Book #16 ~ Carissa's Pick: The Bette Davis Club By Jane Lotter

I spend quite a bit of time online looking at top reads of the season, or the year, at places like GoodReads and Huffington Post.  I was pouring over lists trying to find something laugh-out-loud funny and came across this little book.  It sounds as though it has a little bit of everything.  I am not going to provide a synopsis this time.  I think this book will be better if we have absolutely no expectations going into it.  Let's just have some fun with it!

...Another reason this book jumped out at me is the author, Jane Lotter, passed away before her book was picked up by a publishing house.  Although it is sad that she never had a chance to celebrate her success, it is wonderful that she had the faith in herself to self-publish.

Hold Still: A Review by Carissa

Sally Mann is a fascinating woman...what a family history!  Her talent for writing parallels her ability to tell a story through her lens. The way she folds in memorabilia makes you fill like you too are digging through the boxes in the attic.  This is a book I will pick up again.

After reading Jeanette Walls' true-life novels I can't help but wonder how all of this has impacted her children.  I'm sure we will find their memoirs on our list in the future.

Book #15 ~ Barbara's Pick: Hold Still by Sally Mann

Mann crafts a totally original form of personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel but is firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life. The work is told through a masterful combination of Mann's words and photographs. Shannon gave me this book for Christmas and I remember the controversy over the nude photos of her young children, so was interested to find out more about her and how this came about. I found a lot more than that! Enjoy!!!

Half Broke Horses: Review by Carissa

Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel, completely captivated me.   

Our introduction to Lily is a memorable one.  She's a young girl who narrowly escapes a flash flood by climbing a tree.  Little Lily spends the entire night there keeping watch over her two younger siblings then returns them home safely in the morning.  It's this quick thinking, action-oriented, brave girl that we follow as she grows into the feisty and strong Mrs. Lily Casey Smith.

This book was splendidly written.  Lily's experience couldn't be further from my own yet Jeanette Walls' writing made me feel like I was there.  I love historical fiction and this book is compiled of family stories and memories that have been passed down through the years.  Jeanette points out the events that she couldn't corroborate and explains her thought process at the end of the book which I thought was a nice touch.   

Our history as a country is filled with incredibly strong women willing to do what it takes to not only survive, but excel.  Most of these women's stories have not been told.  Lily didn't live her life waiting for the other shoe to drop, she rolled with the punches and perfected bouncing back up after being knocked down.  When she married, it was to a partner who she knew she could work side-by-side with.  When she had children they learned to work as a family unit.  Her life was never one of leisure.  

This is the story of a survivor, not a warm family tale of life in the country.

I absolutely loved it.  I highly recommend "Glass Castle" also by Jeanette Walls.  It follows the story of Lily's daughter and her granddaughters. It shows that we all have our own paths that we need to make in this world.

Half Broke Horses: Review by Barbara

April 2016

HALF BROKE HORSES by Jeannette Walls

Review for Anstett Book Club

from Barbara Lechner

I read this book about 3 years ago and enjoyed the adventures and the time and place in history.

I'm not going to re-read it, so these will be memory and perception...

While reading this book, I remember thinking that historically women seemed to be stronger back at the turn of the century – the 20^th that is! Maybe it's because they became more visible or their exploits recorded. I know the many wars – starting with the Civil War (19^th century) and including WWII – gave women more opportunity and recognition. Or, maybe I'm all wrong and it's because there WERE SO FEW women that stood out of the mainstream.

At any rate, Jeannette Walls documents the life of her grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. She was so alive and ready for anything. I have a hard time agreeing with the cover jacket when they compare her to my idol Isak Dinesen in Out of Africa, but there is some comparison.

I recommend reading Walls book The Glass Castle. It is unbelievable and I enjoyed it as much as this book or more!

Book #14 ~ Kathy's Pick: Half Broke Horses: A True Life Novel by Jeannette Walls

My choice for a book club selection is ½ Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.

Here is a brief summary from the website BOOKRAGS:

""Half Broke Horses" by Jeannette Walls is a work of fiction touted as being a "true life novel." The main setting of "Half Broke Horses" by Jeannette Walls is located in western Texas. The Casey family lived on High Lonesome, a ranch in the heart of a difficult land. Lily describes the property: "When you looked out across the land, most everything you could see - the horizon, the river, the fence lines, the gullies, the scrub cedar - was spread out and flat, and the people, cattle, horses, lizards, and water all moved slowly, conserving themselves."

From a young age, Lily was the kind of person who took charge. She took care of her siblings, broke horses, trained horses, and did every farm chore that needed to be done. There was nothing that Lily Casey couldn't do.

Lily's life was filled with turbulence often turned into opportunities. She landed several teaching jobs before she was certified. Lily also had run-ins with many different people - some of whom were trying to assert their manliness while others do not understand or appreciate Lily's outspoken ways. Lily got fired often.

It was Lily Casey Smith's amazing life that caused her granddaughter, Jeannette Walls to forgo her original plans of writing a novel about her mother and to focus instead upon on her grandmother, a true pioneer."

I have always loved biography, historical type books.  Many of Lily’s teaching positions were here in Arizona so I especially like reading about the 1900’s in AZ. You will feel very pampered when you read what she had to do on a daily basis just to exist! 

I am very passionate about having good relationships with my daughters (actually all my children) so it saddens me that people have those bizarre family dynamics.  It amazes me that Lily could not develop any compassion or even concern about Rose Mary.  However, I did think that  Lily was an amazing woman.  What a pioneer!  She had a lot of determination and courage.

Enjoy!

Kathy