Alana Cash (Author of Saints in the Shadows ; a mystery of the mind)

Alana Cash is now friends with Ashley Jamieson
Feb 21, 2025 05:54AM · like
Alana Cash rated a book it was amazing Spindletop by James Anthony Clark (1981-02-01) by James Anthony Clark; Michael Halbouty	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is an interesting book, easy to read, about the beginnings of the oil industry in Texas and the beginnings of Gulf, Sun Oil, and others. Spindletop is in Beaumont which was a small town at the time, and one man Patillo Higgins, and his frustrati ...more
Oct 08, 2024 04:58PM · like · see review
Alana Cash rated a book did not like it Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was looking forward to reading the book because years ago, I met an Osage woman in Austin, Texas who had written a similar book and was having trouble getting it published. This book is written by a white man from Connecticut, David Grann, who appro ...more
Oct 06, 2024 09:25AM · 25 likes · like · see review
Alana Cash rated a book did not like it Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Winner of the National Book Award - it must be so well written - that was my thought and I was wrong. I finished the first chapter because I forced myself to do so. Write what you know - that's good advice - and this author knows little to nothing ab ...more
Sep 23, 2024 08:46AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alana Cash rated a book it was ok The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The title of this book was misleading for me. First of all, Crazy Horse was not simply "killed" like he had an accident or fell in some battle. He was murdered. Second, he hardly appears in the first 75% of the book. In some chapters the name Crazy H ...more
Sep 07, 2024 04:41PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alana Cash and 17 other people liked Danielle's review of Bigger than All the Night Sky: The Start Of Spiritual Awakening. A Memoir.: "I loved Rose Rosetree's memoir - it helped wake me up inside! It's a beautiful read that describe the start of a spiritual life. I found it inspirational and uplifting. Overall, it's beautiful and moving. "
Sep 03, 2024 04:18PM · see review
Alana Cash has read TONO ANTONIO (A CHRISTMAS STORY) by Ruth Sawyer	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 01, 2024 01:34PM · like
Alana Cash rated a book it was amazing Buffalo Woman by Dorothy M. Johnson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is the story of, Whirlwind, a Lakota girl born in 1820 before the gold rush brought the tidal of wave of immigrants and ultimately the US military into the region that these people had roamed and hunted for 1000s of years. I do not know if the a ...more
Aug 13, 2024 11:14AM · 1 like · like · see review
Alana Cash rated a book did not like it The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book seems like part of a multiple book deal that the author made with his publisher and he had to get this written by a certain date with a certain number of words. The book begins with a skeleton found during an excavation. That set up a myste ...more
Jun 10, 2024 05:31AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alana Cash and 1156 other people liked Anna Avian's review of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: "Unpopular opinion here, but I just couldn't get into this book. I put it down several times and finishing it felt like a chore. There were too many characters and subplots that went nowhere. At the end this was a mishmash of opportunities that took p" Read more of this review »
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Alana Cash is now friends with Ashley Jamieson

Alana Cash rated a book it was amazing

Spindletop by James Anthony Clark by James Anthony Clark; Michae...

Spindletop by James Anthony Clark (1981-02-01)
by James Anthony Clark; Michael Halbouty

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This is an interesting book, easy to read, about the beginnings of the oil industry in Texas and the beginnings of Gulf, Sun Oil, and others. Spindletop is in Beaumont which was a small town at the time, and one man Patillo Higgins, and his frustrati ...more

Alana Cash rated a book did not like it

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann (Goodreads Author)

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I was looking forward to reading the book because years ago, I met an Osage woman in Austin, Texas who had written a similar book and was having trouble getting it published.

This book is written by a white man from Connecticut, David Grann, who appro I was looking forward to reading the book because years ago, I met an Osage woman in Austin, Texas who had written a similar book and was having trouble getting it published.

This book is written by a white man from Connecticut, David Grann, who appropriates this story of what happened to the Osage people in Oklahoma. From the first chapter I was aware that Grann had limited knowledge of Osage people, Oklahoma and oil drilling. It appears that he did his research on the Internet.

