Mindy McAdams

http://www.amazon.com/Southeast-Asia-Fiction-and-Nonfiction/lm/R2PUFU62O4GGH1

https://www.goodreads.com/macloo

Mindy’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (396)
currently-reading‎ (16)
read‎ (682)
by-women‎ (315)
nonfiction‎ (82)
hard-boiled‎ (60)
southeast-asia‎ (58)

africa‎ (38)
travel‎ (23)
scotland‎ (21)
truly-memorable‎ (20)
graphic-novels‎ (18)
buddhist‎ (17)
indonesia‎ (15)

greatness‎ (13)
malaysia‎ (12)
classics-by-women‎ (11)
south-asia‎ (11)
morocco‎ (10)
artificial-intelligence‎ (7)
book-lovers-of-gainesville‎ (7)

new-zealand‎ (5)
central-asia‎ (4)
burma‎ (3)
florida‎ (1)

Stats | More…

Mindy is Currently Reading

Mindy McAdams is currently reading

Shadow Country (Modern Library)

by Peter Matthiessen

bookshelves: currently-reading, florida

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

Mindy McAdams said: " Book I (p. 249)

Originally published as three books (Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man’s River, and Bone by Bone, 1990–1999), this one-volume revision or reworking of the saga won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2008. I kept seeing it recommende Book I (p. 249)

Originally published as three books (Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man’s River, and Bone by Bone, 1990–1999), this one-volume revision or reworking of the saga won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2008. I kept seeing it recommended as an unmissable Florida novel.

A lot of people are mentioned in the first few pages (a lot!!), and the number just keeps growing. I had to make a list of names, with notes, because I couldn't keep them all straight otherwise. That helped a great deal.

The setting is coastal SW Florida in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The characters are rough people who live a hardworking life, raising crops and fishing mostly. There are cattlemen, but these are in a sense the gentry. There are no churches or schools. The railroad didn't come this far south. Boatmen run rum from Cuba by way of Key West. It's a time and history you come to learn if you live in Florida long enough and care to pay attention. This story brings it to life. The reader smells it, sees it, feels that heavy wet heat. All the wildlife is here. The Civil War is a recent memory, and all the white people in this region were for the South. There are Indians around, but they don't mingle with the whites. The Black people are usually called the N-word and not respected and misused as cheap labor.

Of course there's a hurricane.

The story in Book I revolves around Mr. Watson, called Ed, who came from South Carolina with nothing and has squatted on coastal land and cleared it and farmed it, exploiting local labor horribly. He's weirdly respected and admired by his neighbors, in spite of a heap of unsavory rumors that cling to him — including rumors that he has killed people in other parts of Florida. The Gulf coast south of Fort Myers is developing bit by bit, wildlife being slaughtered for profit, commercial clamming coming up. Most of Mr. Watson's money comes from cane syrup. He marries and begets children willy-nilly. He makes enemies. He has supporters. Then one day he's dead, no surprise, and the final chapters of Book I talk about his burial and whether the full story of how he died will ever be sorted out.

. ...more "

Mar 03, 2026 09:05AM · see review

Mindy McAdams is currently reading

Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

by Elizabeth Pisani (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, by-women, indonesia, travel, nonfiction

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

progress:

(page 158 of 404)
"This is excellent! I've read a lot of nonfiction about Indonesia, and this is fresh and original." — Aug 12, 2014 06:41AM

Oct 01, 2014 06:22AM

Mindy McAdams is currently reading

The Social Fact: News and Knowledge in a Networked World (Mit Press)

by John P Wihbey

bookshelves: currently-reading

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

Jul 08, 2020 01:40PM

See all 16 books that Mindy is reading…

Mindy’s Notes & Highlights

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

1 highlight

“some people, me included, believe that punk is just the most recent manifestation of this, this spirit, this feeling, you know, that things aren’t right and that in fact things are so wrong that the only thing we can do is to say Fuck It, ...more