Frontier Eden: The Literary Career of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings by Gordon E. Bigelow

"These comic stories are a major literary accomplishment, good enough to be placed beside the best of Ring Lardner or Faulkner or the other American writers of this century who have followed Mark Twain's lead in using folk narration. The creative accomplishment is more impressive when one recalls that these stories are the product not of a "native" who grew up with the sound of cracker speech in her ear, but of a city woman who acquired that speech, having heard it for the first time when she was past thirty. She filled these stories with her own exuberance and enthusiasm for the Florida cracker way of life, her own delight in the wit, the beauty, and the vividness of the language."
                                  -the author's thoughts on Rawlings' use of dialect

I am something of an aficionado of Marjorie K. Rawlings, having read much of her writing and a number of books about her. I have performed a short monologue as Marjorie at the Orange County Regional History Center (Orlando), joined and attended conferences of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society and taught two courses involving her at Rollins College Center for Lifelong Learning. I have begun to feel she is my alter-ego.

It was not so long ago I was surprised to discover this book which I had NOT read. Published in 1966,  it has been around a while so I'm not sure how I missed it. I'm glad I read Frontier Eden (rating it a 3) but I'd only recommend it to those who are really into Rawlings. I understand the University of Florida, where Bigelow was a professor of American literature for 30 years, has quite a collection of material by and concerning MKR so it must have been quite handy for his research.

After just one chapter, the reader can tell this is a scholastic treatise, an academic critique of Rawlings' work, part of the reason for my reluctance to recommend. It reminded me of  Crossing the Creek, The Literary Friendship of Zora Neale Hurston and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings by Anna Lillios, associate professor of English at the University of Central Florida---long on information, short on entertainment value.

I knew much of the information but there were a number of quotes from MKR's work and from her letters, or correspondence she received from others, that were new to me. And, of course, it was good review. Bigelow's assessment of the curve of Marjorie's career was similar to my description: like a wave, with work before 1933 being a trough, '39 to mid-40s the crest and after that, another trough. The author states that "Two things happened to release Marjorie's literary potential---the first was her discovery of Florida (I knew THAT) and the second was her learning from Hemingway the use of the blunt declarative sentence (THAT I did not know).

Bigelow lists as Rawlings' work of highest literary value The Yearling and Cross Creek, which he calls a "pastoral idyll." Other pieces he finds especially worthy are: "Alligators," "Benny and the Bird Dogs," (one of my favorites) "Varmints" and "Cocks Must Crow." He goes on to list South Moon Under, "Jacob's Ladder," "Gal Young 'Un" and "Plumb Clare Conscience."

I do want to find and read The Sojourner after all Bigelow had to say about it. Marjorie struggled with it for 10 years, it is NOT set in Florida and certainly this author and others feel it was far from her best work. I think I need to judge for myself.

If you're interested my favorite novels of MKR are The Yearling and Cross Creek but some of her short stories are very humorous.

True Fiction by Lee Goldberg

"Maybe it all began three years ago with a group of writers gathered in a mountain cabin, making up stories. He hadn't seen the harm in it. It was all make-believe. A story never killed anyone...Until now."                     -musings of Ian Ludlow, from the novel

This was another free selection from First Reads/Amazon, the first I have read by this author and a good choice on my part. Loaded with suspense, a unique plot and dashes of humor, it was a true page-turner. I'll rate it a 4.

Does the title strike you as an oxymoron? It is but as you read you understand how it fits the story.

Suspense writer Ian Ludlow is on a tour to publicize his latest book, The Dead Never Forget, when he hears of a terrorist attack in Hawaii that seems eerily similar to a plot he had developed. He soon realizes, after a couple of close calls, that he and his escort Margo French are being targeted by the CIA...wait! What?

The plot is interrupted a few times with Ludlow's fiction featuring protagonist detective Clint Straker. Ian ends up channeling his inner Straker to help him and Margo escape multiple assassination attempts. With some help from a very eccentric (some say insane) former TV star, they bring truth to light in the end, not to mention providing Ian with another book plot, and maybe even a new job!

No doubt I will read another of Goldberg's series sometime. If you take this one on, get ready for an exciting ride!

Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson

"You know what else is true? There are evil people out there in the world. Someone has to do the work that you do, and we're all very lucky that you do it so well. But that doesn't mean you can't care too much sometimes, Alex. I think you do. And that's when I worry about you---about what this might be doing to...well, to your soul."
             -Adele Finaly, psychotherapist, from the novel

I used to read one after another of Patterson's thrillers but I finally realized they were not doing much for me. It was like "read 'em and forget 'em." And the sadistic brutality and bloodiness is very disturbing, much like the TV series "Criminal Minds" that I have long been a fan of but am now finding upsetting; I may decide to give it up in spite of my affinity for the characters.

I have read many novels of the Alex Cross series and have gotten to know and like several characters: Alex, his family and his friend and co-worker John Sampson. In this suspenseful novel, Alex is searching  for two---or is it three?---serial killers while another crazed individual is gunning for him. If that weren't enough stress, his foster daughter goes missing and he gets himself into some legal trouble.

Short chapters, foreshadowing and twists and turns of the plot all made Alex Cross, Run a true page-turner. I could hardly put it down and finished in just over 2 days. I have to rate it a 4 for entertainment but I would not consider it literature which Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines as: 

writings in prose or verse; especially : writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest

A literature professor once said that good literature teaches life lessons. Neither of these definitions fit Patterson's body of work, in my opinion. Fun to read but no redeeming social value! 

Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts

"If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women."
                                              -Abigail Adams

I selected this book for March, Women's History Month. It has been on my to-read list for a couple of years at least. Followers of my blog know my favorite genre is historical fiction but may not know I am also something of a history buff; I'm particularly into 18th century American history. I teach a course called "Colonial American Life from A to Z" at Rollins College's Lifelong Learning Center, and perform a monologue as "Sarah Charleton, A Woman of Colonial America."

From that background, you might guess that I enjoyed reading Founding Mothers.... You'd be right. However, it did take a while as it is very dense in history and includes many letters and other period writings which have unfamiliar styling. Definitely NOT a page-turner but I'll rate it a 4. I'm glad I read it but I'm far from certain other Page Turners will agree. I may have selected this non-fiction too soon after Hidden Figures, our January title, which was also loaded with facts and somewhat tedious.

In Founding Mothers...Cokie Roberts submits that wives, mothers and sisters of the "Founding Fathers" played significant roles in "raising our nation." She highlights numerous women who ran businesses, raised children (and buried far too many), raised money, gave advice and information and some who even followed their husbands to military encampments. Almost all made sacrifices of time, energy, comfort, wealth and some, like Abigail Adams, spent months and years without their spouses who were serving in Europe, Philadelphia or in the army. I was aware of some of the featured women from previous reading and research---Martha Washington, Abigail Adams and to a lesser degree, Eliza Pinckney. Many others I knew almost nothing about---Kitty Greene, Lucy Knox, Mercy Otis Warren and more.

I have long admired the relationship of John and Abigail Adams since seeing the film (and later the stage musical) of "1776." If you enjoy this book and haven't seen it, you simply MUST!

Although the author makes the effort to chronologize the stories of these women, it is not always possible and she ends up with a good bit of overlap and repetition. Ms. Roberts adds occasional personal comments which are humorous.

In reading Founding Mothers one cannot help but think of the phrase that begins "behind every great man..." but in the 80's the Eurythmics sang in "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves":

Now, there was a time,
when they used to say,
that behind ev'ry great man,
there had to be a great woman.
But oh, in these times of change,
you know that it's no longer true.
So we're comin' out of the kitchen,
'cause there's something we forgot to say to you.
We say, Sisters are doin' it for themselves.

I am looking forward to our Page Turners' meeting. More after that...

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Seventeen of us attended our Page Turners meeting today to discuss Founding Mothers. The average rating was 3.1 with mostly 3's, only one 5 and a few 2's. We did have a lively discussion using the publisher's questions. Those who read the entire book agreed that we learned a lot and even "met" some ladies we knew nothing about. Some negative comments were: wordy, repetitive, too much overlap of information. One person said she liked the content but thought the structure got in the way. We were all impressed with what women were able to accomplish back in the day with so few rights and privileges. Their stories are inspiring, to say the least!

(BTW I have promised to put more space between the nonfictions the rest of the year!)