Grann's book is filled with misinformation about the land, the landscape, oil drilling and more. After reading the first chapter, I wondered if the author of this book actually visited fly-over country, Oklahoma. He sites no records of Anna Brown's killing, uses words like "undertaker" and "servants" without giving names - giving the impression that he made them up as well as the dialogue they are supposed to speak. And, he is ignorant of body decomposition and oil drilling.

In the first pages, Grann refers to the "brutal first contact" of the American Indians with the whites. Untrue. First contact of Europeans on the East Coast was the Native people helping the Europeans - in planting corn, sweet potatoes, finding game. It got ugly when the Europeans began moving farther inland. And really ugly after the Revolution. And, second, stop using the term "Native Americans." America is named for Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian who visited the Western Hemisphere 20,000 years after the first people were here.

Grann refers often to Gray Horse, Oklahoma as being in the prairie, and at the same time mentions "blackjack" trees in Gray Horse. Oklahoma is part prairie, and prairie land is grassland with few trees. The blackjack oak is found in the cross-timber region of Oklahoma - lot of trees, NOT prairie. But blackjack is such a cool word, so much cooler than just saying an "oak tree" which is what a blackjack oak is. But why not make everyone believe that lots of oaks grow on the prairie in Oklahoma. He writes: "the sun beat down mercilessly through the blackjack trees." First, how hot was it? We're not talking about Death Valley. Second, oaks are thick with leaves, and in the cross-timber area of 1920s, the sun wouldn't penetrate them. And, where's mention of the humidity? All summer it's like Connecticut might get in August only.

As for the oil industry, Grann writes that the oil "derricks swung their large clawing arms back and forth." What is he talking about? Oil derricks are tall, semi-pyramid, structures that are used in the drilling process underground and hold the pipe that carries oil out of the ground. They do not have claws. Is he talking about a pump jack? That is put in place after striking oil and is not part of a derrick.

As for body decomposition, Anna Brown's dead body is found 3 days after she goes missing and "some men" [including an "undertaker"] drag her body out of a creek hollow and put it on a wagon in the shade of a blackjack tree [ha!] and cover the "bloated corpse with salt and ice." [Where did they get ice? And why would they pack with salt and ice since salt melts ice [ask any New Englander, but not Grann.]. The undertaker [who is never named] says that "The body was decomposed and swollen almost to the point of bursting and very malodorous....It was black as a n-----."

Okay, so, the author wanted to use the "N" word and put it in the mouth of an undertaker who does not have a name. If Grann actually found that quote, he would have found the name of the person who said it. All the people in the book would be dead by now so it's okay to have anyone say anything to suit the author's need-to-shock purpose and vilify those awful Oklahomans And if the statement were true, and not just a literary contrivance to make his story inflammatory, then Grann could say where he got that statement from the 1920s. However, it is easy to disprove Grann's statement about the undertaker.

A deceased body begins immediately releasing a lot of gasses under the skin and bloating, at which time, the body turns AQUA BLUE. That is EVERY body, not just pale-skinned bodies. When the gasses finally escape the body, which TAKES WEEKS not 3 days, then the body is no longer bloated, and EVERY BODY turns black. An undertaker, even in Oklahoma would know this. Obviously, Grann did not, but had he done his research, he would not have been able to use the "N" word. This was not the only place that the author placed offensive language in the mouth of others without any possible way of a reader verifying the truth.

And, by the way, the oil companies buying up oil leases and drilling oil in Oklahoma were not owned by local people. They were owned by the Rockefellers, Getty, and other companies in New York and California. Later, they'd come for the coal. ...more

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Salvage the Bones
by Jesmyn Ward (Goodreads Author)

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Winner of the National Book Award - it must be so well written - that was my thought and I was wrong. I finished the first chapter because I forced myself to do so.

Write what you know - that's good advice - and this author knows little to nothing ab Winner of the National Book Award - it must be so well written - that was my thought and I was wrong. I finished the first chapter because I forced myself to do so.

