West Virginia Books

" Mountain Memories" gave me a deeper appreciation of the Appalachian Mountains. I thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful journey through West Virginia's mountains with Jim Clark. It was inspiring to see a person so in harmony and appreciative of nature. We would all be better off to emulate that state of being. It was also fascinating to learn about the habits of some of natural inhabitants of the mountains. Jim's vivid and moving images made me want to head to West Virginia and experience the beauty for myself.

If you are a nature lover, photographer or just enjoy natural history, this is one for the permanent collection on our book shelves and in our hearts. It is a fantastic combination of excellent writing and inspirational photography.

For those of us fortunate enough to have grown up in the "country" this book will bring back those childhood memories of the lessons we learned by just going out into nature and really looking, listening but most importantly, feeling the spirit. The author has captured in words and images those inspirational moments with nature that become a part of who we are.

He has captured the essence of his personal love affair with West Virginia looking beyond the highways, the telephone lines, and all the marks of modern living to the true spirit of what it means to really connect with the personality of each changing season and the feast of visual experiences. The author then takes us beyond the beauty of the images and into his heart when he writes about what has inspired him. He shares with us his intimate knowledge of where to look and when for those special treats nature offers up each season in the West Virginia mountains.

It should appeal to anyone who has an interest in seeing the beauty in nature whether a photographer looking for great locations to photograph or someone who would like to spend a few hours with an author who has the power to capture our imaginations in a Huck Finn style of story telling about his beloved West Virginia. The book is rich with facts about the natural history of the area with extensive detail.

This is his second book and both should come with a warning. Once you read either book you will be making a trip, as I have, to the places the author presents so beautifully in words and pictures.

If you are looking for another f/stop, shutter speed, aperture setting book on photography, then Jim Clark's second book, "Mountain Memories, An Appalachian Sense of Place" probably isn't the book for you. Actually, "Mountain Memories" isn't even a book about photography. It's really a sharing of the Appalachian area and memories of renowned nature photographer, Jim Clark. As a photographer myself, though, I can't help but write this review slanted towards the wealth of knowledge the book makes available to my fellow photographers.

If you are looking for a book that teaches you that a successful image goes much deeper than the photograph, then click on the "add to cart" button and you will soon be transformed into the heart of Appalachia as well as the mind of one of its native sons. You will also begin a journey that will transform you from a technically correct photographer to a creator of images and memories.

Jim takes you on a beautiful journey of discovery, sharing his thoughts and memories as he travels and captures the beauty that is Appalachia. I felt like I was at his side as he goes through the beauty of the seasons, painting the scenes of the birds, trees, waters and plant life of regions of the region in eloquent prose and breathtaking images. His love for Appalachia is very evident.

Although Jim doesn't mention f/stops, composition, etc. each page of "Mountain Memories" holds a wealth of information that will make you a better photographer. I've had the honor of traveling some of these trails with Jim and I've learned from him, from his workshops, and from his book, that technical knowledge isn't the only element of a successful nature image. If you don't have a passion for your subject, a desire to learn about your subject, a desire to convey a feeling, elicit a thought, reignite a memory or tell a story, you've created nothing more than a technically perfect "snap-shot". Add all these elements and you've created another memory to put into your "Mason Jar" (don't miss Jim's explanation of the magic of memories and mason jars.)

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to be a better photographer, or wants to learn more about the region, or just wants to learn about and enjoy the beauty that is Appalachia. I think that the sub-title could have easily been "An Appalachian Sense of Peace". It will be a treasured edition to my collection that will become dog-eared over the years as I revisit again and again.

My daughters, ages 8 and 6, listened intently as I read 'Way Down Deep'. We truly enjoyed this book. We found it difficult to stop reading each night as they would ask for 'one more page'. The characters are colorful and vivid and charming. We laughed out loud when the townspeople turn the attempted bank robbery into an 'opportunity' and adopt the bank robber and his family. We breathed a sigh when Ruby made her decision about where her home is... who her family is. We will certainly re-read this book in the future.

Way Down Deep is a small town that is cradled between hills in the Appalachian Mountains. This special town "did not do things by the book". In 1944 on the first day of summer, a small redheaded girl is found abandoned in front of Way Down Deep's courthouse "she was in her petticoat, just sitting there on that bench where the old-timers like to hang out and swap lies" A toddler she can only respond that "woo-bee" is her name so the town adopts Ruby informally, " if Ruby's people were dumb enough to lose something as valuable as a child, then finders keepers, losers weepers". The sheriff whose "heart was way too soft and his mind too fuzzy for sheriffing" looks the other way rather than try to locate any relatives when Miss Arbutus who runs the rambling three-story boardinghouse called The Roost volunteers to raise the little girl until "her people" are found. Ruby, now eleven, thrives on the love extended to her by the townspeople. The setting is well established: A charming little map shows: Busy Street and Ward Street where there are businesses like Bevins's BarberShop, Pure Gas Station whose owner also runs the Boxcart Grill and the medical office of Mr. and Mrs. Doctor, one is a dentist, the other is a doctor.
The cast of delightful characters include: a man who arrives with a goat which he offers Miss Arbutus in exchange for lodging and food; this goat loves to stand on a Studebaker to view his new town, Ruby's classmate Reese who loves to sing but sings off-key "In his own mind he was the second coming of Hank Williams, but to everybody else he was as off-key as a hillbilly slung up drunk on moonshine", Mrs. Thornton Elkins a "cultured lady" whose husband died in their first year of marriage so she moves into the Roost to recuperate for a few weeks, then a few months, then a few years; when she runs out of money, donations of food items and bolts of dress material are left for her so she could wear "simple but stylish dresses". One day an inept bank robber who is easily confounded, scared of real guns and so carries a plastic gun, cries when he tries and fails to hold up the town bank successfully. When it turns out he arrived in town on a bus and plans to leave on a bus, the townspeople are too polite to suggest to him a getaway on a bus was not the best idea. Nevertheless, the townspeople "adopt" his family since he is down on his luck. When Ruby is eleven years old, an uncle shows up to reclaim her; the interior motive proves to be that she is required to take care of a constantly angry and bitter grandmother. Ruby ingeniously starts telling her stories about the nurturing town where she grew up. Later when Ruby insists on returning to Way Down Deep, the grandmother wants to move there too where she might finally have some friends. This is a charming and uplifting story of a community that treasures its children (the adults put on a Kid's Day to celebrate all of them) and offers help to those in need. Yes, the residents are nosey and news travels fast, yet who would not want to live in this unique town where the residents are respectful of each other's idiosyncrasies and extend their love and care to residents and strangers alike. This is a powerful story of redemption and acceptance that is humorous and filled with interesting characters.

Ruth White's WAY DOWN DEEP tells of a toddler found abandoned in a small town. Miss Arbutus takes her in and she leads a good life - but when Ruby is twelve a new family arrives in town with news of her past - and to learn more she must travel far from her newfound home. Is it worth it? A fine story of bonds and community connections evolves.

If you feel a little guilty after reading `The Well Ain't Dry Yet 'you were probably raised to believe eavesdropping is impolite. Sure, eavesdropping on the lives of fictional characters may not seem such a crime-after all, we do it all the time with books, TV, films, etc. But there's something about the characters and settings of Belinda Anderson's collection of eighteen short stories that just might fool your conscience.

We know these characters as people before even turning the first page. They are our friends, our enemies, our neighbors, our relatives and sometimes even ourselves. We wouldn't be surprised to find them in line with us at the grocery store or sitting two pews down from us at church. And like any community, Anderson's characters pass through one another's lives (stories) just as easily as the people they remind us of pass through our own.

For instance, if you don't currently have a cranky, troublesome neighbor like Mr. Wood from the story `Rainbow Ranch', you either have before or one day will and can take a tip on how to deal with him now. Or if you haven't yet been run off the road by a de facto member of the crazy old lady drivers club, who meet monthly in the story `Delivery', count yourself lucky and keep both eyes on the road when driving near the Princeton Cracker Barrel. And though you probably haven't driven around for years with your dead sister's ashes taking up space in your trunk, you can probably sympathize with the long-standing jealousy leading the main character of `Hauling Evelyn' to do so.

