Review: Rambling Willie: The Horse that God Loved

Rambling Willie: The Horse that God Loved by Donald P. Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found a copy of this book, “Rambling Willie: The Horse that God Loved”, at a used bookstore. I’ve read 30 or so books about racehorses, but hadn’t read one about a Standardbred, outside of the Dan Patch book that took place 100 years ago. This was a book of recent vintage (only 40 years ago!) covering a horse of that time. Another thing going for it was the connection to where I live, Chicago. Much of the action took place at Chicago tracks, in my quick perusal at the store. But the biggest surprise was finding the book was “autographed” by, at least I suspect, Rambling Willie himself. There’s a big inked horseshoe on the inner flyleaf, and you can see that it was made with a lot of weight behind it, as the horseshoe indented the sheets below like an embosser. Also signing the book, inside the horseshoe, were Vivian and Robert Farrington. Vivian, Bob’s wife, was half owner of the horse, and Bob was the trainer and driver. These three weren't the authors of the book, but they were the authors of the story.

Ends up this is a story of record breakers and faith. Rambling Willie holds or held a number of records for fast wins, longevity at the track, and money earned, and Bob Farrington holds records as a driver and with his family’s stable as owners and trainers. Vivian represents faith here, as she tithed her earnings to her father’s church, and believed in healing of injured horses and husbands through prayer. I came to see this book was less about the horse, who doesn’t really take on a personality here, and more about the comparison of Vivian’s faith in religion and her husbands belief in himself. It provides quite a bit to think about, and this was much more than I was expecting with a race horse book. I enjoyed the trip, but wanted a bit more about how the horse lived as his racing days were fading.


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Review: Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I managed to live 59 years without reading “Lord of the Flies”, or seeing the entire movie. But while filling out reading lists on the website List Challenges, I kept running across this book. Fearing I was missing something, I gave the audiobook a listen. I found a story that I already knew, to quite a level of detail. Since this book was used as examples in so many other books that I’ve read, and since movie clips were used in many documentaries that I’ve seen over the years, I found that I didn’t really need to read the book for the basic story, for the personalities of the boys, the island descriptions. I found this surprising when reading this book. “Is that all there is?” I thought when done. To me, it appeared to end quite abruptly – so I can say that the specific ending I hadn’t picked up over the years. Or perhaps it just wasn’t as memorable as the rest of the story. It wasn’t. It was a bit of a disappointment. But I will say that the story here is a good one for the collective consciousness, as anyone can refer to it and find at least some people get the reference. I’m glad I read it, at least to verify my understanding of the story.

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Review: Phasers on Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World

Phasers on Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World by Ryan Britt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this behind-the-scenes - or more appropriately beyond-what-was-commonly-known - set of anecdotes about all aspects of the Star Trek world. The author covers the original series of course, but includes all the newer series and movies, including the animated ones. An enjoyable trip down memory lane for me on the early shows, and new learnings on the last decades output.

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Review: The Old Regime in Canada

The Old Regime in Canada by Francis Parkman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: A Jury of Her Peers

A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I chose to listen to this short story by Susan Glaspell because she was born and raised in Davenport, Iowa, not far from my home town. Although Glaspell was born about 90 years before me, I saw the typical local common-sense was at the core of this short work, (view spoiler)[ where the womenfolk of this rural town, although from different parts of society, all understand the motive behind a woman murdering her cruel, cheap husband and decide to keep that knowledge from the overbearing men responsible for the law. To me, it introduced a different take on Chekov's gun, which I'll call Chekov's birdcage - When a birdcage with a broken door is introduced in a story, a bird will appear within the next act, probably dead. (hide spoiler)]. I can see how this would make a nice little play.