Write what you know - that's good advice - and this author knows little to nothing about dogs giving birth which is how this book begins. She probably knows about childbirth from TV and she thinks that dogs give birth the same way as humans. The author has a puppy come out [born] and has the dog's owner grab the puppy to clean it off (sounds like a baby born in a hospital). Except that puppies are born inside a placenta sac and the mother breaks that sac so the puppy will begin to breathe and then the mother cleans the puppy. Particularly silly is that this author said there would be "afterbirth" - the afterbirth for humans is the placenta - but since the puppies are born in an individual placenta there is no afterbirth. And altho the author describes the color of each puppy as it's born, you can't actually see through the placenta. Then, silliest of all, as each puppy is born, the author has a character across the room declare which one is a male and which female.

Besides the ignorance of her subject matter, the author writes heavily in similes and metaphors that are poorly thought out. Example: "Daddy spins away like a comet into the darkness." Really? Do comets spin? Personally, I have viewed a comet and it didn't appear to move at all. Another example: "My eyes wanted to search for Manny so badly the want felt like an itch on my temple" - what does that even mean?

The descriptions are thoughtless as well. The author describes Manny dribbling his basketball on the rocks and sharp shells - guess he had a lot of money to replace punctured basketballs. The author says that Mississippi heat boils the water in the wells - wow, who knew that the temperature in Mississippi reached 212 degrees. Manny's muscles "jabbered like chickens." I just cannot visualize clucking muscles. And Manny's teeth are white. White teeth. That I can see.

Sprinkled throughout are references to Greek mythology because the protagonist read a book about mythology one summer. Guess this means she's smart.

All this in the first chapter. I didn't expect the writing to get better so I didn't get as far as reading about the dog fighting or the hurricane. ...more

Alana Cash rated a book it was ok

The Killing of Crazy Horse
by Thomas Powers

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The title of this book was misleading for me. First of all, Crazy Horse was not simply "killed" like he had an accident or fell in some battle. He was murdered. Second, he hardly appears in the first 75% of the book. In some chapters the name Crazy H The title of this book was misleading for me. First of all, Crazy Horse was not simply "killed" like he had an accident or fell in some battle. He was murdered. Second, he hardly appears in the first 75% of the book. In some chapters the name Crazy Horse does not appear even once. The author, I guess, intended to mention anyone and everyone peripherally involved in the murder of Crazy Horse. This made the book dense and read like a school history book, altho still somewhat interesting. I became much more interested the last 100 pages, when Crazy Horse finally "surrendered" and moved his people to one of the agencies.

This is an incredibly well-researched book and has a lot of detail about US Army soldiers during the mid-to-late 19th Century in the area of Nebraska/So Dakota/Wyoming/Montana. There is an over-abundance of names, some of importance, others not so much. The author digresses into stories of the Army officers to include irrelevant material about the Civil War and other areas of the country where they were campaigning [i.e. Arizona], their upbringing, etc. There is just too much detail - for example one lieutenant is mentioned along with his wife who is pregnant. TMI. But very little about William Gentles who actually murdered Crazy Horse.

The author also includes many names of Native people as well as their bands. After a while it was easier to remember those names than all the various agents and military people.

The author included statements made by various chiefs and members of the tribes made in the Lakota language and translated into English. From those interpretations, I came to grasp that the Lakota language is more conceptual than literal. For example "waken" can mean holy, sacred, spirit, power, mysterious and more. And that Thasunke Witco [translated "Crazy Horse"] is not conceptually correct. Witco is "horse." But Thasunke does not mean "crazy" as it's defined in English. It was not clear to me from the author's explanation what the word actually means.

