Review: Walk Upon a Time

Walk Upon a Time: An Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike
by Leslie Fletcher

Nowhere near as funny as I thought it was going to be, but enjoyable all the same. She hits about the right amount of detail in her daily updates, which read like a trail journal. In fact, this could have been copied directly from a trail journal. I'd hoped for a tiny bit more detailed description of the sights she saw, and I really hoped for more of what was going on in her head. There was some, maybe enough, but it seemed like too many of the entries were simply the where and the how of the journey with only a brief mention of how it felt. But it struck an okay balance; I wasn't all that disappointed.

Review: Mother, Nature

Mother, Nature: A 5,000-Mile Journey to Discover if a Mother and Son Can Survive Their Differences
by Jedidiah Jenkins

Very interesting. I almost didn't read this, because some reviewers had complained that the conflict was never resolved--how could a gay, left-leaning son and a fundamentalist, born-again Christian mother ever come to accept each other for what they were? How could they quit hurting and disappointing each other, just by the lifestyle they chose to endorse? I guess some readers thought it was going to end differently. But I thought I'd see for myself, and I was okay with the ending. Never resolved, adequately or otherwise, but explored to the point where you understood that it was okay never to be resolved.

But there was a lot more to the story than that, issues of life and death and aspiration and disappointment, and always, a fun exploration of places and people of America. Very much to like about that.

Review: Master Slave Husband Wife

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom

by Ilyon Woo

I'm sure there are thousands of other reviews of this bestseller,  so the only thing I have to add is that I enjoyed it very much. I was surprise

d about how much there was to tell after the big events that precipitated the story. And I was pleased at how much information the author slipped in that wasn't simply biographical.  It flew by effortlessly and full of fascination.

The only time I got a little bored were during the last three or four chapters, when it was mainly a "went here, went there, spoke to these people, met this person" narrative. But not so bored as to give up. Worth every page!

Review: Chasing Summer

Chasing Summer on the Continental Divide Trail
by Kyle Rohrig

It took me a long time to read this--and that was great! I enjoyed every page and almost wished it could be longer. He writes about pretty near every day on the trail, so you really feel like you're traveling along with him. Every miserable (and magnificent and glorious) step.

He writes of the many fun people he meets on the way without turning the narrative into a chatty social club sort of hike. More often he writes of all the reasons to be out there in the first place--mountaintops, views, animals, cozy campsites...even on a couple of occasions, campsites in the on-trail privies. And on and on, too much to describe in a review.

Highly recommended.

Gardening mid-to-late June edition

 Very peculiar harvest.

Two tiny butternut squashes, a few roma tomatoes, a little okra but not enough to make Bhindi Masala yet, and jalapenos.

Review: Under Desert Skies

 Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to the Moon and Planets
Melissa L. Sevigny

I'm embarrassed to be giving up on this. It's extremely well-researched and kind of interesting, but just not to my taste. It's really (or at least at the point where I quit), nothing to do with Tucson the city, but rather all about the astronomy centers and telescopes in the Tucson area. I had thought it was going to be a big drama about how the observatory staff convinced the people and businesses of the city to turn down their lights at night, keeping the light pollution from destroying their work place. And that part may have been coming, but at halfway through, all I'd read had been simply history of the observatories and the people who worked there. Important history, but dry.

Review: Address to Die For

 I kind of enjoyed this one, up until the ending. And then I hated it. I can't explain why because it would be giving away the ending--which, by the way, sucked. As to why I hated it so much, let me just say that I require a certain amount of effort, intelligence, and detection skills to be demonstrated by the lead character in order for the book to be called a mystery. Even a cozy mystery needs to have a competent lead character.  And this one (Maggie) was a total wuss--she put in a feeble bit of effort near the end, which was boring to read about and didn't go anywhere.

Since this is a cozy, I don't require the lead character to be an actual detective--a "professional organizer" is okay for the role. However I will point out that for a person calling herself a professional organizer, her heroine is the most disorganized, confused, and ineffectual organizer I've ever encountered.

I kind of liked the other people Ms. Feliz invented, especially Stephen the ex-military guy and Maggie's two sons. If you're heavy on character and family, go for it. If you're into mystery, no.

Gardening in my Roots, early June

 I have had little interest in posting since the extended and enduring rains--and the hailstorm--destroyed so much of it. But I have managed to get a few tiny harvests out.

The carrots and beets are doing great. And the squash is doing okay, but as usual, the fruits are very, very small.  But tasty, I hope. I'll cook these two tomorrow and see.

Best I can tell the hail and dampness killed most of the pepper plants and cantaloupe. But there are a few small jalapenos out there, and there may be a small tomato crop.

Review: Late Migrations

 Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl

Giving up on this at about halfway. It's a collection of very short essays, typically two or three pages long, alternating between her childhood memories and modern day observations of nature. All interesting, I guess, but all so brief and shallow that I had to keep forcing myself to keep on picking up the book.  I'd read a couple of essays, then finally get to one that was interesting and--bam! It was over. On to something totally different, and usually depressing.

Review: The Ride of Her Life

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts

History and travel doesn't get any better than this. The author and I were with Annie and Tarzan and Depetche Toi from Maine to California, from the first step unti the end. It was hard to drag myself away and very sad to put down when it ended. What a story!  What a ride!

How do you make yourself get up in the morning and move along? I don't know, but taking that first step seemed to work for her and would for me, too, if I could just make myself take it. If only if only.

Anything else Elizabeth Letts wrote or ever will write is automatically on my must-read list, now!