, be doomed to repeat them.” I think it’s true to a large extent.

Book Haul: May 11, 2013Leap of Faith by Queen Noor

Another memoir, I like memoirs. I don’t know a ton about Queen Noor. I do know that her position of queen came about rather unconventionally. She is American and she is queen of Jordan. That’s a country in the middle east. Her name is actually Lisa Halaby. She went to college at Princeton where she received a degree in architecture and urban planning. Apparently, Queen Noor is a woman after my own heart if she enjoys architecture so much.

I definitely think this book will be interesting. I know I have severely dissed some of these books about royalty in the past, but hopefully I will enjoy this more since it’s about an American girl who managed to become a queen.

What I spent: $4.00

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#304 Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

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Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie FlaggSummary

I picked up Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg a couple of weeks ago. I have always enjoyed reading books written by Fannie Flagg. She has this very small-town way of writing that makes a person feel as if the characters were people they knew personally. The stories are always great. Crazy things are always happening. The books are always about the south. If you ever want a lighter-hearted book worth at least a few smiles, you need to read a book by Fannie Flagg.

We meet Daisy Fay as a young girl. She lives with her mother and father. Her mother was apparently something of a lady once, but she married Daisy’s father. Daisy’s mother does not hold back the fact that she thinks Daisy’s father is quite worthless. For a while Daisy’s father has been going on about how his friend, Jimmy Snow, needs Daisy’s father to have five-hundred dollars so they can open up a malt shop on Shell Beach. Daisy’s mother wins the money in a big bingo jackpot. The family moves down to Shell Beach.

Daisy meets some interesting characters right off. There is a night club. There is an archery range. A carnival also comes to town. Daisy meets some interesting people and has lots of adventures. Eventually, Daisy’s mother does leave. She leaves after the malt shop burns down, suspiciously.

Along the way Daisy is witness to seeing a murdered woman with her murderer. Things get weird for a while. Daisy’s arch nemesis is a girl named Kay Bob Benson. After Daisy’s father thinks it’s a good idea to get in with a swindling preacher and pretend Daisy is dead for three days, Daisy’s mother takes her away so she can go to school at a boarding school. Daisy stays there for a few years, we don’t get a lot of Daisy during this period.

Tragedy befalls Daisy unexpectedly and she goes back to Shell Beach. There is no longer a malt shop. Daisy’s father manages a motel. Daisy makes friends with a girl named Pickle and they do everything together including quite a few shenanigans. My favorite line from this part of the book is, “You’d think they’d never seen a naked girl on a horse before. Even I’ve read National Geographic for Heaven’s Sake.” This particular scene is quite humorous.

Daisy and Pickle split as friends. Daisy and her father move to Hattiesburg, where Daisy makes more interesting friends. She sets her sights on going to New York. She starts acting in a few plays and eventually enters into a Miss Mississippi contest. Along the way she manages to get into more shenanigans, get engaged, and meet he estranged grandfather.

What I liked

The entire book is quite humorous. Fannie is such a great story-teller. Daisy is this really interesting and likable character. She makes the best of what she has an always bounces back from embarrassments.

Fannie is no stranger to throwing some darker things into her novels. We don’t just get happy-go-lucky. We get the darker side of life. We are not strangers to vice, sex, and crime when Fannie Flagg writes a novel. That’s the way it should be. A novel can’t echo real life without those things.

Fannie captures the south quite well in this book. The attitudes some of Daisy’s friends have. and specifically, the attitude her father has are very southern attitudes to have. I like the description of the pretentious club Daisy is in as a little girl. I like how the high school children seem like high school children I would know. Kay Bob Benson reminds me of Libby from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Daisy’s world is plausible even her unexpected win of something very large is plausible. Fannie is able to make winning such a big thing very realistic.

I just love all the characters in the book. Each character seems firmly filled out, even the characters we only meet for a page or two.

I like the absurdity of some of the situations, for example, the aforementioned naked girl and horse scene. I also like the idea of the all-girl army that a man creates, just because, in the story. I like that Daisy accidentally makes the malt shop fall into the sad. I like that she hears rumors of certain people existing, then she actually meets them.

