1001 Golf Holes You Must Play Before You Die
by Jeff Barr
$34.95 in hardcover
Like most golfers, I have a love-hate relationship with the game, depending on the day. I’m a new golfer, so I guess it is more of a love-hate-longing-to-get-better relationship. Anyway, when I picked up this book, I couldn’t put it down. Chosen by a team of international writers and golf experts, each beautifully photographed hole has commentary as to why it was chosen: It has a historic event attached to it, its ingenious design or its challenge in play. Each hole also has a fact box that tells you the course name, location, hole number, length, par, designer and course comments. This would be a fun gift for the golfer in your life.
Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir
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by Christopher Buckley
$13.99 in hardcover
It is the natural way of things: Parents are supposed to die before their children. But when you lose your parents, the grief has no equal. Suddenly the person who had been by your side since the moment of your first breath is no longer there. No matter how old you are, it catches you off guard. This book is written by the only child of William F. Buckley Jr. and his wife, Patricia Taylor Buckley. William was a novelist, columnist, yachtsman and socialite extraordinaire. Patricia was a philanthropist and heiress. While the book is not very flattering to the Buckleys, it nevertheless entertains with its anecdotes. As Christopher recounts the last days of both of his parents, who died less than a year apart from each other, readers will find it difficult not to shed tears. But, most importantly to me, as to anyone who has lost a parent, is Christopher’s sharing of his grief with us: the feeling of now being orphaned, the regret of not having straightened everything out before they were gone, and facing one’s own mortality. It is a very unique book that has many great pictures of the family, which complement it nicely.
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood: In the Tradition of A. A. Milne and Ernest H. Shepard
by David Benedictus (Author) and Mark Burgess (Illustrator)
$19.99 in hardcover
Winnie the Pooh stories first emerged on the pages of children's books in the mid-1920s. Now, Christopher Robin is back in this collection of stories approved by the Trustees of the Pooh Properties. Along with Christopher Robin's beloved friends, Pooh, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga and Roo, is a new character, Lottie the Otter. Benedictus does a pretty good job of echoing the tone of the original author, Alan Alexander Milne, and Burgess’ illustrations are very much in style with the original books. I had a little trouble swallowing the changes in Christopher Robin to reflect his mature character, and am too set in my old Pooh-ways to recognize Lottie the Otter. The original Pooh is a tough act to follow, but this is a pretty adorable book. Little ones who have been through all the Pooh books will welcome these new stories.
Black Elk Speaks: The Premier Edition
by John G. Neihardt
$14.95 in paperback
This book first came to my attention in a previous edition when my dad, who was browsing through my store, became very excited at finding the title. Apparently having made the author’s acquaintance while at the University of Missouri, my dad had been keeping his eye out for this book for years. That piqued my curiosity. The best-selling book by an American Indian author of all time, this book tells the story of Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) and his Sioux tribe at the end of the Old West era. His is the story of a young boy on a reservation during a time when the white man was slaughtering buffalo and stealing the Lakota’s land. And yet, Black Elk’s vision is one of a new theology and a wholeness of man and the earth and its creatures. Neihardt understood and gave Black Elk’s vision voice. This is the first-ever annotated version of Black Elk’s story by Lakota scholar Raymond J. DeMallie, and includes the original Standing Bear illustrations, new maps and revised index. For anyone interested in American Indian history, this is one of the best books to read.
Devil’s Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy
by David Roberts
$16 in paperback
In 1856, Mormon religious leader Brigham Young conceived to move over 3,000 converts from Iowa to Utah, asking them to push everything they owned across the wide expanse of land in handcarts. A late start and bad weather stranded the travelers in Wyoming to suffer starvation, frostbite and, for many, death. Although Mormon lore recounts this story with a favorable slant to Young, claiming that he somehow triumphed over this tragedy, Roberts places the blame squarely on Young's shoulders using the most damning of sources, the haunting words of the survivors themselves. While some may be uncomfortable with Roberts’ conclusions, it is a well-researched historical book and very hard to put down. I recommend it to Wyoming or Mormon religion history buffs.
Lisa Craft, owner of Blue Heron Books and Espresso in Casper, is voracious reader and invites you in for a cup of your favorite beverage and a chat about your favorite books. www.blueheronwyoming.com.