Some of Anderson's tales take on a dark subtext, such as `Marital Bliss', or infuriate you at the pure selfishness of people, as the story `Junior' does. Ultimately, though, even these stories remain hopeful that a better day is just around the corner.

`The Well Ain't Dry Yet' is cross-section of life as we know it in West Virginia. Anderson's characters feel as though they were living their lives before we opened the book and will go on living them after we've closed it again. She's merely allowed us to eavesdrop on them for a little while, with perhaps a little guilt for having done so. This is Anderson's true accomplishment.

(This review originally appeared in the Reader's Corner weekly column of the West Virginia Daily News, April 1, 2002 edition.)

This is a touching book with realistic characters that could almost be our neighbors or friends. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this book is the ability of each character's tale to stand on its own, but also work together as one book or "novel." Anderson is a very talented writer whose work will indeed delight her readers. She is truly one of the most memorable writers of Appalachian fiction as well as one of the most talented writers I have ever known. Her work is very touching and her characters' tales tug at our heart's strings and invite us to feel something for someone we have never met before. But a closer look shows that these characters may not be such strangers at all. Their pain is so real and so familiar.

A great work, certainly meant for the shelf or even the coffee table of all frequent readers of fiction.

In The Well Ain't Dry Yet, prize-winning author Belinda Anderson shares with her audience her insider's eye about a collection of people who come from the hills of West Virginia, but who could have come from just about anyplace where the people have spunk and care about each other. Characters in The Well Ain't Dry Yet, such as quilter Twilight Dawn Johnson, who puts bits of other people's lives in perspective to patch together a lifetime of memories and hopes in each quilt for her friends and neighbors, remind us of ourselves and our neighbors at our best and funniest moments.

The title of this book is from Meister Eckhart: "Where clinging to things ends, there God begins to be." What I love about Karper's book is the way God's presence glimmers in and through ALL things: mud, collapsing sheds, grasping multiflora, escaped cats, untimely bills, you name it, Sr. Karen seems to have to struggle with it! So, while the book beautifully explores a life of solitude in a quiet hermitage in West Virginia, it's totally applicable to any life, anywhere, even the busiest. Because we all need to stop clinging to things and allow God to begin to be present, don't we?

While the book is just over 116 pages long, it is a gem and if you can find a copy GRAB IT. The Author Karen Karper was a member of the Poor Clares often associated as the female branch of what St Francis of Assisi started the Franciscans. In 1989 she opted to take a leave from the monastery to attempt a life of solitary and frugality. With a ten year old Bronco and a small amount of money she set out. She had no idea where she was going. At the request of two Nuns who lived in an Appalachian Valley area called Colt Run holler (Spencer W Virginia) she accepted their invitation to visit. This would be her welcome to what would become a way of life. Learning to live amongst people who did not know many Catholics, not to mention learning to use an outhouse, pump water and deal with everything from ankle deep mud to snakes (copperheads)in the wood pile. She writes about getting enough money to drill a new well, since the old one was unhealthy. To learning to literally do everything herself, be it repairing tin roofs, or trying to grow a garden. Learning that there is solitude and then there is solitude. That living as a woman alone on a remote area would test ones faith in God as far as protection and wisdom goes. Any woman who wants to see that being over the age of 40 or 50 doesn't need to stop you from testing yourself will love this book. It has a nice Thomas Merton Zen feel and a Mother Earth News feel that I especially appreciated.

And this is a book that I read and re-read on a rainy or sunny day and a book that changes my life everytime I read it.

This book is wonderful for anyone who seeks a short period of quiet in the midst of their busy day-to-day life. As a writer and someone who loves nature, I found amazing connections in Sister Karper's story, despite the fact that our lives are obviously very different. This book took me to the mountains of Appalachia, and made me want to stay there forever--with plumbing, however!

A great story. Kept me reading.

Since my husband and I are fans of P.D. James and other murder mystery novels, the book was "right up our alley" so to speak. Whether Tim would succeed or the fraternity would silence him permanently was well written and the suspense kept us glued to the book until it the end. The Civil War story line was thought provoking.

This book really hit me, maybe more so because I live near West Virginia. It hits on two time periods and connects them with a pretty involving mystery, plus it has some classic action elements. Overall, it's one of the coolest historical novels out there. It might not be Hemmingway, but it got me through fall break.

