Texas Books

L. King Perez's REMEMBER AS YOU PASS ME BY beautifully combines the sensitive issue of race with the historical Brown vs. Bd. of Education decision. Add zany characters and the Texas tall-sky setting for a compelling read, a retrospective romp long remembered. Presented at the MidSouth Reading and Writing Institute conference, this book received acclaim from both teachers and librarians. It is a must-read historical novel for middle-graders; a must-read memoir for adults; a wanderlust for all into a day gone by.

As a girl who is around Silvy's age, "Remember As You Pass Me By" was especially insightful. This book beautifully recreates a time my generation has never known. Throughout the story, Silvy struggles to find her place; in her family, in the black/white community, and in the rapidly changing times. I think "finding ones place" is pretty much the definition of growing up. In this way, Silvy is a character easily related to by all kids and teens. I have heard the story of Brown vs. The Board of Education many times and studied it in school, but never in such a way. By peering into the life of a young girl, living in Texas, I've more fully come to understand how this huge milestone in history came to affect people (kids, adults, blacks, whites) around the world. By far the best part of this book, is the quirky sense of humor with which it is written. Although, extremely playful, L.King Perez, has managed to beautifully balance funny anecdotes with deep, sensitve themes, and here is the greatest achievement of this book.

Am I glad I read this book? Would I want my 12 year old niece to read this book? YES!
From the first page, I was drawn into the book by the author's storytelling techniques. The use of dialogue not only tells the story, but as a descriptive tool it makes the book flow seamlessly.
The story of Silvy, the main character, is set in a small Texas town during the early years of the civil rights movement. Do the times influence Silvy or does Silvy influence her times?
Ms. Perez shows us that a book can be fun to read, while at the same time enlightening. As I get to know Silvy, I find I get to know myself just a little bit better.
I like to read a good story. Remember Me As You Pass Me By is a good story. However, it's not often that we read a book that is not only engaging, but shares with us characters who give to us a better understanding of ourselves as well as our cultural history.
Does this book leave you wanting more? Hopefully, there's a sequel somewhere out there in the works.

A remarkable book that should be required reading in all middle schools! This book offers a true to life picture of the south in days before and during Brown vs the Board of Education. The story of growing up and losing your best friend despite your best efforts is one that will resonate with all of us. The social pressures that were a part of this time make the story all the more sad.

"Remember As You Pass Me By" has themes which resonate far beyond East Texas and the turmoil between races provoked by "Brown vs. the Board of Education." This is a story of how relationships stressed in the face of change can transcend or fail, often at the same time. How faith can be restored amid confusion, and love endures for better or worse. How families shape and make us who we are and friendships often define us. This is all told with a straight, matter-of-fact sense of humor and narrative so real you can smell the baloney frying in the pan.
The main character, Silvy, is the kind of friend I wish I had when growing up . She knows how to throw a knife, ride trees, harbor fugitives, and, most importantly, look hypocrisy square in the eye. The world she lives in and her interactions with it are detailed and authentic. She is an original with loads of heart and buckets of crackerjack wit.
I will not forget "Remember As You Pass Me By." I am sure I will read it many times and recommend it both to children and adults. Do not let it pass YOU by!

I seldom am touched enough by a book to write a review but this book is remarkable. The relationships are tender and meaningful - perfect examples of what grandparents and parents as well should be to children. Humor abounds as well as sentiment and good sound thinking, living ,and loving. All that and the story line fascinates.

Ruby and the Stargazers is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those who grew up in a small town in the fifties. Elvis, a Thunderbird, and colorful characters make this engaging tale come alive for the reader. It's a folksy, funny, and heartwarming tale which leaves the reader with an excellent message about the importance of family.

Marci Henna is a fireside and her warm heart flickers on the pages of this novel. She has a talent for penning the small, almost incidental details, of life that hold all of the big emotions that we are sometimes afraid to feel and express. A heartwarming read for anyone.

From the moment I picked up this book the cover drew me in like
no other that I recall. I had to know what was inside. They say you can't go back home - but Marci Henna takes you there and
it's a most delightful journey. It reminded me about alot of
childhood memories and values that I was happy to have brought back to life. I loved the line - "My life had felt so full, but now I knew it was simply busy" and "Autumn" on page 15.

Having grown up in Texas near the same era the book is set in, I found myself identifying with the colloquialisms and small town living. Reading the book, I anxiously turned pages wanting to uncover the secrets that drove a wedge between Juliet and her sister. I hope there is a sequel!

"Soldiering For Freedom" by Herman J. Obermayer.
Subtitled: "A GI's Account Of World War II.
Texas A& M University, Military History Series, 98. (2005).

This book is a personal memoir that is different from most. Herman J. Obermayer, at the age of eighteen, was drafted in June 1943. From his entry into the Army at the New Cumberland Army Reception Center, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania until his return from Europe to the United States on the ship, "Colby Victory", he wrote his parents. His last letter is dated March 30, 1946. These letters, collected during the war years, formed the foundation for this book. At first, I thought I would not like the format of printed edited versions of Obermayer's letters, but then, I found that the author has woven the letters into a sort of personal and contemporary commentary on the events that were occurring at the date of each letter. So, for example, you will find his letters from the College of William and Mary, where Obermayer trained in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), intertwined with a rather detailed explanation of the Army Specialized Training Program, its goals, and that the fact that some 150,000 GIs were assigned to some 222 colleges and universities as ASTP students, and, for completeness, a brief history of the College. Due to his high score on the Army General Classification Test, Herman Obermayer was initially assigned to ASTP, so the former Dartmouth student entitled this chapter as "Back To College As A Soldier".

Basic training, troopship crossings and awaiting combat are all dealt with in individual chapters, which, again, mix Obermayer's contemporary correspondence with succinct summaries of the status of the war in the European Theater of Operations, ETO. An interesting chapter deals with the war against the French, our nominal allies, who were robbing gasoline from the American pipelines. On pages 100-101, the author gives an incidence of the French actually sabotaging a train, resulting in the death of some 200 American soldiers. "Censorship kept the news of this event out of the U.S. press." Even today, the there is little written about it.

The author has provided B&W contemporary photos of himself, his friends and some of interesting events he describes in the book. Additionally, the author has prepared an interesting map, showing his World War II trek across the ETO, and then marking the places he visited, including Paris, the Riviera and Geneva, Switzerland, where he was a student after the end of hostilities. This is an interested and very detailed book.

Soldiering For Freedom, a collection of letters to his parents, describes what World War II was like for G.I.'s whose logistic support made possible the effectiveness and heroism of front-line combat troops. Obe was one of thousands who maintained and protected the pipe line that fueled the spectacular advances of Patton's Third Army. Well-written, a "good read"...his writing brings long overdue recognition to the unsung role of "back area" veterans. Obermayer is gifted with a seeing eye and a feeling heart. His vivid 1944-46 descriptions of France and Germany and his reactions to what he witnessed reminds us that French anti-Americanism was reciprocated by the average G.I., and that black marketeering and fuel theft was greatly responsible for prolonging the war.
This excellent book is a "coming of age" memoire of a patriotic Jewish G.I. from an affluent "Ivy League" background becoming a natural and inevitable part of the American community, that unique bonding of diverse citizens learning to work together sharing a love of country and flag.
These letters remind veterans of the daily "Mail Call's" ability to sustain family bonds in wartime...maintaining contact with the "real" world. Sixty years later in "Soldiering For Freedom" Obermayer wins his personal battle with Time by gathering up and preserving memory. history

Mr. Obermayer's book is an excellent read. The chapters feature a summary and then copies of Mr. Obermayer's letters to his family during World War II.

What makes Mr. Obermayer's story interesting is that he was a young man who didn't like the Army, but did his best to serve his country.

Every since the movie "Saving Private Ryan," and the book "The Greatest Generation," the public has viewed WWII veterans as people who were on a crusade. "Soldiering for Freedom" brings back the facts of 1940 military life we've forgotten. He describes:

* The hurry up and wait so common to military operations.
* The dependence on rumors for information and the concurrent frustration of not knowing what's happening.
* The forming and training and then re-forming and retraining. He goes through a dizzying number of programs and units: college based technical training, Combat Engineer battalion, Airborne Engineer battalion, a medic in a Fuel line detachment, and legal clerk.
* The senseless and unfair rules: officer only facilities of higher quality than the enlisted men were provided, censor ship of his mail, working for officers and noncommissioned officers who had less intellegent and/or education than him, etc.
* The resentment and lack of support from liberated French people for the war effort.

This is a part of the Army and the war that use to be shown in the television show "Sergeant Bilko" or the "Sad Sack" comic books--Civilians with an uneasy alliance to military life who often spent their time in uniform doing the best with what little the Army gave them.

Mr. Obermayer brings vividly alive a GI's life in the final years of World War II in Europe and the occupation that followed. But he also finds lessons in that period that inform us today-- especially his insights into the ongoing conflict between the United States and France that had fertile roots in 1944 and 1945.

I cannot praise Mr. Obermayer too highly. So much of what we think we know we learn from the media these days--and so much of what we think we know about World War II and 'the greatest generation'-- is so much hogwash. When we get discouraged at how things are going in Iraq or elsewhere these days, it is fascinating to learn how people--and our soldiers--really thought about things during the last years of "the good war." He is (and was--as a young man) a wonderful writer.

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn is an intersting figure,a moral giant ,Shakespearean in his essence, equalled only by John PaulII and Nelson mandela among recent historical personage. Shamefully,disgustingly ignored by the left, exploited,shamelessly co-opted by the right,cafeteria style[much like JPII} he stradles above both camps,like Gulliver among Lilliputians. This collection, beautifully done considers the whole of the Canon,from stories written in the 1930's ending with his recent prose-poems[which are quite lovely and distinctive} A Large portion of the book are excerpts from THE RED WHEEL, his Magnum Opus,of which only the first two volumes[called Knots by the author] have been translated into English. The Red Wheel has been chewed and spit out by critics,though I cannot see why. It is in the great Russian literay tradition, long and varied and narrative and lovely. The overwhelming Chapter from the Gulag ArchipelagoII,THE ASCENT, is here, as are his major novels, speeches{the Nobel, Harvard and templeton adresses are here}.An essential volume to understand no just the 20th century, but the hole which exists in our post-postmodern world.

The first time I read anything by Solzhenitsyn was when I was given the opportunity to see his Nobel Speech from 1970 and learn of some of the horrors he had seen just because he was a writer. That day he said many things, too, and of all the words he threw into the audience one thing stuck with me. This isn't to say that everything he said didn't hit like a hammer because it did, but one statement, one paragraph, truly redefined the edges of suffering and made me think about what the word writer really meant. While remarking on the Gulags he made the comment:
"A whole national literature remained there, cast into oblivion not only without a grave, but without even underclothes, naked, with a number tagged on to its toe. Russian literature did not cease for a moment, but from the outside it appeared a wasteland! Where a peaceful forest could have grown, there remained, after all the felling, two or three trees overlooked by chance."
This took me by surprise and, reading more and more of his work, I came to understand how close he tiptoed the edge of a potent razor.

In this compendium of work compiled by Erikson and Mahoney, even the most casual of readers will be given a glimpse into a world that they might not even know existed. It mixes the casual with the terrible, the happy with the sad, creating a loom upon which one can truly look into the heart of the writer and see that he is crafting truths. The Gulag Archipelago was perhaps the most amazing of the pieces here, although the Red Wheel and other mentioned pieces are also well worth mentioning. Also worth mentioning is the fact that this book was translated in part by his son, allowing him to keep intact many of the truths he wanted so much to tell, and that many of these words are words that have never been printed in English. This means that the worlds that many people have never seen before, those forged by iron and starvation and by the silence that comes from being crushed by a curtain cast in iron, are on display and should be read and reread because they have meaning.
They are more history than history in many parts and more revolution than most revolutionaries ever dream of becoming. As both an author and a person willing to face expulsion from his country and death by his countrymen he did what few would ever think of doing; he continued to write so that the suffering he saw would never be forgotten.

When I recommend this read, I recommend it on many levels. First, I think it has something to say and, secondly, it managed to touch me as it said it. This peaks volumes on the subject and on the way the author conveys the subject, taking my mind into places too horrible to be fanciful flights of even the most convincing horror writer. Third, it works as a historical medium, reminding us what freedom entails and where all the Russian forces of nature went when their pens fell silent. That, most of all, is a reason to read this: how many pens churned in what was once a forest simply to be silenced?
Powerful is just a word until you see it taking form.

I'm a newcomer to Solzhenitsyn's writings but after reading his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, I was anxious for more. This Reader provides just the sampling I desired. It is not only valuable from the literary aspect but also from the historical. I gained insight regarding the Bolshevik Revolution, especially the dehumanizing effect of the Soviet regime under Lenin and Stalin. The effect on Solzhenitsyn of imprisonment in the labor camps is truly remarkable and spiritually edifying.

This set is a major step forward to the presentation and understanding of Solzhenitsyn to English speaking readers. It is a process that will still take years, but I suspect this volume will be pivotal.

In the early days, the writer's books were rushed into print with so-so or even poor translations because of their timelineness and importance. His exile to USA happened at the crest of his frame, but the political establishment was post-Watergate mediocority and the literary establishment not up to speed to help; we were not ready for him. Any great writer and/or polemicist is going to be controversial to somebody. And Solzhenitsyn's voice is a shrewd construct made of turning Soviet literary realism against itself, juiced up with a vocabulary simultaneously streetwise, grand, goading. Understand Russian or not, you really need hear him speak sometime. There is really no equivalent figure in English, modern or ancient, here or in Britain. You would have to conceive of Upton Sinclair as an experimental literary giant plus a man of subtle moral dimensions, then put him in the body of the old prize fighter John L. Sullivan, and finally put him on a soapbox with all the scary zeal of an early century 20 labor rabble rouser. The closest personal affinity Solzhenitsyn found in his own fiction (minus core belief, of course) was Lenin. Solzhenitsyn is the anti-Lenin. And even more. To our soundbite culture, he just looks crazy. We prefer our Rooskies to be chummy vodka drinkers with a wink in their eye, or comradely cosmonauts. In our own history we only produced such figures just before and during the civil war era. The experience scorched our national soul with fire for good and doubtless killed some brain cells; we want the benefit of being on the good side of such turbulence, but don't want to look into that well too deeply for those old issues anymore, whatever they may be. We cover the hallowed ground with platitude, and allow a black gospel singer to replicate the pitch for us on public occasion, then back to business. We in this nation are now so far into such denial as to risk a repeat along new fault lines. This sad and tragic process is known as history.

Professors Ericson and Mahoney have emerged in recent years as the key interpreters of the Solzhenitsyn cyclone for us, and let nobody convince you it is not a cyclone. Truth doesn't come easy; come here if you dare. If the headlines are old, the second fiery wind of artistic sophistication, fully schooled by the giants of literary modernism, is still to be experienced. For Solzhenitsyn resembles Tolstoy only in scope; in the great Russian tradition of literary engagement (unlike our consensus seeking) the game is to take such giants on, and Solzhenitsyn does on every level. Ericson and Mahoney here not only do an able job, but a superlative job of explication, choice, and presentation of the writer, fresh as if for the first time (in some sense it is). Each vital and core statement is here, many in new translations, plus new things from the entire career we haven't yet seen in English. Excerpts are made very well; the greater artistic treasures beyond this set are previewed. The volume works for both those coming new to the writer and those of us who have been following him for decades. I was especially gratified to find major doses of Cancer Ward, a great and dense modern novel wrestling with the nuclear core of what went haywire worldwide in century 20. Then Matryona's House -- is this the best story in any language for 200 years, or what? Yeah, Ivan Denisovich seems missing in action -- but that sui generis masterpiece has remained readily available everywhere at all times. Everybody now knows Ivan worldwide, as they also know the term GULAG. So Ivan does not require this volume, though oddly his creator still does.

The editors expand our understanding, but also set out verdicts in concise statement: "Solzhenitsyn is, in truth, a liberal conservative who wants to temper the one-sided modern preoccupation with individual freedom with a salutary reminder of the moral ends that ought to inform responsible human choice." The editors thus make the case that the writer is within, not without, the arena of modern political dialogue (ie., a liberal in the classic sense, not a traditionalist or nationalist). And within that dialogue, one bringing in the lessons of the past, not a mantra for endless "change" running clear off the tracks (like the "Red Wheel" of Soviet communism -- introduced metaphorically in filmic scenario as a burning wagon wheel broke loose early in August 1914). After a lot of misunderstandings still at large, then, it is both safe and sound to let Professors Ericson and Mahoney teach. Here is a writer worth inhabiting for your own lifetime, and may the wind be at your back -- you'll need it to stay ahead of the fire.

Expertly compiled and collaboratively co-edited by Edward E. Erickson, Jr. (Professor Emeritus of English, Calvin College) and Daniel J. Mahoney (Professor of Politics, Assumption College), "The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New And Essential Writings 1947-2005" is a compendium of the literary, philosophical, and political writings of Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn who was born on December 11, 1918 in Kislovodsk, Russia, underwent twenty years of involuntary exile in the West, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, returned to live in Moscow and continue writing his observations and commentaries about the social, ethical, and political issues of our time. Solzhenitsyn is a Nobel laureate whose writings spoke truth to power, whose courage against a totalitarian regime led to his exile from his native country, whose commitment to ethics marginalized him in the democracies of the west, and whose poetry, short stories, novels, essays, and speeches are as relevant today as they were over the past four decades of his controversial career. Reflecting and demonstrating his life's work to date, "The Solzhenitsyn Reader" is a seminal contribution to academic library collections and especially recommended reading for students of Political Science, Russian Studies, European History, and Russian Literature.

I read Darkness Peering after reading about it in the New York Times (one of that year's best mysteries). Her stunning writing in that novel led me to buy her short story collection. I must say that this collection really drew me in. They are the type of stories that lingered in my mind long after I'd read them. When I've experienced that before, I know the stories have affected me greatly. Will we be hearing more from Miss Blanchard in future? I hope so.

What a great book of stories! Again I marvel at Ms. Blanchard's gorgeous prose and deft sense of character! Encore!

I bought this on a whim over a year ago and finally got around to reading it. I must say I was impressed. Blanchard uses words as a painter uses colors and the result is often a strikingly vivid portrait, be it the overview of the environment we are entering or a wafer-thin slice of life. I found most of her characters to be refreshingly brash, usually fighting for their independence yet always under-equipped (whether they realize it or not). This is an excellent collection of short stories, right up there with Raymond Carver. Actually, her writing reminds me more of Thom Jones and Susan Minot. But Blanchard certainly has her own distinct voice, which I hope to be hearing more of.

After reading "Darkness Peering" and loving it, I ran out and picked up a copy of Blanchard's short story collection. I wasn't disappointed. I'm not a huge fan of short stories, but these grabbed me from page one. There is an emotional spine running through all the themes that makes them feel strangely connected and almost novel-like. Her early writing is eerie, darkly poetic and yet hopeful. I highly recommend this for anyone's library.

I bought this after reading Blanchard's novel, "Darkness Peering," and it is a fantastic collection of short, often disturbing, always challenging stories. I have no doubt in my mind that Alice Blanchard is a writer of great talent who will soon be a fixture among the great American writers of our time.

Reviewed by Regan Windsor for Reader Views (8/06)

It is a rare and brilliant find that captures a reader from the moment they open a book until long after the covers are closed. With an inscription that reads, `To small towns, where we learn life's big lessons' I was captivated before I had even reached the first page.

"Summer of Champions" takes the reader to the small town of Roswell, New Mexico in 1956 and the life of 11 year old Joe Don Miller. Inspired by his fifth grade homeroom teacher he is determined to become a champion over the summer by seeking excellence in all things as the ancient Greeks had done. For Joe Don excellence includes winning the All-Star Little League baseball team, helping his Mom, a widow since his dad's death in the Korean War, and winning the school spelling bee. As the novel opens it appears Joe Don is well on his way to becoming a champion. However, things soon happen which send Joe Don further and further away from his dream. As he struggles to find his way back, he learns life's hard lessons and emerges "a better man".

The novel powerfully portrays the complexity of relationships, the impact of events, and the struggle to see clearly when emotions take over. It is a powerful reminder that in life what is important is not always clear, and what seems clear is not always important.

A beautifully refreshing `coming of age' story, "Summer of Champions" takes the reader on a journey to the days when life seemed simpler, but the lessons felt harder. It is a novel that will move you to laughter, have you longing for redemption, and cheering for the champion within. With deeply rooted lessons on the true meaning of being a champion, it is an inspiration for adults and teens alike.

Mr. Connell has told his 5th Grade home class to work hard--to become champions. Joe Don idolizes Mr. Connell, and decides to follow the teacher's suggestion. So, as Dewey Johnson's SUMMER OF CHAMPIONS opens, in January 1956 in Roswell, New Mexico, Joe Don has made a good start. He presents his mom with a straight-A report card.

But don't be fooled. As Joe Don endeavors to meet his goal, he's no Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. Dewey Johnson sees to it that Joe Don does all the things a boy might between excelling in school and working a Saturday job. Joe Don wonders what girls are like, clowns in church, and tangles with his principal. He has a back yard fort, and two friends with whom he sneaks out after dark to hunt Martians.

Altogether, his life seems placid, punctuated only by bad knock-knock jokes, and kid angst--like will he make the Little League All-Stars, or will Janet Mitchum one day be his girl friend?

However, Joe Don's life isn't totally smooth. He barely remembers his father, who died in the Korean War. His mother makes little money. Then Mr. Connell does something horrible, and goes to jail. No one will quite talk about what happened, except to say that it involved some 6th Grade boys.

Believing these kids made up stories about Mr. Connell, Joe Don punches a couple of them in the nose. His grades slip, bullies make his life impossible, girls start chasing him, a good friend dies in a fire, and suddenly he's fighting with his mom. Overwhelmed, he decides he'll never be a champion. Then he receives a letter from Mr. Connell, with one more piece of advice about reaching that objective.

Anyone who has ever survived growing up will love Dewey Johnson's SUMMER OF CHAMPIONS. Johnson touches on feelings and needs that both boys--and girls--have as they leave childhood. Writing in the first person through Joe Don's eyes, Johnson catches moments to which everybody can relate: a first kiss, a narrow escape, a moment outsmarting mom, a moment in which mom outsmarts a kid.

SUMMER OF CHAMPIONS is also filled with incidents, language, and ideas that anyone will instantly recognize, if they reached their teens in the late 50s and early 60s . However the story will appeal to anyone who has lived through puberty, because in some ways, growing up in 1956 was no different than growing up at any other time. Today's kids may dodge different bullets, but they have the same feelings and needs their parents and grandparents had. That realization is the best message that SUMMER OF CHAMPIONS and Dewey Johnson leave on the book's last page.

Remember "Indian Burns", "Big Chief" writing tablets, and storing school supplies in cigar boxes? In the "Summer of Champions", Dewey Johnson reminds us of what life was like in a simpler time. Kids took responsibility for themselves, playing outside until their moms called them for dinner, and riding bikes all over town. His novel, set in the 50's, tells of people in a small town watching over each other. He shows how we are meant to live as a community. A great read for those who want to remember a less stressful time.
Sandia Ladies Bookclub

Set in Roswell, New Mexico in the 1950's, "Summer of Champions" takes a profound look at the idea of championship. Joe Don, the story's eleven-year-old hero is not into "profound". He is into baseball, and school, and girls, and aliens but not necessarily in that order. He is creative, funny and charming. His love of jokes and humor make him unforgettable.

The plot is filled with action, and daily life. It is beautifully written and brilliantly plotted.

If you don't mind laughing out loud while considering weighty issues, this is your cup of tea.

"Summer of Champions" is refreshing. Read just for the story, it is an entertaining look at the 1950's through the life of a young boy, his single mother and their friends. Read more deeply, it has spiritual guidance for dealing with the curves life throws, making moral decisions, the value of caring for one another, and the importance of community. A book with character and richness. When finished, you feel refreshed.

Description from the back of book:

Forbidden Territory

That was where Maddie Garret was leading him-not just through the wilds of Texas, but deep into the secret reaches of his heart. But could Texas Ranger Jonah Danhill, half Comanche and all lawman, accept the tragedy of his people's past and still embrace a joyful future spent in her arms?

Maddie knew that her last hope of rescuing her kidnapped sister lay with Jonah. Possessed by a passion for justice, though haunted by sorrows of his own, he was exactly what she needed-a man of strength, a man of courage, a man who could awaken the woman she was meant to be!

* I pretty much loved this book. My one & only complaint is that I thought there were too many bad guys to keep track of. It was hard remembering who was who & what their connection to Maddie was. I loved Maddie & Jonah but I found myself more drawn to Boone & I really wish he had a book of his own. The 3 of them together had me laughing so many times. What a fun book. Highly recommended.

This very enjoyable, quick and easy read is everything one loves in a historical Western tale!

Don't pass it up!

No one does dialogue better than carol finch. This book is no exception. Our alpha male (Jonah) meets Maddie when she barges into his room while he's (more or less) in a tub........She is running from bad guys and wants this texas ranger to help her. Right from the beginning they spar verbally. And Maddie is one heck of a woman. Definitely no shrinking violet in any way. If you're looking for a pulitzer plot, this isn't it. It's pretty much your typical bad guy-good guy western, but I've put it on my keeper shelf to re read just because the characters were so great and the dialogue so sharp and entertaining. This is a 'makes me smile' book......with characters with depth. I really liked it......

From the first page you are sucked into this adventure! When Maddie bursts into John Danhill's room and announces that he better not tell the two men chasing her that she is there. She then goes on to tell him that she got in his room because she told the clerk that she was his wife. From that point on you can't put the book down. It is a book with wonderful characters and good dialog between the characters. Maddie is quite a spitfire and he admires that about her. I also enjoyed the friendship between John and Boone. I would have given this more than 5 stars. It is a keeper on my shelf. I highly recommend it!! You won't be disappointed.

Jonah Danhill is half Comanche and all lawman. He is a member of the famed Texas Rangers.

Jonah has his bath interrupted when Maddie Garret bursts into his room claiming his protection and him as her husband.
Two men chasing her tell Jonah that she as stolen their money. Who to believe? Jonah is not a trusting man.

Maddie Garret is determined to save her sister, Christine, who has been kidnapped and solve the problem of her rustled cattle.

Jonah is determined to ditch Maddie as soon as they reach Fort Griffin. No way was he traveling any further west.
But intrigue and fascination bond Jonah to Maddie. Then they hit the trail together, each trying to push the other away. Until another incident.

Jonah tries to hire Kiowa Boone to take Maddie further west to her ranch, the Bar G. Then decides that he can't trust Maddie with Boone and they ride together.

Yup! they are being followed. Action packed and with a bit of humor from Boone as he understands Jonah's problem with the past and Maddie.

Maddie almost has her heart broken when she realizes the tragedy of Jonah's people and how it must have affected him.
Jonah is dumbfounded at Maddie's reaction.

Then he meets and learns of Maddie's two suitors, Wade Tipton and Avery Hansen and wonders how they are involved in her troubles.

Action, mystery and suspense with a bit of Boone's humor lead to a fascinating story. You get hooked from the very first page and begin to meet all of the characters.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED --M -- and definitely a keeper.

It's really just that simple. No Texas Arborist should be without this book. It is very well written. I can only hope that one day a new edition will come out with detailed color plates.

wide variety of trees in Texas. only drawback is the black & white drawings rather than color renderings or photos. but for the price, it's a good little book.

Well organized, the text fairly glows with the authors enthusiasm for the subject.

It's really well organized and written.

THe only way I can see to improve it is lots of colro plates..

I wish they'd write a book just like it on edible plants of texas.

If you are interested in trees and live in Texas, this is the ONE book you must have. So often you have to buy a Western U.S. book for West Texas and an Eastern U.S. book for East Texas - and you still don't have all the trees in the Rio Grande Valley that are primarily Mexican.

The book is clear and easy to use. Even better, it gives interesting tidbits about each tree's range and habits in Texas, including the location of the largest known example in the state.

Highly recommended!

Patty Leslie Pasztor and Paul Cox are two of the great gurus of native plant life in Texas. And they are just as friendly as this book is. I have many Texas native plant books on my shelf, but this if my first "go to" volume. I especially love Patty's ethnobotany commentaries. They add a great breadth of understanding to Texas human history, as well as its natural history.

Knowing the places in this book only help to create the images in my mind. Anyone would benefit from reading this book and being inspired that no matter their circumstances, they can achieve what they set out to do in life. I would also like to know more about the author's life after he went to school.

Absolutely amazing - the story and the writing. This book will stay with me forever. My copy is becoming old and tattered - I lend it to everyone I can.

My one line summary says it all. I am sure I was there. I anticipate each chapter anxiously waiting to see what funny, tragic desperate event is next and admiring the author for the practical and inventive mechanisms he has in place to keep his education going. I would like to know more about him in his later life.

THIS STUBBORN SOIL is a history book. No, one will not find the annals of nations set down here, nor even accounts of great wars or of vast economic movements. In these pages lie the images of poverty, illiteracy, sickness, premature death, fear, and bigotry that characterized the life of early 20th-century families enduring the ravages of both flood and drought in rough wood shacks with mud-and-straw chimneys and in poor, sandy fields where they tried to eke out an existence with a little livestock and with what few crops they could grow.

