March 08, 2010: SERIES - Virginia Authors (New Book Review) Sharon Baldacci - Not a Writer for the Faint of Heart
A Sundog Moment
Published by Center Street, 2006
Paperback - $21.99
Reviewed by Larry Mazzeno
First, a word of disclosure: Sharon Baldacci writes for The Local Accent.com; you can find her story on Community Supported Agriculture posted on the LIVE page of the magazine throughout March. It’s somewhat serendipitous that this review is being posted at the same time, but I thought readers should know about this relationship lest they think we’re simply in the business of promoting our own stable of writers.
We’re not. But there’s good reason to remind Baldacci’s fans of her superb first novel – perhaps so we can hold out hope that another will appear soon. A Sundog Moment was published in 2006 and received a string of good reviews. The book is set in Virginia – Richmond and the Northern Neck – and tells the story of Elizabeth Whittaker, a woman approaching middle age who’s suddenly stricken with multiple sclerosis. Baldacci traces the impact of Elizabeth’s disease on her family – husband, daughter, mother – and friends, and manages to weave in stories of others suffering from similar neuromuscular diseases.
This brief outline – I refuse to write more about the plot, lest I spoil the story for those who haven’t read this book – has all the makings of a Hallmark Hall of Fame tearjerker. But it isn’t. In fact, although Baldacci might be surprised to hear A Sundog Moment described this way, this novel is adult fiction. Readers beware. No, there are no lurid scenes that might titillate – only ones that dramatize the impact of a life-changing, incurable (to date) affliction, and the extent to which the sudden appearance of a disability affects human emotions present in any relationship – husband/wife, mother/daughter (repeated Elizabeth in both roles), doctor/patient, friend/friend (including ones also stricken with neuromuscular diseases), boyfriend/girlfriend … the list could go on.
Published by Center Street, 2006
Paperback - $21.99
Reviewed by Larry Mazzeno
First, a word of disclosure: Sharon Baldacci writes for The Local Accent.com; you can find her story on Community Supported Agriculture posted on the LIVE page of the magazine throughout March. It’s somewhat serendipitous that this review is being posted at the same time, but I thought readers should know about this relationship lest they think we’re simply in the business of promoting our own stable of writers.
We’re not. But there’s good reason to remind Baldacci’s fans of her superb first novel – perhaps so we can hold out hope that another will appear soon. A Sundog Moment was published in 2006 and received a string of good reviews. The book is set in Virginia – Richmond and the Northern Neck – and tells the story of Elizabeth Whittaker, a woman approaching middle age who’s suddenly stricken with multiple sclerosis. Baldacci traces the impact of Elizabeth’s disease on her family – husband, daughter, mother – and friends, and manages to weave in stories of others suffering from similar neuromuscular diseases.
This brief outline – I refuse to write more about the plot, lest I spoil the story for those who haven’t read this book – has all the makings of a Hallmark Hall of Fame tearjerker. But it isn’t. In fact, although Baldacci might be surprised to hear A Sundog Moment described this way, this novel is adult fiction. Readers beware. No, there are no lurid scenes that might titillate – only ones that dramatize the impact of a life-changing, incurable (to date) affliction, and the extent to which the sudden appearance of a disability affects human emotions present in any relationship – husband/wife, mother/daughter (repeated Elizabeth in both roles), doctor/patient, friend/friend (including ones also stricken with neuromuscular diseases), boyfriend/girlfriend … the list could go on.
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February 24, 2010: Devouring those Austen Heroines
Reviewed by Larry Mazzeno
Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2009) 317 pp. $12.95 paperback.
Nearly a century ago the novelist Rudyard Kipling coined the term “Janeites” to describe people whose love of Jane Austen seems to border on the irrational. For these people, Austen is not just another romance novelist. She is the “divine Jane” whose tales are like gospels on the art of love. These fans consider her characters their friends. They search for every scrap of information about her life and times. They engage in reenactments of her six novels. The form societies devoted to her memory.
While academics might disagree over which of Austen’s novels is her best, Janeites almost universally give the nod to Pride and Prejudice. The story of the Bennet sisters’ pursuit of husbands, focused on the hate-turned-to-love relationship between second sister Elizabeth and the immensely proud and immensely rich Mr. Darcy, has captivated women (and a surprising number of men) for nearly two centuries. Elizabeth’s triumph in marrying well while preserving some of her delightful sense of independence has made her one of literature’s most enduring heroines.
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February 16, 2010: Snow Prompts Change in Book Signing
The Westmoreland County Museum has rescheduled the book signing and presentation by Dal Mallory, author of Westmoreland County Virginia Cemeteries, Volume 1. The event will now be held on Sunday, February 28, from 2:30 – 4: 30 p.m. at the Museum, 16380 Kings Hwy, Montross.
