Shared summer reading at my library

Mississippi Solo ~ by Eddy L. Harris, 1988, memoir, 256 pages

Eddy Harris, the author of Mississippi Solo, is a St. Louis native. The book blends memoir, travel narrative, and cultural insight as it explores life along the river.  In this exciting classic, readers follow an adventurer whose lifelong dream is to canoe the length of this mighty river, from Minnesota to New Orleans.

The trip's dangers were legion for a Black man traveling alone, paddling from "where there ain't no black folks to where they still don't like us much."  Barge waves loom large, wild dogs roam the wooded shores, and, in the Arkansas dusk, two shotgun-toting bigots nearly bring the author's dream to a bloody end.

Sustaining him through the hard weeks of paddling were the hundreds of people who reached out to share a small piece of his challenge.  This is an unforgettable story of a man testing his own limits.

Week in Review

• My Monday post featured cats, HERE.
• Cats and water may not mix, but my next post, HERE, was about a boat sinking into the water.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time

zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.

Beginning ~ with water reaching your bed

Beginning

You wouldn't know it was happening until the water reached your bed.

     Something this big doesn't go down fast, like a beer can to the bottom of a pool.  Density, buoyancy, mass, and fiberglass — I'm not getting into that with you.

     Trust me.  It takes a very long time.  Overnight, for example.  And I'm telling you, if you're asleep after you've had a few, you're not going to notice.

Salty ~ by Kate Myers, 2025, humorous fiction, 320 pages

Captain Denise is more comfortable facing down a stingray than a party guest, though she’s punched both in recent memory.  After spending half her life at the helm of yachts across the Caribbean, she’s risen through the ranks thanks to one rule:  never, ever mix with the owners.

Her sister, Helen, is a walking HR violation, one of many reasons the two haven’t seen each other in years.  Recently fired after burning all her bridges, Helen returns home to work for Denise.

The clashing sisters’ first charter is for the Falcon family, shady real estate developers who mowed down Helen and Denise’s childhood home to build condos.  But then the latest Falcon building collapses — and a dead body turns up beside it.  Helen and Denise comb through the wreckage to uncover just how low the Falcons will sink in order to stay afloat — before the big storm wipes out the evidence.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Short stories about cats

The Private Life of the Cat Who . . . (Tales of Koko and Yum Yum, Book 3 of 3 of Cat Who Short Stories) ~ by Lilian Jackson Braun, 2003, cozy animal mysteries, 144 pages, rated 5 stars (out of 5) by 71% of reviewers on Amazon

James Mackintosh Qwilleran is a journalist who wrote for metropolitan newspapers from coast to coast before relocating to Pickax, four hundred miles north of everywhere.  These excerpts from his journal include memories, thoughts and ideas from the "Qwill Pen" column — altogether a drama starring two feline celebrities.  So there are 22 short stories about cats "by" the journalist-character in this book for us to enjoy.

How I got my hands on this book is another story.  I left our Circle@Crown Café and went to our library to shelve books.  Another resident got off their elevator, saw me, and said, "I've got something for you."  Reaching into the bag on her Rollator, she pulled out a gift-wrapped object that looked suspiciously like a book.  Of course, it was a book!  After opening it, I asked her specifically if she meant it's for me personally or for me to add to the library collection.  No, she said she knew I liked cats and wanted me to have this book.  Thank you, Alice.

A true-crime thriller that took place in St. Louis

Evidence of Murder ~ by Bill McClellan, 1993, true-crime thriller (St. Louis), 246 pages

This thorough (but frustrating) true-crime tale concerns Ed Post, a model family man and affable realtor in New Orleans, who was accused and convicted of drowning his wife, Julie, in a St. Louis hotel bathroom in 1986.

Bill McClellan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  In this book, he reconstructs the complex investigation: 

Post claims the death was an accident, but police found his statement exhaustive and therefore suspect.  Investigators learned that the couple argued regularly, that Ed faced rising debts and that Julie's insurance policy had been increased.  But there was countervailing evidence:  the Posts regularly upgraded their insurance; the medical evidence was inconclusive; and Julie's brother Bobby Thigpen, who claimed his sister feared her husband would kill her, failed a polygraph test. 

McClellan's detailed account of Post's trial borrows a lot from the transcript, showing how lawyers attempted to shade the evidence.  After jurors found Post guilty of murder, his conviction was overturned because of misconduct by deputies regarding the jury.  Post's family and friends, formerly his staunch defenders, then began to doubt his innocence, and testimony from Post's elder teenage daughter helped lead to another conviction and a life sentence.  Though Post, who still claimed his innocence, cooperated with McClellan, maybe the author should have probed his subject's psyche more deeply.

Week in Review

• On Friday, my book was about what people shared, HERE, when the author saked them, "What has life taught you?"
• My Saturday Stuff included a quote and Snoopy balanced on top of his doghouse, but in a very unusual way, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time

zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.

Gift book donated to our Crown Center library

Do more of what makes you happy.  This is actually a card-sized gift book.  It doesn't list an "author," though it does tell us the authors of each of the sayings.  Here's one you have probably heard before:

HAPPINESS is

a warm PUPPY.

                       ~ Charles M. Schulz

This is the puppy I thought of when I read that.  (I wonder why?  LOL)

And Snoopy always balances on top of his dog house, even sleeping, right?

Beginning ~ with the introduction

Beginning

What has life taught you?  Would you share it with me?  That is the simple premise behind this book and its predecessor.

In 1992 I compiled and edited the first volume of Live and Learn and Pass It On, and on a whim  asked readers to send me whatever wise sayings, humorus observations, and practical advice they would like to share.  Thousands of readers accepted my invitation.  This book is a collection of my favorite responses, along with some of my own discoveries.

Here's a small sampling:

• on finance;  "I've learned that loaning money to friends and relatives causes them to get amnesia."
• on self-esteem:  "I've learned that if you are in a relationship with someone who doesn't believe in you, you should get out before you stop believing in yourself."

Live and Learn and Pass It On: People Ages 5 to 95 Share What They'Ve Discovered About Life, Love, and Other Good Stuff  (Volume II) ~ by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., 1995, humor, 160 pages, 10/10

Millions of readers have bought Brown's timely and insightful bestseller Live and Learn and Pass It On, in which people of all ages tell what life's experiences have taught them. With the publication of this second volume, hundreds of others add to what they have learned from loving, winning, losing, and from the school of hard knocks.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Movie this afternoon

"Fried Green Tomatoes" was today's movie in the Community Room where I live.  Here's a synopsis I found online:

"Evelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny.  Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe."

I came away from the movie annoyed, even though I remember enjoying the book.  What annoyed me was the fake accent for those people in the movie used.  I have NEVER in my life heard such a ridiculous Southern accent, ever  That may be one reason I prefer books.

Week in Review

• My Tuesday subject was a book about Harriet Tubman, HERE.
• On Friday, I wrote about my tears while reading a book, HERE,  The good part was my cat's reaction.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time

zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.