Books and Reviews at Greenberry House

2009-04-09T11:28:00.001-07:00

200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop or Weave

by Jacqui Carey

Interweave Press, Publisher, 2007

It would never have occurred to me that someone could put together a book on trims, much less an interesting and clever book of 250+ pages filled with pictures, techniques and information about materials, including beads. The techniques are clearly illustrated with full color photographs and each step is made to look easy and attractive. Along with twisting, knotting, looping and weaving, other techniques covered are interloping and ply-split darning, plus there is a nice section on working with beads to enhance your creations. A section of completed braid and trim examples is arranged by design and structure, with references back to the techniques involved. There's even a section on how to use the completed trims and braids in your projects as decorative design elements, edging, and how to finish the braids and trims attractively.

This is an interesting and useful book that would appeal to any textile artist, with techniques that can be used with quilting, crochet, knitting, weaving and more!

2009-04-09T11:27:00.001-07:00

Single Crochet for Beginners

by Cindy Crandall-Frazier

Krause Publications, Publisher

$22.99. A very beginner friendly book that takes one stitch, the single crochet, and teaches how to alter the fabric made from this simple and most practical stitch. A very interesting section on crochet hooks reveals the very different styles available, and why a reader might prefer a hook with a more pointed head, for example, as opposed to a blunt one. Still another interesting section features the technique for working back and forth in the round to create a fabric that can match an article worked flat in the usual back and forth stitchery of crochet. More than thirty projects are included, with step-by-step instructions, and there is a quick facts guide to color and fiber to help with future projects.

I have been crocheting for more years than I care to remember, but I found several new hints and techniques in this book, even though it is geared toward the beginning crocheter. I also had the pleasure of meeting the author recently and admire her enthusiasm for crochet and look forward to seeing more of her and her work!

2009-04-09T11:26:00.001-07:00

$15.95. Sassy Debbie Stoller has done it again with a book for crocheters and wanna-be crocheters that has all the boldness and excitement of her earlier knitting projects. The stitch instruction section is lively and well illustrated with photos and step-by-step drawings of each stitch progression, and the titles of the sections are are entertaining as they are informative. 40 patterns are included ranging from simple for beginners to advanced for the more skilled. Designs for younger women in particular are featured and the patterns are fresh and contemporary, using interesting yarns and yarn combinations. I especially like "Violet Beauregard", a sassy skirt, and the patterns for crocheted purses. Several designers contributed to the patterns and there is a biography of each designer included. The Happy Hooker is a delightful book with some personal thoughts from the author about handwork and traditions, and might even convert a few knitters!

2009-04-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

Bags With Paper and Stitch

Innovative Surface Techniques for Embellishing Bags

by Isobel Hall

Interweave Press, Publisher, September 2007

$24.95. Papermaking is something I know very little about. So recent Fiber Femmes articles and this interesting book are intriguing me toward yet another fiber obsession. When will it end?

I think a real newcomer to the art of papermaking would probably benefit from either a class or a basic book before tackling the beautiful projects in this book. Many of the terms and materials used were totally unfamiliar to me. There are large sections of instruction for the techniques, though, and a little background would enable anyone to produce beautiful and intricate pieces from Hall's instruction. There is a very good section on handles and fastenings for bags, with some creative suggestions and ideas.

The book is beautifully photographed and the styles and finished objects pictured are inspirational. While I wouldn't consider this a beginner's book by any means, I think the dedicated papermaker would find Hall's book a wonderful guide to a world of creativity.

Crochet Me!

2009-04-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

Crochet Me

Designs to Fuel the Crochet Revolution

by Kim Werker

Interweave Press, Publisher, October 2007

$21.95. Get out your hooks, Crochet fans! Kim Werker, editor of Interweave Crochet magazine and the founder of crochetme.com, has gathered together a group of hip designers and created a book of innovative and stylish designs. The eighteen patterns range from bags to sweaters and leave granny squares and crocheted flowers far behind.

