Merry Christmas!

Bet no one else sent you cactus and Christmas lights for the holiday!

Miracle on 10th Street

I have a big writer's-crush on Madeline L'Engle. It started when I first read A Wrinkle in Time in gradeschool and identified with the main character, Meg. The more of Madeline's work I read, the more I want to read.

I picked up Miracle on 10th Street a few years ago. It's not very thick -- about the width of a good-sized magazine. Unlike most of her work, this is also not one complete story. Instead, this is a sneak-peak into the author's journals and random writings on Christmas from the 1970s to the late 1990s.

The entry for which the collection is named "Miracle on 10th Street" tells the story of the Christmas season when Madeline and her husband were afraid that their daughter would be diagnosed with leukemia. The family was living in a small apartment in New York City on 10th street at the time (downstairs from Leonard Bernstein). While they were waiting for the test results to come in, the family tried to keep their spirits up.

"I rocked my child and told her stories and prayed incoherent prayers. We turned on the lights of the Christmas tree, lit a fire in our fireplace, turned out all the other lights, and I managed to sing lullabies without letting my voice break, or tears flow. When my husband got home from the theatre [he was an actor] we put her to bed, and we held each other. We knew that the promise has never been safety, or that bad things would not happen if we were good and virtuous. The promise is only that God is in it with us, no matter what it is."

It was still the Christmas season when Madeline received word that her daughter did not have leukemia and the little girl began to recover. She talks about other holidays, though, when the answers to prayers she prayed was "no."

I love this collection -- in fact, I read it every year and find different stories, essays, and poems that appeal to me more that year. Whatever inspires you this holiday season, I hope you have time to enjoy it.

The Christmas Cookie Club

I know -- it's been awhile since I've done two book reviews in a row. It's also been a long time (if ever) that I've gushed about two books I've loved in a row. Just a special holiday treat from me to you!

The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman hit on a completely different side of the holidays for me than A Christmas Carol. There was a charitable aspect to this book -- each member of the club made 13 dozen of her choice of cookie for the year. At the party, the women swapped so that they went home with 12 dozen different cookies and 12 dozen cookies were delivered to hospice.

The real focus of this book, though, was the complicated friendships among the women. We learn the stories of each of the 12 women as they present their cookies, but the unifying factor for the 16 years of this club is Marnie, the "head cookie bitch." She hosts the party, but most importantly, it's the women's various relationships with Marnie that have brought them together, despite their differences. The ages range from mid-30s to mid-60s. The newest member is Marnie's soon-to-be co-grandmother. Other members have known each other for decades.

As Marnie describes:

"Some arrive freshly dressed from home, some straight from work. Some will stop at a store to pick up appetizers or wine. A few will enter with the cookies and wine chilled from a day in the car. But each brings a flurry of expectation and enthusiasm. And ease, for we are ourselves with one another. We've known one another too long and have been through too much to maintain reserve or caution. We've watched our children grow, relationships dissolve and evolve into new configurations, job promotions and career changes, illnesses and surgeries, wrinkles and spreading tummies and breasts."

This book also includes recipes for each of the cookies (so I would recommend reading a print copy of this book, rather than an audio version), as well as non-fiction historical snippets about the common cookie ingredients (such as flower, salt, almonds, etc.). I can't wait to try these cookies -- especially the Chinese fortune cookies, but the real ingredient that will bring me back to read more Ann Pearlman, though, are her descriptions of the messy friendships among the party participants.

(Thanks to FSB Associates for sending me this review copy.)

A Christmas Carol - Special Edition

I have a confession to make. Usually I try to push myself to read any classics I missed growing up, but there are some authors out there who intimidate me. I appreciate the impact that Charles Dickens' writing has had on English literature and in exposing several of the social evils of his time. Still, when it comes to his stories -- I'd rather read someone else interpretation. His prose is just so dense that I have a hard time making it through to the story part of the story.

I was excited to hear that this special edition of A Christmas Carol was coming out, with side-notes and chapter discussions by Stephen Skelton. The book is laid out well so that the inner part of each page is Dickens' original text (which I had never read) and the outer 2 inches are set aside for commentary.

I really enjoyed having side-notes, rather than footnotes, too. One of my favorite books growing up was an annotated version of Black Beauty with pictures of the parts of the horses and equipment being described in the original book. I wasn't disappointed with the Christmas Carol version, either. It was easy to jump back and forth between the notes and the story without feeling interrupted (which is one reason I like side notes better than end notes).

The notes are a combination of explanation of historical references, stories about Dickens' life, performance notes, and Christian religious commentary. I wouldn't have thought of A Christmas Carol as being "Christian fiction" before reading this special edition. It doesn't surprise me that Dickens was a Christian, just based on his time period (this was published in the 1840s) and location (urban England), but before reading excerpts from Dickens' letters and biographies in the side-notes, I wouldn't have known that he wrote this story specifically to extol Christian virtues. The religious leaders of Dickens' day worked to keep references to God out of fiction writing to avoid heretical liberties or blasphemies being presented to audiences. There are lots of Biblical references in Dickens' original language, but most of them are somewhat veiled and have been dropped from the adaptations I have seen before (along with the British political commentary that appears in the original.

I was reading this book on my own, so I found the discussion guides at the end of each chapter less helpful than the side notes. They are set up to encourage discussion of the themes that appear in the previous chapter and lead in applying those same themes in the reader's life. I did think it was a great idea that each section has different levels of questions with "A" and "B" in each section being good for discussions with kids and "C" and "D" being aimed more at adults. I can see these being good for spurring book club discussions or even family discussion about the meaning of the holiday.

Bottom Line: I'd highly recommend that anyone who's a fan of this classic tale check out Dickens' original language with the commentary added by Skelton. In fact, I've already passed on my version to another friend, who now wants to buy her own copy and one for her church library.

(Thanks to FSB Associates for sending me this review copy.)

Tis the Season ... for Sleepy Prairie Dogs

Everyone say "Happy Holidays" to our family weather protector. Forget groundhogs and their shadows, we've got a prairie dog at home. This time of year, he's doing alot of this:

And when we do get him in the prairie dog ball, he's doing lots of this:

Sleep well, little guy! You can check out more WW pics here: Wordless Wednesday.

The Dewey Tree

I never got to know Dewey. She passed away around this time last year and I was just getting the hang of blogging and connecting with the book community online. I have learned quite a bit about her by the events in her honor that continue online.

One of these events is taking place during the holiday season. I first heard about The Dewey Tree from Lisa at Mind Alive on the Shelves. Lisa at Online Publicist created this event in Dewey's honor to connect the online community in donating books in Dewey's honor. Here's how it works:

I have a slight book overload problem at our house right now

so this event comes at a perfect time for me. I'm donating these boxes (and maybe more) to the local Friends of the Library in Dewey's honor.

Santa Swap Thank you!

Remember a month ago when I told you about the Book Blogger Holiday Swap?

I just got my package from Kari at The Kari AnnAlysis. She's so sweet! She sent me two of the books I was wanting from my wish list (this author was recommended to me by The GypsyMama and I can't wait to check her out). (LJ - how do you like the sexy new covers to your classic favorites?)

Plus, I got bonus penguin magnetic bookmarks! Love them!

I did actually do my part on the Secret Santa swap, too. I promise! Just, kind of ... maybe... a little slower than I was supposed to. Sorry to my Sant-ee out there. This box is headed your way (it just didn't leave until after our weird West Texas ice cleared this week)!

Domesticated Prairie Dog's Preferred Digging

Last week I showed how much the prairie dog "liked" snow. Here's where he'd much rather dig:

Making some headway on the Christmas tree skirt over at TexasRed Quilts. The WW headquarters is here: Wordless Wednesday.

Teaser Tuesday - The Christmas Cookie Club

Teaser Tuesdays are hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

It asks us to:

(1) Grab our current reads.

(2) Let the book fall open to a random page.

(3) Share two (or three) teaser sentences from that page somewhere between lines 7 and 12 (avoiding spoilers).

We're also supposed to share the book title and author so others can find the book themselves.

Here's my teaser for today from The Christmas Cookie Club, by Ann Pearlman (it's not a random sentence, but was too good a first line not to share):

I am the head cookie bitch and this is my party.

(Thanks to Atria Books for supplying the review copy I'm reading.)

Prairie Dog's First Snow

How did Hoover like his first experience with snow?



I'm definitely going to have to make this up to him!

