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We asked six avid Blue Mountain News readers what else they like to read when they reluctantly put down the paper. Here's what they told us:
Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle
Recommended by Dave Schreck—Fourth-generation Dayton resident, and Dayton business owner.
Tired of the snow, cold, wind-chilled winter already? Want to at least let your mind wander off to someplace warm? Then wrap your hands around Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice.
This National Book Award Winner throws you back to the summer of 1925 in Detroit MI. Making his way out of a southern ghetto, Dr Ossian Sweet, grandson of slaves, opens a medical practice and buys a home.
Soon after moving into his new home a mob of hundreds gathers outside. Words, sticks, and stones are heaved at the house. Inside, the family crouches in terror. Shots are fired and one of the mob goes down--dead.
The gripping story of the ensuing investigation and trial tells of the birth of the NAACP, Clarence Darrow offering his services and how the country, as well as an already racially-torn Detroit, deals with the issue of racial equality in the jazz age.
Don't look ahead. Arc of Justice is a great read to the last sentence.
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The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula by Eric Nuzum
Recommended by Heather Stearns – Assistant Librarian at Dayton Memorial Library, Celtic flute player and creative writer.
If you've heard about the Twilight phenomenon, but you're looking for something a little more traditional, check out the non-fiction book The Dead Travel Fast by Eric Nuzum. Nuzum tracks the vampire from its mysterious beginnings in Romanian legend all the way to today's Count Chocula (the cereal mascot). Along the way, Nuzum has adventures with Stoker's Dracula, embarks on a quest to watch all 600+ vampire movies ever made (regardless of quality), tries to convincingly portray a 60s style-challenged vampire in a haunted house, and sets out to hunt down some "real vampires".
All in all, The Dead Travel Fast was a hilarious romp through culture, with Nuzum perfectly walking the line of part anecdote and part history lesson.
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Chosen By a Horse: How a Broken Horse Fixed a Broken Heart (a memoir) by Susan Richards
Recommended by Joanna Lanning – Waitsburg area resident who works at the Pioneer Park Aviary, coaches cross-country and loves animals of all kinds.
Author Susan Richards writes about her rescue of a Standardbred mare who was literally a walking skeleton and near death, along with her muddy foal. The local SPCA had confiscated 40 abused horses from a Standardbred farm. The agency needed help caring for them and Richards agreed to foster one of the unfortunate equines.
After arriving at the SPCA's holding facility and attempting to locate the horse assigned to her, another horse instead chooses Richards. "Lay Me Down" walked unaided into Richard's trailer and into her life, changing it forever.
This book will touch the reader in all areas of the heart and mind; it is a lesson of love and courage. I highly recommend it and I gave it to a good friend of mine for this year for Christmas.
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Cathedral by Raymond Carver
Recommended by Jeff Bunney—A pharmacist who moved to Dayton six years ago from Seattle and enjoys his 1.5 minute commute to work everyday.
Cathedral is a collection of short stories written by Raymond Carver, who is considered by many to be one of America's best short-story writers. I've read and re-read Cathedral a few times and it's the only book that I love re-reading as much as I did reading it the first time. Reading his stories feels like devouring a novel in fifteen minutes, as his minimalist style often leaves it up to the reader to fill in the blanks. There is so much said with so few words from his characters.
Much of Carver's work deals with bleak, depressing and sad situations – his talent for detailing simple events in everyday lives was incredible – but reading them doesn't leave me feeling down. In fact it's the opposite, similar to listening to a great sad song.
Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, grew up in Yakima, and many of his stories have references to eastern Washington towns and areas. He died in 1988, but fortunately he left a lot of great stories and poetry for us to enjoy.
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Recommended by Patsy Adams – fourth generation Prescott resident, Walla Walla Rural Library District Board member and retired educator.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, an epistolary novel set in the post WWII era in Britain and the Channel Islands, chronicles correspondence from members of a book club formed on the spur of the moment to protect a friend. Full of bravado with their newly invented book club, they were bold enough to invite the German officers to attend. Not all the members even liked to read books, but found the book club a way to connect during difficult times.
After the Channel Islands were set free from the German occupation, an unlikely correspondence begins between a book club member and Juliet, a journalist. This correspondence expands to include other members of the book club and beyond. Through these letters readers gain an understanding of the challenges of life of an occupied people. Although Juliet wrote a weekly newspaper column about how the English survived during the bombings and rationing of WWII, she realized she didn't know anything about the Channel Islands and their situation during the war. She finds her correspondents becoming friends and she wants to meet them.
The book is a great read, telling about the courage, love and hope of people who are in difficult situations and how they cope. The historical details of the German occupation of the Channel Islands also give a new insight into a different aspect of WWII. It's a book that you'll want to read slowly and savor.
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The House of Happy Endings: a Memoir by Leslie Garis
Recommended by Martin McCaw – Third generation Prescott resident and retired educator who enjoys collecting Uncle Wiggily memorabilia.
Leslie was eight years old when her grandfather, Howard R. Garis, creator of the Uncle Wiggily stories, moved into her home along with his wife Lillian, also a prolific author of children's books. Her memoir is a perceptive and heartbreaking case study of this dysfunctional but loving family, centering on the breakdown of her father Roger, who struggled to become a successful author and playwright in the shadow of his famous father.
As a child I was enchanted by the Uncle Wiggily books. This memoir is beautifully written, and its analysis of the family's psychological dynamics fascinated me. I suggest that after finishing this book, you immediately read an Uncle Wiggily story to reassure yourself that there are indeed happy endings.
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