I would like to recommend a very good fiction book I just read entitled "The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" by Ann Weisbarger.  It's a good story and if you like history like I do, a look into the homesteading past of the state of South Dakota.  The DuPree family lives in Southern South Dakota, where Rachel and Isaac, the father and Mother of the family each claimed an acreage when they were married.  It is a book about hardships, making do with what you have and having to do things you would never in your life thought you could.

Rachel is a strong woman who has birthed 8 children but only 3 survived the harsh living on the homestead.  Isaac is into acquiring more land and cattle.  The orginal homestead grows as people who came to homestead find that the climate is not what they thought.  A severe drought which lasts the summer leaves the family with nothing stored for winter.  Even after the rain, it is September and not much will grow in a short time.  Rachel and Isaac have a disagreement about what to do for the winter.  You will have to read the book to find out what happens, but it will surprise you very much. 

I admired Rachel a lot.  She did whatever she needed to do to assure the survival of her family.  They had to have been one of the only black families who tried their luck in the Dakotas.

Yesterday the Brown Bag and a Book Group met to discuss the book,Enrique's Journey. The general consensus of the group revolved around the story's ability to augment one's views on illegal immigration. The book is the true quest of a young Honduran boy who makes the trek across all of Mexico riding secretively on the top of trains to reach the United States. He has seven failed attempts, and is almost killed in the process. Corruption and ruthlessness make his trip a virtual nightmare...but he perseveres. His one wish is to be reunited with his mother who left Enrique and his sister when he was 5 years old. Eleven years later he starts out to find her. Much has been written on the toll that illegal immigration has had on the United States. Not as much has been written about the human tragedy involved in this plight. Maybe we haven't been paying enough attention- particularly those of us who live away from the borders. Author, Sonia Nazario attempted to replicate Enrique's journey across Mexico by train top herself. She put her experience behind the pages of this book in hopes of enlightening us...those of us who feel entitlement and a little bit placated by our own life situations. One of the members of our book discussion works locally for Hispanic Ministries. She reiterated the author's descriptions of the atrocities that can befall children who are left behind when a parent makes the trek to America, as well as the problems plaguing those who actually arrive in the United States in (basically) one piece. She is part of the grassroots community effort to help assimilate those who arrive. Perhaps when we read a book such as this one, our hearts will expand along with our minds.

Today I have a pair of steampunk titles. For those not in the know, steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction set in the past where modern technology developed earlier, but using the technology then available (generally steam power).

First up is Gail Carriger's Soulless, the first title in her Parasol Protectorate series. Set in Victorian era London, the book is light on the fantastic machinery usually associated with steampunk. This is a London populated by humans, vampires, werewolves and ghosts. The main character, Alexia Tarabotti, has some problems: She lives with a rather silly family, is twenty-six and unmarried, her father (long dead) was Italian, and she has no soul. After accidentally killing a vampire at a ball, Alexia involves herself in an investigation concerning unregistered vampires, to the great irritation of Lord Maccon. Lord Maccon, in addition to being head of BUR (the Bureau of Unnatural Registration), is both a werewolf and Scottish. The story is a mix of the investigation (extra vampires, missing werewolves, and a wax-faced man) and the growing attraction between Alexia and Lord Maccon. In many ways, the character interactions remind me of Amelia Peabody and Emerson in Elizabeth Peters' books. Overall, it's a very good first effort, and a book I enjoyed so much I read it again. But what else would you expect from an author described as residing "in the Colonies, surrounded by a harem of Armenian lovers, where she insists on tea imported from London and cats that pee into toilets"? Some graphic scenes make this book best for more mature readers.

The next title is The Affinity Bridge, by George Mann. Also the first in a series, this book has all the machinery a steampunk aficionado expects. The main character, Sir Maurice Newbury, is very reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes. His assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, is a much more active and intelligent partner than Dr. Watson ever was. Also set in London, this book shows a darker side of the city, with poverty and the smoke and dirt that accompanies steam power. There are three plot lines in the book, but don't worry. Everything comes together in the end. The first involves the crash of an airship which kills everyone on board. Its robot pilot is missing, and no one (including witnesses on the scene) has any idea what happened to it. Added to this is an ongoing investigation into a series of brutal killings in the slums of London, reportedly by a mysterious glowing policeman. The third plot involves a plague of zombies in those same slums. I don't know what it is with zombies these days, but at least here they're explained in a way that fits the book's scientific premises. After many twists (and hints of a growing relationship between Newbury and Hobbes), everything is finally resolved. The characters are well-written and the story so engaging that I hated to see it come to an end. Fortunately, the second book in the series, The Osiris Ritual, is now available. I can't wait to read it! While written with an adult audience in mind, there is nothing in this book that would offend younger readers.

This is probably the only work I've read recently on the topic of Islam by a western author that actually makes sense. Rather than lump all our problems with the Muslim world under "It's Islam's fault," Mr. Fuller shows quite convincingly that's not necessarily the case. He points out the long history of grievances the East has against the West, predating the foundation of Islam and shows how our current world would be pretty much the same even if Islam never existed. Given the current state of affairs between east and west, this is book that not only deserves, but needs to be more widely read. Well-written, without the copious footnotes so many other books have, this is a relatively easy book to take in. If your library doesn't have a copy, they should. The author, Graham Fuller, is formerly vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, and has frequently lived in the Middle East.