The Rustlers of West Fork by Louis L'Amour

This post was originally published at Royal Reviews.

The Rustlers of West Fork is the first of four novels that Louis L'Amour wrote about Hopalong Cassidy's adventures in the American western frontier. Click Hopalong Cassidy Background for more information about these books.

Plot Summary: It's the 1860s and ranchers and the cowhands who work for them are the most common residents of small towns in the frontier. Buck Peters, the original foreman of the Bar 20 ranch, is ready to repay a debt he owes to another rancher, Dick Jordan. Unfortunately, Dick now lives several days ride west of Buck's ranch, on the Circle J ranch near Horse Springs. A trusted messenger needs to take the $15,000 Buck is repaying Dick across the wild land and into a region known for lawlessness and robberies. Buck decides that person should be his friend, Hopalong Cassidy.

Hopalong (Hoppy) runs into some trouble on his way to Horse Springs, first when three men try to ambush him to get the money before he ever leaves town and then when he rescues a father and son from an Apache Indian raid. One of the men who attacked Hoppy mentions a name before he dies, Avery Sparr. Hopalong learns from the family he rescued and their friends that Avery Sparr has a reputation as "the slickest, fastest gunman" around Horse Springs. He has also taken up residence at the Circle J with Dick Johnson and his daughter, Pam.

After Dick Johnson was injured in an accident, Avery Sparr and his partner Arnold Soper have taken a bigger and bigger leadership interest in the Circle J. Unbeknownst to Dick or his daughter, Sparr also had Soper register a new cattle brand. In a time before the West was fenced off with barbed wire, ownership of each cow (and the potential profit it represented) was based on the brand it wore. By trusting the wrong men, Dick has given Sparr the opportunity to organize a slow takeover of his entire business. Even worse, Sparr has used the opportunity posed by Dick's injury to make Dick and his daughter, Pam, prisoners in their own home.

Hopalong had some inkling of trouble at the Circle J from a letter Pam sent him before he left the Bar 20. Mixed in with the standard greetings and conversation was a coded call for help. The more Hoppy finds out about Sparr, Soper and their gunmen, the more convinced he becomes the he needs to rescue Dick and Pam and set things right on the Circle J.

My Reaction: I didn't know any of the Hopalong Cassidy background until I reached the Afterword of this book. That didn't really effect my enjoyment of the story. Some of the characters from Clarence Mulford's original Bar 20 stories make appearances, but they're all clearly labeled as friend or foe. This book is really more of a stand alone story, like a Western TV series with one-shot episodes instead of long-term story arcs.

If you've ever seen a Western-themed movie or TV series, you'll have a good idea what to expect from The Rustlers of West Fork. The good guys are full of common sense wisdom, courage, and grit. The bad guys are cowardly, conniving, and bloodthirsty. I enjoyed L'Amour's descriptions of the lands and history of how towns like Horse Springs developed and the way a clever man could try to takeover an entire ranch without raising any suspicions.

I was also more impressed with the Pam character than I had expected to be. She wasn't able to protect the family business from these high-class rustlers, but she did manage to get a message out for help and work with Hoppy on his rescue plans.

Western Slang: The language in this book is beautiful. Some of the slang reminds me of my father-in-law, but taken to the extreme. Some I had to ask my husband for translations. Here's a sample.

• "plumb salty" - street-wise, crafty, (maybe a "gun-slick") opposite of a "pilgrim" or "soft-tailed tenderfoot"
• "Boot Hill" - the graveyard
• "played hob" - cause trouble
  
• "hoss" or "cayuse" = horse
  

Bottom Line: This book is the Western equivalent of a serial romance novel. It's not earth-shaking or epic, but it is a fun read and a good entry into the genre for people not familiar with Westerns.

Louis L'Amour Hopalong Cassidy Novels - Background

This post was originally published at Royal Reviews.

In the spring and summer of 1950, Hopalong Cassidy's Western Magazine published 4 new novels about a classic character, written by a new writer named Tex Burns. The books were commissioned by Doubleday's Double D Western imprint. The titles of the novels were The Rustlers of West Fork, Trail to Seven Pines, Riders of High Rock and Trouble Shooter.

