Catch-up Books

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

This book rested on my nightstand for over a year. My daughter had recommended it to me, but I have an instinctual antipathy for books or movies about animals or dolls that are personified even though I usually enjoy them. This proved to be no exception. Kate de Camille is an exceptional storyteller. Her characters are fresh and genuine. I loved the encounters that Edward had on his journey and the idea of him finding his way back to his original owner and learning the joy and pain of real love.

TorreGreca - Ann Cornelisen

A condensed version from my stack of Reader’s Digest Condensed books. This was a delight. A true encounter of an American woman in the 1950s who settles in a southern Italian village working with a social work organization to improve the lives of impoverished and uneducated rural people. It was especially interesting to me because of my time spent in Italy. Even though I lived in the north of Italy many years after this story takes place, I recognize the peasant mentality which is closely tied to the land, survival, superstitions, local authorities and church structures, a shrewd ingenuity bred by oppression and hard times was still very much prevalent in the consciousness of the culture. But there is no condescension on the part of the author. She accepted people, admired them, and shares heartwarming stories about their hospitality and growth.

Killers of the Flower Moon and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

This is about the conspired deaths of wealthy Osage Indians who owned rights to oil in Oklahoma in the early 1920s. The book recounts the interesting investigations that ensued and finally some answers through the work of some agents who were the first of J Edgar Hoover's newly assembled FBI. The book is a bit of a downer in that the depth of conspiracy and evil that existed seems inconceivable. Yet, we know what humans are capable of...