I really like reading books by E. Annie Proulx — of course, I always wonder what the “E” stands for (found out on Barleby.com that it stands for Edna!)
Read That Old Ace in the Hole : A Novel while traveling, and found it to be a light/fun read. I don’t think it is as strong as Shipping News or Postcards, even (which I also read on the trip!), but it was good nonetheless.
Is a coming of age story… about Bob Dollar… of course, he’s trying to earn a buck, and figure out what to do with his life… story takes you on a hunt for hog farm locations in the texas panhandle…
Some notes I enjoyed:
pg. 163 — “Roosevelt changed the date for Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in the month, persuaded that more shopping days for Christmas would improve the economy.” (note the was 1939… I found that interesting… moving a quasi-religious day for purposes of commerce… of course, I just assume that’s true… not worth fact-checking
SEE — East of Eden starring James Dean — was supposedly based on the story of Cain and Abel
pg. 211 — “I thought we might hit the Trail Dust for lunch … They have great Texas Steaks” — my friend, Chris Hey, and I once ate at this restaurant on our cross-country car trip… the father of a girl we knew from high school took us there (with her) and treated for us… the steak was the best I ever had, bar none… they had a tradition of cutting off your tie, if you were wearing one, and hanging it on the wall… plus, their was a sliding board in the restaurant… or, maybe I had too many beers?