50 States of Literature
”Rebel Island,”By Rick Riordan
Bantam Books ($6.99 paperback, 330 pages)
It’s just a measure of how well endowed the mystery bookshelves are at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library that I am just now getting to read anything by Rick Riordan, a New York Times bestselling mystery author from my old stomping grounds of South Texas.
When the new library opened up, I reveled in the old books — S.S. Van Dine, Brett Halliday — that used to be hidden away in the stacks.
That’s my excuse for not being up on the latest mystery bestsellers, and I’m sticking to it.
But I’ve clearly missed some fun, because this latest Riordan opus has enough twists and action and interesting characters to definitely make me want to go back and peruse his previous work in the Tres Navarre private eye series.
In this case, Tres Navarre has officially given up his private investigation business to work as a full-time faculty member at the University of Texas at San Antonio (whence my nephew graduated — he’s now a Texas State Trooper). And Tres has just married his so-pregnant-she’s-ready-to-pop lawyer girlfriend, Maia, who happens to be a Chinese American.
50 States of Literature, Adventure, Bestsellers, Mystery, New in Paperback, Review, Suspense
A while back I wrote this post about the Man Booker Prize folks holding a contest for the “Best of the Booker” — the prizewinner of prizewinners — to draw attention to the Booker’s 40-year anniversary.
Instead of trusting the public to choose from among all of the selections, a panel of judges would select six finalists and only then would the undiscriminating populace be allowed to vote to determine the winner.
At first I was offended with the idea that the Booker folks thought we needed training wheels, but after seeing how independent polls were running (and recalling a brief stint on jury duty years ago), maybe they had the right idea. “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel grabbed the lead in an AbeBooks poll, whose Top 10 resembled more of a specialized NYT Best Sellers list than a critical comparison of the past Booker winners.
The 50 States of Literature series jumps from Georgia to Colorado this week, landing in the stark and simple plains with Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong.”
The 1999 novel tells the stories of three families in the small fictional prarie town of Holt. Each family is coping with its own issues — a depressed mother who abandons her young sons and husband, a pregnant teenager shunned by her parents, a couple of old bachelor brothers who were never quite socialized. A new teacher comes to town and orchestrates the intersection of their lives.
Holt’s simple writing reflects the name of the novel, devoid even of quotation marks, similar to the style of Cormac McCarthy, whom Haruf admires. The Colorado native has earned several writing awards, and “Plainsong” was a finalist for the National Book Award.
I can’t think of many other novels set wholly in Colorado, except of course for James Michener’s popular epic “Centennial.” Maybe that was too obvious a choice? It seems Colorado may be a place you pass through on your way to somewhere else, like in “The Grapes of Wrath,” which is curious, since people are always talking about how beautiful the state is.
Do you think “Plainsong” is a good choice for a literary trip to Colorado? What book would you have chosen?
OK, I haven’t read this one, don’t even remember if I heard of it, so I’m of little help here. But I bet some of you had different ideas about what book best represents Georgia…
The 50 States of Literature series sidles up to the ATL with “Leaving Atlanta” by Tayari Jones. The debut novel is set in the late ’70s-early ’80s during the Atlanta child murders (29 would be found dead) and is told from the perspectives of three fifth-graders in a community living in fear.
It got some great reviews when it was published in 2003, and Jones was a finalist for the Pushcart Prize, but I don’t think I can read this one. Being a mom, I just have a hard time reading books about things like this…
Any other suggestions for a book representing Georgia?
Several Pulitzer Prize-winners are snubbed in favor of the lightweight “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” for the book that best represents Louisiana in the “50 States of Literature” series at Columbia University.
Louisiana is a treasure trove for authors, who can mine all matter of bacchanalia, corrupt politicians, racial struggles and voodoo culture for their literary endeavors. With so many good books to choose, it’s just a surprise the nod was given to the Ya-Yas, although I know the book was incredibly popular.
But so was “The Confederacy of Dunces” and “All the King’s Men,” both Pulitzer winners, and Walker Percy’s “The Moviegoer.”
“Divine Secrets” is entertaining, but the Ya-Yas just don’t really do it for me. And the book seems more of a “Southern” novel than one that evokes Louisiana. What do y’all think? Is it a good pick for Louisiana?
After a little hiatus – I think the Columbia students were on Spring Break – the 50 States of Literature project is back on the road, this time to West Virginia.
I’ve never been to W. Va. and don’t know much about it, except that it’s where Charleston is, it has a couple of cool bridges, and it’s the setting for “Rocket Boys,” a 
memoir by Homer Hickam, a dreamer of a kid who shook the coal dust off his shoes and grew up to be a NASA engineer. The book was later made into a great little movie called “October Sky” starring a young Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper and Laura Dern. It’s kind of the “Hoosiers” of rocket geeks.
But that’s not the chosen book! (Again, they didn’t ask me…) The book for West Virginia is “Strange as This Weather Has Been” by Ann Pancake. (!) It’s also set in a mining town. Read the summary by Columbia student Melanie Jones. The book has gotten lots of positive comments on Amazon.com — but not as many as “Rocket Boys”…
The 50 States of Literature project over at columbiaspectator.com has chosen “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt to represent Vermont.
It’s been awhile since I read the book, which ranks among my Top 25 favorites, but I do vaguely remember the descriptions of the charming private college and the beautiful and sometimes severe winter settings in Vermont.
The setting takes a back seat to the story, though, which centers around a close-knit, isolated group of students studying the classics at the elite school. They get so caught up in their bacchanalia they sometimes do terrible things, and resort to killing one of their own who seems on the verge of telling their secrets. After the death, everything begins to come off the spool.
Tartt has Mid-South ties. Born in Mississippi, she was a freshman at Ole Miss when her talent caught the eye of writer-in-residence Willie Morris (”North Toward Home,” “My Dog Skip”), who helped get her into a graduate short story class with Barry Hannah (”Nightwatchmen,” “Ray,” “High Lonesome”) that proved to be not much of a challenge for her, compared to the other students. Morris and Hannah recommended she take her talent to Bennington College, which is the template for the fictional college in her novel.
The 50 States of Literature (see original post here) goes to Arizona this week (they seem to have migrated back to the A’s).
Barbara Kingsolver’s novel “The Bean Trees” is “about finding salvation in an ostensibly barren situation — appropriately, this low-key debut novel is set in Arizona.”
Taylor Greer leaves rural Kentucky to find adventure out west, and by the time she hits Tucson, she’s achieved it, having mysteriously “inherited” a Native American toddler named Turtle. Taylor becomes involved with a sanctuary for Central American refugees run by Mattie, owner of “Jesus Is Lord Used Tires,” and soon finds herself struggling to understand the conflicts she must face head-on, from immigration and divorce to her newfound daughter’s unknown past. Kingsolver, as she does in all her novels, balances heady topics with quick-witted dialogue and her ever-present wry humor.
And we missed Hawaii last week — columbiaspectator.com chose “Heads by Harry” by Lois-ann Yamanaka. Wouldn’t have been my pick, but nobody asked me… The book is about a girl who is a constant disappointment to her parents, but wants to be apprenticed in her father’s taxidermy shop (hence, the book’s title). Her other goal is to catch the eye of the town hottie. Ultimately, she just wants to be understood. Don’t we all…
Arkansas might be coming up soon. Or it could be Wyoming, who knows? What would be your book pick for the “Natural State”?
The online edition of
The book has to capture the essence of the state and be a good read. For
What book do you think best captures
What about
What are your choices? I’ll post the selections as they’re announced.
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