Book Nine: The Pursuit of Mary Bennet

Poor Mary Bennet.  Overshadowed by her elder sisters, abused by her young sisters, Mary stands alone in the middle of the ladies Bennet.  In Pamela Mingle's The Pursuit of Mary Bennet, the author considers how Mary's treatment as a hands of her family affects her as an young woman.  The most studious of Bennet sisters, thought of as silly by her father and plain by her mother, Mary has an uphill battle to happiness before her.

Kudos to the author for not pandering to her audience.  Instead, she develops Mary's countenance and arrival to womanhood beautifully.  She explores the events that shaped Mary into the social awkward girl we all know and then bridges the gap in creating the woman Mary is here.  Mary is expected to play nursemaid to her younger sister Lydia's unexpected presence at the Bennet home.  When Jane steps in to invite her and Kitty to High Thor in Derbyshire, Mary is grateful until Henry Walsh shows up.  Bingley's handsome friend is always underfoot.  She is confused by his attentions to her and her sister. As Mary examines the desires of her heart, she is both surprised and concerned.

As I see it, The Pursuit of Mary Bennet is a lovely bit of fan fiction.  It is both respectful of the source material and brash in the hope for Mary.

Book Eight: Your Own Book of Campcraft

"Did you ever put a pack on your back, hike up hill and down and reach the end of a trail feeling tired but oh! so good?  Did you ever sit around a campfire, singing or swapping yearns, while the fire crackled? If you have, it is a sure thing that you felt it was "tops"...  and thus Your Own Book of Campcraft begins.  Seduced by the swell cover and the well-loved pages, it had to come home with me.

Part Girls Scouts, a little bit FoxFire and reminiscent of The Parent Trap, Campcraft is a filled with swell illustrations of knots, tents, tools and equipment perfect for the keen camper.  Experienced campers won't find anything new.  Novice outdoorsmen will find a great start to knots, lashing and even campfire recipes.

Prepared under the 'auspices' of the American Camping Association, this book is a fun bit of time travel to the 1950s.  It'll make you want to grab your rucksack and take to the backyard quicker than you can say 'kum-ba-ya'.

Book Seven: We'll Always Have Paris

Ray Bradbury is a curious author.  Fahrenheit 451 is, by far, one of my favorite books.  Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is another favorite.  Strangely enough Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes are not.  Thus, when I picked up this collection of short stories by the famed author, I knew I was in a for a crap shoot.

We'll Always Have Paris is quintessentially Bradbury.  From the quirky 'Ma Perkins Comes to Stay' to the odd 'Pater Canius', Bradbury is always thought-provoking even when not strictly enjoyable.  His ability to approach themes in an unorthodox manner is what keeps me coming back, even when it makes me uncomfortable.  Nostalgia should be comfortable; but not in Bradbury's world.  You'll find plenty of that here.  In 'Un-pillow Talk', two friends attempt to reverse a night passion to prevent the destruction of their friendship.  In 'The Murder', two men shake on a bet that one can make the other a murder.  In typical Bradbury fashion, he observes human nature and exposes its flaws leaving the reader aghast at its ugliness.

As I see it, We'll Always Have Paris is a great introduction to the Bradbury canon.  I'm glad to have read it; but am more glad to have finished it.

Book Six: In the Sanctuary of Outcasts

One would expect to read about a certain repentance in a memoir of this nature.  Author Neil White was convicted of financial crimes and sentenced to eighteen months for bank fraud.  This book documents the tale of his incarceration in the Federal Medical Center in Carville, Louisiana.

The book takes it's name from Carville's history as the United States' national leprosarium.  Yes,  I said leprosarium.  Individuals with Hansen's disease or leprosy were forcibly quarantined in this remote location 1980s.  Abandoned by family members and society, Carville allowed both refuge and hope in some semblance of life for the afflicted.

I supposed I expected to see some great epiphany from the author who would renounce his behavior of check kiting; instead, I was nauseated by his soliloquy of a storied upbringing and the circumstances that resulted in his illegal actions. Spare me.  White obviously feels he deserves a better class of people and fails to recognize, he's a convicted criminal.  He treats his incarceration as a mere roadblock in his path to inevitable greatness.  Menial tasks are an affront to his charm and education.  And the fact that he may be exposed to leprosy and his good looks be marred... White comes across as simply obnoxious.  The final straw for me was "I missed my cologne.  For years, I would douse myself with British Sterling every morning."

The former publisher and entrepreneur White traded his normal fall from grace sent him to mingle with a mix of societal rejects and grand schemers.   It's those characters that this reader found interesting and elevates an otherwise forgettable memoir.  Ella Bounds, delivered to Carville in 1926 by her father when she was a child.  She used her hand cranked wheelchair to befriend White in the cafeteria.  She would become both mentor and friend during his stay.  Stan and Sarah, the blind couple who relied on each other and Stan's tapping to walk their way through Carville's corridors and who rejects White's attempts at benevolence.  Names like Steve Read and Frank Ragano are dropped like they somehow make White part of a secret club.

As I see it, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is a polarizing read.  White's megalomania is exhausting; the  history herein truly is fascinating and that is the book's saving grace.