The Talking Bookshelf: 

  I am going to Texas next week, and want to ask members of the Books
Conference if they know any really interesting books about Texas or
Texas/Mexico.  When I looked at the list of Items on the Conference, I
decided that I could ask in any number of them, but a concept for a new
item came to me:  What if you could walk up to a book shelf and ask it a
question.  This bookshelf (Grex) might not be all-knowing, but surely could
provide some interesting and informative answers.

And So: 

  Oh, Talking Bookshelf, Library of Con-Grex, (Proper form of address,
optional!) do you know of any brilliant books about Texas, fiction or
nonfiction, that I just have to read while laying in my tent evenings in
the 110 degree heat of twilight? 

  This item welcomes answers, comments and new questions any time!

25 responses total.

Sorry, I don't know of any great books about Texas.  You might take
along a Fodor's.  By the way I think your "Library of Con-Grex" is 
very clever.

Thanks for the suggestion on the travel guide, and thanks for the clever
comment.  But I've been told by very close friends that a little cleaver
is dangerous thing.  Pun filter=on.

  I know that Mirlyn could cough up "Texas" titles until the cows come
home (cows do still come home?)  but that is far too by the numbers for
The Amazing Talking Bookshelf.  What we have here is a failure (oops)  I
mean a *forum* to communicate.  Mirlyn is the Atomic Clock.  The Amazing
Talking Bookshelf could be Mr. Clock of Captain Kangaroo fame.  (Or Ms.
Clock).  Never sure where the hands are pointing, but plenty of
interesting things to say.  (or Punny Rabbit) Pun filter=stuck.

(Those were *very* close, *very* personal friends.  And they were holding
the cleaver!)

Bookshelf, bookshelf, on the wall,
Who is the cleaverest of them all?

(mwarner waits expectantly)

Bookshelf, bookshelf, on the wall,
Which is the most Texas, of them all?

Roadside Geology of Texas, Mountain Press Pub. Co., Missoula MT

Great!  We (greenops & I) have R.G.'s from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, New
York...  and will have to add Texas.  It seems T.A.T.B. works best when it
has a wealth of specific information to go on.  rcurl's channeling worked
well because he, like few I know, has a wealth of information to draw
from; and it doesn't hurt that he has a backchannel line on some of my
interests.  <>   Still interested in good Texas fiction, history,
natural/social history....  Whatsay, bookshelf?

For fiction about Texas, you could try Edna Ferber's _^HG_^Hi_^Ha_^Hn_^Ht or
Larry McMurty's _^HT_^Hh_^He _^HL_^Ha_^Hs_^Ht _^HP_^Hi_^Hc_^Ht_^Hu_^Hr_^He
_^HS_^Hh_^Ho_^Hw.

A book I mentioned somewhere else, "Blue Highways," is about the author's
experiences driving around the country on back roads.  There's a rather long
section about his experiences in texas, as i recall, which you might
find interesting.

Thanks!  I'm off to AAPL on Sunday and will look at "Giant" and "TLPS".  I
would lean to Giant, just because I am less familiar with that that than "The
Last Picture Show", although I have read neither. "Blue Highways" is an A+
suggestion. I have read it.  Especially for anyone who travels the
back roads on occasions, it is a particularly interesting book.  "Blue
Highways" author William Least Heat-Moon (AKA Bil Gilbert) wrote another
book called PrairyErth.  It is a six hundred page look at Chase County,
Kansas.  Although Least Heat-Moon traveled around in "BH" and stuck to one
location in "PE", he came across as knowing where he was at more in "Blue
Highways".

  When I am in Texas, which I will be for about a week, I'm going to check
the regional press and Texas collection in local bookstores, and post a
find or two, maybe here, or maybe in the "Finds" Item, or something for both.

  Good regional work is hard to track down, because it does not always
travel, figuratively or literally, and it takes an individual to gain some
awareness of the actual region to find the gems, sometimes.  I toss that
thought out as a good use for the Books Conference. 

Greenops just told me offline (as in talking in person) that I should read
"Friday Night Lights", by (?), which is about high school football in
Texas. I might read that when I get back, because I know some of the
subjects where not thrilled with that particular book.

 
 You can also try Horsemen Pass By, By Larry Mc Murtry. Or see the movie HUD.
with Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, and Melvyn Douglas. 4 stars.

And, don't forget _The Texas Rangers_, by whats-his-name.

I haven't seen Hud, but that's what VCRs are for and I have one...

  I think I know who I could borrow "The Texas Rangers" from...

     I see Edna Ferber author of "Giant" is from Kalamazoo.  I think I'll
check that one out on audio-cassette.   Movies, Books, Tapes, Maaaaaan. 
Wall-to-wall Texas, man.  (Dennis Hopper)

  I would take an audio tape for the car trip, but am afraid of leaving
town with "Books On Tape" and returning with "Books On Tape, in a light
sauce".  Too hot.

  I found a copy of "Roadside Geology of Texas" and also something called
"Backroads of Texas" (?) which describes geological, historical, etc.
sites on practically every route in the state, at Borders. About $30 for
the pair and I'm holding my money still, for now.

  From AAPL I checked out "From A Limestone Ledge, some essays and other
ruminations about country life in Texas" by John Graves.

  Thank's Y'all.

This response has been erased.

  You could borrow my texas sized Texas map. I got it free from Texas.

mail me if you need it.

There's bound to be a ton o' Alamo movies and literature around...
any that are particularly noteworthy?

I'm all set for maps, KWSN. Thanks for the Texas sized offer. 

 There is a recreation of the Alamo Mission somewhere near Bracketville,
Tx,where a number of those Alamo movies were filmed.  One of the
interesting things about Texas is how it is being rapidly reabsorbed into
greater Mexico. 

Just looked at !more /u/omni/2.  That's a pretty good road map.

 Thanks!

I vaguely remember my grandmother (or maybe an aunt or two) saying of
_Giant_ something like "I sure never met any Texans anything like *that*".
This was when it was (fairly) new - I was a child at the time.  I never
read it myself, but I wouldn't count on it for an accurate picture, if I
were you.  (I also remember Europeans whose idea of Chicago, where I grew
up, was a cross between cowboys-&-Indians and Al Capone, if that makes
any clearer the kind of thing I mean.)

  I neglected to mention, "Texas" by James A. Michener. It's a long 'un
at 800+ pages. Now that ol' boy can write!

Sure:  And then the author is (was?) from Kalamazoo, Mich.  And then there
is the Hollywood factor.  On the other hand, Texas is a big place, and
maybe your Grandmother really *hadn't* met any Texans like that.  In any
event, my "Giant" experience is likely to be post-facto.  So, I'll be
older, if not wiser.  Texas is such a large literary symbol, striking a
ready-made broad, deep chord.  I'm sure many authors have used Texas as
setting for figurative purposes. 

  In the movie "Apocalypse Now" Vietnam served as the setting for Gilgore's
madness.  The movie was criticized as not representing the real Vietnam,
but the movie was based upon Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" set in
end of the last century Africa.  Conrad witnessed much of what he used for
"Heart of Darkness" in which a passage describes a gunship mindlessly
blasting the bush, searching out an unknown enemy.  This was all
translated into the psychological symbol served by Vietnam of
the early 1960's. 

  I wonder what Ferber experienced in Michigan which led her to invent
Texas in her fiction.  Or maybe she spent a lot of time there, and just
got it all wrong (by your grandmother's estimate), to no purpose?

 Ferber also wrote "Showboat".

There's the possibility that she wrote it with the intention of getting
Texans mad so they'd buy lots of copies & say how awful it was.  (In fact,
I think I remember reading some critic using that book as an example of
that phenomenon in contemporary literature - worthless book designed to
make minor sensation to boost sales by word of mouth.  Now, again, *I*
never read that book, & am not the one judging that it is a good example
of such.  I've certainly read some, though, so he's correct that the type
exists.)

Greetings, Amazing Talking Bookshelf! Can you recommend any
books about phosphate formation conditions and (meta)stabilities?
Arf! Bow wow!

That's a start. After the arf! bow wow!, it takes time and a suitable
substrate, such as kitty litter from ground stalactites. But you will
have to wait for the book....

Re "Giant":  OTOH, she may have accurately depicted the ppl of Texas that she
met...  but texas is a BIG place, and davel's grandmother may simply have
never met anyone like that, b/c she knew other types of Texans.  *shrug*

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss