Trace > Recent Status Updates

I'm always amazed at what libraries throw away. This was in the discard pile of a local school's library. I always enjoy reading the voice in which Appalachian writers such as Still and Jesse Stuart wrote. I don't know why anyone would pitch out "River of Earth" from a school library.

Dana and I sort of stumbled upon this novel in a bookstore in Sandpoint, Idaho, while on vacation this summer. Dana read it, and I started into it when we got home. It is a story about Chinese immigrants brought to the United States -- specifically the Pend Oreille region of Idaho -- to build stretches of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Good plot and an excellent pace to the story. Well written and enjoyable.

Bart Giamatti was a fantastic writer, and I've always gravitated to his short, precise, and eloquent essays about my favorite sport. He goes beyond the sentimental about baseball and onto another level of why fans are fans. The sport is simple. We leave home. We come home. We cannot stay at home. Giamatti constantly explored that metaphor.

I've always enjoyed reading Giamatti's writing about baseball. Haven't read enough of the book to make a real comment, except that I used to work with a guy who was Giamatti's roommate at Yale.

I've always enjoyed reading Giamatti's writing about baseball. Haven't read enough of the book to make a real comment, except that I used to work with a guy who was Giamatti's roommate at Yale.

I've always enjoyed reading Giamatti's writing about baseball. Haven't read enough of the book to make a real comment, except that I used to work with a guy who was Giamatti's roommate at Yale.

I've always enjoyed reading Giamatti's writing about baseball. Haven't read enough of the book to make a real comment, except that I used to work with a guy who was Giamatti's roommate at Yale.

John Sexton, I believe, has landed on something I've said with smile for about three decades. I don't know where this book goes, but it is interesting. Having lost a father, who was a tremendous baseball fan, several passages have left me in tears.

I haven't made any updates for a long time. I've been reading a lot but not in the mood to share. Sorry. I picked up this book many years ago and did some research from it while working on a project in Cynthiana, Kentucky. I never read the whole thing, though. I've always enjoyed reading about John Hunt Morgan, especially since I always run across brass historical markers recounting his exploits.

Reading about Custer seems appropriate these days.

I'm anxious to compare this account of the Battle of Little Bighorn to James Donovan's. They were written two years apart from many of the same sources.

Oh, I can tell that this isn't going to end well for George A. Custer.

I'm enjoying this book. I like how Ambrose lays out the parallel lives of George A. Custer and Crazy Horse. Ambrose makes it seem like destiny put them on a collision course.

I've searched for a copy of this book for years and finally tracked down a first (and probably only) edition in a bookstore in Horse Cave, Kentucky. I'm anxious to dig into this sordid tale of a murderous ferryman on the Ohio named James Ford.

A fantastic historical novel set in Kentucky. Eddie Price is a talented storyteller and writer.

I can't really measure this book against the historiography of the American West because my knowledge of the region's history is pedestrian. I enjoy reading this book and have learned much about Kit Carson's role in John C. Fremont's explorations and military actions in the west.

I can't really measure this book against the historiography of the American West because my knowledge of the region's history is pedestrian. I enjoy reading this book and have learned much about Kit Carson's role in John C. Fremont's explorations and military actions in the west.

After my latest trip to the American West, which included a trip to Wounded Knee, I decided to hone my knowledge of the often violent interaction between the whites and the Indians. I went to the local Barnes and Noble and purchased every book they had on the subject. This is the first one of that group that I'm reading. I had to plow through a book about Secession before I got to my newly acquired "Indian" books.