Velma Wallis | Fiction

This writing is the retelling of an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters in the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska.  In this legend, two old women are abandoned by their tribe in a brutal winter.  Yes, in the legend, they survive and thrive.

I believe legends like these are interesting in their telling AND also communicate messages for parallel circumstances.  As I read this legend, I found myself reflecting on how I contain elements of both of these women ... the courage and fortitude of one; the fear and sadness of the other.  I find it a useful and inspiring tale for myself while I continue to process my grief and try to create a life for myself.

I highly recommend this book. It is very short – small in size and only 127 pages long.  I bought it in the Fairbanks airport, and would like to give it away to whomever of my blog readers feels drawn to it ... just let me know.

Anita Shreve |  Fiction

This is the book that compelled me to clarify my four-heart rating system.  It is a perfect two hearts:  “I don’t recommend it, though it was compelling enough for me to finish reading.”

This is a novel based upon the ferocious 1947 fire that broke out all along the coast of Maine (yes, fires have a significant place in recent blog postings!) It tells the made-up tale of Grace Holland, a 24-year old woman whose house burns down and her challenges as she is left with two toddlers to protect and support.

Unfortunately, it is too saccharin for my tastes.  I don’t believe Ms. Shreve manages to convey almost any of the angst, anger, and pain such a disaster would instigate.  Grace’s resolutions come too easily and are not believable.

Shreve’s writing style is, however, absorbing.  This novel is fast-paced, a quick and easy read.  I DO recommend it if, given that it is late July, you are looking for a rather mindless beach read.  It is perfect for that!  If you have more important, more satisfying books on your reading list, then defer this one and move on.

Pamela Royes |  Memoir

In the early 1970’s Pamela Royes, discouraged with college, was trying to find her path. She makes her way to the Hells Canyon area of eastern Oregon ... a remote and wild wilderness … and proceeds to blossom into a strong and capable woman, living in the back country, learning to survive on a horse, in a tent, sometimes herding sheep.  She falls in love with an austere place and a Vietnam veteran, Skip.  Together they carve a home out of the wilderness.

I liked the story; I liked Pam's resilience; I liked her realism; I admire her courage.  This is NOT something I had the tenacity to do (Pam and I are almost the same age), even though there were times I dreamt of it.

Her writing is not always perfect, and there are a few small inconsistencies, but if you like to read about the wilderness, growing into adulthood, or the journey of strong women, you’ll like this read.

We will be discussing at book club this week.  Perhaps I will have some additional comments then.

Timothy Egan  |  Non-Fiction

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, the national forests of Washington, Idaho and Montana raged with forest fire.  I love reading outdoor adventures, from climbing Annapurna to trekking the Continental Divide Trail to fighting wild fires.  However, I hate reading history.

This book, which tells the story of the Big Burn within the context of Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester Gifford Pinchot was too much history and not enough adventure for me.  I couldn’t get through it.  (Sorry, Rene!)

In thinking about The Stars are Fire (blog posting is on its way!) I was struggling between two hearts and three hearts and decided it would behoove the Dusty Shelves Book Blog if I defined the hearts system a BIT more clearly.  Given that it is really a compilation of scales, and rarely all one rating or another, here’s my best attempt to explain what my hearts mean:

Like it a lot or loved it; I recommend it; put it on your list!

Like it; I recommend, with some reservations.

I don’t recommend it, though it was compelling enough for me to finish reading.

I couldn’t get through it.

Stephen King  |  Fiction

A friend sent an article that posed a challenge … to read something you don’t normally read. Now, I SUPPOSE that meant I should read a book about the history of the relationship between North Korea and South Korea, or maybe a tome on the rise of the drug cartels in South America.  But no!  The first thing that popped into my mind was to read a genre I had assiduously avoided ... a horror novel by Stephen King.  And so I picked the one King himself describes as “the most frightening book I’ve ever written.”  I was curious to see why this author is so popular.

Well, okay, I am now done with horror again.  Not because it was so scary, but because it was boring!  King writes to a general audience, and so he does not provide a lot of depth or subtlety or complexity. I like his use of short quick sentences, however. I found them engaging and fast-moving.

This story line in this book is what you might imagine – bury your pet it this place and it will come back to life, though typically meaner and scarier and more evil than it was before it died.  Of course, the characters in this book begin to see applicability for humans as well.

About half-way through I really wanted to put the book down, but I decided to complete my commitment to myself.  What I learned about this style of writing is that while there are hints of horror to come, really there is a lot of plot and storyline that needs to happen before the horror can have any emotional impact.  The horror in this book all happened in the last 50 or so pages (it’s a 400-page book).

So, don’t waste your time.  And, in the future, I promise to consider carefully what challenges I accept.

Eowyn Ivey | Fiction

This novel is based on an actual 1885 expedition by Lieutenant Henry T. Allen.

