Thirteen Moons - Charles Frazier

This is my third Charles Frazier book, the first two being Cold Mountain and Nightwoods. And once again Frazier took me back to my homeland in the Appalachian mountains with descriptions and voices that conjured up nostalgia in my heart.

Thirteen Moons tells the story of Will Cooper, a boy of twelve who finds himself indentured to a stranger. He's given a map and a key and told to go run the mans store out in the Cherokee Nation in the Appalachian mountains. He quickly develops a bond with the people of the region, adopted by Bear, a Cherokee chief, and warmly welcomed by the community.

Will's story is a story of the search for a home and belonging, fortune and adventure, friendship and loyalty. The adventures he leads and the love he pursues work together to build his character and future.

I really enjoyed this story, and the manner in which it was written. I guess Charles Frazier is just one of those writers who creates a success every time he puts pen to paper.

Next to Love - Ellen Feldman

This book seemed to have mixed reviews on Amazon, but I didn't read them until I was already caught up in the story. Seeing as how I was already caught up, I guess you can assume that I didn't agree with the negative reviews.

Seemed like the biggest complaint was that the story jumped around between character perspectives and went back and forth in time. But I kind of like books that tell you the story from every one's perspective. The time bouncing did get a little confusing, but it didn't disrupt the story, and it wasn't drastic. We're not talking like leaping forward or backward by decades. It would just let one woman tell her part, and then bounce back a year to pick up what someone else was experiencing during the same time and events.

I'm having trouble with words today, so I'm just going to share the synopsis from the author's web page. It describes the story to a 'T'.

"When their men go off to war, Babe, Millie, and Grace, three childhood friends in Massachusetts, live on letters, and in dread of telegrams that can bring only bad news. But as the war drags on, and when peace breaks out, they experience changes that move them in directions they never dreamed possible. The women lose their innocence, struggle to raise their children, and find meaning and love in unexpected places.
And as they change, so does America—from a country in which people know their place in the social hierarchy to a world in which women’s rights, the Civil Rights movement, and technological innovations present new possibilities and uncertainties.
Yet Babe, Millie, and Grace remain bonded by their past, even as their children grow up and away and a new society rises from the ashes of the war.
A story of war, loss, and the scars they leave, Next To Love depicts the enduring power of love and friendship, and illuminates a transformational moment in American history."

This was a great story. I got very involved and attached to characters. I was a little disappointed in the ending. It kind of was anti-climatic, but overall, I'd recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a fulfilling read that they don't have to think too deeply on, but will still move them.

FInding Everett Ruess

- David Roberts

Weeks ago, a close friend and family member was telling Malcolm he should read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. On a whim, I looked in my library's audio selection and found that it was available. So I checked it out and we ended up listening to it together. I remembered Chris McCandless being in the news, him missing and then his body found in Alaska. But I hadn't paid much attention to the story, which Krakauer goes into depth in telling within the pages of Into The Wild.
It was interesting listening to the story. I found myself, to some degrees, thinking his adventures sounded like experiences I wouldn't mind having for myself (I reiterate "to some degree") but for the most part I was kind of disgusted with him and his selfishness and disregard for people who cared for him.

Within the telling of McCandless' story, Krakauer devoted a few pages to a quick summary of another man's life, drawing a comparison between McCandless and a young man who disappeared into the Utah desert in the 1930's and was never heard from again. His name was Everett Ruess.

A few weeks later I was looking through the library audio selection again, and ran across a name that caught my eye. The title was Finding Everett Ruess. I wasn't intensely interested in another story like Into the Wild, but thought Malcolm might be interested, so I checked it out. Malcolm hasn't gotten to it yet, but the other night my audio book ended, and I was bored. So I flipped over to Finding Everett Ruess on the iPod and started listening.

I had never heard of Everett Ruess, though he apparently has acheived some fame in the art world, and also that of adventurers. I can't say why I was intrigued in his story, because there are characteristics about Everett that really bugged me, such as he was spoiled and seemed to have an attitude of entitlement which usually irritates me. But despite this, I was still drawn to him.  And though the book took a slow start to get going, 6 chapters in, it took off and captured me.

Everett was an aspiring writer, poet, and artist who, in his late teen years, enjoyed venturing out into the then frontier of southwestern Utah for months at a time. He was inspired by nature and the beauty of the world, and his love of these things found their way into his writing and paintings. Though I'd never heard of Ruess, I discovered that I was familiar with sayings that are apparently quotes from his journals, and also that I recognized some of his art work, though I never knew who the artist was when I had previously been exposed to his work.

In 1934, Everett, at the age of 20, walked into the Utah desert for another one of his stints in the wilderness, and was never heard from again.  Searchers found his 2 burros waiting in a canyon corral, but his gear and he were never seen again. There apparently was no trace of him ever discovered, though the searches were many and covered a vast territory. The only trace left of his being in the desert was his self-appointed nickname of "NEMO" graffitied on canyon walls in a handful of obscure, hard to reach places.

The book goes into details on searches, and hypothesis on his disappearance. And then goes into great detail on an event that occurred in 2008 that was ground shaking for the case.
 
I wouldn't have picked this book out of personal interest on a normal day. But after reading it (through audio) I came out of the last pages rather attached to Everett and interested in his work. It's an interesting story, and I would encourage anyone to read it. National Geographic backed a great deal of Roberts research, and feature the story with photographs on their website.

The Divide by Nicholas Evans

I grabbed this one off my bookshelf while we were home and read it while lounging on my couch, a wonderful place to read!  This was a loaner from my mother-in-law. Isn't it wonderful to have close friends and relatives with libraries you can borrow from?

I really enjoyed the Horse Whisperer (another of Evan's books), and so I was interested to get into this one. It didn't disappoint me. In fact, it was pretty gripping from chapter one.

The story starts out in the pristine snowy mountains of Montana, a father and son on a enjoyable ski trip, one of the last of the season. Having a great time, but suddenly they make a grisly discovery, the body of a young woman buried in the snow and encased in ice.

The investigation ensues and the girl is quickly identified as Abbie Cooper, an eco-terrorist wanted for murder. But before Abbie took this dark path in life, she was the golden child of an upstanding family. The rest of the book spends it's pages exploring what brought about this change in Abbie and how and why her death occurred, delving into family dynamics and other relationships.

As I said, the story was pretty gripping and I enjoyed it. The characters were likable and believable. I liked it and I'd recommend it as a good read.

I had no quarrels with the story. My quarrels were were the author. Throughout the whole book there was something niggling at me that didn't sit right, and I finally figured out what. The whole thing was a little too close to the Horse Whisperer in that it's a  bitter New York bitch meets wholesome Montana cowboy thing. He wakes up her softer side and there are some warm tingles, etc etc. This story didn't focus on it, and really it was just hovering at the outskirts of the story, but it was still there, and really, I feel like if an author is truly a creative writer, they can avoid repeating things in unrelated stories. I mean, Montana's not the only state with snowy mountains and New York is not the only city with bitches! He could have changed the locations at the very least!

And then I found out that Evans lives in England! England???? Wow! I thought surely he must live in Montana, since he has used that state as the setting in the only two of his books I've read. Now I feel like I must read at least a third one, just to see if he continues his pattern.

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver

I have enjoyed two other Barbara Kingsolver books. My first exposure to her was when I read Prodigal Summer, years ago when I was in college. My second experience was listening to The Poison Wood Bible on audio a couple years ago. I have since listened to it a second time and can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed it both times. I was looking for something at a bookstore many weeks ago and found The Bean Trees. Knowing I'd had such a grand experience with the author on two previous occasions, I decided it was worth purchasing the book and taking it home with me.

I was surprised to learn that The Bean Trees is actually Ms. Kingsolver's first book, written in 1988, and that it is frequently required reading in college lit courses. I had never heard of it, but I can see why it would be considered so popular a choice.

First, the story is captivating and entertaining. I was instantly attached to the characters and involved with them emotionally. But aside from it's entertainment appeal, there is a lot of discussion worthy material in the book.

In a nut shell, we have the main character, Taylor, who lives in a small Kentucky town where you have a good chance of ending up pregnant. Her biggest dream has been of getting away and discovering what the world holds. So when she saves up enough money, she buys a barely getting along old car and hits the road, no particular destination in mind.

By the time she gets to Tucson, she's been saddled with an abandoned baby and her car is on it's last leg. As one thing leads to another she must come to terms with her new role a mother and the need to put down roots and be responsible. As the author's website puts it, "Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places."

I enjoyed this book so much and would strongly encourage all to read it. It was quick and light and fun to read, but also prompted some emotion and thinking.

Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks

This was an audio book selection that I enjoyed.

In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. The story in Caleb's Crossing is based on this event. Geraldine Brooks weaves a beautiful story around the characters.

The story is told by Bethia Mayfield and begins when she is in her early teen years, still enjoying the freedom of youth before predictable life as a colonial wife begins. In her forest ramblings, she meets a young indian boy. They reach past the language barrier to become great friends, and rename each other. She becomes Storm Eyes, and he becomes Caleb.

A few years later, her father, a minister who's heart is in converting the local natives, takes in Caleb and another young native boy and begins to tutor and train them towards an acceptance to Harvard, where he hopes they will graduate as ministers to their people.

Through unexpected tragic events, Bethia finds herself indentured to the school master in Cambridge who has taken on the education of her brother, Make Peace, and Caleb. Life on the mainland is a vastly different world than the one they new in the island colony, and all three have much to learn about life and love.

I enjoyed the story, and the narrator's work. It's always interesting listening to audio books. Truly, the narrators can make or break a book for me. This was a pleasant story, and pleasant also to listen to. Not on of the "Oh my gosh you've got to read this" type, but still a good, solid, enjoyable story.

Between Georgia - Joshilyn Jackson

Really quick and fun read. The only thing I was dissappointed in was that it was over so quickly. I should have paced myself better.

You will be entertained, laugh, maybe tear up a little, and thuroughly enjoy the characters.

A picture perfect small southern town with your standard family fued and crazy characters.

Nonny Frett is born late one night when 15 year old Hazel Crabtree stumbles up onto the Frett's front porch at the end of a hidden pregnancy, asking for help and demanding secrecy. Stacia Frett, who has already lots her hearing, the man she loves, and is slowly loosing her eyesight as well, and has been questioning when God was going to work something in her favor, demands that her sisters let her keep the baby, while Hazel skips town.

Thirty years later, Nonny is a successful interpreter living in Athens, GA. She's lived her entire life stuck between a rock and a hard place, caught between her Crabtree genetics and her upbringing as a Frett. She has two mothers, one deaf and blind and the other nearly flat crazy. She has two men in her life; a husband who's been sneaking around on her and a best friend who's decided to lay seige to her heart. And she has a job that keeps her stuck in the city, while there's a little girl in her small country home town who owns her heart. She has to decide, but she's not good at choosing.

And then a random event sets things in motion, and Nonny finds herself in the position of having to choose, as her family and the little town of Between, GA are rocked by secrets revealed and the chaos they set in motion.

LOVED it! Nice, entertaining, make you smile kind of book. Check out the author's site for more information.