Recent Reading

63 this morning, humidity about 80%. We got out in the gardens early to avoid the heat this afternoon. No rain in sight but possible thunderstorms this week.

I have continued reading, a habit I re-discovered during the pandemic. I've always read a lot, of course, but fiction went by the wayside for me many years ago. Now I am enjoying it once again, and have been picking up books at thrift stores--anything that looks interesting is fair game. Here's some of what I've read lately:

Twisted Vines: a Shakespeare in the Vineyard Mystery by Carole Price. This was a library discard from Ohio. The author is from Ohio so I am sure it had a place on the shelves of most Ohio libraries. This is the first in a series of three books set in California in a combination vineyard/Shakespearean theatre location. Sounds odd, but the story explains how this came to be. The mystery is a good one, not easy to figure out, and descriptions of the area and the theatre are good too. A surprise legacy leads Cait Pepper from her job as a crime analyst in Ohio to the estate of an aunt she never knew she had, and drops Cait into a tangle of two possible murders: her aunt and her uncle. The writing isn't the best I've ever read, and there are things that made my eyebrows raise--a female law enforcement officer who lets people walk all over her? Not likely. The romance angle is pretty trite, and the love interest fella is on the unrealistic side, but most characters are well drawn. I'll read the next book, Sour Grapes, and see if it's better. I'd rate this one a 4 on a scale of 5; just lacking a little bit but for a first book, not bad. Published in 2012. 

Scandal in Fair Haven by Carolyn G. Hart. Another whodunit, but a prolific author. This was a fast read, with an okay story line and well-developed plot. The writing style bothered me--short, choppy sentences, with one sentence often being a whole paragraph. So there are lots of very short lines, lots of white space on the pages. And as seems to be par for the course these days, the protagonist is in danger at the end--just as in Twisted Vines, above. This seems to be a currently popular style, even on TV mystery shows. Set in Tennessee, the story revolves around another female main character whose vacation in a Smoky Mountains cabin is cut short by the arrival of her good friend's bloody and frantic nephew. The nephew has just found his wife murdered in their home, and then ran from the scene. Numerous characters make it a little difficult to keep track of who's who, but for a quick, light read, this wasn't bad.

Currently I'm reading The Companion by Ann Granger. Although Amazon reviewers seem to have a dim view of this book, I am enjoying all the period detail. The author has certainly done her homework in presenting 1864 London and the building of the St. Pancras train station. This detail interested me since my sisters and I stayed at King's Cross in 2019 and took the train from that same station. The story is another murder mystery--I seem to be on a kick lately--that begins when the unknown body of a young woman is found while houses are being demolished at the site of the soon-to-be train station. Eventually Elizabeth Martin, a young woman newly come to London to be companion to a well-to-do widow, is pulled into the quest to discover the truth of the young woman's death. I'm only a third of the way into the book so it's too soon to say if I'll really like it but so far so good. I'll have to pass this on to my sisters when I'm finished, as I am sure they'll enjoy the historical aspects too.

So, what are you reading? I'm about out of books so open to suggestions. Anything good you can recommend?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Seven Books

A friend has been posting reviews of the seven books that impacted her deeply at the time she read them, books that changed her outlook or view of life. I've been reading her posts and thinking about the books that have influenced my life and thinking. I can't say I read most of what's on her list, but she has inspired me to create my own list.

Seven books. The number is so limiting, isn't it? Just seven? But here goes:

1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I read it first as a junior in high school and hated it. In my sheltered upbringing there was no place for what happens in this book. The rawness of the people, the brutality, and above all the ending horrified me. I hate it, and yet the story of the Joads haunted me. I read it again in my 20's, again in my 40's and with each reading my understanding grew, and my heart broke all over again.

From the NEA Big Read website

2. Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing. These people were back-to-the-landers before the hippie generation was even born. I marveled at their approach to life, to doing for themselves such hard tasks as building a house from stone found on their land and digging a pond by hand,  growing their own food, and weaving their political and social ethics into simple living. I began to think about the possibility of doing something similar, to be self-sufficient and independent as they were.

Image from Goodreads

3. The Meta Givens Cookbook. Okay, laugh if you like. But learning to cook from scratch and make my own bread? Talk about liberating! I realized I did not have to depend on stores and factories for my food; I could make it myself. My growing drive for self-sufficiency was further fed by Meta Givens, along with other books like Recipes for a Small Planet, Stocking Up, and Stalking the Wild Asparagus.

4. Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. She later became a famous author, but this book that tells of her determination to live on an abandoned orange grove in central Florida in the 1930's captivated me. A single woman, she bucked the odds and convention to find a place where she could write and support herself. While some of it might make contemporary readers' eyebrows shoot up, her story is a compelling one of strength, courage and compassion. One day I hope to visit Cross Creek.

image from Amazon.com

5. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. This was required reading in college. I was in my middle-thirties then, and the story was beyond belief to me. Could such things really have happened in America? My political views, always left of center, became firmly entrenched there. And my determination to put as few processed foods as possible on my table grew even stronger.

6. Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. It has been years since I first read it, and years since my second and third reading too, but this book always has a place on my bookshelf. I suppose it was my first exposure to British folklore and I was fascinated then and now by the topic.


7. The Buffalo Creek Disaster by Gerald M. Stern. The tragedy of the collapse of a mine wastewater dam and the horror and loss of life happened just a few years before I moved to West Virginia. I had heard about it, but this book brought it heartbreakingly alive to me. It opened my eyes to this place I had moved, to its terrible beauty and history. I began reading every book the library had about West Virginia, Appalachia and the people who call this place home, and it's a habit that continues to this day.

image from Amazon.com

I am sure that if I created this list tomorrow, it might be different. There are so many books that made and continue to make a strong impression on me. How about you? What books would be on your list?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Coming soon: Voices on Unity

It will be here soon! And my story about making fruitcakes with my sisters will be in it, along with stories and poems from many other fine West Virginia writers.

Voices on Unity: Coming Together, Falling Apart is the new anthology soon to be released by Mountain State Press.  The book launch event will be held Tuesday, December 12, from 6:00pm-8:00pm at Hidden Creek Mercantile, The Copper Room, 2803 Main St, Hurricane, WV.

Contributing writers will be there reading from their stories. And you know, this weekend I'm making fruitcakes with my sisters again so if they come out well, I might just bring some with me to the launch!

I am excited about this book, which has stories and poems from many perspectives. In this time of national divisiveness, a collection like this is timely and needed. I am indebted to editor and publisher Cat Pleska, for envisioning and nurturing this project to completion. 

I hope you can join us on December 12 to celebrate the launch of this exciting new work.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Finally Winter, and Books and Reading

Winter took its time getting to us this year. Until yesterday, when flurries blew around all day, mixing with the sunshine, and then last night temperatures dropped into the teens.

It's about time. I admit, I've enjoyed the long autumn. We had time for lots of cleaning up and putting away, tasks that usually are hard to complete because storytelling keeps me busy and on the road for most of the season. I began to wonder last week if we'd need to get the mower out again because the grass was getting so tall!

An odd thing about this winter is that we have not yet had any juncos, or snowbirds as we call them. There are always flocks of them coming to the feeders but not this winter. Perhaps this cold snap will bring them in.

Winter gives me time for something I love: reading. I often have 3 or 4 or more books in my reading pile, along with several magazines. I like getting up early in winter, when it's still dark outside, and cozying up on the couch or in the rocker with my morning tea (Bewley's Irish Breakfast, please) and my reading. Here's the current reading list:

Ted Kooser's Winter Morning Walks. I know I've written about this book before, but the short, quiet poems written when Kooser was recovering from cancer and taking two-mile, early morning walks in the cold Iowa landscape brings me peace every time I read them. I read one each day, on the dates he wrote them. Here's today's entry:

Eighteen degrees at sunrise.

Hung from the old loading chute
is a lasso of rusty wire,
and caught in the grain of its boards
is a wisp of red hair, and the heavy,
dead knocking of hooves.

See why I like his poetry? Simple, yet filled with much to see and consider.

Comstock's West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia. I am reading through this 50-volume set one book at a time. I use them frequently for research and have read through several of them at various times, but now I am reading them methodically and flagging pages that have topics I will probably want to go back to. These books' downfall is that they are not indexed, so finding information can be tricky. My post-it flags will help. Today's volume included the story of the hole in the Cheat River, and Lemuel Chenoweth, the mane who built many of West Virginia's covered bridges--and a lot more. The set was published in the late 70's and is hard to find. I feel fortunate to have found a complete set about 10 years ago.

The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales. These are a modern take on old tales and as entertaining as the Jack tales. These aren't stories I can re-tell because this is copyrighted work, but they sure are a fun read. There is a traditional Molly Whuppie story you can read online at Sacred Texts. It's a great tale of a resourceful young woman.

The Solstice Evergreen by Sheryl Karas. I have known about this book for years but never owned a copy. The series of Christmas stories shared by storytellers included one from Robin Reichert that was published in the Solstice Evergreen, and that reminded me that I needed to get this book. It's an intriguing look at the history, legend and lore of trees, evergreens in particular, leading up to our current Christmas tree tradition.

Goldenseal magazine. West Virginia's journal of folklife is always filled with information about the people and places of our state. The current issue features fiddler Blind Ed Haley among other fine articles.

