Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

LET THE SWEEPING MUSIC BEGIN!

ROMANCE, WAR AND EVEN ONE BAD WORD

Never has there been another novel that so influenced generations.  Yes, many of us are familiar with the film version of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, but let us visit another American classic.  Some may argue that GWTW is not a romance per se, as the girl does not end up with the boy in the end, but to call it simply a historical novel rather than a historical romance novel leaves out the belief that in romance as in life there are times when one does not find your true love in the end, but that you can survive and live your life.  Some even argue that Mitchell even created an early classic of the erotic historical genre. 

          As most know GWTW is the story of Scarlett O’Hara, a pampered, spoiled daughter of a Southern plantation owner.  The novel follows her life through the backdrop of the American Civil War, or War Between the States for those of you with a Southern persuasion.  Scarlett lives through adversity, sweeping romance, despair, terror, wealth, poverty and joy to become a much stronger person who knows that she can overcome all.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Americana is even found in the fantastic!

What is more American than the carnival coming to town on a warm summer day?  Nothing….except for what lays underneath.

 

Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is about two 13-year-old boys, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, who have a harrowing experience with a nightmarish traveling carnival that comes to their Midwestern town one October. The carnival's leader is the mysterious "Mr. Dark" who bears a tattoo for each person who, lured by the offer to live out his secret fantasies, has become bound in service to the carnival. Mr. Dark's malevolent presence is countered by that of Will's father, Charles Halloway, who harbors his own secret desire to regain his youth. 

I cut my sci-fi teeth on the words and wisdom of Ray Bradbury.  For Sci-Fi newbies I also recommend R Is for Rocket and S is For Space, two great short story books by America’s Science Fiction Master.

Until Proven Guilty by J. A. Jance

WHODUNIT?  WE DUN IT!

If you are a mystery lover, you are living in the right place!  Did you know that the mystery novel originated on our own fair shores?  That’s right!  Right here in America a slightly known writer--some guy named Edgar Allan Poe (yup, here is another reference from junior high)--introduced the world’s first fictionalized detective, Auguste C. Dupin, in his short story “Murders in the Rue Morgue”.  Advance from the mid-19^th century to the late 20^th century then take a hop over the Cascade Mountains to the west and meet Detective J. P Beaumont.  Seattle Detective Beaumont, Beau to his friends, made his debut in J.A. Jance’s 1985 novel Until Proven Guilty.

The little girl was only five, much too young to die -- a lost treasure who should have been cherished, not murdered. She could have been J.P. Beaumont's kid, and the determined Seattle homicide detective won't rest until her killer pays dearly. But the hunt is leading Beaumont into a murky world of religious fanaticism, and toward a beautiful, perilous obsession all his own. And suddenly Beau himself is a target -- because faith can be dangerous...and love can kill.

.For a number of years it was not known if J.A. Jance was a man or woman as the author was advised by an agent not to put a gender bias on the author’s take on Beau’s character.  Jance’s true identity remained its own mystery until after book 6 in the Beaumont series when Judith Ann Jance stepped forward to take the credit for Beau!  According to Jance herself:

"When my agent submitted the first Detective Beaumont book, Until Proven Guilty, she did so using my initials because the book was written in the first person through a male detective's point of view. She believed editors would be more inclined to accept the book if they thought it was written by a man rather than by a woman named Judith A. Jance. It worked, too. Once Avon purchased the manuscript as the first book in a series, the marketing department reached the same conclusion my agent had. They were convinced male readers would be more likely to read the book if they were under the impression that it was written by a man. The first six Beaumont books were written with no author photo and no biographical information of any kind." 

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

Young person or young at heart

          America has always been seen as the ‘Land of Opportunity’, but Eleanor H. Porter made it become the land of ‘Glad’ in 1913 with her introduction of a winsome orphan named Pollyanna.  This waif came to the town of Beldingsville, Vermont and person by person helped each one become better for knowing her.  The spirit of optimism that Pollyanna exhibits shows that each of us can find something that we can relish and be glad for, even in the face of all adversity.

July Featured Series

SERIES OF THE MONTH

          Ready for a blast from the past?  Some of you will remember this series.  Some of you remember your parents reading this series.  Some of you were not born yet when it was popular.

          For those of you who were not alive at the time, the years leading up to the celebration of America’s Bicentennial were a heady time.  Parties, parades, celebrations, events were all being planned to mark Our Nation’s 200^th birthday on July 4, 1976 and during all of the pre-planning hoopla burst onto the page…

The Kent Family Chronicles by John Jakes

                Also known as The American Bicentennial Series, John Jakes wrote this series of best-selling books, with no title in the series selling less than 3.5 million books.  Yes, you could say they were a national and international phenomenon.  Released from 1974-1979, The Kent Family Chronicles began the story of Phillipe Charboneau, a young Frenchman who travelled to England in the novel The Bastard after finding he is the illegitimate son of an English Duke.  He takes his father’s surname and becomes Phillip Kent, then travelling to the colony of America while intermingling with historical figures.  The rest of the books in the series follow the adventures of the Kent family through the generations as they integrate themselves into their new country and help shape the history which proudly leads us to call ourselves Americans.

July Featured Author

AUTHOR OF THE MONTH

Agree or not-to my mind one of the most American Authors of all time is none other than Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by most as

****Mark Twain****

This American Master wrote the classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and its prequel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Whereas Tom Sawyer’s story was more of a children’s novel, Huck Finn and his exploits dealt with the breadth and depth of what was occurring in the American experience at that time.  Name me another novel that deals with man’s inhumanity to man, child abuse, religious tolerance-bigotry-excess, con artists, murder, and one child’s belief that he must do what is morally right in the face of all odds.  If you have not reread Huck Finn since leaving junior high (which is when most of us were first exposed to Twain), give it another shot.  You will see that the issues that face Huck and Jim in their travels are often those same issues that face us today.

            But Twain is not just a one-hit wonder.  He wrote fiction, humor, non-fiction, newspaper articles, satire, travel literature, science fiction/time travel, political essays, self-help literature, autobiographical books, tall tales….The list is practically endless and almost impossible to thoroughly list as Twain was known to publish under many other pseudonyms-some which have yet to be discovered and may have been overlooked.  Amongst Twain’s stylings you should be able to find something to grab your fancy.  Other Twain choices to consider:

The Prince and the Pauper                                                                            The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County                          A Tramp Abroad

The Diary of Adam and Eve                                                                        Joan of Arc

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court                                     Life on the Mississippi

The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays