Trump Country

What You Are Getting Wrong about Appalachia was eye-opening for me in some ways.  In other ways it was affirming because I have often questioned a lot of the "Trump Country" rhetoric  and well, I am a suspicious person!  Elizabeth Catte has done an excellent job of addressing the book Hillbilly Elegy.  After reading this I was tempted to go back and rate HE much lower, but then I figured that wasn't fair.  But I just don't know.  How can I give five stars to that one and five stars to this one?  But the thing is, at the time, I didn't have this information and the information I researched independently after reading this.  So at the time, I gave HE the best rating I could with the information I had at the time. 
This is a very important book.  Especially for people who think that racism doesn't exist any more. 

Ms. Paterson

is just so excellent.  Come Sing Jimmy Jo was a book she mentioned in one of the interviews she did and so I was super excited to see that it was available on audible.
I really don't think there is anyone who can create characters like Katherine Paterson.  She gives them life and SOUL.  I could feel James's heart breaking or flying high, I could feel his confusion and his certainty, his anger and his love and his worry.  How does she DO that!?!
Having been a country music fan in the 80s when this book was written, I knew just what the book meant when it talked about the changing landscape of country music.
I loved the references to the Carter Family.
I loved the whole thing.
One of the best books I have ever read.

Yeah...

I wasn't feeling One Amazing Elephant.  I was feeling some parts of it.  I liked the way in which the whole mother-daughter thing was addressed.  I just...I don't know.  It was a little too The One and Only Ivan for me.   I did like the alternating viewpoints, between the elephant and Lily but I think that one of the big reasons I like that was because the elephant's chapters were so short and I just wanted the book to move along quickly!  But I was reading this one and again, that is hard for me, so that probably took away a lot of my enjoyment of it.  I didn't like that the bad guys were all smokers.  I am not a smoker any more, but I do think that smokers get a bad rap.  I mean, smoking IS bad for one!  But not all smokers are evil.  In fact, I think all of the smokers I know are super kind people!  So it was hard to see that the bad guys were all smokers.  I just don't think this has Newbery power.  I would have given it 3 and 1/2 stars though, if 1/2 stars were allowed.

THAT was SCARY!

Mary Downing Hahn is someone I would love to meet.  I JUST missed her at the Gaithersburg Book Festival.  I am so mad.  I totally would have gone.  Not that I could have "met" her but just to hear her speak.  Oh man!  Why didn't I look this time LAST week!  I TOTALLY could have gone down there.  The cover of Took is so creepy!  And then when I saw it was MDH, I couldn't believe it!
This has to be one of her best books.  But then I think about all of the others and think, "is there a best MDH book?!"  They are all fantastic!  From the scary like Deep, Dark and Dangerous to the mysterious like Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls to the made-me-think-so-much Stepping on the Cracks, she has to be one of the best authors ever.
Took takes place in West Virginia where Daniel and his family:  mom, dad and little sister, have just moved.  They think they have moved into their house because they chose it, but a witchy woman has chosen it for them.  This book is just....oh...so SCARY!  Just so good.  Just so so so so so so good!

Not My Usual, but Great!

So a dear colleague of mine, a lady I have known since I was a young teen brought The Patron Saint of Ugly  to a meeting and told me that her cousin had written it.  I thought to myself, this really isn't the kind of book I would usually read.  But now that I have read it, I realize that one of the reasons it isn't the kind of book that I would usually read is because this book is incredibly unique and I don't think there ARE any other books out there like this one!
Marie Manilla lives in West Virginia and teaches at Marshall University.  My friend told me that while this story is sort of based on their family, it isn't what one would call a true story.
I have to say I really loved this book.  The main character is being investigated by the Vatican because there are claims that she is a saint, one who has brought about many healings- healings of skin aliments.  Garnet is an unwilling saint, if she is one and the book consists of her audio recordings, made for the Vatican, answering the investigatory questions.
This book is truly funny and although my friend gave a copy, I purchased the audio book so that my mom could listen, too and I am glad I did.  It was well worth it.
If you are Italian and Roman Catholic, I think that you would especially like this book.  Great stuff.  I look forward to another book from Ms. Manilla.

Almost Heaven?

I think not.  Right now I am in Horse Cave, Kentucky at a wonderful Hampton Inn, but I should be much further on my journey.  I made the mistake of following the GPS instead of my instincts and my memory.  The VZ Navigator took me all the way south on 79 instead of west first, through Ohio.  Sure, Ohio is boring, but driving through West Virginia is ridiculous.  The speed limit is 70 and the roads are mountainous and curvy and the people drive like fools with their "Anybody but Obama" and NRA bumper stickers.  It is nuts.  Ridiculous.  I will definitely not come back this way.

Funny...

The cover and length of Funny How Things Change pulled me right on over to it. Nice, short book and look at the cover. It looks so bleak. It looks so real. Especially the girl there. Doesn't she look so, I don't know...doesn't she look like people you have seen before? The cover haunts me. It is so depressing.
And the book is pretty depressing, too. Even the parts that aren't supposed to be depressing are depressing.
It is set in Dwyer, WV which I guess is fictional, I can't find it on google so it must be. When I read about Dwyer though it reminds me of Webster Springs, WV. I spent thirty-seven years in Webster Springs one week back in the 90s. It truly was one of the worst experiences in my life. I think the worst part was the "Triple K Saloon". Not even kidding. Nice, huh? Anyway, once I got over the trauma from remembering my years in Webster Springs I started to settle in to the book.
Some of my favorite books are set in urban settings. I definitely learn more toward city life than country life...though, I am quite, boringly content in the suburbs, it is true, but if I got to pick between country or city, city it is. Walter Dean Myers, Sharon Flake, Sharon Draper are some of my most favorite authors, the kind of author that I love every book that I read. Spenser, Matt Scudder, I love those city boys. So it was kind of hard to get into at first just because it was so different.
Remy and his girl Lisa have just graduated from high school in the teeny tiny town of Dwyer, WV where everyone knows everyone. Lisa is headed off to college in the fall and she wants Remy to go with her. Remy believes he loves Lisa and he can't imagine his life without her, but Remy really loves his town, especially the mountain he lives on with his dad, the mountain named after his family, Walker Mountain. His family goes back more than 150 years or something on that mountain.
The other thing that adds to Remy's "should I stay or should I go" conflict is Dana. Dana is a college kid who has been hired through a grant from the state to paint the water towers around the county. Dana is the first girl that makes Remy think twice, maybe, about Lisa, and think harder about Dwyer and the mountain.
It was interesting to read a rural coming of age story, so different from all the urban or suburban COASes that I've read in the past. But in this case, different was good.
SPOILERS!!
It was very realistic, except I wasn't feeling Remy's love for Lisa. I mean he was always saying how much he loved her and how much he was willing to give up for her, but then he would forget to call her or just decide not to see her and it didn't seem like he could really talk to her at all, or that he even wanted to talk at all! It seemed to me like we meet Lisa and Remy right at the end of their relationship anyway, so the struggle that Remy goes through seems a little unbelievable. Still I would recommend this book to folks who want a COAS from the rural side.
I also liked the message that said it is okay to be someone who stays. Like you don't have go out into the big other world if it isn't for you. But most of all, no matter what you do, stay or go, do it for the right reasons. I thought that was pretty cool.
One funny part was this artist lady who lived down in a little WV town because there were too many people in Pittsburgh! Dude! Now that is something to think about for sure! When people think Pittsburgh is too big...you know that you are a rural kinda person!
This book is worth reading for sure.