Georgia Books

It was with great pleasure that I worked with Charlie on finalizg "Two Cents Worth". Time spent proofing the book brought back many of my own "all but forgotten" memories of being born and raised in LaGrange, GA. I never considered my family poor, but in reading the book I realize just how far in life we have all moved on. Two Cents Worth is an extremely unique collection of those "good ole times" that will force your mind to travel back in time seeking some of your on! A wonderful collection to add to the coffee table and for conversation during family gatherings, parties, etc!

Reading this collection of newspaper articles is like having a conversation with Charlie. Each article is unigue and there is a lot of southern style humor and good old country commentary about a wide range of subjects in each article. The best ones deal with his boyhood in a small town down in Georgia. There are good ones about his dog Four and the adventures at Day Lake also. This book is worth reading.

Charlie's wit is as sharp as his common-sense wisdom. The book contains several gems of country-style cream gravy and corn pone.

Highly recommended for light and easy reading. Great gifts.

I am writing a paper on Paranoid Schizophrenia and found this to be an excellent story. I didn't know a lot about Schizophrenia before I read this book and it helped me to understand the diagnoses and the various hardships that Schizophrenics have to face, both mentally and socially. Much better than any textbook on mental disorders, this story is not only entertaining but educational as well. Highly recommended!

From the beginning I might as well say that I also was once diagnosed as a schizophrenic, even for a few days as a paranoid schizophrenic, and so the subject of this particular book strikes close to my heart, although I must add that I never had the experience of hearing voices. This book is an absolutely realistic recreation of the mind of a person who experiences schizophrenia. I have never come across a book that has done this so effectively. Through Robby's voice the author, Elizabeth Kytle, presents some of the prime features of life with schizophrenia; for example, 1. the extreme sense of social anxiety; 2 the social immaturity; 3. the confusion over sexual identity and fear of sexual contact; 4.the deep and profound, though constantly thwarted, need to belong; 5. the awareness that what you are doing and thinking is somehow extremely inappropriate combined with the need to spend intense energy disguising that inappropriateness; and finally, 6. the establishment of a barricade to protect yourself from other people, which eventually becomes a prison. One of the most effective techniques Elizabeth Kytle uses in this book is to have Robby narrate a portion of his life, and then have another friend, relative, teacher, colleague or employer then narrate a parallel section covering the same period of time, yet reflecting a different perspective on the same events. Research has shown that shizophrenia is caused by a complicated interaction between genetic and environmental influences--40% is probably genetic while the environment contributes the remaining 60%. This book does an excellent job of showing the interaction between these two elements to the point where Robby ended up in a psychiatric hospital with a full fledged case of schizophrenia. Overall, at the end of this book, I was wholly impressed with Robby's courage and ingenuity in facing an extremely destructive mental illness. We are also called to examine our own attitudes towards what those who have serious mental illness can and cannot do. It was clear that Robby, despite the severity of his illness, was a far more capable employee than others who weren't mentally ill. If only employers had been willing to work with his diability, he could have ended his life with some self-respect and dignity. In conclusion, I've read many books on mental illness, particularly in the area of memoir, and this is pretty well the best I've read thus far.

This is a thought provoking true story about Mental Illness.. Robby was handsome, charming, bright, friendly and hard working, yet angry,desolate, alone in a crowd. No one could save this wonderful man. Mental Illness is an illness of the brain, just as heart trouble is an illness of the heart. We need to accept it more.

Set in a "world where time moves in more than one direction and no landscape holds steady for long," these essays are steeped in both American literary naturalism and environmental conservationism. John Lane offers geodes of clarity and beauty that are spiritual, philosophical, and autobiographical.

The book is divided into four themed sections: "Edges", "Field", "Home Territory", and "Family Wilderness". The essays are at times humorous and adventurous, but these essays also explore the human relationship to physical landscape, and many explore the landscape of the writer's consciousness. Lane becomes more than a recorder of landscape; he becomes a part of the landscape and, at times, the voice of the landscape itself.

In the closing essay, "Confluence: Pacolet River," Lane joins the resilience of our landscapes with the resilience of the human spirit. The essay has a spirit of hope and a sense of unknown possibilities. As Lane takes refuge in his home landscape, he finds space to reflect: "my history is adrift on it as surely as today I have drifted on the surface of this living stream."

John Lane witnesses the contradictions of our modern landscape and chooses to stir up conversations of national significance through these essays, while refraining from offering oversimplified solutions. Rather than advocating any type of political agenda, Lane sincerely models behaviors of inquiry, advocacy, and awareness in relation to our personal and physical landscapes.

John Lanes details into his daily life and his experiences are very well written in this novel. His collection of essays are interesting and enjoyable to read. The book was a pleasure to read, and I can not wait to pick up another copy hopefully very soon.

A loving and passionate collection of essays that leave the reader with intimate knowledge of a man who lives his life with intentionality and purose. Read slowly and thoughtfully, Waste Deep in Black Water reveals the many rewards of living with deep respect for community, landscape, ecosystems, people, and all living things. With generosity of spirit, John Lane leads readers to see that how he goes about his work, travels, and everyday activities is what enriches and brings meaning to life.

If you are a Georgian and or southerner, or simply interested in African American/American history told truthfully, this book is for you. It a serious read, though not scholarly or academic though. It is a hard read. I have been reading this book for 2.5 months and I am just on page 369, and have read other books during this time. I have two hundred more pages to go. However, it is absolutely a worthwhile read. I feel compelled to read to the end. The entire book touched my spirit. However certain passages really resonated with me. Here are excerpts that gave me a headache and made my eyeball throb and head ache:

"After her clothes burned off, and while she was yet alive, a man slit open her abdomen and her unborn child fell from her womb, gave two cries, and was stomped to death by one of the mob."

The murder of Hampton Smith, described "a particularly bestial operator of a peonage plantation" and "a white farmer with a reputation of cruelty towards tenants," led to a 5 day reign of terror in Brooks and Lowndes counties in 1918. Hayes Turner was one of the several blacks who were lynched for complicity in the murder. His wife, Mary Turner, eight months pregnant, said that her husband was innocent and that she was going to swear out warrants against the lynches. She was hung upside down by her ankles, soaked with gasoline, and set afire. According to one account of the gruesome deed, "After her clothes burned off, and while she was yet alive, a man slit open her abdomen and her unborn child fell from her womb, gave two cries, and was stomped to death by one of the mob."

"In May 1922, Charles Atkins, aged fifteen, was roasted alive over a slow fire. After Shrieking in agony for fifteen minutes he "confessed" to killing a white. He was then shot; the undertaker said he had two hundred bullet holes in his body."

"During the war, repression was often practiced under the guise of "patriotism." The Columbus Ledger editorialized in late 1917 that legislation was needed to force blacks into the army or into the field and stop them from going north or becoming "troublemakers."

"In Georgia smaller towns, local officials passed "work or fight" ordinances that also applied to women and enforced them with extreme prejudices. In Macon, a black woman who kept busy with her home and children and who husband made enough to support his family was fined twenty five dollars for refusing to take a job as a domestic. A Wrightsville ordinance said that all blacks had to work at least fifty hours a week or be jailed. "

"Georgia led the lynching parade by a large margin in 1919. At least 10 black soldiers were lynched that year, half of them in Georgia. Many of the demobilized black veterans continued to wear their uniforms, sometimes because they had no other clothes and sometimes because they were proud of their service. Many whites reacted savagely to this practice. In May 1919, a black Georgia veteran who had gone into a drugstore for a soda was hit with a baseball bat for being in uniform. In Sylvester, Daniel Mack, still in uniform, was dragged from the local jail by a mob and beaten to death. His crime -- for which he received a thirty day sentence--had been to announce that since he had fought in France, he would no longer accept mistreatment from white people.

I rate this book before I finish because it is 5 star material starting from page one. It is not necessary to wait until I read the last page to offer a review. If I should change my mind, I will let y'all know. American history, African American history is an excruciatingly violent and brutal one. I am glad that there are some historians who are willing and brave enough to speak truth to power, and not write garbage and myths as history or his story. Interestingly enough, I don't recall reading about this in school. The Miseducation of the Negro, Carter G. Woodson had it partly right. How about the miseducation of the entire American public?

