Tag Archives: Books

Woody Guthrie’s “House of Earth”

Woody Guthrie wrote House of Earth in 1949 and set in the 1930’s on a farm in the Texas Panhandle. It has two main characters Tike and Ella May Hamlin who are struggling to make a go of it sharecropping wheat on a dry farm during the depression. The book was never published until recently when it was discovered and published in 2013.

Three things about the book interested me. First the book is unabashedly political in tone. Guthrie speaks about the various interests in business and government that he thinks keep people down. Nothing surprising there, many people here in Oklahoma, where he came from regard him as a communist. Second, the first part of the book features a long very explicit sex scene that is very raw and down to earth. It will probably curl the toes of almost anybody that reads it. Toward the end of the book is a very graphic baby delivery scene. I guess the one leads to the other you could say. I am thinking no wonder the book wasn’t published, who would touch it back

The third, is the voice of the book. You can sure tell that Guthrie is a song writer. The language is strong,direct and very readable and like a song. Some books I read for the plot, others for the action, I loved this book for the writing. Guthrie can write and comes out like a song, it flows and it goes here there and everywhere. The writing really surprised me. I was not expecting much and boy I was surprised in a good way. I like the good way surprises.

The fourth thing, and another surprising thing, was that Guthrie used the book to push adobe home construction. He saw it as a way of building inexpensive, durable, comfortable houses for the people. In fact that is where he got the title of the book.

(House in Santa Fe, 1974, Photograph from US National Archives on Flickr Commons)

He spends considerable time in the book writing about shoddy wooden shacks with no insulation, termites, and rot. Adobe is basically dried mud and comes from the earth. He saw adobe houses as houses for everyman

I don’t know how great a read this book is but it certainly was interesting because of who the author was, the intense scenes and language, and the strong (not obscene) language, plus the outspoken political tone and the surprise interest in adobe. All I can say is that I liked it.

Below is a time lapse video of the construction of an adobe house in Peru.

Hidden Cities – A Memoir of Urban Exploration by Moses Gates

Hidden Cities: A Memoir of Urban Exploration is a chronicle by Moses Gates of his and his friends explorations into places where he is not supposed to go like the catacombs of Paris, the subway systems of New York City and London as well as climbing various bridges and buildings and sewer systems the world over. No trespassing signs just seem to attract him. It turns out that there is a huge subculture of urban explortionist’s that love to to do these things. For example I think that I am the only guy in Tulsa that hasn’t sneaked into the Tulsa Club for a look see. I went very shallow into Tulsa huge storm sewer system to find a geocache once but I haven’t ventured into the Elm Creek Tunnel to find it’s geocache. Supposedly it would require five miles of walking through the storm drain. I’m not doing that!!

Speaking of Elm Creek Tunnel, which drains into the Arkansas River. It seems to be hot on the list for Tulsa area urban explorers and You Tube has lots of videos of parties that have gone on. They look absolutely miserable to me. But I would go!! I wouldn’t stay long though. I did go into it a few feet to take a pic though.

I’m too much of a rule follower plus kind of a chicken. In my geocaching I get to talk to enough security guards without having to explain why I am in a building where I don’t belong. I do feel free though when a door is left open and there is no signage to go check things out if I feel interested.

Back to the book, it is a good read although a bit scattered. It kind of convinced me that I would not be a good urban explorer but I am fascinated by people who have to venture over the ropes and beyond the no trespassing sign.

Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe

Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe is set in present day Miami, Florida and it is a highly politicized, racially charged, and ultra class conscious Miami. It’s main characters include a young Cuban American policeman whose heroic efforts made him a hero to the Anglo community and a pariah to his fellow Cuban American people, a class climbing celebrity porn doctor and his young pretty nurse whom he uses and abuses, a thuggish , possibly violent, Russian oligarch with a taste for fine art.

I loved this book and its various characters who are either rejecting their own class to advance up or are rejected by their class or are wanting to morph into new identities.

I feel that I’m kind of on my own in liking this book. Apparently it was a commercial failure. Good thing I don’t read reviews before I read books or I would have missed this one.

I give this book five stars!! So take that professional book reviewers!!

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

This is a little bit of a change for Stephen King. This is a detective novel and a darned good one at that.

A man drives a stolen Mercedes Benz into a crowd somewhere in mid America a few years ago and kills several of them. He leaves behind a mask and hardly anything else and is known only by his media given nickname Mr Mercedes. The lead detective on the case Bill Hodges works on it for a time and then retires without solving it.

His retirement is not going very well and gets so bad he considers suicide from time to time. Mr Mercedes decides to try and nudge him over the deep end and sends Hodges a letter taunting him. That gets Hodges back involved in the case on an unofficial basis.

The story, like in a good detective novel, has lots of twists and turns and unexpected events. Hodges finds an unlikely pair to team up with as they try and solve the case. Mr Mercedes himself is quite the interesting guy and it is entertaining to see point/counterpoint as the story develops.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it five stars out of five!

This book is the first of a planned trilogy. I can’t wait for the next installment.