He has been called the Patron Saint of Cowboy Literature, born at a place called Horse Camp, our Author did not swing into the saddle from age 3. InstHe has been called the Patron Saint of Cowboy Literature, born at a place called Horse Camp, our Author did not swing into the saddle from age 3. Instead he was devoted to books and when he wrote his own you know his stories have moral judgments of what is proper even in the cowboy world. Elmer Kelton's style is straight forward and a bit plain for a western story. The hero is "not seven feet tall and invincible" they are very human at "five-eight and nervous."
Dundee out to find the cattle thieves that are rebranding Titus cattle and he is hired to find the one person for all the ill that is happening to John, Blue Roan. He runs across the McCown family that are trying to deal with life. Warren trying to make it happen and have more than a dollar in his pocket. Uncle Ollie is very down to earth and wants a husband for his niece Millie, he is thinking Dundee will do. In the end there is a show down of sorts between Titus and Blue Roan in Runaway but the ending...you need to read it to discover the twist!
Teetering towards 4 Stars
Elmer Kelton is a seven time winner of the Spur Award. A prestigious award for distinguished writing about the American West. ...more
The Circus in the Attic Bolten, the only child of a weak father and a possessive mother, Bolton as a boy makes several gestures against restrictions sThe Circus in the Attic Bolten, the only child of a weak father and a possessive mother, Bolton as a boy makes several gestures against restrictions such as, riverbank baptismal ceremony and running off with the carnaval. His mother dominates his life. With all his dreams that are so different than his just ok life of a teacher and writer (that is never finished). His childhood dream of a Circus, which he built a tiny scale in his attic with animals and clowns and trapeze artists and a lion tamer, gave him some comfort of what he cherishes, has control, and he understands. The loss of three in his life and the loss of his Circus, as he no longer even has this to comfort him, because he sold the pieces off at auction for the war effort. Penn gives us a view of the Southern life during the Civil War through WWII and how it was dealt with....more
Pedro Páramo A promise to his dying Mom that he will find his father that he never met. A simple promise? Juan would have promised her anything. She asPedro Páramo A promise to his dying Mom that he will find his father that he never met. A simple promise? Juan would have promised her anything. She asked her son to make this man pay for all that he did not give them. After she passed he thought of not keeping that deathbed promise, but he ended up dreaming and having high hopes of his Pedro Páramo the man who gave him life and his Mother had married. The town Comala was what brought his Mother such good memories. Juan begins his travel but when he first laid eyes on the town he was so disappointed. It was a devastating blow not the town his Mom had described to him. He runs into a man with a donkey he tells him he is there to find his father. It turns out this man is his brother! and he says their father has been dead for years and he was nothing but "living bile"! He runs into Dona a woman that tells him the stories of his father and how he was a ruthless man taking whatever or whomever he wanted. Nothing is normal with this man Páramo. He is only out for his own passion. At the same time the Revolution was happening. Hope and illusions bring Juan to a defeated revenge.
Started and restarted. Not a read that keeps you drawn in. The thought of the dead still mixing with the present lives was hard for me. Plot is forseen and not very deep. I hope to find something of Juan Rulfo's more interesting....more
The opening paragraph of The Moorland Cottage is very descriptive and one of the things I liked about the novel, it is beautiful. I love the changing The opening paragraph of The Moorland Cottage is very descriptive and one of the things I liked about the novel, it is beautiful. I love the changing of the seasons.
Gaskill is known for her social criticism and this novel is no different. Maggie is our story, daughter of a clergy man whom passes. The mother tends to favor the son. Luckily for Maggie the housemaid adores her. Maggie is a very kind person and quite smart. Master Buxton and Maggie get along well and years later... Frank ask Maggie to marry him. Go away with him also, as he is fed up with the society and how some are treated. Maggie makes a huge self-sacrifice.
I enjoyed the novel through the 8th chapter and than it takes an unfortunate turn for me and the plausibility goes out the door! The descriptions of the countryside more than make up for the ending.
"I would go off to Australia at once. Indeed, Maggie, I think it would be the best thing we could do. My heart aches about the mysterious corruptions and evils of an old state of society such as we have in England."...more
Journey by Moonlight is one of the best known Hungarian novels! I had so much expectations going into this read. It was not a story of romance in ItalJourney by Moonlight is one of the best known Hungarian novels! I had so much expectations going into this read. It was not a story of romance in Italy.
Now that we are older, we often dream of life when we are younger, the freedom and the spirit that goes with that life. Once we are of age we have to conform. Get and hold a job. Become married and have beautiful children. Be successful and be happy, but what if you long for the past life?
Mihály has a childhood that forms a triangle of friends between himself, Tamás and Eva. The trio put on plays of horrible death scences. Eva the victim of what ever brutality she puts onto Tamás. Once grown Mihály gets married to Erzsi and they Honeymoon in Italy where he promptly abandons Erzsi and he goes off for a drink. Mihály longs for his youth, he longs for paradise, he desires to leave the rational adult life behind and return to the pleasures of youth. He makes this move by taking a different train, a train that leads to a Tuscany green landscape. Where he promply goes into "Hiding". Tamás, who thought real death had to be better than the plays, appears to him in nighttime visions to guide him out of the whirlpools. He encounters several people that help him just to exist but not to understand the whys of his choices. All these journeys Mihály makes, he feels will bring him freedom but actually bring him down as a human along a path of self destruction. In the end there is no solution to Mihály’s problems he is forced to go back to adult life and conform to the life he was trying to leave behind....more
Will a young 23 year old with an idea in his head of how the West should be and the adventure that awaits, as he finds himself in the nature surroundiWill a young 23 year old with an idea in his head of how the West should be and the adventure that awaits, as he finds himself in the nature surrounding him. He leaves the East behind and is quickly taken in with the happenings of Butcher's Crossing. He backs a Hide Hunter with funding. They, four men, head off to an area that is isolated with a herd so large that brown colors the valley. In Will's mind, as he oversees the land he is drawn into the nature surrounding him.
'a mass of pine trees was lighted by the early sun, a patch of turning aspen flamed a deep gold in the green of the pines.' Such a visual phrase. This is the way I delved into his words visual.
Because of Miller's obession of unparralleled hunt, the men, including Will, are bone shivering cold with a never ending exhaustion. Will has this transformation that is not as dramatic but is very near just as disturbing. There are times that he is aware of his own changes, as he realizes and sees he can never go back to the euphoria of before.
Butcher's Crossing, the reality of how harsh that life was. It is so well written, there is heartbreak, depravity, but there is also reveling in satisfaction. John Williams writing is what I would say is one of the great books of American literature. This book needs to be a hardcover for me!!...more
A Sicilian Romance is Ann Radcliffe’s second novel. A Gothic Romance Novel with a Castle, crumbling stairs, locked doors and family secrets. We are inA Sicilian Romance is Ann Radcliffe’s second novel. A Gothic Romance Novel with a Castle, crumbling stairs, locked doors and family secrets. We are in a Castle owned by the girl’s father Marquis Mazzini, he is simply barbaric, the castle has many caverns and passages and filled with strange noises, lights in a section that is abandoned and death by the abundance.
The two main characters are sisters Emilia the one that follows the rules, so much so she thinks she deserves pity and has no real self. Julia who allows her passion to take over wanting to marry, but not her father’s choice. Maria the Stepmother has cunningness and intuition that can grasp your attention while reading. Unlike many of the female characters Maria is not a victim, she does seem to lack sensibility except for…
The story line is very predictable full of Coincidences and Escapades, at times lots of melodrama and seems like a Soap Opera. The Drama is to the point of disbelief as nobody in their right mind would find themselves in these dilemmas. I found that there is no real character development as in most Classics we adore. So, in the end it is just a fun read....more
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