I was sorting one of our bookshelves last week, trying to make space for a small stereo system, and found books I'd forgotten I had. I had to make some decisions on what to keep and what to send on to a new home, and it wasn't easy! I've been told, "Oh, just check them out at the library! No need to keep copies of all of these old books!" As a retired librarian, I like the sentiment--but most of my books are out of print, and most are copies that have been discarded from libraries so there is no guarantee that a library will actually have these on their shelves.

I'm not an e-book user either, for several reasons. First, internet service here is not great and I have to be careful about data usage on my satellite. My cell phone works sometimes, if I'm in the right spot, but the signal is weak here at home. Second, computers and phones are not permanent--they crash, lose stuff, get replaced, etc. I don't want to have my research library suddenly disappear on me. And third and most important, I just like books. I like the feel of them, the smell, the look of them on shelves and scattered around my house. Eventually I may begin using e-books but physical books will always have a place in my home.

That's my current reading list. What's on your reading table today?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Books for Sale! Lots of Books!

Today I am back in the book-sorting business, and my word have I made a mess. It has to get better, though, right? As I've sorted I've found some books that I think others might be interested in owning. Here's a list.


If you're interested in any of these, email me at susannaholstein@yahoo.com.

All are $5 each including postage, except for the two noted exceptions.

Here are some home and gardening books:

Food in History by Reay Tannahill
Knitting in Plain English by Righetti
Perennials for American Gardens by Ruth Clausen (big and heavy w/lots of color photos)
The Border Book by Pavord (lots of color photos)
The Country Diary Book of Flowers by Petelin (gorgeous book!)
Les Immortelles: Everlasting Blooms, the Beauty of Dried Flowers by Brennan (beautiful book)
Prevention's Diabetes Cookbook (2007) great recipes
The Complete Perennials Book: planning, using, growing, how-to
Making Candles & Potpourri
Miracle Healing Herbs by Heinerman
Katie Brown's Weekends (great ideas, color photos, decorating, recipes, etc)
Log Cabin Cooking by Sewell
Rural Free: A Farmwife's Almanc of Country Living. (a month by month account of life on a farm in Ohio in the 50's--great reading for homesteaders and country folk)
Gardener's Companion: a Book of Lists and Lore (and lots of useful information)
Garden of Invention by Drower (great stories and line drawings of early garden inventions)
Sheds: The Do It Yourself Guide for Backyard Builders
In Praise of Tomatoes: Tasty Recipes, Garden Secrets, Legends and Lore (beautiful photos, great recipes)
The Book of Muscle: The World's Most Authoritative Guide to Building Your Body by Men's Health

And these are from my storytelling collection:
Rousing Songs and True Tales of the Civil War by Wayne Erbsen
Log Cabin Pioneers by Erbsen
The Right to Speak by Patsy Rodenburg
The Study of Folklore by Alan Dundes
The Story Factor by Annette Simmons
Laughter Therapy by Goodheart (such an apt name for the author)
The Courage to Laugh by Klein
The Healing Power of Humor by Klein
The European Folktale by Luthi
The Passionate Fact by Strauss
Compassionate Laughter by Wooten

The Complete Sagas of the Icelanders is still available; contact me for a price on this rare 5-volume set. I'll give a good discount to a storyteller. I also have a handbound, silk-covered copy of Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearne. The slipjacket has come apart along the spine but the little real ivory pins that held it closed are still there and the book, with fine illustrations, is in excellent condition. It's a rare one, listing on eBay for $$$. I'd like to find a teller of Japanese stories (these are Japanese stories of the supernatural and strange) for this book, so if you should know someone please let me know. This book deserves a good home.

Also $5.00, including postage:

Dress in North America by de Marly
Story and Verse for Children collected by Huber, 1965 (a big, heavy book)
Stories of Long Ago from Children's Hour, #12
Once Upon a Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales by Luthi
Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict
Arts in Earnest: North Carolina Folklife by Patterson & Zugg
The Critics and the Ballad by Leach & Coffin (kinda creepy names)
Alabama's Favorite Folk Tales by Tackett
Real Scandanavians Never Ask Directions by Art Lee
The Wisdom of China (lovely little book) and the Hound of Heaven (as a set)
The Lyre and the Harp by Watts
The Berkshire Hills: Federal Writers Project 1939
Myth and Cult Among Primitive Peoples by Jensen
Longhouse Legends by Matson
International Playtime: Classroom Games and Dances from around the World
Educators Lifetime Library of Stories, Quotes, Anecdotes, Wit and Humor
Introduction to Folklore by Cox
Dances in Indonesia (beautiful b&w and color photos, a rare book)
I Breathe a New Song: Poems of the Eskimo

That's the list for now. Probably be some more later. Please give these awesome books a home--at least one or two!


Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.