Reading about the behaviors and experiences of the tribes at the agency compared to the tribes that had not "surrendered," I understood how the men changed psychologically when they surrendered. The US government agents and Army created a dependence on rations [as the men could longer hunt]. The families lined up like beggars to get the food. The Army and scouts also started rumors about who would be "head chief" and that created jealousy. For men who were used to roaming and hunting and being physically active, they were reduced basically to feeling trapped

While there was a lot that I learned, again the book was dense, and didn't spend enough time on Crazy Horse. Also, the author was a bit lopsided regards the Lakota culture. First, he does not explain that the word "Sioux" is an Ojibwe word meaning "enemy." The Lakota would not have used that word and he could have explained that. But more important, the author states that a Lakota man could just leave his wife if he felt like [akin to divorce] just by saying he want to go. What he left out is that the woman owned the lodge and everything in it and if the man left, he took only his hunting tools. Then one of her brothers or uncles might move in until she took another husband. Relationships were more about sexual choice and not about sexual ownership.

Also, the author quoted white men using the term "squaw." The author did not point out that "Skwa" is an Algonquin word and not a word used in Lakota or other Native languages. Nor did he point out that "squaw" is a derogatory word the way these white men used it.

The index is not good. ...more

Alana Cash and 17 other people liked Danielle's review of Bigger than All the Night Sky: The Start Of Spiritual Awakening. A Memoir.:

Bigger than All the Night Sky by Rose Rosetree

"I loved Rose Rosetree's memoir - it helped wake me up inside! It's a beautiful read that describe the start of a spiritual life. I found it inspirational and uplifting. Overall, it's beautiful and moving.
"

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TONO ANTONIO (A CHRISTMAS STORY)
by Ruth Sawyer

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Buffalo Woman
by Dorothy M. Johnson

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This is the story of, Whirlwind, a Lakota girl born in 1820 before the gold rush brought the tidal of wave of immigrants and ultimately the US military into the region that these people had roamed and hunted for 1000s of years. I do not know if the a This is the story of, Whirlwind, a Lakota girl born in 1820 before the gold rush brought the tidal of wave of immigrants and ultimately the US military into the region that these people had roamed and hunted for 1000s of years. I do not know if the author, Doris Johnson, is descended from Lakota or straight European, but she has written 3 other books about the West and Lakota that were turned into movies [The Hanging Tree, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and "The A Man Called Horse]. The author grew up in Montana, where most of the story takes place.

This is a quiet book without melodrama - altho plenty of drama with fights, child mortality, disease brought by the wagon trains and soliders, etc.. It is told through external dialogue and action, not through internal dialogue and thoughts. And it is very well written. I enjoyed it immensely.

The book captures, not only of the culture and values of the Lakotas, but it captures the time period in Wyoming/Montana corner when there were plenty of trees and animals. There is a strong sense of family with the people, and riches were counted by bravery, the ability to live by internal values, self-sustaining skills, and horses. While there was trade, there was no concept of money or hoarding or investing [except time invested in developing skills - hunting, making weapons and clothing and lodges]. There's plenty to learn here.

There is a different viewpoint on the conflicts between the Lakota and the wagon trains and soldiers than has been depicted in history books, movies, etc. Solely from their viewpoint, I felt an immense sadness at what they lost. No one took their land, they didn't own it. But fences and farming, they did not understand nor need.

The book ends as the US Army hunts down the Lakotas [Cheyenne and Arapaho] after the battle of Little Big Horn [1876]. The Lakota lodges were set afire by arrows shot by their enemies the Crow, and then there was a blizzard which decimated the people. Whirlwind, a grandmother at tje emd pf tje bppl, dies of starvation.

I highly recommend this book. ...more

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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
by James McBride (Goodreads Author)

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This book seems like part of a multiple book deal that the author made with his publisher and he had to get this written by a certain date with a certain number of words. The book begins with a skeleton found during an excavation. That set up a myste ...more

Alana Cash and 1156 other people liked Anna Avian's review of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store:

"Unpopular opinion here, but I just couldn't get into this book. I put it down several times and finishing it felt like a chore. There were too many characters and subplots that went nowhere. At the end this was a mishmash of opportunities that took p" Read more of this review »

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	Saints in the Shadows ; a mystery of the mind 4.17 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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