I particularly liked the looks of both the Babydoll Dress by Amy O'Neill Houck and the Leaves Sweater by Annette Petavy. Both designs use fine yarn to accomplish a beautiful drape. In fact, there were only two designs that I saw in the entire book that used worsted weight yarns; all the others use DK weight and finer. One great feature, especially for a hand spinner, is the substitution section for each pattern that gives a guide to the actual size of the yarn used. There is a section on techniques and a list of suppliers.

One of my favorite things about this book is that each designer is profiled extensively, and most of them have blogs and web sites!

The Thirteenth Tale

2009-01-31T09:12:00.000-08:00

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

It has been quite awhile since I've been inspired to write a book review, but this lovely gothic piece, first by this author, certainly deserves some attention. I was immediately lost in the wonder of this story.

This is the story of two women, both reclusive in their own ways, who are brought together by story. The story of the older woman, a powerful writer who as hidden the details of her life from the world. Now she wants to tell the truth, to a young woman who has no idea that she, too, has a story.

As a Southerner, I know the importance of story, and I deeply identified with the power of this idea. The novel is well-written, captivating and elusive as the heroine weaves the threads of the story together. Along the way she discovers the power of her own story and the ability of the story to change the world. Throughout the novel plays a haunting atmosphere of musty bookstores, ancient libraries and the wonder of the word.

I was a tiny bit disappointed in the ending, although I really didn't expect how everything would play out. Things were maybe a little too tidily wrapped up, but all and all this is a lovely book, well worth curling up with in the big old chair on a rainy, cold or snow day.

Booksigning

2007-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

Tom Perry will be here at the shop to sign his books and talk about his many projects and interests in Patrick County on Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 10 AM. His new book is a beautiful pictoral overview of Patrick County's history. Y'all come out and visit, and if you can't get to Meadows of Dan, Perry's books are available at his web site.
Labels: Books, The Shop

Island at the Center of the World

2007-09-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto

Random House, 2004

When a very intelligent, perceptive gentleman of good local family recommended this book, I immediately put in an order for it. There's nothing that appeals to me more than local history, and this is local history on only a slightly broader scale.

The Dutch settlement of the colony of New Amsterdam is a little known facet of American history. Recent discovery and translation of the many documents produced by that colony has shed a new light on this early settlement, revealing the vibrant beginnings of a city known for its vigor and unique character.

The story soon comes down to the conflict between two strong-willed and powerful men. Adriaen van der Donck, a young lawyer and historian with a vision for the future of New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant, governor and representative of the company that owned the colony clash over the rights of the colonists and the government of the new world. As the story of their political manipulations and struggles continues, the reader soon realizes that New Amsterdam's rowdy active seaport was the true mother of New York. Many aspects of Dutch culture and attitude continued after the English took over the colony and were assimilated into the New World.

The notions of freedom for the individual, an entirely new concept to European minds, originated, so Shorto claims with justification, in the fertile grounds of Dutch thought and education. In a Europe struggling with war and ignorance, the Dutch institutes of learning offered refuge for some of the finest minds of the era. Adriaen van der Donck and his generation were strongly influenced by Dutch thought and culture, and through them a new idea ranged through North America.

Shorto's book is fast paced and entertaining, featuring a broad ranging look at the well-known, not so well-known and obscure inhabitants of the island that became Manhattan. Reading this book gave me a new perception of colonial history and I can recommend it to anyone interested in the smaller and bigger pictures of the growth of America.

Cane River

2007-08-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Cane River by Lalita Tademy
Warner Books, 2001

I come from two long lines of strong women. They survived the hard life of settling in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, the pain and loss of childbirth, disease, economic hardship, the Depression, the helplessness of dealing with alcoholism and many other tragedies and difficulties of life. But none of them, to my knowledge, had to suffer the indignities of slavery. Lalita Tademy's book, Cane River, tells in fictional form the stories of four generations of the women in her family.

The story, focusing on the women that raised children, mostly by white men, in rural Louisiana during the years before the Civil War and into the 1930s, brings home the true tragedies of slavery. The first woman of the family to come to Cane River was Elizabeth, torn from her two children in Virginia and shipped South, still a slave with no control over her fate or the fates of her children. Generation after generation struggle with the truth of being of dark skin in the South, as her daughters and granddaughters bear children to white plantation owners against their will, finally using the desires of these white men against them to better the lives of their children.

The great tragedy for me in this book was that these wonderful women, each beautiful and strong, was unable to realize the glory of their color. Being dark was a burden, and lightening the skin of the next generation became an unacknowledged goal for Suzette, Philomene and Emily as they fought for security in white society for their children. Being able to "pass" as white made life easier, but the resentment that built up in the community against the white men who lived openly and acknowledged their children by these black women shattered lives. Tademy's search for her heritage began in a resentment against the attitudes of the earlier generation against dark skin. What she discovered was that each generation dealt with prejudice and hardship in the only way they knew, and her respect for these women and their difficult choices becomes a wonderful story of their lives.

Although this is fiction, there is a lot of truth in this portrayal. The story doesn't end with a "happy ever after", and it sometimes seems to me that the struggle is still as hard as ever. It's long past time that we learned lessons from our tragic history.

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Eat, Pray, Love

2007-07-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert, Penguin Books, 2006.

A friend loaned me this book to read, and after two pages I had to go out and buy a copy for myself. I have a feeling that this paperback will become frayed and tattered before I grow tired of it. I only wish I had been able to read this book when I was in my early thirties instead of in my late forties.

After a catastrophic divorce, Liz starts a spiritual journey that is special because the reader can relate to the adventure, told with humor and honesty. It was mostly about eating in Italy, with wonderful, sensual descriptions of the food and the experience of learning Italian. Gilbert makes the language sounds as delicious as the food. Then it was on to India, where prayer and meditation, and the struggles really began. Finally, in Bali, everything came together and it becomes clear that Gilbert has learned what it takes to live a life of understanding and love.

Throughout the journey Gilbert meets wonderful people who care for her and teach her as she grows. It reminds me of my own life journey, full of beautiful minds and hearts that keep me on my path.

Elizabeth Gilbert has a wonderful web site that tells more about the book and her life. I plan to buy a few more copies of Eat, Pray, Love to give to friends, especially younger women!

Edited to add:

I was mentioned in a USA Today review of this book! Somewhat thrilling!

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Hissy Fit and Savannah Blues

2007-06-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

Hissy Fit and Savannah Blues, by Mary Kay Andrews, Perennial, 2005 and 2003

The first time I knew anything about a Mary Kay Andrews book was when I was traveling all the time and getting Books-on-Tape out of the library. I loved the ones by Southern writers, especially women. On a long drive that usually started at four in the morning, these witty books read by a Southern voice kept me awake and alert and laughing.

Savannah Blues was one of the audio books I borrowed from the Patrick County Library, and I laughed aloud most of the way up the state of Virginia on my drive. Andrews is witty, with some hilarious and believable characters that deal with mystery, mayhem and murder with class and Southern flair. When Mom passed the books along to me, it was like meeting an old friend. The main character of Savannah Blues, Eloise Foley, is a picker, an antique dealer that cruises flea markets, yard sales and estate sales for treasures to turn into cash. She also wears vintage clothes and lives in a carriage house in Savannah. She struggles to make a living and has troubles with her ex who lives in the house she lovingly remodeled. Somehow I could seriously identify with this character!

Hissy Fit is also about an independent business woman, this time an interior decorator. Keeley Murdock throws a real Southern hissy fit when she discovers her groom-to-be in a compromising position with her best friend and maid of honor the night before the wedding. Her fit makes history in the town and angers the snobby family of her groom. They try to run her out of business but Keeley saves the day and the town, with the help of the new owner of the local bra factory and her classy aunt that knows where all the bodies are buried.

