Ruminations: Literary Treasures You Never Heard Of But Should Read

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Literary Treasures You Never Heard Of But Should Read

Learning to read at the age of four set me up for a lifetime of reading pleasure. One of my proudest moments was when, at the age of six, I was old enough to get a library card. I vividly remember my sister escorting me to our little town library and taking me to meet the librarian. I watched intently as she filled out the card with my name on it, so official! and explained that I could take three books at a time and had to bring them back on time. How exciting! How grown up I felt! Thus began 57+ years of reading euphoria.

Every great once in a while, a singular book comes along and rocks my world. Inevitably, I end up reading it over and over throughout the years. Here are short reviews of three that have impacted me deeply enough to inspire me to carry them along on our travels and that I highly recommend.

The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton

Published in 1962, I originally read this while in high school. It's one of those family sagas that span decades. After a soft, somewhat bittersweet introduction to the aging Soames family, the book delves into the lives of the individuals, revealing their secret selves, heartbreaks, joys, and life events that made them who they eventually became. Set in the thirties and forties through mid-20th century Missouri, the descriptions, dialects and language were so similar to where I grew up that I formed an immediate connection.

The writing is very evocative of time and place, much like To Kill a Mockingbird. The Moonflower Vine is the only book Jetta Carleton wrote/published for nearly fifty years. There are just some authors who create that one great story, then retreat from publishing life. Like Harper Lee, Jetta Carleton is one of those, never publishing anything else, until Clair de Lune was published posthumously in 2012.

Carleton's treatment is frankly honest, homespun and blunt, yet she manages glorious prose at the same time, a skill I envy. Without revealing any of the story or plot, I will only disclose that you will both laugh and cry, and a sense of deja vu may creep over you when you least expect it. When you finish the book, I hope you sit and stare at it in your lap, like I do every time I read it. And marvel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandmother and the Priests by Taylor Caldwell

Taylor Caldwell was the prolific author of such well known titles as This Side of Innocence, Dear and Glorious Physician, and Captains and the Kings among so many, many more.

Grandmother and the Priests is a collection of short stories that are tied together by the central figure of a wealthy, matriarchal grandmother, Rose. A lapsed Catholic, she frequently holds court to a bevy of priests from all over the British Isles, who all want to save Rose from herself.

These gatherings are also attended by the inimitable Rose's young granddaughter, who is frequently dumped off on her grandmother by her feuding parents while they work out their problems. Young Rose Mary, her grandmother's namesake, listens mesmerized to the tales told by 'the Romans', as the priests are referred to. The stories vary wildly, from romantic to terrifying to awe-inspiring and in her lonely abandonment, the little girl lives for the kindly holy men to return to tell more tales.

I've never been a fan of collections of short stories, but this book is the exception and is one of a handful of books that I've read repeatedly. Taylor Caldwell may have faded into obscurity after her death, but her books are exceptional and live on; don't miss out on this wonderful author and especially this wonderful book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Northern Borders by Howard Frank Mosher

I ran across this book at a local diner about six or seven years ago. They kept a pile of books on a little table in one corner for those such as I, who were dining solo and wanted something to occupy them while killing a lunch hour. I was so taken by it that I took it with me when I left, so I could finish it. Always meant to return it, but loved it so much, I couldn't part with it. Not sure they really cared much; it was a take-a-book/leave-a-book system.

Another laugh-and-cry tale, Northern Borders is the coming-of-age story of a boy, left by his recently widowed father to be raised by his grandparents in northern Vermont in the late forties. There is a lot of eccentricity in the always-feuding grandparents, as well as in a large supporting cast of local characters. Plus, there are plenty of misadventures, homespun goodness, and beautiful writing.

Mosher is a wonderful storyteller who will lead you on and on through this beautiful painting of a book, until you reach the end and finally get the enriching and fulfilling point.