I believe, dear Poppets, that it is rapidly approaching my favorite time of
the year -- heat, iced tea, sitting in the sun, walking the dog in the cool
evenings, and, once in awhile, indulging in my wonderful Neiman-Marcus Hot Fudge
Sauce recipe on Blue Bell ice cream! Also, Texas, around these parts, has
marvelous peaches that you hold in your hand to eat and lean over so the peach
juice drips in the grass!
How's it going with y'all? Weather turning, for the most part, warm and
sunny? (Golfers love that kind of weather, including my daughter-in-law, Andy (
who, although little hits a mighty swing and is never satisfied with what she
does on the putting green!) and my sorely-missed neighbors, Dennis (he who has
half-mine Manny, the Shepherd) and the O'Kane's, Mike and Helen. Tell them all I
said "Hit the ball far and hard for me!"
K.U. is out of the Final 4 but how great that a team that had to really grit
its teeth and fight to get there -- got there. I mean VCU, of course, and having
gone to school in Virginia, I know a lot of those people are elated.
I, personally, have about seven books "going" at the moment -- meaning I read
a bit out of each one, every so often, and although our main topic, this column,
is Fiction, I plan to lead off,very briefly, with a Non-Fiction book that is
really flying off shelves, but, I must interject, only with and for those people
who are really "readers" as it is about the Faulkners of Mississippi -- yes, as
in William and his family in the South.
The title is on order with our library and it's "Every Day by the Sun: A
Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi", by Dean Faulkner Wells, William's niece
who called him "Pappy" "with whom she shared colorful, sometimes utterly frank,
sometimes whimsical, conversation and experiences." It was William ("Pappy")
Faulkner who gave his youngest brother, Dean, an airplane that he crashed and
died as a result of and, perhaps from a strong sense of guilt/responsibility,
paid for Dean's education, watched over her and gave her away at her wedding. A
fascinating, delightful "family" treasure of memories.
Let's look at our fiction choices, beginning with "
The Matchmaker of Kenmare", by
Frank Delaney, who wrote "Ireland." Miss Kate Begley is the
matchmaker and the enigmatic woman Ben McCarthy meets in the Summer of 1943. Ben
"is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife, the actress Venetia
Kelly" and gets involved -- and searched for a purpose in his life -- by
collecting Irish stories for the Irish Folklore Commission and, in doing so,
travels "to a remote seaside cottage to profile the Matchmaker of Kenmare." He
and Kate undertake a journey to help a man, and do some spying along the way and
this story has lots of heart, Irish history and humor, and reads easily. You'll
enjoy the characters and it will "take you out of yourself" for awhile.
This next book, "
Wench", by
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is not -- I say, not -- easy reading but
once you start it, you keep on reading. We are all aware of slaves, masters,
misery, hope -- all in this country years ago but never forgotten. The emotional
lives -- fears, hopes, despair -- of four slave women are the base of the story.
"Situated in Ohio, a free territory before the Civil War, Tawawa House is an
idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with
their enslaved mistresses. It's their open secret." Lizzie, Reenie and Sweet are
"regulars" there and feel they have built strong "friendships" over the years --
and then along comes Mawu -- and she is not content to "go along with the set
ways" and begins talking of running away and "being free." See, when you "run
away so you can be free", everything will change but the biggest change will be
to escape from the emotional and physical bonds of the men they're enslaved to.
A fire happens and what they learn of "love" is that it exists even in the most
inhuman conditions -- even an end to life as they knew it.
Who can they trust at the hotel they stay at, after one of them sets the
fire? The human ties between these women, with each other, their agonies, fears,
indecision, scars, keeping in mind always -- always -- what to say and how to
behave around their white masters -- well, I had to force myself to stop reading
and go take Rufus Cooper for a walk, which was a respite none of those women
could have. Read -- read -- this book and let it affect you as it did me.
Don't you love this title for a mystery -- "
Got No Friend Anyhow", by
Peggy Ehrhart? Perfect! The lady who is a blues musician,
Maxximum Blues (real name, of course is not that but "Elizabeth") has almost
finished a CD for her label of choice, Prowling Rooster Records, when she learns
that her flame and the producer, Rick Schneider, has disappeared. What's worse
-- yes, Virginia, there is a "worse" -- she finds, in her search for the master
copy of the CD, a bloodstain -- and then later has to identify Rick's body. In
her quest for what happened, "this leads her into the orbit of the temperamental
Brenda Honeycut and the complicated live of Rick's peculiar business partners."
Then, at some point, the author introduced a testy rooster and brings back, into
the mix, the ex-boyfriend, Sandy -- and more inclusions into her blues-babe
wardrobe. This book is a hoot! Come get it for a "diversion to everyday living"
read.
And who
hasn't heard of or read, with genuine enjoyment,
Clive Cussler? Well, Poppets, his new one is out, "
The Jungle; A Novel of the Oregon Files", and it's running up
the Best Seller List and flying off bookstore shelves -- those bookstores that
are still in business and have anything on their shelves. Juan Cabrillo and his
merry band of men and women head into another adventure in a "jungle of mystery
and danger." As the authors (Jack du Brul is his co-author on 6 other books)
state, "Jungles come in many forms. There are the steamy rain forests of the
Burmese highlands, there are the lies and betrayals of the world of covert
operations, and then there are the dark and twisted thoughts of a man bent on
near-global domination." (I can also conjure up big -- major -- unmoving traffic
tie-ups in cities!) Several major events will all come together i.e. a new
weapon unleashed in 13th century China -- a daring rescue in the snow-bound
mountains along the Pakistan border -- a woman gone missing in the jungles of
Thailand -- all coming together to post a major threat to the world. Along with
genuine adventure in this book, there's humor, the plot is peopled by believable
people and, all in all, it's a good "guy's book" to get a hold of.
Well, that's the fiction column for this time, so, if there's no
honest-to-goodness work you should be doing right away, go out and take a 30
min. walk -- can't hurt, could help -- start the grill and roast big beef hot
dogs, put some Cole Slaw in the bun along with the dog, and that's a Southern
dish called "Slaw Dog", according to my Georgia friends. Give your pets fresh
water -- check it at night to see if they need some fresh water -- and please
remember to go in and use your library and get acquainted with the staff. I miss
everyone there and am always so pleased at how well they know and perform their
jobs -- I shall be back "in person" in May! Three cheers and a tiger! See ya --
bye!