I do want to mention that the term “miracle man” can apply to more than one person in Daisy’s life. You can actually look at quite a few of the men that enter and exit Daisy’s life and give them the title of Miracle Man. Whether it’s her father, Jimmy Snow, the swindling preacher, her guys friends, or her friend named Cecil(who is actually a character from another book by Fannie Flagg, I believe) Daisy has multiple miracle men in her life.

What I didn’t like

There isn’t really anything I didn’t like. I will admit that I am not overly fond of books told through journals or letters. This book is told through a journal. It’s not an everyday journal since the time span of the book is several years.

Some of the characters do kind of disappear out of the story, but that also echoes real life. We have people we know and for whatever reason they are marginalized in our lives. Maybe nothing actually happened, but we lose touch with people along the way. We forget to feed some of the ties we have with others.

I can’t really point out all the awesome things about this book because it would ruin the story for you guys. You have to read a Fannie Flagg novel, not hear about it from someone else. You just have to trust that it is quite good, spectacular, and all that and a bag of chips.

Overall

This is a very good book. It’s lighter than some other reads. It does read quite well as far as the speed. There are little bits to digest so you aren’t bogged down into long chapters. It’s almost like you’re peeking into someone else’s life. It’s those little quirks and little embarrassments that do make up real life. Fannie is quite good at including these in her novels.

I do want to say that this book deserves a better review, but I’m a little under the weather. I’m trying really hard though. Just read this book, you’ll be happy you did.

 

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Instructional Books

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Instructional Books I happen to really value the information in instructional books. I have a stack of them sitting on my coffee table right now with sticky notes marking pertinent pages. Why do I have a stack of instructional books sitting on my coffee table with pertinent pages marked?

Well, I have a rental house, which was recently vacated. Needless to say, there is a lot of work to be done. I will be using the aforementioned instructional books when I need to replace the flooring, put new sinks in and do all those necessary things. It’s going to be one big giant project. It’s also going to be a more expensive project than I would hope.

Without my instructional books I don’t know where I would find all the knowledge I need to complete the project. Well, I could always watch Youtube videos. Those were actually already very helpful. I learned how to pick a deadbolt lock. I guess I could also go to Lowe’s and repeatedly bug the people who work there. I could go there every day and ask questions until they asked me to leave.

Fortunately, some of this knowledge is already in my head because my family was prone to doing their own home repairs and I have three uncles who are carpenters. Each of those things counts towards my knowledge of home repairs, which is good.

I do have a habit of picking up instructional books at the thrift shop which I think I might need sometime in the future. I have quite a good collection of instructional books.

What I’m really trying to say in all of this is that I like instructional books and your home library is not complete without at least a few.

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List of Offenses

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List of OffensesIn the past few posts I have written, the idea of offensive material in literature has come up as a theme. Since we’re talking about it so much, I decided to write a list of offenses I consider not so hot in literary terms.

When people get offended by books, they try to ban those books so no one else can read them. That in itself is offensive, but no one ever points that out. I think it’s offensive to go around trying to ban books from libraries, but you don’t see me making a big fuss about it. I totally agree with this picture to the left by the way.

Let’s get to my list. The order goes from least offensive to most offensive.

Cussing/Un-PC Language

DARNIT! I just stubbed my toe, not really, I just wanted to use a semi-explicative. Most books you will encounter have cuss words. Even the Bible, well-known as it is for being a holy book, has words that are considered cuss words within its pages. I know there are people who get upset if they see one instance of the word A** in a book. No, I’m not going to type the whole thing out. Even though I’m all for letting people say whatever words they want, except certain people I know(they know who they are), I don’t make a habit of cussing.

Those people then get upset that someone put a cuss word in their book, or maybe they used a politically incorrect term. You know what…

BIG DEAL, that’s what!

The only time cussing ever bugs me in a book is if the F-word is on almost every single page. If that’s the case, I will say something about the book being overly-peppered with bad words.

