What I've been reading...

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond
A friend recommended this book to me, and since I was in a rut in Jayber Crow (don't worry--I will finish!) and was longing for some nonfiction, I jumped at the opportunity to derail from my regular reading. Perhaps the title sounds familiar? You foodies out there may know her from her blog, which is best known for its mouth-watering recipes, although it features plenty of other topics. She's one of the lucky ones whose blog has taken off, gotten famous, and turned into a book. While the book has several recipes in the back, it isn't a recipe book; it's the true story of how she fell in love-at-first-sight with her husband, a rancher whom she affectionately refers to as "Marlboro Man" throughout the book. She grew up with a charmed life on a golf course--something I would think would make for dry writing--but Drummond tells such honest, hilarious, and sometimes sobering stories that she connects with all (female) audiences. The book chronicles her whirlwind love with her husband from their first glance to their first child, noting especially where their two worlds collide: where golf course meets rancher, or where, as the title suggests, black heels meet tractor wheels. A great read, especially if you're looking for something pretty lighthearted.

Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis
When I first met Jennifer Pharr Davis, we were RAs together at Samford. She was an amazon woman, deciding to run a marathon the day before the race (and finishing with a decent time!), playing college tennis after playing basketball in high school, and trying to talk me into taking a semester off after college to hike the Appalachian Trail with her. I knew myself well enough to know that I could never keep up with her (and she would leave me behind if she had to), and when she mentioned it, for me, it was like running a marathon or traveling the world--it sounds cool to say you've done it but I didn't actually want to do it. Not so for Jen. She turns pipe dreams into realities.

Onto the book. Phil and I actually read the it together, and while I loved her writing and the craft and experience of her stories, Phil was enthralled with the hiking aspect. We learned so much about through hiking and about Jen, and her experiences were often stranger than fiction. Despite surviving a snowstorm, a wall of mosquitos, a foot infection, dehydration, near frostbite, almost getting lost, and being stalked, what stood out most in the book was her honesty. Jen currently holds the record for the fastest through hiker (male or female) on the AT, but when she began her first hike on the AT, she was hiking with a pack from her basement and she barely knew how to set up a tent. I love that she began as a self-proclaimed novice and now owns her own hiking company. In addition to her honesty, I love  the overarching theme of how the trail changed her--often in ways she didn't expect. Experiences do that to us. They change us. Sometimes in the middle of those experiences, I forget that.

Whether you're outdoorsy or not, Becoming Odyssa (she nailed the title) is a must read.

Don't Shoot! I'm the Guitar Man by Buzzy Martin
I picked up this book to see if we wanted to add it to our 9th grade summer reading list for next year, and while the content is definitely not appropriate for 9th graders, the story was interesting. The book tells the true story of Buzzy Martin, a music teacher who taught music classes to inmates at San Quentin State Prison ("The Q") in California. I have to be honest. The writing left something to be desired. Lots of repetition and simple descriptions. BUT, the story was fascinating enough to keep me reading. In many ways, it's a dark book, a tale of little if any hope, about evil and how our world copes with it. It's a short book, so I finished it in a matter of days, but it left me a little rattled. Part of me felt I needed to read it, needed to look that kind of raw reality in the face, and another part of me wished I didn't know what I had just read. So, I recommend this book with reservation.

Currently reading:

• Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith