We’ve just received four cookbooks dedicated only to Texas cuisine (really cooking for us Texans), and Shirley and I would enjoy receiving your input as to whether we should keep these books. They are currently on the top shelf behind the chairs of the computer stations. Please, if you have the interest and the time, glance through them and let us know what you think.
Summer reading, or really any time, are two books by two unusual authors: the first, Porch Lights by Dorothea Benton Frank and the second, Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews.
And, to give another type of reading, St. Dale by Sharyn McCrumb is dedicated to following the racing results of Dale Earnhardt, a NASCAR driver. As I’d read and enjoyed a previous book by Ms. McCrumb, I’d selected this from the shelf. And, was amazed at the amount of research the author had done.
Porch Lights is set in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, an area that has been the subject of many of the author’s books. One time she stated that if you ever get the beach sand from Sullivan’s Island in your shoes, you have to return. And I definitely believe that saying as we will be returning there in the Spring of 2013. And the title comes from the necessary porches on each of the homes on Sullivan’s Island, a place where a family or a couple gather at the end of the day to watch the sun set over the sand dunes. This book tells the tale of a young mother returning to her previous home with her young son following the tragic death of her husband, a firefighter. She drives from Brooklyn to the Island in hopes that a summer spent there will help them heal from their loss. Her mother resides in the home and she then takes over the lives of both daughter and grandson. And Edgar Allen Poe, his writings and life, are interwoven throughout the narrative.
St. Dale by Sharyn McCrumb. I’d picked this book from the shelf without realizing who “St. Dale” was, not a person as canonized in the Roman Catholic faith, but I quickly learned what the author meant. “St. Dale” was Nascar racing driver, Dale Earnhardt who had won many championships prior to his fatal crash.
The author tells the tale of a very unusual journey with many unusual travelers. Starting at the Bristol Motor Speedway and ending at Daytona, the Number 3 Pilgrimage, a large silver bus, has a group of passengers, all committed to visiting the race tracks where Dale Earnhardt made his presence known. As each traveler had his/her own reason for taking this journey, the plot carries the reaction of each to the life of Dale Earnhardt at the particular race track. And each passenger is touched somehow by the aura of #3, Earnhardt.
An interesting story and full of many tales of not only Dale, but many other racing drivers. Although I had followed the SCCA, sports’ car racing for many years, I had never seen nor knew much about Nascar racing. But I’m learning now.
And the last of the reviewed books is Alafair Burke’s newest, Never Tell, featuring the Manhattan detective, Ellie Hatcher and her partner, J.J. Rogan. The story begins with the sudden and unexplained death of a teenaged girl with wealthy parents and ends with the unforeseen trial of another mother. Alafair Burke is the daughter of writer, James Lee Burke. Her novels are somewhat lighter than those of her father’s, and they appear to be written mainly in conversation, though some description of characters and places do appear. I’ve found that by using this type of scenario, the plot often becomes easier to understand. Plus the reader has to use his/hers sense of imagination. Which really isn’t that difficult.
We have an unbelievable array of books for purchase at our Library, both hard cover and soft cover, of all types of fiction and even nonfiction. And we welcome all you summer visitors to our Library; we may be small but we have a lot of good books and DVDs! Just takes a Library Card! Our Library is open on Monday & Tuesday from 9-1 & 2-6; on Wednesday, we open at 1:00 p.m. till 6:00 p.m.; Thursday from 12:00 Noon till 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. till 1:00 p.m.
“When an old person dies, a Library burns down.” -Karin Gillespie