These books may not be great literature but they are entertaining and fun. I've ordered Little Bitty Lies and I'm checking out other titles by Mary Kay Andrews. Mary Kay has a new blog, The Kudzu Telegraph (what else) with an entertaining first post about her next book and cruising estate sales!

Black Swan Green

2007-06-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, Random House, 2007

Most of the books I read about English life are either written or set in the peaceful English countryside of the past centuries. Black Swan Green is also set in the English countryside, but in a modern world that is far from peaceful.

Jason Taylor is a poet that is afraid of being bullied if his peers find out that he writes, and a regular thirteen-year-old boy facing the usual perils of adolescence. He lives in an ordinary housing development near a sleepy village, but in the thirteen months of his life explored in this book, he discovers that things are not nearly as ordinary in Black Swan Green as they seem.

Jason's journey through that year of his life is a struggle with school, a stuttering handicap and bullies, and with changes in his family and in himself. These are the usual rites of passage that might happen to any boy, but in Mitchell's novel the common moves along with the uncommon, as a ghostly playmate helps set the theme for the coming chapters. Jason wanders from the ordinary world of his affluent housing development into a stranger, older England, with strange mysteries and even stranger people. But even as Jason discovers a wider, mystical country alongside his own modern world, the common transforms the fantasy, and is transformed as well.

Ghosts often haunt David Mitchell's books, but the ghosts in Black Swan Green are more elusive than usual. The modern mind seems to shun mystery, creating an ordinary world out of the routine of daily life. Mitchell captures the glimpses of the extraordinary that exist alongside the common, with a beautifully written story of one young life in rural Worcestershire.

Buy this book from Greenberry House.

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Gap Creek

2007-05-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

Gap Creek by Robert Morgan, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1999

I had read this once before, but when it showed up in the astonsihing stack of books my aunt sent me recently I thought it was time for another visit with the Richards family down in the valley. The theme I liked the most in this books is that it doesn't seem to be a good idea for mountain folk to leave the mountains; that's just asking for trouble.

And trouble is just what Julie and Hank get when they move down on Gap Creek so Hank can go to work at a job nearby. Julie, newly married with the secret hope that her days of hard work are done, finds herself working just as hard to keep house for her landlord and new husband. Their trials really begin at hog killing time, and things just get worse and worse as the young couple struggles to deal with fire, flood, famine and a difficult mother-in-law.

Told from the point of view of Julie, I sometimes thought the characterization of Hank and the others in the book was a little sketchy. But then I realized that Julie told her story like a mountain woman would tell it. If my grandmother had ever really sat down and told the story of her life, it would have read very much like the story of Julie and Hank. Not so much tragedy, of course, but it would have been about trouble and working and family. And Grandma would have told it like Julie did, with not so much emphasis of how and why this happened; she would have just said it happened this way.

Reading between the lines is required more with this book than with many others, but there is a sublte Appalachian realism here. Mountain people don't go in for introspection and emotion, really. Perhaps the book would have been stronger with less tragedy and more empathy between the characters, and more revelation about the development of some characters. But I think the author accomplished his purpose, and told "The Story of a Marriage".

The Autobiography of God

2007-04-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Autobiography of God by Julius Lester, St. Martin's Griffin, 2006

Sometimes a book written as fiction plunges bravely to the heart and depth of the hardest and most complicated philosophical and theological issues. This slender volume explores the themes of faith and evil through the story of a young woman rabbi who is struggling with loneliness and a crisis of faith. When she comes into possession of a special Torah, her life is changed radically, and she must face the truth, about herself and about God.

The quietly mystical search that Rebecca experiences in the first part of the book appealed to me, and I identified with her struggle with the difficult questions of life. I spent a lot of time looking up terms and exploring meanings as I read. I also made notes of some beautiful and thoughtful quotations to ponder further.

The later chapters were very different, almost shocking and certainly thought-provoking. Unexpected twists in the plot and stunning new characters are only part of the sudden change, which serves to underscore the meanings in the first part of the book and take the reader into strange new territory. The final chapter isn't a complete resolution, but it is satisfying and I won't soon forget this story.

Julius Lester has a blog called A Commonplace Book.

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A Fine Balance

2007-04-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, Vintage International Books, 1997.

I have read a few books recently, all fiction, about India. The last was an entertaining and comic novel about a modern Indian girl's search for "a nice boy" to marry. Even though it was funny, there were some disturbing themes, in the lack of control the young woman felt regarding her life and future.

Mistry's book, also often funny but overshadowed by repeated tragedy, also brings out the theme of lack of control. The four main characters are born in different castes and in different parts of India and are all searching for better lives. They come together through strange circumstances and work together to make a future for themselves, but repeatedly their lives are shattered by events beyond their control. Government corruption is a major offender in this dark world and poverty batters the lives of all of the characters in the novel. The story is set in the mid-1970s, during the "State of Emergency".

What was appealing to me about this book was how four ordinary people somehow managed to rise above the tragedies of their individual lives and reach out to each other and to others around them, some even less fortunate than themselves. The main characters learned to respect each other despite appearances and differences, and the struggle to survive sometimes brought out the best as well as the worst in even the minor characters.

The plot is a beautifully woven tapestry of intertwined lives and loves. Occasionally the story is horrifying, then comically shattering before it soars. The truths in this novel run deep, revealing the changing attitudes toward individuality and personal worth in a culture in turmoil. The depth of the human spirit in a world made up of beggers, murderers, extortionists alongside ordinary people just trying to get by is a fascinating and rich portrait of a culture and time painted by a master.

The Lovely Bones

2007-04-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Lovely Bones, By Alice Sebold, Little, Brown and Company, 2002.

A haunting, beautiful and often painful tale, The Lovely Bones is the story of the death, life and the mystery of both as Susie Salmon tells about what happened to her one terrible night in a corn field near her home. Her rape and murder begin a shattering journey for her family and friends that she watches from heaven. Unable to tear herself way from the bonds of love and need, Susie is helpless to influence events as grief isolates her family.

This is the second time I've read this book, and like the first time I couldn't put it down. The writer does a wonderful job of speaking for Susie, the victim of a crime that doesn't for a minute see herself as a victim. Told from a unique point of view, as Susie watches the unfolding lives of her family and friends from a gazebo in heaven, this is a unique coming-of-age tale. Filled with sadness and tragedy as the story is, hope and humor lift the story with a unique perception of what heaven might be like and with the comforting idea that those that the living have lost are just beyond our perception, behind the veil.

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Savage Beauty

2007-04-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Savage Beauty, The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford, Random House, 2001.

I've been reading the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay lately, so I was pleased to find this book in one of the boxes that my aunt sent at the beginning of the winter. I knew very little about the poet and her life, so this biography, thirty years in the writing, makes me want to take a new look at the poems. Although I feel that there are some faults in Milford's biography, seeing the poetry against the background of a life, often troubled but always adventurous, added a new dimension to my understanding.

Millay spoke for a new generation of women, those of the Jazz Age that were stepping across boundaries and breaking into new territory. Millay smoked in public and made no secret of her many lovers, both male and female. Marriage vows, her own or another's, had little effect on her behavior. Her troubled life began in Maine, where her father abandoned the family early and her mother felt obliged to leave her three small daughters alone for long periods of time while working as a nurse. The relationship between the four women affected much of "Vincent's" life, with turmoil between herself and a difficult younger sister who felt overshadowed by Vincent's talent. Cora Buzzell Millay, Vincent's mother, seems to struggle with pride and jealousy in Milford's portrayal of her, and it sometimes seems that Vincent and her sisters go to great lengths to pacify Cora's demands, perhaps from fear of abandonment. There is a hint at one point that Vincent may have been molested by a man Cora was involved with.

What struck me most about Vincent Millay's life is that genius so often comes out of such a life. Talented people often seem to be driven toward a need for experience, and the depth of their work reveals an understanding of experience that so many of us lack. We need these people to speak for us, out of their pain, to say what we cannot find words to reveal.

Milford disappoints me occasionally throughout her work. She isn't a particularly organized writer; the book is unsettling in the manner that the material is presented, sometimes in an almost haphazard fashion. It is difficult to capture a life, of course, but the best biographers understand the "why" behind the "what happened" and these reasons elude Milford. Reading between the lines of the numerous excerpts of Millay's works, journals and letters is up to the reader, and Milford offers no interpretation or analysis. I felt sometimes that Milford was overwhelmed with the material, and perhaps intimidated by Millay's sister, Norma.

Savage Beauty has some flaws, but so did Edna St. Vincent Millay. The biography is well worth reading for the facts presented and the excerpts from Millay's journals and less accessible writing beyond her poetry. The biography has encouraged me to go back to the poems, with a better understanding of their author, and maybe this is accomplishment enough.

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I Capture the Castle

2007-01-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, St. Martin's Griffin, 1998.

This book, a discovery by my aunt in Connecticut, is such a charming work that I can't understand why I never read it before. The story is quite simple with shades of Jane Austen; two poor girls with no prospects live with their eccentric parents in a rundown ruin of an English castle; then the rich neighbors move in and life is changed forever. But this little story, written from the point of view of the younger sister by way of her journal, captures more than just the castle as young Cassandra discovers life and love and the wide world beyond genteel poverty.

Although Smith's story is not meant to be challenging, I like a small section where Cassandra talks to the local vicar about religion. The vicar is more of a friend than pastor to the family; he is well-educated and one of the few people that the girls or their father know in the small village. Cassandra has realized that she is in love with her sister's fiance, and, although she doesn't know it, the vicar understands she is troubled. He tells her to "sit in an empty church. Sit, not kneel. And listen, not pray. Prayer's a very tricky business." Earlier he explained that God is "merely shorthand for where we come from, where we're going, and what it's all about."

Cassandra wrestles with a few hours of determining to "get religion" and do good works, but then she realizes that some people might use religion as a means of avoiding "life" and she knows she doesn't want to bypass the good and bad of living. The story goes on, often funny, with a gentle tragedy for young Cassandra that somehow seems it will work out right in the end. It's hard for a seventeen year old to give up on life, even with a broken heart, when she has so much interest in people and writing.

Surpassing Wonder

2007-01-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Surpassing Wonder by Donald Harman Akenson, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1998

I'm not a Biblical scholar or professional historian, so I'm not sure that I'm a good judge of the worth of a book like this, which is somewhat geared toward the "educated amateur" but deals with historical methods and a tremendous quantity of literature. The subject of the book is the processes that led up to the creation of the main texts of Christianity and Judaism, from the Hebrew Bible up to the Talmuds.

One interesting point that he makes is that the thought and writings of Judaism have had a much stronger impact on the development of Western Civilization than is normally credited. Since I've always been taught that classical Greece was the major influence on the development of modern thought, this is a viewpoint that I hadn't considered, but shall in further reading. Much of Akenson's work urges further research on the part of the reader as well as critical analysis of current scholarship, even his own work!

The writer is deeply respectful of his subject, occasionally witty without being sarcastic and mindful of the fact that there are more questions than answers about some historical periods that he is writing about. Much of his theme revolves around the destruction of the Temple and how that event was a major factor in the development of the Scriptures and commentary.

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Cold Sassy Tree

2006-12-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

Cold Sassy Tree
by Olive Ann Burns
Delta Fiction, 1994

This is one of those amazing books that captures many aspects of Southern life, especially during the changing times and attitudes of the early 20th century. Young Will Tweedy, just 14 years old, begins to discover just what the people around him are really like, as he explores his budding talents as a writer and records the strange events that take place after the death of his grandmother. Small town life and the upper middle class concern for appearances are explored with sympathy and amusement by Burns, who worked as a journalist before turning to fiction later in her life. Cold Sassy Tree, Georgia, grew from a family history the author was working on, and nearby Commerce was the home of her grandfather's store and the model for the town in the novel.

I'm not sure why I had never read this book. I think I had a vague notion it was part of some sort of heavy generational series. There is nothing heavy about this novel, although like many Southern women writers Burns tackles the difficult issues of life, love and death as seen through the eyes of Will Tweedy. The narrow-minded prejudices of small town are revealed with humor and grace, and the women in Will's family tackle their adversities with their heads held high, despite the opinions of the neighbors!

Buy this book from Greenberry House!

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Patches on the Same Quilt

2006-07-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

Patches on the Same Quilt
By Becky Mushko

Patches on the Same Quilt, Franklin Publishing, 2001.

It was hard to decide which of Becky Mushko's books to review. Where There's A Will, a delightful collection of short stories for young people, is the newest of her works and include study guides for use in 6th grade Virginia schools under the SOLs. The title of The Girl Who Raced Mules and Other Stories is nearly irresistible, and is a collection of charming, funny and beautiful stories. Peevish Advice is just plain hilarious, described as "a fun and trashy reading experience".

Patches on the Same Quilt, the first of Becky's books that I read, was also my favorite. This short story collection, winner of the 2001 Smith Mountain Arts Council Fiction Award, spans six generations of a fictional Franklin County family. A member of each generation picks up the thread of the history of the family, telling the tale that begins with a young boy's longing for a horse. The family saga twists and turns with the changes of the 20th century, but the strong love of place and deep appreciation and love of fine horses stretches across the generations.

The author's sense of story and of place, as well as a deep understanding of the people of her unique county, are all revealed in the stories that take place in and around Penhook, Virginia. A good eye for detail shows in the descriptions of the area, settling the reader comfortably in the mountains of Franklin County. The dialect is well done, capturing the soft accents of the mountain people. Much of the intelligence and talent of the native Blue Ridge Mountain people is also revealed in the talents of the characters as artists and writers.

Particularly meaningful to me were the stories of the women. A mother grieves the loss of her soldier son, a young girl faces the consequences of a careless decision, a second wife faces the fact that her new husband is still in love with his dead first bride. The ties of mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter, sister to sister; all are explored and revealed as strong women face sorrow, loss, gain and growth.

Horses figure largely in the stories, beginning with a Civil War survivor that was once a fine "singlefootin'" or racking horse that was crippled by the war. Her descendants are celebrated along with the family, and there are some telling revelations about the world of show horses and the corruption of the beautiful natural gaits by show practices in the later stories. The loss of the horses as a way of life leads to more hard changes for the family.

The title of the book is derived from a sampler that a character worked: "We may not be cut from the same cloth, but we're all patches on the same quilt" and serves as the theme of the book. The cover artwork is a photo of a family quilt, an heirloom that Becky Mushko has preserved. The theme that each life in a family serves as an interconnected part of a whole, captured in stories told in individual voices with unique viewpoints, is a revelation about the people of the mountains.

Becky Mushko's books are available on-line from several sources and directly from the author. Patches on the Same Quilt must be ordered directly from Becky and is in a second printing.

Becky Mushko, Writer

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Slow Road Home

2006-04-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

I was honored on Thursday morning with the chance to interview Fred First, author of a wonderful new book of memoir, Slow Road Home. I won't say much about it, partly because I want to save my impressions for the book review I'm writing for the Blue Ridge Gazette and partly because I wasn't sure if Fred was ready to announce that he was doing interviews. But his blog is commenting on the exciting news that the book will be available soon.

Personally I can't wait to get my hands on a real copy of this book. I have been delving into a review copy .pdf file on the computer, but there's nothing like holding a volume in your hands. I'm a person that devours books, reading cover to cover in a rush to absorb words and meaning and experience. But this lovely book stopped me cold sentence after sentence. It's a book to pick up and savor, then put down to think about the phrases and meanings. I'll be reading this memoir for years. It speaks of a man's personal journey, and it speaks to my personal journey. I am in awe.

Pay a visit; you'll be delighted!

Slow Road Home ~ A Blue Ridge Book of Days
by Fred First / Goose Creek Press / Floyd, Virginia
website: http://goosecreekpress.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
weblog: http://fragmentsfromfloyd.com
email: fred1st@gmail.com

Lee Smith

2006-03-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

Lee Smith. The name for me evokes memories of long days spent happily lost in books that speak to the minds and hearts of mountain girls everywhere. Oral History, Family Linen, Black Mountain Breakdown, The Devil's Dream, Saving Grace, and my particular favorite, Fair and Tender Ladies. I know so many of the women in these books, and I have been one or two of them. Thought provoking, funny, tender, haunting; each book has a meaning far beyond the story. The richness of detail about mountain life, the deep understanding of the people and their ways and thoughts, and above all the portrayal of the changes that the modern world has inflicted on a proud people are woven into the stories.

The Friends of the Library in Floyd, with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is hosting a wonderful series of author talks entitled "Celebrate the Past/Look to the Future". Lee Smith was the speaker at last night's gathering at the Presbyterian Church in Floyd, Virginia. Surrounded by wooden paneled walls, purple carpet and stained glass, Lee Smith was as charming and funny as her books. Haunting as well, as she spoke of personal experience and personal loss, inspiration for the writer from Grundy who grew up surrounded by story. Mountain people love story, playing with words and evoking emotion with family tales, complicated jokes and the richness of memory. Lee Smith's writings capture this love.

She spoke most about her more recent book, The Last Girls, another favorite of mine. I didn't realize that part of the plot was based on a trip she took in college down the Mississippi on a raft. Smith's description of this trip and the girls she traveled with rocked the large audience with laughter. Readings from the book describing the characters, accented in a true mountain voice, were both hilarious and touching. The charm of the writer echoed the charm of her books; she was funny, tender, thought-provoking and haunting, just like her written words.

She also talked about Fair and Tender Ladies, a novel written during a time of personal crisis for her. I think for a true writer the characters often take over the book, and Smith talked of Ivy Rowe, the main character in Fair and Tender Ladies, as if she were a friend. Ivy Rowe is the one character in all of her books that I can call to mind as a complete person. She is plucky and sensuous, proud and loving. Some of the reason may be that I saw an actress portray the character several years ago at the Reynolds Homestead here in Patrick County. After the program the director introduced favorite cousin and me to the actress. Mary startled me by describing me as sensuous. A bit of self-realization there, thanks to Lee Smith.

I looked around the audience as Lee Smith spoke. Floyd County is a unique blending of cultures. Women with deep roots that span generations in these mountains sat with women of different backgrounds, drawn to Floyd by the beauty of the countryside and feeling of community. Every face has a story, all unique, but all about the experience of being women in changing times. Lee Smith has captured these stories in the pages of her novels, speaking with tender understanding of the mountain people that are so often misrepresented and ridiculed. Speaking with pride in an accent that is fast becoming rare because of outside influences, these novels, as fiction, reveal more than truth about a disappearing time and generation.

Ivy Cole and the Moon

2006-01-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

Ivy Cole and the Moon, by Gina Farago, NeDeo Press, Greensboro, North Carolina 2005

Ivy Cole and the Moon by Gina Farago is not the type of book I would normally pick up. On the surface it seems to be of the horror genre, not one of my personal favorites. But this 'werewolf' book is far more than it seems on the surface. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the structure as the writer weaved her tale with flashbacks and revelations about the characters. The setting, familiar to me as my own backyard, only added to my interest in the story and the names of the characters were right for the area and for the tale. The fascinating theme of the story lifts the book far beyond genre fiction.

I won't say more; I never understood how all those teachers have been able to struggle through years of book reports. But if you're looking for an interesting read with some chills but also with some depth and style, think about Ivy Cole and the Moon.

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