{"id":1145,"date":"2018-12-31T15:54:33","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2018-12-31T15:54:33","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:54:33","slug":"glenn-dromgooles-texas-reads-column-appears-weekly-at-lonestarliterary-com-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1145","title":{"rendered":"Glenn Dromgoole’s Texas Reads column appears weekly at LoneStarLiterary.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

12.3.2017\u00a0\u00a0 Almanac\u2019s history section needs updating<\/h1>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>The 2018\u201319 edition of The Texas Almanac, published by the Texas State Historical Association,<\/span> has been released. The price has gone up $5 for both the hardcover ($44.95) and the paperback ($29.95).<\/p>\n

Featured articles in this edition focus on the state of Texas water and on Texas hunting and fishing. Of course, the Almanac \u2014 which is celebrating its 160th anniversary \u2014 is loaded with all kind of updated statistical, political, geographical, agricultural, and other useful data. It\u2019s a handy reference guide for all things Texan.<\/p>\n

Except history. The Almanac\u2019s history of Texas ends at 1980. It hasn\u2019t been updated in years. I\u2019ve mentioned it in reviewing the last two editions. Odd, since the Almanac is published by the state historical organization, that Texas history gets short shrift in its otherwise excellent publication. A lot has happened in the state since 1980, including the election of two U.S. presidents from Texas and a political paradigm shift from solidly Democratic to staunchly Republican.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>Campus architecture: <\/span>Texas A&M University Press has published a magnificent oversized book, Architecture That Speaks: S.C.P. Vosper and Ten Remarkable Buildings at Texas A&M<\/span> by Nancy T. McCoy<\/span> and David G. Woodcock,<\/span> with photographs by Carolyn Brown<\/span> ($40 hardcover).<\/p>\n

The ten buildings, all designed and built between 1929 and 1933 while Vosper served on the campus architecture staff, are still intact today, in spite of the massive building boom on campus in recent decades.<\/p>\n

They are: the Chemistry Building; the Cushing Library; Hart Hall; Walton Hall; the Petroleum Engineering, Geology, and Engineering Experiment Station Building; the Veterinary Hospital; the Administration Building; the Agricultural Engineering Building; the Animal Industries Building; and the Horse Barn.<\/p>\n

Each building gets its own chapter except for four that share two chapters. A concluding chapter looks at the campus today, as Texas A&M tries to strike a balance, in its architecture, between accommodating growth and preserving its heritage.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>Bakery bandit:<\/span> Always alert and anticipating an alarm, Gumshoe Zoo awakes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA bread bandit burgled my bakery before breakfast,\u201d bawls Betty.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMy counters and cupboards were completely cleared of carrot cake, cornbread, and crackers,\u201d the chef claims.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll dutifully deal with your distressing dilemma,\u201d denotes Gumshoe Zoo.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how talented Texas author Travis Nichols,<\/span> now staying in San Francisco, starts his charming children\u2019s comical caper, Betty\u2019s Burgled Bakery: An Alliteration Adventure<\/span> (Chronicle Books, $14.99 hardcover).<\/p>\n

I love children\u2019s books that are as much fun for adults as for kids (and aren\u2019t most of them?)! This one certainly is.<\/p>\n

Nichols, who grew up in Abilene, tells this tale alliteratively from A to Z, concluding with \u2014 oh, I shouldn\u2019t give away the ending.<\/p>\n

Read it yourself \u2014 or with a youngster who will yip and not yawn as you yuck it up. Nichols\u2019s previous Gumshoe Zoo Detective Agency mystery, Fowl Play<\/span> (also $14.99), delightfully deals with idioms like \u201cput the cart before the horse,\u201d \u201ca fish out of water,\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t count your chickens before they hatch.\u201d It\u2019s as much fun as a barrel of monkeys.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Glenn Dromgoole\u2019s<\/span> latest book is West Texas Stories<\/span><\/a><\/span>Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

>> Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole 12.3.2017\u00a0\u00a0 Almanac\u2019s history section needs updating The 2018\u201319 edition of The Texas Almanac, published by the Texas State Historical Association, has been released. The price has gone up $5 for both the hardcover ($44.95) and the paperback ($29.95). Featured articles in this edition focus on the state of Texas water and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}