Clarence Mulford created the cowboy-hero, Hopalong Cassidy, who later appeared in 118 TV episodes and films (acted by Bill Boyd). Between 1906 and 1908, Clarence wrote a series of magazine stories that were collected into a book called Bar 20. These stories were set in the American western frontier in the 1850s-60s and included several characters, including Bill Cassidy, who became known as "Hopalong" because of a pronounced limp that resulted from a bullet wound. From 1906 - 1941 Clarence wrote more than two dozen novels about Hopalong and the Bar 20 ranch characters. In addition to the limp, Hoppy always had the black outfit, white horse, and nickel-plated guns in the books and films. The author agreed to let the production studios clean up the "foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, but basically realistic character" from the books to make him acceptable for the screen.

Clarence retired from writing in 1941, after which 30 Hopalong movies were made. Doubleday organized a magazine that would be dedicated entirely to stories about Hoppy (and support the movies that were coming out). Clarence declined to come out of retirement to write the books, but agreed to select his successor. The editor of Better Publications recommended several of their magazine writers to Clarence, including a young Louis L'Amour (who had been writing for the magazine for 10 years). Clarence chose Louis to write the new novels for the magazine. According to the Afterword to The Rustlers of West Fork, by Beau L'Amour, Louis L'Amour's son, at the time Louis was living in Los Angeles, writing for magazines, and subletting the room he was living in.

Louis agreed to write the Hopalong novels, and even to follow the Bill Boyd on-screen version of the character and the very detailed plot instructions put forth by Better Publications. Louis later referred to these books as works for hire, and looking back, the publisher certainly controlled the tone and content of the novels. According to a January 4, 1950 letter, these stories were to include Hopalong as "a free lance trouble shooter, drifting along and settling range, town and other western problems.... There may be a slight woman interest in the stories, but it should be handled so that it is more a case of hero worship ... let's forget the limp."

The publisher even created the author name that it wanted Louis to use for these works, Tex Burns. The copyright for one of the four Hopalong Cassidy stories above, though, ended up being filed as "Louis L'Amour" rather than Tex Burns. According to Louis's son's speculation, at some point a fan, editor, reporter or someone else asked Louis about writing the Hopalong Cassidy books. Louis began denying the books because of the interaction with the publisher and then he felt he had no choice but to continue to deny writing them. The books weren't officially acknowledged, according to http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-l-amour, until the family re-published the books 3 years after Louis's death.

Nevertheless, these four books are part of the earliest published writings of an author who would go on to sell more than 225 million books around the world. As part of the Louis L'Amour collection, these books come with a request. Just before his death, according to the afterword, Louis asked Beau to include a request in his final book for all his readers. "Dad wanted to ask you, whoever are, to go out and plant a tree. He didn't care what kind and he didn't care where you put it. He only cared that thousands of trees are cut down every day and few are ever replaced....Louis wanted you to do this for yourself, to do this for your future."

At Least One Of Us Likes To Travel

I don't understand what the big deal is about all this traveling.

I mean, look at these claws. Do I look scared of 10,000 miles? Do I?

I get to see new things!

I get to practice my speed eating.

I get to try new food (and stick it all over my fur).

More holiday travel? Bring it on!

Check out my holiday decorating over at TexasRed Quilts. The WW headquarters is here: Wordless Wednesday.

Teaser Tuesday - A Christmas Carol

Teaser Tuesdays are hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

It asks us to:

(1) Grab our current reads.

(2) Let the book fall open to a random page.

(3) Share two (or three) teaser sentences from that page somewhere between lines 7 and 12 (avoiding spoilers).

We're also supposed to share the book title and author so others can find the book themselves.

Here's my teaser for today from A Christmas Carol, Special Edition, by Charles Dickens (with notes from Stephen Skelton):

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."*

*This refernce to the 'surplus population' was a swipe at the political economists Dickens despised, such as Thomas Maltus and Adam Smith, whom he felt conveyed the general opinion that the poor had no business being born. This contrasts sharply with the biblical message: "Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all" (Proverbs 22:2).

I'm almost halfway through this new edition of the Christmas classic. I'm loving the extra information added in sidenotes by Stephen Skelton. There are also discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Those I'm kind of "meh" about, but I'm also reading on my own, not trying to generate book club or other discussions.

(Thanks to FSB Associates for supplying the review copy I'm reading.)