Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail, by Jennifer Pharr Davis

Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been interested in the Appalachian Trail since I was 12 or 13, when I first heard of it. For a while, I wanted to hike the trail. Unfortunately, it never happened. But that doesn't mean I can't live vicariously through books about the trail. That's where Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis comes in.

Jennifer started hiking the trail shortly after finishing college, picking Odyssa as her trail name. She started at the southern end of the trail, hiking alone, making it all the way to the end in Maine.

The book describes the trail, the thru-hikers she met, along with assorted others. One thru-hiker appeared to stalk her for several days, while other hikers were more acceptible.

At one point, she met two young men (Nightwalker and Mooch) who were hiking together; Jennifer managed to hike on and off with them, finally finishing the AT with the pair. She even managed to give Nightwalker's mom a trail name of Magic Mama, as Magic Mama periodically met up with the three to offer trail magic (helping out with food, etc).

There was one part of the book when Jennifer thought of quitting, as she ran across someone who died on the trail. But after taking a few days off, she was able to complete her hike.

If you're looking for a good read dealing with the Appalachian Trail, I highly recommend Jennifer Pharr Davis's Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail. Definitely one of my favorite AT books.

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Trash, by Dorothy Allison

Trash by Dorothy Allison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been known to devour books of short stories. What's not to love? Rather than chapters all advancing a novel forward, you have stories that are long enough to get (and keep) your interest for a short while, but not so long that you put the book aside and either lose track of the story line when you come back or lose interest altogether. It's like a platter of appetizers, all just a little different.

Trash, by Dorothy Allison, is a beautifully gritty book of short stories, each told of women who grew up in rural Southern poverty, struggling to escape their situations and their past, while loving their hard families. The rural poverty itself is almost alive in these stories, practically another character to be dealt with.

In the opening story, "River of Names," the narrator tells of being almost an outsider in a large extended family, "born between the older cousins and the younger, born in a pause of babies and therefore outside, always watching." She alternates telling about her family and talking Jesse, her lover, describing her family to Jesse. She is, in turn, talking to the reader, letting the reader, like Jesse, think, "How wonderful to be part of such a large family."

Except, of course, it isn't, the way the narrator describes it.

Fourteen other stories follow "River of Names," each showing the reader how difficult rural poverty is for many of its inhabitants. Each story will worm its way into the reader's mind, not wanting to be displaced or disrespected.

Of each of the fifteen stories, my favorite has to be "Mama." Allison describes growing up with a younger sister, their Mama, and their step-father, a small, violent man whom Mama states she'll leave just as soon as her daughters are grown. The reader gets the sense that Mama never does leave her husband; in fact, we're told point-blank that she is still with him, years after her daughters have grown up and moved out.

The story shows the bond between daughters and mother. At the end of the story, Allison describes how, on her stepfather's birthday, she'll make coffee and bread pudding with bourbon sauce, tell wild stories to her friends, and wait to talk on the phone with her mother.

If one is looking for a good read with pretty stories, this might not be it. But if one is looking for a really good read with the grittiness of life, the grittiness of love, Dorothy Allison's Trash fits the bill well.

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Turtle Moon, by Alice Hoffman

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Welcome to Verity, Florida, where the month of May is a dangerous time: long-time residents know better than to make any life-altering decisions during May, as everyone seems to "go a little crazy."

It is where Lucy Rosen and her son Keith have landed after leaving New York in Alice Hoffman's wonderful book, Turtle Moon.

While Lucy has come to Verity to escape an unhappy marriage, 12-year-old Keith is miserable in Florida, and gets into non-stop trouble - stealing, skipping school, and more - with a new friend.

One night, a single mother in the Rosen's apartment complex is murdered and her baby disappears. The "meanest boy" in town finds the baby in the complex's laundry room, realizes that no one is coming for her, and takes off with the baby, becoming her protector.

Julian Cash is the police officer assigned to solving the murder and finding the baby. He, too, was once considered the "meanest boy" in Verity, and can relate to Keith when he (Cash) finds the boy.

What transpires in Turtle Moon is a fast-paced story of complex people trying to find what will give their lives direction, while learning how to trust, as well as growing and letting go.

If you're looking for your next satisfying fast read, Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman is sure to please.

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Tampa Bay Noir, edited by Colette Bancroft

Tampa Bay Noir by Colette Bancroft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are short story collections that are mildly interesting, then there are collections that grab the reader's attention and won't turn loose until the last page. Tampa Bay Noir is definitely the latter.

Edited by Colette Bancroft (former book editor for the Tampa Bay Times), Tampa Bay Noir is one of two books representing Florida in publisher Akashic Books's noir series. (Miami is the other Florida city.) As with the other noir anthologies, this book has all new short stories; these are based in different areas of the Tampa Bay area, mainly Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. Michael Connelly's "The Guardian," set in Hyde Park, opens the anthology; Tim Dorsey, Lisa Unger, and a host of others add stories/mysteries to this quirky, dark collection, ending with Colette Bancroft's "The Bite."