Found the author's book while searching for relatives of Beppie Leslie Culin Roskruge, who is likely the great aunt of Virginia Culin Roberts - because I found and am attempting to return what may be a sentimental heirloom of Beppie's to a living relative.

Good book, good author - just like her famous great aunt was.

I found the book well written, with Ms Roberts' delivering a colorful portrayal of western history. As a resident of the Nogales - Patagonia - Sonoita area I found her work verifiable and acurate, providing myself and by family a valuable source of information on our local history.

A side note: The Pennington family homestead was recently rediscovered and preservation efforts will hopefully save the remaining structure.

This book was extremely excellent, and life-like. Ms. Virginia Culin Roberts did an excellent job writing this book. Way to go Virginia!

This is a book well-worth the time it takes to read it, which is something that cannot be said of many books on the market today. Full of vibrantly-penned short stories and poems -- the kind that Jesse Stuart wrote and that become classics -- each holds the reader's interest from start to finish by grabbing his/her mind and heart and weaving it into the tale. Not being a native West Virginian, I'm free to say that Mountaineers take this writing business seriously, and as a result, aspiring writers can look to stories like the ones in this book as good examples of How to Write. If you're partial to downhome stories or smalltown life in coalmining regions or other stories along that line, buy "Backcountry..." you won't be disappointed.

I was one of the students who is thanked for the "preliminary" work in the first couple pages of Backcountry. This book was fully and entirely constructed as the sole purpose of a course at West Virginia University. We, the students, with the aid of Professor James Harms, chose the authors we wished to include, the work for each of those authors, sought reproduction rights from the publishers, and wrote the short biographies on each author.

We felt that it would be something really special to tap the poet laureate of West Virginia, Irene McKinney, to write the introduction to the book - we also decided to include some of her work in the book. Happily she accepted.

We worked long and hard on this book and were all very excited that it would someday be released, available and, in turn, earn each and every one of us at least a partial editing credit.

When it was finally released, we received no credit outside of the easily missed page (not even in the official acknowledgement), nothing aside from a complimentary copy from the University thanking us for "involvement in the project which eventually produced Backcountry," and the surprise that McKinney had "edited" the book.
She did not.

I cannot see how our product is different from this book and why the "James Harms with the students of English 271" editing credit became Irene McKinney.

It is quite possible that the publisher made a mistake (a big mistake), or that I am missing some drastic difference between our book and this book. But, if neither is the case, then who is at fault?

I do not wish to accuse Dr. McKinney of theft, do not seek to be paid, or to otherwise downplay what is an exceptional collection, I only seek an explanation.

In other words, buy this book. As ONE OF ITS CREATORS, I can speak very highly of its content. Maybe if a second pressing comes, the wrongs will be righted.

Passive aggressively yours,
Colin

Mr. Lepp can tell a tall tale like no other person. The stories are detailed making all of them nearly truthful. His incorporation of local West "by God" Virginia landmarks and history add to the stories. A must have for anyone who loves tall tales or is from southern West Virginia.

Bill can spin a story and there is no doubt he could sell ice in Alaska. Have heard him at a story telling and this is just a sample of the tales he can tell. Whether he is fishing with the Monster Stick or training a gun-shy dog,(Buck) Bill is pure entertainment. ROFLMAO...

I use this as a companion to my Butterflies through Binoculars book. The great thing about this book is the caterpillars that it shows. I'm consantly finding caterpillars in our garden and wonder what they'll turn into. This book helps sort all that out. The pictures are really good as well

I had purchased three other butterfly field guides prior to this one and this is the best in terms of help in identifying species seen in the field. Based on my experience, the butterfly photographs displayed in this book do the best job I have seen of accurately portraying species as they appear in the field. Photographs of like species are lumped together on the color plates and both upperwing and undersides are displayed. Both common and latin names are given in the species descriptions, which I personally find to be very beneficial. I found the overall format of the book to be very well done. I feel that any one living in nearby areas can be benefited by this book but, for someone living in West Virginia, this book is the definitive work on butterflies. True, there are other books that contain more, in-depth reference information, but none that exceeds it as a useful field guide. This is the book I have been waiting years to see!

