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Just finished "Winter's Bone," by Daniel Woodrell. I think this has just been made into a movie.

It's a great title in about five different ways. This is not a cheerful book. But it's a good one... I intend to read several more of his depressing works.

Basic story: Small house in the Ozarks somewhere. Dad is a chef - a meth chef, one whose labs never blow up. But at his last arrest, he listed the house as security with the bail bondsman - and now Dad has skipped out.

Mom's brain fried a long time ago and she's not capable of coherent sentences - leaving daughter Ree, at 17, responsible for herself and her two younger brothers. She can handle that task, barely, with a roof over her head; without it, there is no hope. So it's up to Ree to find Dad.


This was a very good book unless you're big on happy endings. This is not the kind of thing I normally read but it's good enough, as I said, that I'll look into more of his work.

I'll go put it on my B&N wish list.

The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer is interesting. Seems that during the Civil War there was one county in Mississippi, specifically Jones County, that housed individuals who withdrew from the Confederacy, hid out in swamps (when necessary), and fought for the Union. Newton Knight was the man who started it all. He was conscripted into the Confederate army and served until he realized that the Civil War—perhaps like all wars?—was being fought by the poor for the benefit of the wealthy. (Incidentally, our emmag is a member of Knight's family—at least I'm 95% sure it was emmag who led me to this book.).

For purposes of this review, we'll cover a statement I question, things-I-didn't-know, writing, general stuff, and unfamiliar words.

A statement I question: Early in the book the authors question most Americans' knowledge of the Civil War, one complaint being that many did not know "that the majority of white Southerners had opposed secession …" (italics theirs) (page 4) They're right. I didn't know that. And I'm not sure I'll accept it at face value. Anyone out there ever run into a similar claim?

Things I didn't know:

1) "On October 11, 1862, the Confederate legislature passed its infamous Twenty Negro Law. The edict exempted the richest men from military service. 'One white man on every plantation with twenty or more slaves was allowed to stay home.'" (page 39) Wow! Poor men fighting for rich men was now the law of the land. The passage of this law was what led to Newton Knight's refusal to fight for the South.

2) "'How I do wish this war would end,' Anson (Hemmingway) wrote. 'This place is very strongly fortified and it will cost a man life to take it—but it must fall. We must take it.' Anson would survive to imbue his grandson Ernest with an obsession with physical courage and a penchant for war reporting." (page 105) Cool. Who woulda thunk Ernest Hemmingway any connection with the Civil War?

3) "The poet Walt Whitman, who was working as a hospital orderly, …" (page 190) Walt Whitman took part in the Civil War? Think he was bothered by don't-ask-don't-tell? (Relax. I know it wasn't part of that era. It's just a joke.)

Writing:

1) One primary source contains a description of the all the different types of men to be found in a prison run by Yankees and ends with: "Death is said to be the great leveler; the dungeon at Tupelo was a great leveler." (page 89) I like that.

2) "Shotgun explosions bleached the night and a squall of shotgun pellets blew into the camp. Amid iterating thunder, men screamed. Some of the teamsters fired back aimlessly at the vague enemies in the stygian dark. Musket fire and buckshot guttered, and cattle and oxen broke loose and bolted into the woods." (page 160) OK. The passage is description. And it's about war. In spite of both those things, I still like it.

General: "There were several dreaded punishments short of shooting or hanging to keep men in the ranks. There were public floggings, shaving of one side of the head, marching men through the countryside like slaves in a coffle, imprisonment with hand labor and of course branding." (page 94) My. Isn't that special. Aren't you glad to know it?

Unfamiliar Words:

1) coffle (used on page 94): "n. A group of animals, prisoners, or slaves chained together in a line." From www.dictionary.com. That's what I figured from context, but I've never before been conscious of the word.

2) iterating (used on page 160): "to do (something) over again or repeatedly." From www.dictionary.com. Again, context made it obvious, bit I'm growing amazed at the number of words for which I have only a general idea of what they may mean.

