http://wildaboutwriting.com/2008/12/31/my-best-books-of-2008/ Ray Argyle's Words on Books, Issues and Opinions -- and the Ideas Behind Them Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:58:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://wildaboutwriting.com/2008/12/31/my-best-books-of-2008/#comment-350 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:27:50 +0000 http://wildaboutwriting.wordpress.com/?p=526#comment-350 Yes, Lilian, many of these stories are dark indeed but as you say they are beautifully crafted and speak so eloquently of the unique culture of the American western plains. My partner Deborah and I motored through much of Wyoming last summer as we followed the old Mormon trail to Salt Lake City. Even a brief visit gives one a better appreciation of how and why these folks cling, as Barack Obama famously (and embarrassingly) said, to their “guns and religion.”

]]> http://wildaboutwriting.com/2008/12/31/my-best-books-of-2008/#comment-349 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:06:59 +0000 http://wildaboutwriting.wordpress.com/?p=526#comment-349 What did you think of “Just Fine the Way It Is”? I thought the writing was beautiful, but you have to be prepared for a lot of slow lingering deaths of people killed by their environment. You might be interested in “China Diary: The Life of Mary Austin Endicott,” another family memoir.

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