Eowyn Ivey’s character, Colonel Allen Forrester, travels up the Wolverine River with a small band of men (and soon, one woman and one dog) into the vast untamed Alaska Territory.   There are three simultaneous story lines. Forrester’s journals create the main story line.  He writes of the Alaska expedition, complete with cold, ice, encounters with native peoples, near starvation -- all the challenges you would expect.  His wife Sophie, a feminist who has been left behind in Oregon, also keeps a journal, which makes the second story line.   The third story emerges from the delightful current day letters between one of Forrester’s descendants, Walt, and a museum curator, Josh, in Alaska. In addition, there are period photographs, drawings and diagrams sprinkled throughout the book.

I wondered what magical realism might appear, given Ivey’s predilection towards it in her first novel, The Snow Child.  And there is a rich theme of magic in To the Bright Edge of the World that shows up in the Old Man, a raven, the woman Nat’aaggi, and various events, which would prove to be spoilers if I told you about them! 

My friend Mary suggested this novel as a preparatory read before I travel to Alaska later this month. An excellent choice!  It isn’t dry history, but it did imbue me with a sense of the vastness and the hardships of Alaska, brought alive by Ivey’s fine imagination.

If you read it, please weigh in on who you think is the author of the infrequent journal entries that begin with latitude, longitude and the weather (page 84 and 207 are but two examples of these.)  One person I know thinks these writings belong to Pruitt, one of the men on the expedition.  I think it is the Old Man and the raven, who I believe are one and the same.  Or are they reports from Nat’aaggi?  Who do YOU think it is?

Lawrence Hill | Fiction

The book is the perfect follow-up novel after reading Homegoing and learning about the slave trade, and appreciating The Underground Railway about slavery and the fight for freedom.  Someone Knows My Name is another fictionalized book about slavery, but in this novel, the slave truly does gain her freedom.  Her journey from Africa to South Carolina to New York to Nova Scotia to Africa to London is a truly remarkable story.

Solidly based in history, Aminata Diallo is stolen from her African village in 1756 when she is eleven.  She endures many hardships, cruelties, and humiliations.  However, this novel explores her journey towards freedom, with its myriad of experiences -- disappointments, setbacks, mistrust, trust, and occasional compassion.  Aminata becomes the author of the Book of Negroes, a record of 3000 black women, men, and children who served the British during the Revolutionary War, in exchange for freedom and transport to Nova Scotia from New York and other places in the east.  (You can see The Book of Negroes in the National Archives of the United States, Canada, or England).

I loved this book!  It is well written, compelling, and fascinating.  It is about 500 pages, so it takes a while, but it is one of those long books that you don’t want to end ... every chapter reveals something new and intriguing.  Three times I checked to confirm that Someone Knows My Name was written by a man.  I am always in awe when I feel a male author can truly represent the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of a woman, and Lawrence Hill does that unerringly.  And then to reach the end and discover that he is a Canadian, born and raised in Toronto – I was even more impressed.  While he wrote about slavery in the not-yet-united-states, I suspect he was inspired by the role Nova Scotia played in the salvation of these slaves.

I fully recommend Someone Knows My Name. And I am very grateful to Jan D, from the Casting Crew book club, who suggested in this book as a 2016 read, and when we rejected it, fought for it again in 2017.  She was right all along! 

Movie

Yes, I'm traveling outside my own box here and reviewing a movie, Wonder Woman, viewed yesterday with my friend Deby.  There's a lot of hype about this movie, especially from, about and for women.  And hype it is.

I enjoyed the first two-thirds or so.  I thought the story of Wonder Woman's roots in the community of Amazons, and the visual imagery in this portion were both quite beautiful.  I also quite enjoyed her transition to London, and her wonder (no pun intended) at this world of men, poverty, filth, cars, fashion and general malaise. 

But then Wonder Woman saves the world. And again. And again.  There was too much violence for me in the last third and, more important, the fighting sequences became boring.  I was anxious for it to be over.  There is a bit of a twist, but I saw it coming, so even that little surprise fell flat for me.  My chair was squeaking in the theater, so I was trying to be really quiet and sit perfectly still and it was HARD. 

So, IMHO, see it, but don't expect to walk out awed.  Or inspired to save the world.

Paulette Jiles |  Fiction

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a “runner” after the Civil War. He travels throughout north Texas giving readings to people from worldwide newspapers, for 10 cents a listener.  He eschews Texas newspapers, because they excite his audiences and wreak havoc and fistfights among his listeners due to the divisive post-war politics in Texas.  One day he agrees to deliver Johanna, previously stolen by an Indian tribe, to her aunt and uncle in south Texas.  This is the tale of their journey.

This short book (I read it flying home from Dallas) is sweet, but predictable.  There are few surprises and, other than the intrigue of learning about the profession of a runner, I found it not all that compelling.  It's a nice book for a plane ride, but not something to put on your “must read” list.  I think, too, this book did not have an editor!  Before you are too far into this book, you will read that Johanna’s hair is colored honey, biscuit, taffy and ocher. And then taffy again.  I have no idea why the author is obsessed with describing Johanna's hair.  (Late in the book, Jiles uses a clear word to clarify her hair color. I won't tell you what that word is … it would be a spoiler, in a book that requires few spoiler alerts). Likewise, Ms. Jiles more than once describes the moon as “rolling backwards.”  It is irritating that no one seemed to read and edit this book for repetition.

If you want a sweet little read, go for it. Otherwise, there are many juicier books calling to you and me!