Peevish Pen

Ruminations on reading, writing, genealogy and family history, rural living, retirement, aging—and sometimes cats.

© 2006-2023 All rights reserved

My Photo
Name:
Location: Rural Virginia, United States

I'm an elderly retired teacher who writes. Among my books are Ferradiddledumday (Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin story), Stuck (middle grade paranormal novel), Patches on the Same Quilt (novel set in Franklin County, VA), Them That Go (an Appalachian novel), Miracle of the Concrete Jesus & Other Stories, and several Kindle ebooks.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Half Broke Horses

I became a Jeanette Walls fan at the James River Writers Conference a few years ago when I heard her speak about—and read from—her memoir, The Glass Castle. I enjoyed The Glass Castle so much that I figured I'd like other books she wrote. A few weeks ago, I read—and indeed liked—Half Broke Horses.


Half Broke Horses, described as a "true-life novel" about Walls' grandmother, is pretty much a biography of Lily Casey Smith—and it's a doggone good read. Lily Casey Smith was a liberated woman before the term "liberated woman" existed. She was a cowgirl at six, a school teacher at fifteen (she rode her horse five hundred miles to take her first job), a rancher, airplane pilot, wife and mother, and survivor of various disasters.

Good reviews of Half Broke Horses abound on the Internet—The New York Times and The Washington Post are two—so I won't repeat what other reviewers have written. I enjoyed the book immensely for its content, feisty protagonist, and Walls' wonderful writing style.

In this video, Walls discusses Half Broke Horses:



I highly recommend her both her books.
~

Labels:

1 Comments:

Blogger Mage said...

I thank you for your book reviews. I know Room will be more than compelling, but just thinking about this poor kid scares the heck out of me. Perhaps I am too damaged to read more than non fiction.

Love your car. Time to get it running. There was one at an auction on TV last night that went for over 100,000 thousand dollars. :)

Congratulations on making Ronni Bennett's
elderblogger list. :)

5:17 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home