3) ravened ("badly ravened" on page 194): "to eat or feed voraciously or greedily: to raven like an animal." The particular scene describes enemy dogs attacking a man. There's also ravenous. Obviously they hAve a shared root. Dang! I could spend a lot of time on www.dictionary.com. I find all this linguistic stuff cool.

Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Thumbs neutral, actually. The first two thirds of the book were good; the last dragged, but only in a few places.

Why would anyone hunt down, buy, and read a book about serial killers? I dunno. Why do people slow down and gawk at highway accidents? Of course, I never do that. But read about serial killers? That's a horse of a different color. (Go ahead. Hum a few bars.) But seriously …

Serial Killers and Other Sadistic Murderers by Jack Levin was pretty good—except for the last chapter. We'll get to that later. Stuff:

1) "Mass and serial killings usually do not occur over arguments. They are premeditated—methodical and planned. And they are disproportionately likely in states such as California, Florida, Texas, Alaska, New York, and Illinois, where there are large numbers of strangers." (page 26) Just in case you wanted to know. And let's add a warning for EmmaG, Ag and it started to be careful. Oh, yeah. And Sarah Palin, too.

2) The book does cover the usual suspects: the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy, Green River Killer, etc. About Kaczynski, Levin writes, "He would later gloat about his role in ending the career of someone he felt deserved it—namely, an air force captain." (page 150) Throughout the book, I found the killers' justifications for their acts to be interesting. Here, Kaczynski seems to pride himself on doing a service for society. Wow. Amazing what we can convince ourselves to believe.

Overall, Serial Killers didn't add much to what I already knew, but it did give me a couple character ideas.

Finally, about that last chapter: I disliked everything in it, enough so that I spent some time trying to figure out why. I think I did. The book presents itself as being informative and, until the last chapter, it is. The last chapter though turns into a diatribe as the author tries to convince the reader of steps that need to be taken to lessen serial murders. I felt like the author tricked me. He said he was going to inform me, and that he did. He should have stopped once he did so. IMNSHO, of course.

I'll offer up something a bit gentler, Martha - I am re-falling-in=love-with M.F.K. Fisher. Although she was best known for being a food writer (one of her most famous books is The Art of Eating), I am currently reading Sister Age, a collection of vignettes about, well, age.

Reading this book, I am beginning to understand those writers I truly love. They are the writers who do not need clever wordplay or creative similes to make a point; they are the writers who love words themselves, who do not need a phrase when the right word will do. (Hmm...they are the writers who are strongest where I am most weak.)

Fisher is a joy to read because there are no rough edges a all. She writes what she means, each word leads smoothly to the next. Her writing is clean and lovely.

Someone at another site spoke recently of books as investments for retirement. To that end I've gathered all of my anthologies and "complete works of" in one area, not to be sold or tossed. I think I will have to get a couple of good volumes of Fisher for that shelf.

Off to my wish list at B&N.com.

Back now.

Hmmm. I think your wish list would be an interesting read in and of itself...

anything by john banville, irish novelist and booker prize winner and finalist. i am reading my third banville book right now, the infinities. i highly recommend his booker prize winner, the sea and his booker finalist, the book of evidence. incredible writer.

One of my favorite benefits of my Kindle is the free classics. Just finished "Of Human Bondage" Sommerset Maugham and simply loved it.

I have to 'fess up. I bought myself a Kindle for my birthday -- and yes, I'm treating myself to tons of freebies.

I simply came to the conclusion that I am being overrun with books. I can't continue the way I've done so far; I gave away nearly 30 cartons of books last time I moved and could do half that again only five years later. My beloved books are becoming a burden.

The Kindle is a surprisingly comfortable read - my only argument with it is that I have to flip pages twice as often.

My goal now is to see whether I can make it through the summer with only electronic and library books crossing my doorstep.

It's been an odd summer that way. Early this month I brought home a small stack of books from my father's house - including the earliest books I can remember having read to me, and the earliest books I remember reading for myself. I spent the first few days with the Kindle downloading the classic children's lit I left behind.