Struggle

I struggled through most of Melinda Haynes' "Chalktown." I almost gave up on finishing it because it wasn't making a lot of sense. About mid way through it picked up and suddenly it was a much better read. The setting is the backwoods of the South in the 1960's. It's the story of a mysterious town and it's inhabitants. There's just a handful of people in the town of Chalktown and they communicate mostly through chalkboards set up in the front yards of their houses. It wasn't always that way but because of certain events, neighborly communication stopped. Also, part of the story is the Sheehand family, sixteen-year-old Hezekiah, his older sister, Arena, his mentally disabled younger brother, Yellababy, their deranged mother and the father who abandoned his home and his family. Hezekiah sets out with his younger brother strapped to his back to discover the mysteries of "Chalktown."

John Grisham's book, "The Appeal" is out today and I'm headed out to find it. Here's hoping the latest is as good as his earlier books. It will be hard to decide whether to read it or Elizabeth Berg's new book, "Dream When You're Feeling Blue." Such hard decisions.

We watched "The New World" over the weekend and it was rather disappointing. Seemed to drag in places and the actors spent time wandering around to fill up film time. It was about John Smith and Pocahontas and the early days of the Jamestown settlement. I had to go back to the history books to remind myself exactly what it was that happened versus what they were portraying. Guess it's mostly speculation anyway, since there weren't many historians writing anything down other than John Smith and he left after the first year. I guess we'll be watching a lot more movies since the televisions shows are now into reruns due to the writers' strike. We did enjoy an afternoon of watching BBC America's "Planet Earth" series. Definitely a great series to own and enjoy.

Off to the bookstore!