{"id":1362,"date":"2018-12-31T16:52:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2018-12-31T16:52:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:52:17","slug":"lone-star-reviewsmichelle-newby-nbcc-115","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1362","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star ReviewsMichelle Newby, NBCC,"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

MEMOIR<\/p>\n

Alex Lemon<\/span><\/p>\n

Feverland: A Memoir in Shards<\/span><\/p>\n

Milkweed Editions<\/p>\n

Paperback,\u00a0 978-1-57131-336-2, 312 pages, $16.00; September 2017<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Si Dunn<\/p>\n

Imagine that your entire life can be viewed, frozen in place, in one big mirror. <\/span>Now, drop the mirror. Let it shatter and scatter into countless pieces. As you pick up some of the fragments, one at a time, write down what you see in each piece and try to make it connect somehow with the next piece you lift.<\/p>\n

Associative.<\/span> That\u2019s the easiest adjective to describe the structure of Fort Worth writer Alex Lemon\u2019s<\/span> latest memoir. (His previous works include Happy: A Memoir<\/span> and several poetry collections.)<\/p>\n

Feverland: A Memoir in Shards<\/span> jumps quickly from one time, place and memory to another memory that is somehow connected. And each biographical \u201cshard\u201d may consume one short paragraph or a page or several pages.<\/p>\n

Initially, the book can be challenging reading. But it soon becomes rewarding. Lemon understands the power of using short, clear sentences to build toward deeper meanings. At the same time, he does not shy away from using longer sentences (sometimes very long) to alter the rhythms and flow of thoughts.\u00a0 >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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TRUE CRIME<\/p>\n

Kermit Schweidel<\/span><\/p>\n

Folly Cove: A Smuggler’s Tale of the Pot Rebellion<\/span><\/p>\n

Cinco Puntos Press<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-1-941026-82-3 (also available as ebook), 266 pages, $16.95<\/p>\n

February 2018<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Si Dunn<\/p>\n

It’s tempting to describe Folly Cove as \u201cReefer Madness\u201d<\/span> toked up on steroids.<\/p>\n

This well-written book offers much more information and entertainment than that 1936 anti-marijuana film.<\/p>\n

Folly Cove<\/span> takes the reader inside the methods and cash-only economics of marijuana smuggling during the early 1970s. It describes how border patrols and federal drug agents were evaded and how a smuggler, if arrested, could slow or even stop the wheels of justice with some well-placed money and a high-dollar attorney. But in those days, conviction for possessing even small amounts could bring a long prison sentence. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

>> archive<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

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

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

>> <\/span>Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit<\/a><\/span>erary Life<\/span><\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>2018 TEXAS BOOKISH DESTINATIONS<\/h1>\n

Can you name this literary place in the Lone Star State?<\/h1>\n

Admit it: bookfans love traveling almost as much as they love reading itself.<\/span> All year long we promote our annual list of Top Texas Bookish Destinations, for readers who want to visit the settings of their favorite books, the birthplaces and haunts of favorite authors, and hot spots for book buying, readings, and other literary activity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But throughout Texas\u2019s 268,597 square miles, there are also lots of out-of-the-way points of interest that we don\u2019t always have space to cover in our Top Ten pages.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Watch this space each week for a new bookish place that you\u2019ll want to add to your own travel list. Be the first to email us with the correct identification, and win a prize!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This week, we continue with a bookish place that\u2019s located in 2018\u2019s #1 Top Bookish Destination. Where in this city celebrating its tricentennial this year would you find a colorful reading corner inside one of its hometown retailers?<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Email us at<\/span> info@LoneStarLiterary.com<\/span><\/a><\/span> with the specific right answer,<\/span> and we’ll send you a free copy of Literary Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

LAST MONTH\u2019S PHOTO<\/span> (below<\/span>) went wanting for a winner. We\u2019ll reveal the place now \u2014 it\u2019s the Poet Tree, in Houston (yeah, that would\u2019ve been easy, for anyone who zoomed in).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contributing Editor MEMOIR Alex Lemon Feverland: A Memoir in Shards Milkweed Editions Paperback,\u00a0 978-1-57131-336-2, 312 pages, $16.00; September 2017 Reviewed by Si Dunn Imagine that your entire life can be viewed, frozen in place, in one big mirror. Now, drop the mirror. Let it shatter and scatter into countless pieces. As you pick up some […]<\/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-1362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362","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=1362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}