Thursday, August 31, 2017

Pig Candy--#45 finished

This is a memoir by Lise Funderburg about her father's life written and much of the focus about his last couple of years of life fighting cancer.  His dad born in 1926, grew up as a black child in small town Georgia.  His dad was a doctor there but this was still the time of Jim Crow laws & the KKK.  She includes stories of her grandfather & her dad growing up.  Her dad ended up in Philly where he met & married his mom, a white lady.  The marriage only lasted around a dozen years & they had 3 girls.  Her dad became a very successful businessman in real estate and she doesn't go much into their relationship from divorce on to recent.  Her dad is fighting a losing battle against prostate cancer and she goes into all the doctor appointments that also include heart issues and infections.  Her dad also has bought a plot of land back in Georgia in the town he grew up and wants to spend much of his time there and the people from there he knows.  Good read with lots of interesting perspectives on life.

I will post it on PBS, there are no copies in system so expect it to move at some point.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind--#44 finished

A very good & interesting read about a young teenage boy in Malawi that builds a windmill so he could have electricity for his house.  The book talks about life there in a small rural farming town and how a famine hits the whole country.  This famine causes his family to go from maintaining a reasonable life to struggling to survive.  His parents seem to be intelligent to find ways to make it through even though there is barely any food for the family.  They survive while many thousands others throughout the country starve to death.  Because of this famine and all their money going for food, they cannot pay to keep their son William in school.  William wanting an education starts going to a local library and checking out books and especially likes science books.  Reading about building a windmill, he goes in search of parts in a local dumping area for large items like trucks, tractors, etc that are just wore out as well as trading for needed items, he is able to construct his windmill.  It produces electricity and does so for awhile before it gains the attention of people like radio and newspapers.  From there he gets to go to a TED group in Africa and gains a mentor that also fundraises for him and helps him get into schools to continue his education.  I have not checked online yet to see what has become of him since, that is next.

I will post this on PBS at some point, I think there are 8 or maybe 11 WL for it.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Death Comes For the Archbishop--#43 finished

This is a re-reading of a book that I have listed as one of my favorites.  I had to check back on my lists & found that I first read this in 2004 and hadn't read it since.  I can see why it is a favorite, Cather really puts you into New Mexico/Arizona land just being touched by Europeans/Americans.  You get a real sense of the natives and the Mexicans and especially the land.  The story weaves around the archbishop and his close companion priest, both grew up in Seminary together and traveled to new world and worked in OH before being reassigned to New Mexico.  Just a really good read and example of why Cather's writings have endured.

This is a keeper for me so won't be going away.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Cathedral--#42 finished

A short story book by Raymond Carver.  The back of the book reviews sounded good so had it on my PBS WL and read it shortly after it arrived.  Published in the early '80s the stories seem from a time of the '70s.  Good stories some interesting characters but no real wow for me.

I have posted it on PBS, it is the only copy in system so I think should move at some point.

Friday, August 11, 2017

The Keeper--#41 finished

This was supposed to be a kind of scary book about a screwed up small town in Maine.  Screwed up town-yes, people living screwed up lives-yes, scary well not really.  I just couldn't buy into that a good looking young lady that was abused by her dad became an evil thing that brought alive the ghosts of this dying small town.  People have secrets, small towns have a history of secrets, okay but it basically ends there for me.  Not scary but more like why aren't the people there more helpful and nice and get this young lady help instead of abandoning her to become the town whore.

I had this mass market paperback for a while & needed a book to carry around places & it fit the bill. Wasn't all that entertaining but can now at least give it away.  There are only a few copies on PBS but it is not in that great of shape so it will just go to my give away pile.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

November 22, 1963--#40 finished

This is the date that President Robert Kennedy was shot.  The author Adam Braver mixes fact & his fiction or ideas into some of what happened that day from the perspective of Jackie Kennedy.  A really good read with interesting insights into some of the people surrounding the day--Abe Zapruder and his film, a hearse driver that shared a smoke with Jackie in the hospital, the mechanic that had to start cleanup & repairs on the limo afterwards, just interesting things.  I have not paid much attention to his assassination simply because it seems so many others have and the level of detail and opinions is just too much to really get a grasp on.  This was a good read with good info and also gets into what the feelings and emotions Jackie was going through.

There were 2 WL for it & I already posted it & will be mailing it off probably tomorrow.