the front porch prophet

Title: The Front Porch Prophet
Author: Raymond L. Atkins
Pages: 308
Publisher: Medallion Press

Seemingly appearing from nowhere, a man named Raymond Atkins has decided to write and publish his first novel, entitled The Front Porch Prophet. Readers everywhere should be rejoicing at this fact. If Mr. Atkins' second book is anywhere near as good as his first, and if he continues to write novels, then these same readers should be dancing in the streets.

This is an absolutely wonderful novel. Period. It is so wildly humorous, so unrealistic and so down-to-earth at the same time, so gosh darn in-your-face enjoyable, I am afraid that the next few books I read are destined to pale in comparison.

The story centers on two life-long friends and half-brothers, A.J. Longstreet and Eugene Purdue, who live in Sequoya, Georgia. A.J. is a devoted husband, father of three, mill supervisor and all around responsible guy. Eugene lives alone in a school bus in the mountains, bootlegs alcohol, and throws hand grenades off his front porch for fun.

He is also dying of cancer, and due to the fact that Eugene has alienated just about everyone else in his life, it falls to A.J. to take care of him.

What follows is a hilarious, wild, heartbreaking, breathtaking story of a deep friendship between two men and the southern town that raised them. That's right - this is a book about a man dying of cancer, and it is laugh-out-loud hilarious. This also means that the book is more than a little off-color and not even close to politically correct. I get the feeling that Atkins would not have written an honest novel if it were any other way.

Imagine that Garrison Keillor has stopped mixing Prozac in his coffee and has instead started getting into raw southern whiskey and bourbon. This will give you an impression of Atkins' writing style. He swings for the fence in everything he does, filling his pages with raucous humor, razor sharp dialogue, and truly touching insights into the human soul.

Here is the highest compliment I can pay this book: it carries a message about God and His role in human affairs that I adamantly disagree with. And yet, I can say with no reservation that this is my favorite book I have read all year. Atkins writes with a perspective on life that is very, very different from my own - but he does it with such honesty, such gusto, such pure outright talent, that I can only say, "Please, keep the novels coming."

Raymond Atkin's Page


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Book Zombie

Surviving Ben's Suicide: A Woman's Journey of Self-Discovery

Title: Surviving Ben's Suicide: A Woman's Journey of Self-Discovery
Author: C.Comfort Shields
Pages: 233
Yearly Count: 53
Publisher: iUniverse

I was shockingly mistaken in my perceptions about this book. I thought it would be a plain self-helpish, non-fictiony slow, boring to read book, but I loved the way C. Comfort Shields wrote this as a literary memoir! I read every page of this, and held on to it tight. I finished it in a day. Shields is an excellent writer, and I enjoyed her style and honesty throughout the painful process which she writes about. Once I was into this one, I realized just that it really wasn't as distant from me as I had thought. My father-in-law committed suicide, but that was about 4 years before I met and fell in love with my hubby (B). After reading this memoir I understand much better all the pain and guilt that would come from such an abrupt- but not entirely surprising ending to a loved one's life. However I hope to never know how it would feel to have this happen so close to me.

When life ends by one own's hand there are so many questions that come up, so much pain, guilt, suffering and loneliness. A feeling that being all alone, maybe you are responsible, you MUST be responsible. I was so interested in the amount of care Shields put into explaining the sickness, the disease, the illness that lead up to Ben committing suicide. The irate phone calls of blame, the pushing away and pulling in causing Comfort to feel the burden as a harsh reality.

This is not a self- help book, well, it is and it isn't. It is a memoir of a woman who experienced the death of a boyfriend, the suicidal death. Shields is changed through this blow, learning more about herself, more about life and death and relationships. I admire Surviving Ben's Suicide in that it has gone where no other book has gone before, in being the first literary memoir about this topic. Suicide is hard to understand, but even harder to cope with. This is an excellent book to take with you on the journey. An Excellent read for anyone, not just those who have had a loved one commit suicide.

Author C. Comfort Shields Website

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medieval bookworm

The Glass Castle

Title: The Glass Castle
Author: Jeannette Walls
Pages: 304
Yearly Count: 51

Children either grow up because of their parents or almost in spite of them, either way the years still pass and little kids who are cared for or pretty much neglected become adults. Jeannette Walls wrote her story in The Glass Castle and I can say that so far this year it is my top pick, no doubt about it. Jeannette grew up with an alcoholic dad, who made too many broken promises and a mother who thought working was giving up on her dream to become an artist. So they lived in willful poverty. Jeannette had three siblings and life was not easy. The dreams of their parents never seemed to materialize into anything that could get them enough food, a warm house or clothes. As much as it would have been daunting, even more than I care to know, to grow up hungry, cold, and neglected, Jeannette speaks in an honest voice and she never seemed to loving her mother and father. The Glass Castle is an incredible memoir of a life, and more importantly of perseverance, dreams and the heart to see things through.

The honesty of The Glass Castle is what rang the clearest, the voice of a girl while not enjoying her childhood the way it could (should) have been enjoyed, she made the best of it. A childhood filled with rotten food, the digging in the school's bathroom trash for leftover lunches, but what a woman those circumstances made! There is a conscious choice Jeannette makes over and over to try and believe that her parents have their best interests in mind, that they are trying, that they will make it, a choice to live on.

The writing is so beautiful. The voice is of a girl, now woman that is so strong, so stunning and yet so openly vulnerable that the reader feels completely engulfed in her life and in the outcome. I marvel, I have not been impressed like this for a while. If all I could do would be to tell any slightly interested reader:"Even if you don't think you'll like it, this is a must read!!! " That would be exactly what I would say. I hope you'll give it a try if you haven't, I didn't think I'd like it, since I usually have a hard time with non-fiction, it seems boring and slow, this was nothing like that...just pure beauty.

I wish I had a chance to talk to Jeannette Walls...anyone have any info?

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Enjoy this book trailer for The Glass Castle: