Texas Books

"The Texans" is not politically correct, is dirty and raw and presents history through the confluence of a Jewish cowboy, a runaway slave, a German emigrant, a Mexican girl, renegade Rangers, and lots of Commanches. There are no real heroes, but a number of villains; yet, the story manages to produce a deeply satisfying emotional impact. These people laid the foundation of Texas.

The character of Katrin, the German emigrant, was especially interesting. Thrust into circumstances beyond her control, she adapts why still remaining so rigid in many ways. When asked if what she and her husband had accomplished would matter in the long run, she replied "You have to think on what we do today and whether we do it right. That's all we can do."

If you enjoy American historical fiction that isn't "sanitized" for today's world, you will enjoy this read. Also, for a similar read with lots of humor but an interesting look at US in the 1800's try Turpentine: A Novel.

Nina Vida's new novel THE TEXICANS opens just after Texas has been admitted into the Union. In sturdy, spare prose Vida tells the story through the intersecting lives of four immigrants: Joseph Kimmel, a Polish Jew from St. Louis who has come to settle his dead brother's estate in San Antonio; Aurelia, a young Mexican woman, a bruja who can change the weather with a scream or banish cholera with a deep stare; Katrin, an Alsatian immigrant, whom Joseph marries to protect her from a covetous Comanche chieftain; and Luck, a runaway slave who falls victim to a band of renegade Texas Rangers taking the law into their own hands. This is a rough-and-tumble Texas, lawless and chaotic, and Vida throws her characters against it, almost defying them to find their way through. Some of them prosper; others fail.

Joseph Kimmel is a Missouri schoolteacher who lives a simple life instructing 13-year-old boys in Greek, Latin, and mathematics. When he learns of his brother Isaac's death in Texas, he sets off with one horse, one pistol and two saddlebags filled with provisions, riding alone into an unfamiliar wilderness. Once on the Texas plains he's waylaid by Luck, the runaway slave, who steals his horse. After two months afoot, Joseph meets up with Henry Castro who is bringing Alsatian immigrants to the town of Castroville that he has founded west of San Antonio. There Joseph meets Katrin, a young, flighty woman, who is being stalked by Ten Elk, the local Comanche leader. At Castro's urging, Joseph agrees to marry her and take her away from possible harm. Moments after the wedding, a Texas Ranger shows up with Luck hog-tied and slung over Joseph's saddle horse, so Joseph decides to take Luck, too, rather than leave him in the hands of this ruthless Ranger. On their journey to the Guadalupe Mountains, Aurelia is pawned off on the group by a camp cook turned Indian scout who is afraid of her supernatural powers. Together these four set out to build a new life in the Texas Hill Country.

It is difficult to tell such a story without sinking into unlikely coincidence and predictability, but Vida pulls it off. She is especially strong with dialogue and coveys to perfection the cadence of a foreign accent, the texture of a slave dialect, and the wordy excesses of unschooled pioneers. Clearly she has done much research and her feel for the common folk, with all their faults and prejudices lends authenticity to the period detail.

I longed for more of "sheep on the gentle dips and sloping honey-colored hills," more of the Medina River "running fast, freshets of water catching twigs on the bank, knitting them together, then spitting them out." But this is a brutal Texas filled with Indian depredations, bogged steers drowning in quick sand, lynchings, and killing fevers. There's little time for pondering star-studded prairie skies and bluebonnet meadows.

In her Acknowledgments, Nina Vida says, "I didn't know if the world needed another book about Texas." My response to that is any vigorous, atmospheric book like this one is always welcome. It's just so much better when it is about Texas.

I loved this book. It's not Hollywood's Texas - it's the real deal - full of characters that leap off the page & stay with you. It's a wonderful mix of Indians, runaway slaves, a Jewish cowboy, vicious renegade rangers, a young Alsatian immigrant girl and a Mexican bruja (witch) with healing powers, among others. Besides which, the writing and detail are astonishing.

This is a view of Texas we're not used to. An exciting story of outcasts and misfits and unexpected Western heros(and heroines). Every persecuted ethnic group is represented and the usual good guys (like Texas Rangers) aren't good. With a cowboy in the White House and the Mexican border an immigration battleground, this book gives the historical background for Texas' current events. But best of all, it's a surprising and fascinating tale.

I seem to be the only person who has gone to SAS to actually have read this book. It was really good, pretty bleak, but I loved it.

All SAS students should read this book to get some insight into JWO!