These were families for whom school was not nearly as important as having an extra hand in the field with a hoe or a cotton sack, families whose entertainment consisted of singing around an organ or a piano, the presence of which stood in stark contrast to the rest of the house, which never saw an electric light or a telephone wire. These were families that watched over their sick and watched them die either because there was no money to pay a doctor to come or because the nearest doctor was self-taught through mail-order books.

This is also the story of one boy who grew up in such an environment, who quit school many times because the choice came down to feeding the mind or feeding the body, who very nearly succumbed to the lure of wandering or of "riding the rods" as a hobo, and who was taught early on to denigrate Blacks and to hold Catholics in suspicion. In religion, he was exposed to holy rollers and tent revivals and pulpit-pounding evangelists. In school, when he went, he had teachers who had themselves barely finished an elementary education or, at the most, high school.

In this boy, however, there was something as strange and seemingly out of place as the organ in his ramshackle home-a thirst for learning and an unquenchable desire to go to school at Commerce, Texas, home of East Texas State Teacher's College, the only place he had ever heard of where he could continue his often-interrupted education. Both lack of money and inadequate preparation threw substantial barriers in his path. Of course, even before reading this book, we know of his eventual success thanks to the Ph.D. that came to follow his name.

THIS STUBBORN SOIL, therefore, is both a description of families who survived or died in a hardscrabble existence in early-1900s America and a hearth-side story of a boy whose love of learning survived all of the impediments in his path and finally resulted in the prize he sought for so long-a formal higher education. The soil on which he lived was indeed stubborn, for it yielded little and that only after back-breaking effort. He, however, was yet more stubborn, and that stubbornness bore succulent fruit.

The book is a personal memoire, and, for readers who share lingering childhood memories of dirt roads, railroad tracks past cotton fields, unquestioned racial segregation, and one or two-room schools reached by horseback or "footback," this narrative will awaken nostalgic images from the mists into which they have faded as the years have passed. For those who have never experienced the type of life Owens led as a boy, THIS STUBBORN SOIL will be very instructive and will help fill a pronounced gap in their knowledge of a large corner of early twentieth-century America. Though now out of print, copies can be found through many used-book sources, and the message remains timely, instructive and perhaps even inspirational. The book is worth far more than the effort needed to track it down, and I hope that every reader interested in American history at the personal level, in rural "local color," or even in just a well-written personal narrative will begin the search for it without delay. The reward of reading it is great.

I believe William A. Owens is all too often overlooked as one of Americas greatest authors and this book just proves my point. It is a great piece of work and an inspiration to all that read it.

I love this book. I bought it several years ago and want to re-read it.

The story is adorable, as are the characters.

Caution: As another reviewer mentioned, it can be torture to read the book on an empty stomach, because you will soon be craving the wings in the story. I would recommend whipping up a batch or two before you settle down for a good read.

It is really two books in one. There is the story about Uncle Bubba and his quest to open a wing restuarant and then there is the recipes for his wings throughout the book. The story turned out to be a much more touching story than I thought it would be. I even teared up a couple of times.

I have tried several of the recipes in the book and they have been wonderful.

I really thought the book did need something else at the end. Perhaps it will be coming someday. I would love to hear how everyone is doing in Cut Pug and how the restuarant is doing. Maybe even some pictures of the restuarant :o)

This book is more than about chicken wings, it's a darn-good read that makes you laugh out loud and touches your heart at the same time. There are only two problems--the book makes you crave chicken wings and there's sadness when your visit to Cut Plug, Texas is over. Well written. I highly recommend it.

I fell in love with Cut Plug, Texas - with Skeeter and Uncle Bubba and Irma and even with Banker Trinkle and his wife. Who could resist the members of the Book of Ruth Bible Class, the Garden Club or the Order of the Armadillo? Most of all, who could possibly resist trying the recipe for Garlic Wings? Or Bourbon Wings? Or Honey Tequilla Wings?

"Uncle Bubba" is full of small-town southern charm, with lots of garlic and pepper sauce on the side. You'll never look at chicken wings again without reaching for your apron and your copy of "Uncle Bubba!"

I bought this book just to see what all the positive reviews were about. I've got to admit I agree with the other reviewers here in giving this book a very positive review. Kind of a cook book with narrative, you get a good number of well thought out recipes(60-80 I think) that are used as a center point to a very funny story about Uncle Bubba and his friends. It really is two books in one, as the story of Uncle Bubba could have sold by itself.