Short Autobiographical Article by My Friend, Larry Sanders

There exists a contest I had not known about until Larry told me about it.  Two editors in Dallas, Ginnie Bivona and Larry Upshaw solicited short pieces by authors 65 and older, divided them in catagories: poetry, essays, and short stories, awarded them 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and Honorable Mentions and published them in in Ageless Authors Anthology,  of which the 2017 edition is the second annual.  Ginnie, 86, tells elders who complain about not being able to master technology  enough to submit entries, "Just ask your children and grandchildren for help.  After all, you taught them how to use a spoon!"

Larry sent TR and I a copy of this book for Christmas.  I will be adding it to my "to read" pile and will get to the whole thing, but in the meantime, I re-read his piece which won third place in the essay category, "My ' Go Dau Ha' Puppy.  I promised I would never forget."  Larry has written a number of rememberances of his Viet Nam experience as a medic assigned to an Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) unit near the Cambodian border.  Those I have read are traumatic, charming, humorous, and terrifying.  This one is sweetly sad and charming.  I hope he will publish all of them, even if they have to be self published.  He included for us a picture of Deros, his adorable rescue puppy.  It was not published with the story--a shame.  Thank you for this book, Larry.



I have now started On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett.  Unlike vintage Follett, this is a non fiction recounting of the Ross Perot led rescue of his EDS employees stationed in Iran trying to establish a national social security system when they were caught by revolution in 1978.  Because EDS is a Dallas corporation and Ross lived here, he is something of a local hero and this is a local legend.  But evidently is wider known than just here.  This rescue proceeds while our embassy officials were kidnapped and held for ransom.

Finished UNSINKABLE

More fun even than most celebrity biographies.  Debbie was in her 80's when she wrote this one and is as characteristically honest as we elders are known to be.  The first part catches us up on the rest of her life after her first book, Debbie: My Life.  At that point she was newly married to the man she thought would be the love of her life.  It turns out, NOT.  This book is well titled because life does keep knocking her down mountains and up she climbs again--slowly with a huge amount of work--just to be knocked down again.  But there is no giving up for this lady.  The second half of the book is a retrospective of all of her movies and some of her other work.  She talks about her and Harve Presnell's stage tour of The Unsinkable Molly Brown that Caryl (Gamin Coss) and I attended in Dallas and where I took Caryl's picture with each of the stars.  Caryl will be happy to know that she was good to Harve in this book--she very much enjoyed working with this kind and professional star.  Loved this book and LOVED Debbie...RIP, girl.  Your movies made our lives happier.

Finished THE UNSEEN

As usual with the Krewe of Hunters, it was a lovely, exciting, mysterious, romantic ghost story.  I had no idea who the perpetrator was until I was pretty well told.  Very enjoyable.

I have now started Unsinkable by Debbie Reynolds.  She starts with her life pretty much where she left off in her earlier boook.  She has let us know that, as optimistic about her third husband as the was at the end of that book, her optimism was premature.  Now she has proceeded to share what happened.

Finished ROUGHING IT

Mark Twain wrote several travelogues, of which this was his first.  While out west trying to make it in the territories, he kept extensive journals.  Many years later, he went back and reworked his journal into this book.  It is chock full of the exaggerated stories and the tongue-in-cheek humor he became so known for.  By the end of his adventure he had figured out that he could earn a living not only with his writing, but also, more immediately, by "lecturing" with his fabulous brand of humor.  If not the first, he was certainly one of the first stand-up comics.  His very first of these attempts was a wonderful success, though it did take some careful planning.  I enjoyed every moment of this book.

I am now about to start The Unseen,  #5 in the Krewe of Hunters series by Heather Graham.  This is a group in the FBI with "special talents"--they can see ghosts.  These ghosts are rarely evil, rather they are very helpful in solving crimes that might not be solved any other way.  This one is set in San Antonio, to this day one of my favorite cities.

Finished THE ORPHAN'S TALE

A very readable book about a close friendship between two women, leaving me feeling both sad and happy.  The combination of the Third Reich, circus, good people behaving badly because they almost have to, and good people behaving heroically.  A wonderful tale of the circus in extraordinary circumstances and the power of women.

I have now gone back to Roughing It by Mark Twain and have already. within about five pages, had several good belly laughs.

Finished THE COPPER ROOM

The only bad thing I can think of to say about Henry Melton's books is that they are badly edited--highly unusual for children's books.  I don't know if they are self-published or not, but that would explain it.  These books deserve better editing and distribution.

This one is even more inventive than the past ones, if that is possible.  Again difficulties of time travel and possible ramifications are explored with a plot that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I have now started The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff, another WWII novel of women struggling to survive within the Third Reich.  This one adds another point of interest for me, though.  Much of the action takes place in a traveling circus--  Could a book be tailored more for me?

Finished THE BROKEN LAND

This was the third book in a four book series.  It is sad to finish a good book.  But, it is nice to know there is more to the story.  This one was exciting and spiritual, as are all the books by these authors.  We have now seen our heroes grow to man and woman-hood and become strong leaders for their people.  But, though the beginning of bringing the peoples to peace has been accomplished, there is still a very long way to go.

I have now started another of Henry Melton's sci fi for YA novels.  This one is again about time travel, but only in one direction.  Once a person makes a mistake, how can they ever get home again?