Gary Felton

Excellent account of CSA partisan rangers and the yankees that chased them in western Virginia. If you like soldier stories, you will enjoy this book, filled with exploits and accounts of actions and their impacts on a local family.

By the Banks of the Holly: Notes and Letters from the Desk of Bernard Mollohan by Marie Mollohan. 2005 by iUniverse, 649pp., $36.95 softcover; 46.95 hardcover.

Marie Mollohan has done a marvelous job of distilling decades of central West Virginia history through her great-grandfather's desk. Her sharpest focus is on the history and key characters related to Webster County, especially in the years covering the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The genius of her use of the desk is that those records were but a microcosm of what everyone in the region experienced during those years. Bernard Mollohan himself must have been a known union loyalist to have become the county surveyor after the war. Such was an important position when only "loyal" citizens could even vote, and much land was being contested for various reasons. But Bernard's loyalties did not keep Marie from giving a fair account of the tensions experienced by so many. Her family, and neighbors were divided into all three sides, as well, during this period. Why do I say all "three" sides?

Marie captures the irony of there being the obvious Union and Confederate sides of the war, yet none were stationed in Webster County. There were no serious battles about which one would read in a national text. That is because a third "side" existed. They were most often known as "bushwhackers". They were not in either army, and were a law unto themselves. People throughout the region experienced loss of life, destruction of property and a general sort of, unofficial, martial law. In the name of protection "bushwhackers" preyed on others, even apart from professed loyalties at times. It became very personal and dangerous in this period, especially for the families of those who chose to serve in a regular army, and left loved ones with little protection. Maybe we could say that Marie has helped to visualize what Webster County's version of the movie "Cold Mountain" might be. There was an insurgency not unlike what we see today in Iraq, and some took advantage of the ill-defined political chaos. Marie captures the personal side of this from true of accounts of family and their friends in the period.

Marie's chapters on the Civil War (pp.121-460) and related endnotes (pp. 547-592, 615-632) are a treasury of information for those interested in this subject. She has corrected lots of misinformation and added new light to this subject of the Civil War in that region. Key characters are treated with balance and insight. Such names as Tuning, Chewning, Haymond, Spriggs and Connely are among the several cited as leading Guerillas. Incidents such as the burning of Sutton (county seat of Braxton County), Gardner's Store and the march on Addison are given in a detailed and interesting manner.

Webster County's hills and rivers were said to have been a natural funnel through which contraband people and goods would flow when Union forces controlled the main routes. Guerilla forces could more easily hold this ground between the counties along the Little Kanawha River, and Greenbrier County, a doorway to the Old Dominion. Guerillas and others could find a ready market for the horses and goods of their neighbors with one army or the other.

Of special interest should be some little-known material on how the Union's 36th Ohio came to deal with the known and hardened irregulars. The whole tension today of legal rights for "terrorists" was a problem for Union troops. They dealt with people who were repeat offenders in murder, theft and destruction. The 36th Ohio evolved to a position of "take no prisoners" (not meaning "parole"), and all of this long before the national policy had hardened enough toward insurgency to be comfortable with the destruction of Sheridan and Sherman in 1864. There were what many would call "war crimes" today as Union forces fought in Guerilla fashion. One group, called "Snake Hunters", battled with such groups as the Moccasin Rangers. But, for the details, you must read it yourself.

This brings me to the point of where only a few regrets might be noted about the work.
The title doesn't seem to catch the gist of the content for a reader like myself. Because this is a history, done through a family lens, the fact they lived around the Holly River makes the connection to the Holly River seem right. To me, this is a history book, uniquely capable of being told through real people and their real experiences. The title, to me, just seems to miss the mark. But I have no alternative to suggest. It definitely needs to be cross classified as Civil War somehow. The final editing might leave the English major a little unsettled at the number of simple mistakes of punctuation, or subject and verb agreement. I also found myself wanting a better map to keep track of the references to the various rivers and their branches. That would have smoothed my enjoyment of an otherwise well written, well told story of a heroic people, and area, in tough times. It is a story of the founding of Webster County and the state of West Virginia (even our country) through the mysteries of a desk that intrigued a girl who delivered on a promise to tell this story.