However, if you want to start off with something a little simpler to read. I would suggest Negrophobia: 1906 Atlanta Riot by Mark Bauerlein(kissinashe.blogspot.com).

This book should be required reading for all African Americans living in Georgia and anyone else interested in the Black Experience in Georgia. Schools should also use it to teach Georgia Black History.

This is a very informative and interesting book that dispells a lot of incorrect information that I learned as a child in newly segregated Southwest Georgia. I remember watching shows like "Roots" and wondering why Georgia slaves here never tried to escape or revolt and after reading only 40% of this book, this misconception has been cleared. this book should be included in all the Georgia history programs.

Buchanan combines all of the elements that one could hope to find in a young artist: passion, precision, extravagant imagination and brillaint virtuosity. The volume runs the gamut from the accessible (and devastating) "The Guinea Pig and the Green Balloon" to the denser (but no less rewarding) "Secret Arsonist" poems. This book will open your heart, your mind, and your ears; repeated readings will only reward you with new insight into her unique sensibility--and the tragedy of human life--of this I ham certain.

Ms. Buchanan's debut is a delirious admixture of surprises. The quality of her thought and impressive control of her lines and imagery make her a young poet far and above many others in her generation. Read this book and you'll encounter worlds you've never known before.

Buchanan has given voice to creatures all over the planet - creatures whose silence, it turns out, was not for lack of intriguing intelligent and emotional thought... Her poems are frightening, heart-breaking, and snuggly cute all at once... ("The Ducks and The Bicylce", "The Guinea Pig and the Green Balloon", "The Only Yak in Batesville, Virginia"). I have never loved poetry the way I love Oni Buchanan's masterpieces.

I ordered my copy of With Malice Toward Some: Very Short Stories for Very Busy People one day when I was looking through the Savage Press website. The cover design struck my fancy, as well as the tag line which said, "These stories will make you smirk and snicker . . ." I realized that while I may have smirked recently, I hadn't snickered in awhile, so I ordered. Well, all I can say is that Georgia Post delivered on her promise. I chuckled. I snickered. I smirked. I then passed the book to my colleague who chuckled, snickered, and smirked as well. There are 47 quirky sort stories of less than two pages each and most times my response to the story was AHA! or HA! This is a book that should be read and passed on to someone else. Better yet, buy one to keep and one to loan out. Maybe even a few as gifts for special friends.

Claiming to be "a 76-year old woman with a 40-year old woman struggling to come out," this author's obviously sharp and lively wit, as well as her imagination, is remarkable at any age.

Georgia Post has created a unique book of short (average length of each is a page and a half) stories, each with a surprising ending.

At the beginning of "With Malice Toward Some", Ms. Post impishly lets it be known that one of the stories is actually true, leaving the reader to wonder which it could be, in addition to the detective-like mentality one can also feel while reading each intriguing story, imagining where the plot will lead.

Cleverly done, Ms. Post! I would love to read more.

"With Malice Toward Some" by Georgia Z Post is a most unusual book of short stories. There are 47 short stories in this book all of which are amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed each story. The author has amazing writing skill for humorous stories and she presents them well.

I came across this book at a book signing at the Tarpon Springs, Florida Library. The signing was put on by the writing group which meets at the Library one day a week.

I was able to meet the author and purchase her book. She has an amazing personality and it shows in her stories. This book is one that should be left on a coffee table in your home to pick up at random and enjoy. I feel it should also be placed in the waiting rooms of doctors offices.

"With Malice Toward Some" by Georgia Z Post is a great book and I highly recommend it.

"Yesterday in the Hills" provides in-depth details about the daily lives of individual poor North Georgia farmers and their families in the early twentieth century. The details are given in the form of stories about indiviual lives and events. Humor, courting, medical practices, farming, family life, poverty, loafing, hunting, gardening, childhood games, etc., are all described in detail. The book reads easily and the stories leave a lasting impression. A very good read.

"Yesterday In The Hills" is the story of the Ballground/Canton/North Georgia hill country settlements. It tells a story of people too poor to live and too proud to give up. I'm descended from these people, and I'm very proud of my roots. I'm white, yes. But these stories, anecdotes, and tall tales need to be preserved.

This is before the depression. This is making a living before the "new deal." This is life before the urbanization of America. This is the story of when people lived on and off their land. This is the story of men and women who settled the land and found it good. This is the story of Georgia, and all the lands where work, industry, faithfulness, and hope were the by-words.

Buy this book. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll remember when Momma's fried chicken, and pastor's sermon would keep you awake for days. But most of all, you'll remember a time passed, when things seemed simpler and the world was larger. . .but most of all when community meant just that. . .read THIS BOOK

These stories are the kinds of stories we should all be passing down in our families and communities. Through such stories young people find out who they are. The people in long ago Ballground, Georgia were poor, but in many ways they were richer than most of us now. Their daily lives had texture and provided a closer walk with the natural world. Just to survive required hard work, cooperation, and wisdom. Humor was a nice extra too and these stories have that extra in abundance. My mother's family lived right on the outskirts of Ballground, and many of her stories could fit right in this book. This is a great read!

Sure. I'll admit it. This review is predjudice because Roy Wilder, Jr. is my uncle. But in all honesty, I do enjoy "You All Spoken Here" and find it very resourceful in my southern lit. classes. Uncle Roy went to alot of work researching southern sayings and such, and enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. Countless fellow writers (including Charles Frasier, who owns a copy and who also wrote a book called "Cold Mountain"- maybe you've heard of it?) credit Roy with writing one of the most well researched, insightful and just plain fun to read books out there! All of his time and efforts paid off, because this book is definately worth the $15 they're charging you. So go buy it!

I found this book about 10 years ago and have returned to browse through my dog-eared copy many times since. Wilder has a wonderful collection of sayings and lore here, and I never put down the book without thinking "I'm going to remember a couple more of those expressions and start using them." But be warned, the chapters and chapter titles seem to be mostly for decoration. They only loosely describe the rambling contents of each section. There is no index (at least in my edition), so relocating a particular express (now what was it he said about hot weather?) is a challenge. I almost always get distracted before I can find what I'm looking for. But I greatly enjoy what I find along the way.

I bought this book years ago and have bought many others like it since. But of all the southern expressions books I have, YOU ALL SPOKEN HERE remains my favorite. The sayings all by themselves are great, but the book is also sprinkled with other amusing tidbit treasures of life in the South. If you enjoy Southern humor, DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!! And Mr. Wilder, if you're reading this... Please Write Volume Two Soon!!! I'll be the first in line to buy it!

It's helpful to have at least a passing acquaintance with Jean Piaget's theories before reading this book, but it's not necessary. Kamii shows in so many many ways that the thought life of young children is different from our own. Not only should this be required reading for all Kindergarten through second grade teachers, but also for those politicians and political pundits whose back to basics (and did we ever really leave the basics?) approach to curriculum simply makes life miserable for these poor kids. (because what they think are the basics aren't really the true basics of thought)

One interesting aspect of the book is that it was in part co-written with a primary school teacher who tries out some of Kamii's ideas in her own classroom. She is initially skeptical that Kamii knows what she's talking about, but later realizes the truth of it when confronted with the evidence of her own senses.

After you read this book, you'll never see a kid do a problem like 5 + 1 or 16 + 7 with the same eyes again.

If you are looking for a better way to teach children math in the early grades, you must read this book.

In Young Children Reinvent Arithmetric, Professor Constance Kamii takes you on a journey of discovery as she works with teacher Georgia DeClark in her first grade classroom. Together they work through the first grade math curriculum finding games and real life situations that will assist students in developing the mathematical thinking skills that underlie the curriculum goals.

The book begins with background information on Piaget's Theory of number, demonstrating how children develop logical-mathematical thinking by interacting with the world and each other. In Part Two the goals and objectives of the curriculum are explained. In Part Three the activities used to teach the children are explained in great detail so that teachers will understand how to use them in their own classrooms. In Part 4 The teacher tells her story. Part Five provides the program evaluation with the research and testing that was done. The children in DeClark's classroom are compared to children in a classroom using traditional teaching methods.

Constance Kamii has been transforming the Constructivist Theory of the origins of thinking by Jean Piaget into practical activities for teaching for decades. Her work is so important in these days of standardized testing and NCLB.
Nancy Illing author of SPARKS Ignite Imagination

I am a Kindergarten teacher and would recommend this book to teachers and parents looking for a good resource to teach children number concepts. Kamii not only discusses number concepts and problem solving, she also gives lots of easy to make games to make learning these things fun. Wonderful book!

Written accounts of solitary wilderness living show up every once in a while, and seem to have become especially popular after the Baby Boomers "discovered" Thoreau in the 1960s. His words still inspire a few folks to chuck their lives of quiet desperation and head for the hills to get away from it all. Some are successful, some are not. Many stay there only a year or two before the most pressing need -- the financial one -- forces them to return to civilization.

That's not the case with Thomas Rain Crowe, who spent four years (1978-1982) living alone in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina. Crowe went back to his home state after living in a variety of places, doing a variety of work, communing with a variety of people. When given the opportunity to be the cabin tenant, he made the most of it. He worked hard to be self-sufficient, growing his own food and tending to his home and his tools. Others might have been bored in such a setting, but not him. He was always busy: gardening, fishing, taking care of his beehives, making homebrew, digging his root cellar, taking notes on the experience. And he regained the use of one his most valuable resources, the Southern Mountain speech of his childhood. He was downright satisfied with the situation.

His mentors in this effort were several local men who offered advice from time to time: Zoro Guice appeared in Yoda-like fashion whenever Crowe needed to learn how to perform a certain task. Walt Johnson was the scamp of the neighborhood, but was also an accomplished dowser who could find water every time. From these and other natives Crowe learned how to live close to the land, to live in the time of the seasons. The reader senses that Crowe would be living there still, if civilization hadn't encroached upon the property and changed it forever. That's when he knew he had to leave.

Not just a doer, Crowe is also a viewer -- a writer, a poet, a spiritual man who feels a strong connection to the natural world. His poetry uses simple words and turns of phrase to evoke powerful images. On the other hand, his prose, the narrative of his story, is the work of a learned and literate man. Complex constructs entice the reader to keep on going, to chew on the concepts and experiences offered. It takes time to digest these lines, and it's time well spent. Having witnessed Thomas Rain Crowe read some of this book aloud in person, I have the benefit of having heard the hint of the Smokies in his voice, the love for the place evident in every well-spoken syllable. No matter; it comes through in the typewritten text as well.

So was Thomas Wolfe right or wrong? Can you or can't you go home again? The reader decides. In the meantime, "Zoro's Field" should be placed on a shelf with the works of the old and new naturalists (Thoreau, Burroughs, Leopold, Carson, Eiseley, Bass) to one side, and the "Foxfire" books to the other. A thought-provoking addition to the environmental canon.

The local legend and mountain sage of the Appalachians of western North Carolina Zoro Guice told the author, "If a man goes out in the woods and just sits down in one place for long enough, all of nature and everything he needs to know will eventually pass before him like a parade." And so Crowe--poet, publisher, and recording artist--took up residence in the Appalachians for four years, and writes about the "parade." As in Thoreau's "Walden," Crowe writes about how he subsisted in the wild and what he learned from this. But moving somewhat beyond "Walden" in content and form, Crowe writes more about what goes on beyond himself; and some passages are in the form of verse. Not so meticulous or contained as "Walden," "Zoro's Field" reflects on modernity's effects on the tie with nature, environmental concerns, and changes which have come to the area. Though different in ways from Thoreau's classic which it cannot help but be compared with, Crowe's work in this same genre holds its own as an engaging, thought-inducing memoir.

More than a modern Walden, this is a book about intentional living. Crowe returns to home land in the southern mountains of North Carolina after living in Europe and northern California. Guided by principles of the Beat poets and philosophers, he embraces the traditions of sustenance, growing his own food, tending bees (honey for trade), making wine and beer. From his cabin beside the Green River gorge, he explores both terrain and history in celebration of a way of life that has been largely lost. The book is elegant and poetic. Crowe writes with an easy style, but critical intellect.