This is a well written book about the establishment of the Indiana Junior Historical Society and some of its accomplishments.  Founded in 1938, it is a high school level historical society sponsored by the Indiana Historical Society.  In past years, the Junior HIstorical society has done surveys and clean up of cemeteries, archeological digs, and other activities pertaining to history.  I was interested in reading the book since in ancient times, I was a memeber.  It has lots of pictures and stories of the many services the group provided to the Indiana Historical Society.

This is a unique and amazing story about a five year old boy named Jack who has lived his entire life in an 11-by-11 windowless, remodeled garden shed with his mother.  She was adducted seven year earlier by a stranger referred to as “Old Nick”.  He has assaulted her nearly every day since the kidnapping and Jack is their offspring.  It’s in Jack’s remarkable voice that the story is told.  Jack doesn’t know that other children are real, has never worn shoes, and his skin has never been exposed to sunlight.  His eyesight hasn’t properly developed, especially not depth perception, because he’s never focused further than eleven feet.  Through Jack’s narration he appears to be a happy child, much loved and content.  He doesn’t know he lives in a horrid place because his mother has created a home for him there.  Ma has been diligent in schooling her little boy and reads to him daily.  All Jack can say about “Old Nick” is he brings groceries and disappears the trash, but he’s not human like us.  Despite her love and protection toward Jack, some days Ma goes into deep depression.  Jack is starting to get to big and too smart for him and his mother to stay in the “Room” without going crazy.  Somehow, Jack’s mother has to find a way to get them both out of the “Room” safely, when escape seems impossible.

You know this child will be affected by all the traumatic events he’s suffered his entire life.  This book is painful and sad to read but can be a gentle story, full of love.  It is a celebration of devoted motherhood and the strength of the human spirit.    

In this second "Father Tim novel", Father Tim & Cynthia Kavanaugh travel to Ireland for a couple weeks' relaxation and sightseeing in Ireland.  Cynthia, recently recovered from a broken ankle, re-injures it; so is unable to do much sightseeing; but the two of them enjoy the owners of the bed & breakfast in which they are staying, and have plenty of time to read an 1860's journal written by former owners.  A valuable painting disappears, there is family trouble, an older relative of the inn owners (long an alcoholic) undergoes a long and strenuous "detox"... in all, lots of action.

I missed the "family" with whom I'd become familiar in previous books; but gained another interesting Irish family!

This excellently written book details the friendship of LA Times Columnist Steve Lopez and homeless mentally ill classically trained musician Nathaniel Anthony Ayers.  The writer met Mr. Ayers when he heard him playing classical music on a two string, damaged violin near Skid Row in Los Angeles.  The author decides he must help Nathaniel, so using music as a bridge he attempts to get Mr. Ayers off the streets into his own apartment.  Nathaniel introduces the author to his world of madness and music. 

Many people help the author finally persuade Nathaniel to stay in an apartment.  Mr. Lopez's columns are well recieved and many readers donated musical instruments to Nathaniel.  He recieves a cello, violins, a bass and finally a piano.  While helping Nathaniel, the author learns about his early life, his scholarship to Julliard School of music and his descent ito madness. 

An interesting book about a talented musician, the story brings to light the stigma and concerns for the mentally ill.

Set in  1960's Missiissippi, this is a powerful historical fiction novel.  Celeste Tyree, an idealistic black college student from the University of Michigan volunteers to spend her summer helping the black Mississippi population register to vote.  She joins the One Man, One Vote movement and takes a train to Jackson, Mississippi, where she is trained and is then assigned to Pineyville, where she will run a half day school for the black childern and in the evenings she prepares the black adults to take the voter registration test.  All this sounds easy, but add into it that the white folks tried to make it impossible for the black folks to register.

Celeste endures searing heat and humidity, living in a house not more than a shack without indoor plumbing, using an outhouse for the 1st time. These things are nothing to the other challenges she faced:  the house being shot into after bedtime,sleeping on the floor for safety, a child drowning in the river, resistence from some of the black community to her programs, being arrested for taking a few folks to register to vote, having her church and classroom burned to the ground.  She even loses a tooth when she drinks out of a fountain and the sheriff takes offense. 

The writing is very descriptive.  You can almost taste the wonderul food of the south.  This is the author's 1st book, although she has written screenpalys and is an accomplished actress (Room 222; TV's version of In the Heat of the Night).  I hope she writes more.

   This is a gritty story of a 16-year-old girl living in the Ozarks of Arkansas.  Ree Dolly has had to take responsibility for her 2 younger brothers and her mentally ill mother.  The father, Jessup Dolly, has disappeared, as he does from time to time.  A sheriff’s deputy comes to their home and tells Ree that her father has skipped bail.  He must appear in court at his next court date or they’ll lose the house.  Ree begins her search for her father among her relatives.  Her relatives are suspicious of anyone mainly because they deal in drugs, mainly pot and meth.  It’s an engaging and gripping story, but I have a couple bones to pick.  (I couldn’t help myself.)  Sometimes fiction writers get me involved in a story then they put something totally unreal in there, and it really breaks with reality for me.  It may be a goofy thing to pick on, but I know that this girl did not walk in the snow in a skirt.  Another thing that I found confusing was when the deputy brought her the money.  Her uncle says that he knows who killed Jessup and it is implied that this person is going to kill him as well.  I don’t know who it is.  I feel like I should.  I wondered if I should have read it more carefully. 

Jeanette Walls tells the amazing story of her grandmother in Half Broke Horses.  Lily Casey Smith grew up on a ranch in Arizona.  She helped her father break horses at 6 years-old and at 15 she rode on horseback to a small frontier town many miles away from home to teach school.  Later she marries and helps her husband run a large ranch in Arizona living through the Great Depression, droughts, and tornadoes.  This is an engaging story about a strong willed woman.  She even learned how to fly an airplane. This is by the same author who wrote The Glass Castle which is about her dysfunctional family.  I had already read that book.  Toward the end of this book you are introduced to Jeanette Walls’ father.  At first he is the boyfriend of Lily’s daughter, and Lily sees that he is a charmer who cannot be relied upon.  There is nothing she can say.  The girl is smitten.  After reading this book I came to the conclusion that the author took after her grandmother.  I highly recommend Half Broke Horses.

This is a very good book about the friendship between Gail Caldwell and her friend, Caroline Knapp.  Gail is a runner and Caroline is a rower.  They teach each other their sports and are able to both participate in each others' activities.  They met over their dogs and are both writers.  They do a lot of soul searching while taking their dogs for walks and become quasi-psychiatrists for each other.  Gail drinks too much and Caroline smokes too much and she is also a bulliemic so they council each other and help straighten out their lives. 

In the midst of this tremendous friendship, Caroline finds out that she had terminal lung cancer.  The second part of the book is about Caroline's illness and the efforts of her partner and Gail to make her comfortable.  At the same time, Caroline finds a way to comfort Gail.  This is a story of a wonderful friendship.  Everyone should have someone like these two ladies had.

The story takes readers to north Georgia in the near future at a theme park.  The tourists can ride the Trail of Tear that revisits the Cherokee Removal.  A Cherokee woman named Tallulah Wilson is the tour guide for this ride.  This is Tallulah’s last ride of the day before her vacation begins. The tourists gather on the ride and it starts out normally taking them back in time.  When moving through the scenes of the Cherokee life, one of the tourists disappears and others lose consciousness inside the ride.  Tallulah and other employees at the compound come to believe that a terrorist attack is imminent.  Tallulah doesn’t realize that Cherokee Little People have taken up residence in the virtual world and intend to change the ride’s programming to suit their own point of view.  The people on the ride are about to become participants in the Cherokee Removal and not simply 1 witnesses.

This is not something I would normally read but I was attracted by the historical event. It is a pleasant read but scary at times.