{"id":1358,"date":"2018-12-31T16:51:37","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2018-12-31T16:51:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:51:37","slug":"glenn-dromgooles-texas-reads-column-appears-weekly-at-lonestarliterary-com-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1358","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

6.24.2018\u00a0 Ever\u2019 Texan oughta read this book of Texas stories<\/h1>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>When you open W. F. Strong\u2019s book Stories from Texas: Some of Them Are True, <\/span>right there on the title page is my succinct review: \u201cEver\u2019 Texan oughta read this book.\u201d<\/p>\n

The publisher (Beverley Place Books) sent me an advance copy and asked for a blurb. It didn\u2019t take me long to realize that Strong has put together a remarkable collection that will inform and entertain readers about Texas history, culture, folklore and literature. I figured every Texan \u2014 or \u201cever\u2019 Texan\u201d as we tend to pronounce it \u2014 would enjoy the seventy-five stories in the 144-page paperback ($11.99).<\/p>\n

For seven years the author, professor of communication at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, has been telling Texas stories on public radio stations statewide, and the book evolved from that series of four-minute tales and observations.<\/p>\n

Despite the subtitle \u2014 \u201csome of them are true\u201d \u2014 most of the stories are true, but Strong doesn\u2019t hesitate to mix in a few legends and tall tales from time to time.<\/p>\n

One of my favorites concerned \u201cThe Texas Rancher and the New York Banker.\u201d The rancher from a little ranch near Abilene walks into a New York bank and asks for a $5,000 loan for one month, some \u201cwalkin\u2019-around money.\u201d He leaves his loaded $70,000 Ford F-250 as collateral. A month later he comes in to pay off the $5,000 loan and $28.22 in interest and reveals the real reason he applied for the loan. (Of course, I\u2019m not going to tell you how the story ends.)<\/p>\n

The book is divided into a dozen or so sections, beginning with several pieces on the Texas dialect, such as letters we don\u2019t need (the g on words ending in -ing, for example) and Texas contractions (especially the word y\u2019all).<\/p>\n

Another section deals with larger-than-life Texans, including Judge Roy Bean, coach Tom Landry, oilman Eddie Chiles, rancher\/philanthropist Henrietta King, cattleman Charles Goodnight, pianist Van Cliburn, and the \u201cbass boat heroes\u201d from Hurricane Harvey.<\/p>\n

Strong offers his suggestions for a year\u2019s worth of Texas reading \u2014 one book a month beginning with The Tacos of Texas<\/span> and ending with The Big Rich. <\/span>Yes, Lonesome Dove, Empire of the Summer Moon,<\/span> and Elmer Kelton\u2019s <\/span>The Time It Never Rained<\/span> make the list.<\/p>\n

The section on Texas icons includes pieces about rattlesnakes, pickups, Blue Bell ice cream, Dr Pepper, and Southwest Airlines. The author is especially passionate about Whataburger.<\/p>\n

A chapter on immigrants takes a little different tack than you might expect, noting that the new immigrants in Texas (who didn\u2019t speak the native language and practiced a different religion) were becoming quite a problem \u2014 in the 1820s and 1830s. Anglo Americans were streaming over the border from Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and other southern states, and the government (Mexico) passed new laws to deal with the influx. Strong also includes a couple of pieces on \u201cSpanish for Gringos\u201d and \u201cLingo for Gringos: Ten Words All Texans Should Know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s much more. As I said at the beginning, \u201cever\u2019 Texan oughta read this book.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> writes about Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole 6.24.2018\u00a0 Ever\u2019 Texan oughta read this book of Texas stories When you open W. F. Strong\u2019s book Stories from Texas: Some of Them Are True, right there on the title page is my succinct review: \u201cEver\u2019 Texan oughta read this book.\u201d The publisher (Beverley Place Books) sent me an advance copy […]<\/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-1358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358","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=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}