Summer Reading
With The Lone Ranger movie having been on the horizon & horse camp for the kids bringing out the western side of me a book with horses on the cover and by the author of The Horse Whisperer sounded like an interesting fiction book to pull off the shelves of the public library. I really enjoyed reading The Brave by Nicholas Evans, but from the opening I was confused: why was the opening beginning with a 13-year-old boy in what seems like an American prison visiting his mother? And why is she on Death Row? This is one of those books in which you keep reading because of all the questions you have (some of it confusion) and the story unravels the mystery of the prelude, one bit at a time.
If I was the author, I wouldn't have called the book "The Brave," because to me it has more to deal with truth & lies. It deals with cowboys more than Indians, so a "brave" in that sense isn't what was meant, either. But it is a powerful & absorbing novel. I guess the message of the novel is that while the truth may hurt, dealing with it is the brave and right thing to do.
Speaking of bravery & courage, Carrie and Me by Carol Burnett fits that bill. Unlike the book of hers which is full of short, humorous anecdotes, this book is filled with the story of her beloved first-born daughter, who battled drugs and, just when things were really going well, lost her life to cancer. Carrie was a spirited woman with a bright outlook on life. The final section of the book prints the story Carrie was working on, "Sunrise in Memphis," and which was never finished. It was an unusual story; whenever I thought it was headed toward a cliched situation, it would surprise you. I wish she would have lived so I could find out what would have happened! Carrie sounded like a wonderful daughter & friend, and the relationship that she & her mother shared was one to be cherished, despite the hardships of her teenage years.
If I was the author, I wouldn't have called the book "The Brave," because to me it has more to deal with truth & lies. It deals with cowboys more than Indians, so a "brave" in that sense isn't what was meant, either. But it is a powerful & absorbing novel. I guess the message of the novel is that while the truth may hurt, dealing with it is the brave and right thing to do.
Speaking of bravery & courage, Carrie and Me by Carol Burnett fits that bill. Unlike the book of hers which is full of short, humorous anecdotes, this book is filled with the story of her beloved first-born daughter, who battled drugs and, just when things were really going well, lost her life to cancer. Carrie was a spirited woman with a bright outlook on life. The final section of the book prints the story Carrie was working on, "Sunrise in Memphis," and which was never finished. It was an unusual story; whenever I thought it was headed toward a cliched situation, it would surprise you. I wish she would have lived so I could find out what would have happened! Carrie sounded like a wonderful daughter & friend, and the relationship that she & her mother shared was one to be cherished, despite the hardships of her teenage years.