Anatomical Descriptions

This recently came up in concerns with Anne Frank’s diary. She described her genitalia, and while it was graphic, it didn’t hurt anybody. Seeing as we’re all people here and we’ve been through sex-ed class, we shouldn’t see this as a big deal at all. It’s not like Anne had something extremely different from you.

Sex Scenes

Sex scenes do rank a little higher on my list of offenses. A book does not have to have a sex scene to be a good book. Some books do have sex scenes, but the majority of those scenes are fairly tame. There might be some mentioning of the bed and some caressing. There might be some words about sighs and moans, but that is usually about it. We usually don’t get a play-by-play of what is happening.

There are books that do give play-by-plays though and those rank higher on my offense list than the tamer sex scenes. Even with this said, it’s still not that big of a deal. Unless you have accidentally bought yourself an erotica book, you can skip over the said sex scene in about one paragraph, because that’s usually how long they last.

I can tell you that I would be offended if I read a book meant for young adults( ages 10+) and found a graphic sex scene within its pages. I don’t think that is a good idea. Like I have mentioned before, your teenagers are gross. They know plenty of adult stuff. They know what sex is. You shouldn’t freak out if they read a book that mentions sex, but if your child’s school reading suddenly becomes Fifty Shades of Grey, it is time to worry. Sex scenes belong in books for adults. It’s not a good idea to force the idea of sexuality on teenagers who won’t fully develop their brains for several more years. They think they’re in control, but they’re really not.

Extreme Violence/Rape

I hate violence. I hate violent movies. I hate seeing blood and gore in movies. I hate seeing people be mean to one another. I hate hearing about children being abused. I hate hearing about women battered by their husbands. I hate hearing about girls accosted on the street, then raped. I hate hearing about fathers sexually molesting their children. I hate seeing people kick dogs or cats. Violence and rape are terrible things and I hate them.

I generally shy away from books with extreme violence, because of this fact I have encountered the idea of rape more in my reading than the idea of terrible violence. I don’t like the idea of anyone being raped, so when I read a book in which the character is raped, I’m a little offended, it’s true, but I also realize that it’s part of the story. Now, when I read a memoir and our protagonist is raped, I’m a lot offended because that person is/was real. They actually existed. I get mad. I can’t believe anyone would ever do that to another person. I like to believe the good in people.

I don’t often encounter extreme violence in books. I try to stay away from genres that contain it, for example, crime or murder novels. When I read a book explaining exactly how the blood splatter appeared on the wall and how much blood poured from a person’s nose after another person beats them, I really don’t like it. Yes, it does kind of offend me. I know people can behave like that towards one another and it’s terrible.

LIES

D***ed lies, and statistics…

No, I’m not talking about anything like that. I do not mean that a lie within a story offends me. I mean that lies and misinformation about real people, real groups, and real history offends me, big time.

When I read a book that perpetuates misinformation about a group, I am offended. First of all, it’s not fair to that group and second of all, it says to me that the author didn’t take a lot of time to do their research. If they would have done their research they would know that a certain group of people does not do A, B, or C, and by them saying so would be incredibly offensive. This might also say to me that an author writes books with false information for profit, which has been known to happen. It’s quite the dastardly deed.

I don’t like it when people author books that tell lies about real people. I don’t like it when people write books about history saying things were completely different from what they actually were. I would offer a disclaimer here, sometimes what we know in history books is wrong and sometimes people write books stating the alternate view of this historical event. That’s not a lie, it’s another opinion. What is a lie is saying that the moon landing never happened or Queen Elizabeth skeet shoots puppies. I happen to know that Queen Elizabeth has corgis, which she loves, I assume.

Lies make the top of my list because they’re the most nefarious. Sometimes you can permanently damage a person or entity’s reputation purely because you wrote a book and said they did A, B, and C, when they didn’t do any of those things.

Summary

Well, this is my list of offenses as far as offenses in literature are concerned. Anything that is not on this list or seems not be covered, isn’t important enough to get even the least bit offended about.

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