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I can honestly say that I have not read J-Wo's book yet, but I will for sure because it's gotta be totally good. i am also going to purchase: This Book is for All Kids but Especially My Sister Libby. libby died- by jack simon who is also known as breakfastclub and is dairyman88's boyfriend.
Anyways good luck reading this book. i totally recommend it just becuase J-Wo is the author.

Although i have yet to read this book- J. Works (J-wo) is the coolest man ever. GO J-WO!

one of the excellent books to come lately on the texas ranger a most for ranger book collector.

I thought the "Real West" couldn't get any better than Knowles' collaboration with Joe R. Lansdale (Hisownself) on 1994's engrossing _Wild West Show!_ I was wrong. Knowles gets down and digs up the real history of the Rangers, and pulls no punches. It's an honest, unblinking, exciting and amazing adventure through time, with excellent photos and commentary. Whoever says history is dull hasn't seen _They Rode for the Lone Star _. This is a coffee table books that belongs everywhere but. Cant wait for volume 2!

Tom Knowles' "They Rode for the Lone Star" is a fascinating history of the early Texas Rangers. It is full of the facts on which the legendary tales are based. It is respectful but unbiased. And it is thoroughly engaging and immensely entertaining.

Filled with illustrations and annotations, it is not only a great read from beginning to end, but also the perfect book to pick up and browse when you have a few minutes. Unfortunately, it is so well written that if you start to browse through it, you may find yourself reading through to the end.

I am anxiously awaiting the second volume that brings the Rangers' history up to the present.

Knowles' book is a must for anyone interested in Texas History. Knowles' weaves a history of the Texas Rangers perfectly into the blanket of Texas folklore, so that the reader can easily follow and understand the development and importance of the Texas Rangers. His descriptions of battles and the people who fought them are superbly done. Excellent discussion of frontier indian-fighting and Ranger strategy.

A real coffee-table book, but you won't want to let it rest there. Great photographs and illustrations. I'm looking forward to the post-Civil War Ranger History which I hope follows soon.

Are you about to build a new home, serve on a school building committee, or design a public park for a client? Or do you just like to be in and around jewels of architecture? If you answer "Yes," get Second Day delivery on your new copy of Think Like an Architect.

This is a rich compendium of letters (chapters) written to friends and colleagues, replete with drawings, photographs, and tools such as "10 ways to explore and understand a building," plus a thorough Seeing List, as well as a Reading List. A blend of architectural history and 21st Century reality -- deftly connected by Dean Box's passion for and knowledge about the importance of architecture in our daily lives and our cultural legacies - these are two hundred of the most helpful and inspiring pages you'll read. It also is a fast read. Yesterday in fact an active aficionado friend who has been intimately involved with half a dozen projects in recent years excitedly told me that he'd, "just finished, the best, most enjoyable book on architecture. I lost sleep because of it, staying up to read it at night and awakening early to continue." I knew the title he was about to tell me.

I am not an architect; merely someone who appreciates the end results of good architecture. I do not routinely read books about architecture, or books written by architects. But as a long-time admirer of Hal Box's architectural work, I was curious how a book titled Think Like an Architect might read.

Short answer? Terrifically! I learned something interesting about the history, art and science of architecture in every chapter.

As I finished the book, which I accomplished faster than I would have liked or imagined, it occurred to me that Hal Box accomplished with this book what Vitruvius, the first century BC Roman architect, espoused as the goals of good architecture: commodity, firmness, and delight. The book accomplished its program of encouraging me to think more like an architect (commodity); the ideas and illustrations are thoughtfully and artfully presented in a sturdy format which will withstand years of referencing and re-reading (firmness); and Professor Box puts forth his ideas and opinions, earned over a long and distinguished career as an educator and practicing architect, clearly and entertainingly (delight).

Whether one plans to build or is simply curious about how to do it right, Think Like an Architect is a must.

Think Like an Architect opens the door to those of us who love space, love to think about space and building houses we love to live in. As someone who has built many homes and lived inside those spaces he conceived and created, Hal Box is able to not only share his love of the creation of places we want to be but to tell us how to get there on our own--clearly.
I am building a second home in Mexico and find that reading and re-reading this book--especially the considerations--continues to inform and clarify my thinking about the project.
Margaret Keys

As someone who has an interest in architecture but whose knowledge of architectural theory and history are superficial and spotty, I found Hal Box's book Think Like an Architect an especially rewarding read. Written with the confidence earned from a long, successful, and satisfying career, his book is a straightforward explanation of both the intention and process of producing the kind of buildings that are life-affirming and enduring. His writing is entirely free of the thornscrub argot that makes most architectural criticism an impenetrable thicket closed to "outsiders" and hostile to dialog. Thus unarmed, Mr. Box may therefore be vulnerable because he dares to use old-fashioned words like beauty, graceful, charming, and harmony. But to me, watching my local landscape erased and replaced by generic chain stores and anonymous neighborhoods, this language is as welcome as a summer thunderstorm falling on parched ground.

It was especially interesting to me to learn how a post-war generation of eager young architects were "brainwashed" by Modernism's cerebral rationality. This I can understand, as the enthusiasm followed their experiences of the Great Depression and World War II. Something new was certainly in order. But even newness can become stale and lifeless. Today, as a new generation of architects meets perhaps the even greater challenge of designing buildings that are "sustainable" or "green", we may be seeing another great age of inspired innovation, expanding the smaller scale vernacular experiments of Sam Mockbee, the elegant shelters of Glen Murcutt, and the social works of Cameron Sinclair's Architecture for Humanity Foundation, to influence and shape the mainstream market. I hope that architects, planners and consumers will avail themselves of the wisdom in Mr. Box's book as they participate in this great new adventure.

Homesick for Texas, and all those good eats? This is the book for you. It is much more than a cookbook, it is a piece of Texas to be read and savored. Having eaten at all the locations of Threadgill's and having spent many (too many, according to my college transcript) at Armadillo World Headquarters, opening this book was like a trip back home. Sure, there are the receipes for all the Threadgill's classics, including all the vegetable dishes. Sure you can try to make the wonderful chicken fried steak, but intertwined in all those recepies is the history of Threadgills, and the people who were there. You learn the thinking behind the place many called home, you remember the brand names of products that made Texas cooking great. You also get a bird's eye view of the Texas music scene and all the colorful people who inhabited that time and place. Threadgill's kept me from getting too homesick when I left Dallas, and moved to Austin. This book keeps me from getting too homesick for home.

Hands down, the greatest cookbook ever written (take that, Better Homes & Gardens!). If you've never been to Threadgill's, you've never truly experienced the bounty of God's green earth - but you can get a fantastic taste of it with this book. I cook something from this book almost every day, which may not mean I'm the healthiest soul alive, but I sure get my veggies! If you thought a down-home cookbook was just a bunch of artery-clogging recipes for fried vegetables, you're only 10% right. In addition to fabulous recipes, this cookbook is actually an entertaining book to sit down and read! Trust me, it will find its way to that revered shelf in your bookcase that's reserved for the family Bible and the baby books. Yee hah!

This past haunt of Janis Joplin is a true Austin institution. And, so is it's food. But don't expect recipes similar to the Lutece cookbook or Cooking with the Master Chefs. These are master chefs of the home grown type. Their chickenfried steak with cream gravy is well, artery clogging delicious. The recipes are simple to follow, the ingredients are few and the taste fabulous. And, the narrative relays some great memories of Threadgill's. I've enjoyed cooking these dishes for other expatriated Texans and we're in heaven!

As someone who moved from Austin to Washington, DC years back---and whose friends still ask me why, I don't have an answer. But I can tell you one of the things I miss is Eddie Wilson and Threadgill's. It's not fancy, it's not meant to be, but as Eddie says "This is not a lobster taco". This isn't fancy food, this is just good food, something you could eat every day, something that doesn't require an engineering degree to assemble and a degree in civil engineering to balance on the plate.

Lynn Cuny has a gift for portraying the animals in her stories both as worthy of our care as well as needing respect for their needs as animals. Unlike some writers of animal stories, she always makes it clear that wild creatures are usually better off being left wild. While her stories often contain humor, they are always touching.

This book was given to me as a gift and I couldn't put it down. This heartwarming book takes you into the emotions and thoughts of wild animals. They come alive and you see them as the caring, loving and intelligent beings they are. This book will make you never able to look at a wild animal as a "dumb" animal or expendable resource again.

This charming vignette of stories will leave you with a new and wonderful perspective of wildlife, as well as a great deal of respect for the people at Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Boerne, TX. This book is a must read for anyone with a love for the wildlife of these United States.

Through Animals' Eyes: True Stories From A Wildlife Sanctuary is an anthology about the creatures cared for by Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation (WRR). Founded by the author in 1977, WRR provides sanctuary for orphaned, injured, or displaced wildlife, rehabilitating them for eventual release - or providing them with permanent care in large natural habitats if they are deemed nonreleasable. WWR also gives permanent care to exotic wild animals that have suffered from the pet trade, roadside zoos, or research facilities. From the raccoon with burned feet who perseveres to survive, to an abandoned emu who makes friends with a one-winged vulture in a game of pick-up sticks, these tales put one in the skin, fur, or feathers of the creatures who have paid the price of man's expansion. Through Animals' Eyes is strongly recommended for all animal lovers.

For Texas birders this book is a must. Ranges are much more reliable than any other guide available. Is great for travelling to an area to see what you might be able to see or to back something you have found.

The new TOS Handbook is an indispensable reference to the current status of Texas' avifauna. The range maps are excellent and show seasonal changes in gray scale. Anyone interested in birding in Texas will want a copy of this book. It is not a field guide, but a reference on status and distribution.

Whatever your general guide for the identification of birds is while in Texas you need this this companion book. Current information as to the status of Texas birdlife written by two premier Texas birders. A percentage of the profits are given to the Texas Ornithological Society.

Jack Clinton Eitniear
Editor/Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society
www.Texasbirds.org

If you want to know the current status of any bird in Texas you need this book! Good range maps make it possible look at individual counties.

This book is really sad, but if you like true crime you will want to read Trail of Blood. It doesn't suffer from to much repetition, like some true crime books.

I like the way it is written: direct and to the point. The book was suspenseful, as I was not sure how it was going to end. For me the book ended up being a mystery, as well as, a true crime book.

I admire Jim Dunn, the detectives, and the justice system for their perseverance and their dedication to find justice for Scott Dunn.

loved this book. did not want to put it down until I had finished reading it but alas I have to sleep and go to work. Hamilton is right where she belongs. Too bad she will get out but hopefully will stay in the entire 20yrs.

I have to say that I thought the justice system in Texas was a lot harsher until I read this book. The story is heartbreaking about the loss and disappearance of Roger Scott Dunn better known as Scott. There is a love triangle between him and two women, Jessica Tate, and Leisha Hamilton but the latter has her own love triangle or quadrangle of her own. Leisha Hamilton is a psychopath and fits many of the characteristics. One Sunday evening, she calls SCott's father in Pennsylvania to relate the news that he's missing or at least that is what she wants us to think. Leisha Hamilton is truthfully a nut job who needs psychiatric care. I shocked by how she behaved and her being a psychopath explains so much about why she acts so callously about Scott's family, friends, and his disappearance. The trail of blood is what helps prove his murder in 1991. The father, Jim, co-wrote his experiences and loss of his son even without a body and his fight for justice. The book starts off slowly and gains momentum along the way making a fast read. I skimmed through the court section because it was somewhat redundant of previous information already written in early pages. The case and fight for Justice in Scott's memory is quite a story in itself. I can't help but write about Scott's beloved car, Yellow Thunder, that he took pride in and treated it so well. When Leisha demands the car back, I just wanted to scream at her. It's just a car and it's not as important as getting Scott back.
Sadly Leisha only got 20 years while her accomplice, Tim Smith, got ten years probation. While Leisha was the mastermind, there is still no body. I think Leisha got off quite light in her sentence and she robbed Scott's family of his life and his future with Jessica Tate and possible grandchildren. The grave is still empty at the City of Lubbock Cemetery where he is supposed to be. The family just wants a final burial and still justice.

This well written, gripping tale is of a father's long search for his missing son. All the while, he was playing a cat and mouse game with the woman he knew was responsible for his son's death. No body was ever found but the crime scene told such a story! In my new novel, Texas Poker Wisdom, I used this book as a reference for forensics. When the Vidocq Society gets involved in the investigation, you know you have a very special case. The Lubbock Police did a superb job. You will love this book if you are a true crime or mystery fan.
Johnny HughesTexas Poker Wisdom

The book I purchased was in the condition advertised. The savings compared to local bookstores was substantial.

The photos and descriptions in this book make it a terrific guide to Hill Country plants.

When I am out on the range in the Hill Country of Texas trying to identify a plant, Jan Wrede tells me what I need to know.

The pictures and descriptions have been invaluable in my interpretive walks and hikes. This is a must have for hikers and hill property owners. I bought two! One for me and one for a friend.

Well, after falling in love with Wolf in the last 3 books in this series I had such high hopes for his book because I thought he deserved a woman to fall head over heels in love with him. I felt so bad for him throughout this book that I wanted to slap Molly. As always though I love any book written by Jodi Thomas & she'll always be my favorite but I guess my expectations were too high for what I wanted Wolf to find. He got what he always wanted but I felt bad for how long it took for Molly to decide that Wolf was her man. I just hate when it takes a close call with death to make people realize their true feelings.

Overall I highly recommend this series. The order is:

The Texan's Touch
To Kiss A Texan
To Wed In Texas
Twilight In Texas
The Texan's Dream

During the Civil War, their eyes meet and remain locked though the train station is crowded. Benjamin admits that he now believes in love at first sight. Molly Donovan is a true believer too. He vows to find her after the war and seals his pledge with a kiss. However, afterwards reality returns with a vengeance and he realizes she is a Union general's daughter and he is actually Wolf Hayward, confederate spy.

Eight years later in Austin, Texas Ranger Wolf is hurt by a falling sign. Dr. Molly Donovan tends to his injuries. He immediately recognizes the woman who has haunted his dreams, but she fails to know he is the soldier that stole her heart. Wolf cannot help but court Molly, who is fascinated by his attention, but struggles to keep her promise to remain loyal to Benjamin. As they fall in love, Wolf worries how Molly reacts to the fact that he and Benjamin is the same person.

Jodie "Texas" Thomas provides her audience with a powerful Lone Star romance that brings to life the decade after the Civil War. The story line is fast-paced, filled with action, and loaded with tender passion that will entice readers to search out the author's previous novels. The lead characters are a delightful duo whose motivations ring true. Ms. Thomas has written another exciting tale that sub-genre fans will relish for a long time to come.

Harriet Klausner

It's perfect that Jodi would write about Wolf Hayward, the big hairy lovable beast who was in her trilogy about the McLain brothers! Jodi became one of my favorite authors after reading the other three books, which, by the way, you should read first before reading this one. Not that this one doesn't stand well on it's own, absolutely the contrary, but you'll understand some of the references about the McLains better this way. The story did have plenty of subplots, but never too many distract you from the main one, just enough to enhance it. The other thing that Jodi does is to leave at least one "unattached" person in her story, that you hope she will write about next. I didn't want to give too much of just a "synopsis" of the book, It's great, and I'll let you find that out on your own. Well, that's my review, my first actually. I hope it helps.

Jodi Thomas is an author who launches her stories by using soothing enticement. Immediately, this writer pulls the reader into her plot. Regrettably, in the past, I found her stories generally limp to the finish line. However, in TWILIGHT IN TEXAS the author leaves 'limp' behind and finishes with a winner.

The American Civil War rages - North against the South, brother against brother, father against son. In a crowded Philadelphia train station two strangers spontaneously embrace and kiss, a moment in time, but a moment so powerful it would carry them through the horrors of war. Call it fate, call it love, or call it survival, but neither party would ever forget. Two strangers touched by love's whisper, two strangers from opposite sides. Benjamin "Wolf" Hayward is a Confederate spy and Mollie Donivan is the daughter of a Union general.

Eight years later, both still live with that cherished memory. Once again, two strangers meet, but in a different time and place. Now Wolf Hayward is a captain in the Texas Rangers; he has a full beard, long hair, and fifty more pounds. Mollie Donivan is a struggling pharmacist/doctor. Wolf immediately recognizes Molly as the vision from his past. Molly regrettably fails to recognize Wolf as her fantasy soldier.

So Thomas begins her love story and this is gentle, soft romance at its finest. Although Wolf is delighted to find his Molly again, he is terrified to reveal who he really is. He is afraid because they once dwelled as enemies; he is afraid because Molly knows nothing of his wartime spying and betrayals. But amazingly, with Thomas' magic, what could have been unreasonably ridiculous turns into spellbinding fascination.

Adding further delight, the author builds her story around exceptional secondary characters. From the adorable child known as Callie Anne, to the gruff old veteran who acts as Molly's protector, Thomas weaves them warmly into her reader's heart.

In the past, I have always liked Jodi Thomas as an author. She has a simple direct style, a tender quality, and great homelike characters. So what made TWILIGHT IN TEXAS a better book? Because this time, Thomas wrote an entire book strongly, not just a few chapters.
Grade: A

MaryGrace Meloche
Reviewer for: Romance Designs