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Review: Stolen Season: A Journey Through America and Baseball's Minor Leagues

Stolen Season: A Journey Through America and Baseball's Minor Leagues by David Lamb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book describes what I’ve wanted to do for years, travel around the country in an RV, attending minor league baseball games. That’s just what the author does one summer, many years ago. You can feel the age of the book in a few ways. One, the author was a “kid journalist” with the Milwaukee Braves when younger, and from his time there he got to know many players and coaches. During this trip he meets with quite a few people he knew from the past, and those names are certainly “of the time”. The author also uses some labels for the disabled that we don’t look upon as kind nowadays. And while most of the places visited were smaller towns that came off as quite friendly, I’m not sure that high level of friendliness still exists in this country.

This has the prerequisite minor league baseball stories you expect. But Lamb really relished reconnecting with the older guys, the coaches and the baseball retirees. Those interviews tended to take away from the minor league focus, but they were interesting in their own right.

I most enjoy stories I have some kind of personal connection to. And sometimes that connection is tenuous, but I enjoy those too. Here, he does spend some time with the Peoria Chiefs, a Midwest League low A team in the area I grew up. He was there during the Pete Vonachen era, and there have been plenty of stories of that team owner and his stunts, a few of which were repeated here. Also, one of the “old timers” he visits on his journey was Chuck Tanner. Ends up Tanner was the first year coach of the Quad City Angels when I was born in a hospital across the Mississippi from their stadium in the early 60s.

Overall, I enjoyed the stories of the travel in the RV. Lamb covers the ups, like being able to invite players back to his rv for drinks, and downs, including expensive repairs on the road. The baseball stories were about the kinds of stories I expected, well told, but nothing I hadn’t read about before. The backstory of Lamb’s work with the Braves and meeting the players of that time during his trip was the best aspect of the book.


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Review: The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I knew the story from the movie. Wells' source novel provides the grimy, nasty back and forth moving around and conjecturing detail that I didn't recall. Who knew alien invasions were so messy and destructive. And while climate change gave polluters a bad name, "The War of the Worlds" is one man's take on rehabilitating their status. Fun and concerning, but a bit overwrought and a bit lengthy for the mood.

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Review: The Man in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Dick's speculation, the Axis won WW2 and have split the US, the Pacific side ruled by the Japanese and the East ruled by the Nazis. He portrays the Americans as getting by as they can, including faking American mementos, like pistols from the old West, and selling them to the invaders. Funny, and gives you a lot to think about.

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Review: Here's the Deal

Here's the Deal by Kellyanne Conway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m not what I consider a Kellyanne Conway fan, but I find her intriguing and in many ways admirable. What I found admirable was her ability to think on her feet, while being televised to thousands, or even millions. She covers this in her book, and says that she often had to appear on these contentious “news” shows without much support from the administration. Without a net. I remember her usually holding her own in these encounters, mostly without resorting to ridiculous logic or ridiculing people. She covers in some detail her accidental coining of the phrase “alternative facts”. This seems like one of the things that she was most sorry she was connected to.

The intriguing part of her story is her relationship with her husband. Her story with her husband starts very conventionally, albeit with more than the average amount of money involved. George is well off, and has a high paying job as a lawyer when they dated and early in their marriage. Then as Kellyanne gets closer to Trump and becomes more valuable to the administration, her description of George changes. He becomes an unbalanced internet troll. Each time she mentions him, he comes off worse, more unbalanced, less reasoned. It comes as a complete surprise when Kellyanne leaves her position in the White House to spend more time with her family and her husband. She doesn’t explain what happened, was she coerced? Is she treating this like she’s her husband’s caretaker? It is written very oddly.

Also intriguing is whether she is a reliable narrator. She comes across as always the hero of her story. She rarely, if ever, describes mistakes. When an autobiography makes the subject sound almost perfect, you do wonder where the story has been stretched. I suspect as time goes on that others will weigh in with Trump White House and campaign stories that shed new light on the people involved. It will be interesting to see how much of Kellyanne’s story survives contact.

You may wonder if she trashes anyone. Yes. Key targets of her ill will are Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon.

Overall, I enjoyed the stories. I cringed at her relationship with her husband. And I appreciated her ability to research, to lead a campaign, to build a business, and to talk and be quick on her feet.


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