While some of the stories here may not be for the faint-of-heart, I found the book difficult to put down. Each story, each writer, took the book to another level that ensured that I will definitely put this into my rotation of books-to-reread-and-reread, year after year. It also left me with a list of writers who novels will soon be in my to-be-read pile.

For anyone who has lived in the Tampa Bay area, thought about living here, or just plain wants a book to keep one captivated, Tampa Bay Noir is definitely the book to pick up and read, cover to cover.

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The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever since originally reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac, I knew I'd have to follow up with Kerouac's The Dharma Bums. I'd read the first couple of pages several times, then put the book back on the shelf. This time, I read all the way through.

As with On the Road, Dharma is loosely based on Kerouac and shows others he knew. The narrator, Ray Smith, is based on Kerouac, while Japhy Ryder (the other main character) is based on Gary Snyder, who was instrumental is steering Kerouac towards Buddhism. There's one point when Smith and Ryder go to a poetry ready where Alvah Goldbook (based on Allen Ginsburg) reads his poem "Wail." (Yes, that is referrencing Ginsburg's "Howl.")

The book follows Smith and Ryder as they seek Truth, from San Francisco to mountain climbing in the High Sierras, keeping the reader thoroughly engaged.

In some ways, The Dharma Bums reminds me of On the Road: a lot of traveling, pages of exceedingly long paragraphs, some several pages long (sort-of the anti-Ernest Hemingway's short, concise writing); the writing occasionally leaving me a little ambivalent (Do I love it? Do I want to put it down before finishing?). But in the end, as with On the Road, I did finish The Dharma Bums.

The punchline is that if you're looking for an interesting book highlighting part of the 1950s, Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums just may be it, especially after reading On the Road.

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On the Road, by Jack Kerouac

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like many others, I've had a list of books that I've meant to read but never quite got around to. One or two from the list, when I got around to reading them, left me wondering what the big deal is, while others left me wondering what took me so long to read.

Then there are those that leave us feeling so ambivalent throughout the reading that we end up giving it a second reading just so we can decide. That is how I felt when starting On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It was one of those classics that many people talk about ("Have you read...? No? Really, you should...") while not having actually read. I'd picked up a copy of it from a now-closed bookstore near the University of South Florida St. Petersburg when they were promoting books by many of the Beat writers, especially Kerouac.

Note: Jack Kerouac died in St. Petersburg's St. Anthony's Hospital in 1969. His name, address and phone number remained in the St. Petersburg phone book for quite a few years afterwards. He supposedly frequented several bars while in St. Pete, while his ghost is said to have visited Haslam's Bookstore before it closed.

The first few paragraphs very nearly turned me off. I had tried reading it when I first bought the book, but those first couple of paragraphs were what caused me to put it down. They were wordy, bordering on almost flowery. If Ernest Hemingway was known for short, concise sentences, much of On the Road seemed the opposite in its wordiness. While Kerouac did rein this in a bit after the first few paragraphs/pages, he never quite moves completely away from it.

However, the further I got in the book, the more engaging it became. It is easy to imagine being carefree and on the road, going from place to place. Sal Paradise (based on Kerouac) meets Dean Moriarty (based on Neal Cassady), someone he has heard about, at the beginning of the book. They are soon criss-crossing the country separately, meeting up in different parts of the country, just missing each other in other parts. The one thing Sal hears numerous times is that others are not as fond of Dean as Sal is. While Sal finally sees that others might be right about Dean, he still defends him. By the end of the book, we find Sal wandering off after sending Dean on his way. But he mentions occasionally thinking about Dean Moriarty.

By the end of the book, I had to admit: This book deserves to be considered a classic, and deserves to be read. If you haven't read Jack Kerouac's On the Road, what are you waiting for?

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The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work, by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are books of essays that are dry and bordering on boring. Then there are books full of entertaining essays that leave the reader feeling like he or she has just had a visit with a beloved friend or a slightly older sibling. The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton definitely falls into the second category.

Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is an Episcopal priest, writer, and lecturer who has written several books on spirituality. Her book The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work is full of essays written about her time as an active priest, the people she's met, ministered to, and loved over the years. While the essays tend to be short, we meet a wide range of people through them: seafarers, AIDS patients, the homeless, and others struggling with their daily lives, who still manage to maintain their humanity.

This version of the book (it originally came out in hardback) ends with an essay that brings us up to date on the people we met in the earlier essays, bringing us full-circle to our new acquaintances.

If you're looking for a book filled with satisfying essays, Barbara Cawthorne Crafton's The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work should fit the bill nicely.

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