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February 10, 2010: SERIES - Virginia Authors (New Book Review)
John Page Williams, Chesapeake: Exploring the Water Trail of Captain John Smith (Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2006). $12.95 (paper)
Reviewed by Larry Mazzeno
People who live along the Chesapeake Bay share a continuing fascination with its topography and ecology, so it’s no wonder that John Page Williams’s Chesapeake: Exploring the Water Trail of Captain John Smith continues to occupy a prominent place on local bookstore shelves. Williams, senior naturalist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, has compiled a highly readable account of Smith’s two voyages made between 1607-09 to map the Bay and its tributaries. If I had to recommend one book that would introduce people to the natural environment of the Chesapeake, this would be the one. Here’s why:
John Smith was one of the most remarkable characters among the party of Englishmen that settled at Jamestown in 1607. A commoner given a share in command over some of the more distinguished members of that group, he wasn’t one to tolerate complaining or lollygagging. He had instructions from the ‘home office’ of the Virginia Company of London to explore the Bay and report on what he found. Using instruments that would be considered remarkably crude by modern standards, he managed to produce a remarkably accurate map. His Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles provides a meticulous account of his explorations.
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February 08, 2010: Museum, Library Team Up for Book Presentations
The Mary Ball Washington Museum & Library and the Lancaster Community Library are sponsoring a series of lectures on books of local interest. Please note the different times and locations.
Monday, February 15, 4:00 PM at Lancaster Community Library
Fight On, My Soul: A Colored Doctor’s Battle against Disease, Discrimination, and Ignorance in Rural Jim Crow Virginia by James E. C. Norris, M.D.
Dr. James E. C. Norris will speak about his biography of his father Morgan E. Norris, Sr., M.D., one of Virginia’s first black doctors who practiced in the lower Northern Neck for over 47 years. The book chronicles the life and times of a man who labored long and tirelessly for his beloved fellow citizens of the Northern Neck and the State of Virginia. Dr. Norris will discuss the process of writing the book and some of the problems physicians faced in the South in the early 20th century. He will focus on the elder Norris’ response to the lack of specialty medical care in the lower Northern Neck, his efforts to deal with the ravages of tuberculosis in the black communities, and his involvement in education of youth and continuing education of physicians.
Saturday, February 27, 10:00 AM at Lancaster Community Library
Tell the Children I’ll Be Home When the Peaches Get Ripe: The Letters and Journals of Robert Gaines Haile, Jr., 55th Virginia Regiment, CSA, February-June, 1862, complied and edited by Robert M. Tombes, Ph.D.
Dr. Robert M. Tombes, great-great-grandson of Haile and a professor at VCU, will give a slide lecture about his Confederate ancestor. Robert Gaines Haile was from Beavers Hill plantation in Essex County. He was stationed along the Rappahannock and around Fredericksburg and Richmond, and his actions included escorting Mrs. Robert E. Lee back from behind enemy lines. His letters and journals express insightful opinions about fighting for the Confederate Army, but above all are filled with affection and concern for his wife and three daughters back on the farm.
Monday, February 15, 4:00 PM at Lancaster Community Library
Fight On, My Soul: A Colored Doctor’s Battle against Disease, Discrimination, and Ignorance in Rural Jim Crow Virginia by James E. C. Norris, M.D.
Dr. James E. C. Norris will speak about his biography of his father Morgan E. Norris, Sr., M.D., one of Virginia’s first black doctors who practiced in the lower Northern Neck for over 47 years. The book chronicles the life and times of a man who labored long and tirelessly for his beloved fellow citizens of the Northern Neck and the State of Virginia. Dr. Norris will discuss the process of writing the book and some of the problems physicians faced in the South in the early 20th century. He will focus on the elder Norris’ response to the lack of specialty medical care in the lower Northern Neck, his efforts to deal with the ravages of tuberculosis in the black communities, and his involvement in education of youth and continuing education of physicians.
Saturday, February 27, 10:00 AM at Lancaster Community Library
Tell the Children I’ll Be Home When the Peaches Get Ripe: The Letters and Journals of Robert Gaines Haile, Jr., 55th Virginia Regiment, CSA, February-June, 1862, complied and edited by Robert M. Tombes, Ph.D.
Dr. Robert M. Tombes, great-great-grandson of Haile and a professor at VCU, will give a slide lecture about his Confederate ancestor. Robert Gaines Haile was from Beavers Hill plantation in Essex County. He was stationed along the Rappahannock and around Fredericksburg and Richmond, and his actions included escorting Mrs. Robert E. Lee back from behind enemy lines. His letters and journals express insightful opinions about fighting for the Confederate Army, but above all are filled with affection and concern for his wife and three daughters back on the farm.
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