lemongrass1965

Yesterday I finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, about the struggles of a Dominican family under the brutal rule of Trujillo; the storyline and characters were great, but the slipping in and out of Spanish colloquialisms, and the footnotes about Dominican history grew tiresome.

In the past few weeks, I’ve finished Honey in the Horn – about the settling of Oregon – and The Store – about post-Reconstructionist Alabama.

If I never read another novel set in the late 19th century, I’ll be a happy girl.

And with “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters” completed, I’m down to the final ten. Boy, am I excited to see the finish line :)

Some have compared “The Travels” to Mark Twain’s work, but I think it reads more like Lonesome Dove, which I enjoyed slightly better. “The Travels” follows a 13-year old boy, his sometimes-drunk, gambling father and their wagon train west to San Francisco, where they hope to discover gold and make it rich. Of course, they encounter Indians, Mormons, starvation, gunfights and sword duels, and many more adventures. Not a politically correct book, but then, it’s supposed to be through the eyes of a young boy.

I’m remaining in the “settling of the West” days with my next novel, “Honey in the Horn”.