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Book Reviews
This section of the OTHG website is devoted to book reviews by members of Steamboat's Over the Hill Gang.
Book Corner Leaders (Click on a name below to send an e-mail to that person)
- Bill Dring
- Jan Dring
- Sally Frostic
- Kathleen Laterzo
We have created this space on the OTHG website for members to recommend books which might be enjoyable for fellow members.
We are started out in December 2011 with recommendations for two books:
- Another Country by Mary Pipher, and
- Zeitoun by David Eggers
In February 2012, we added a review of:
- Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden
Please, any of you send your suggested books along with a short review to one of our Book Corner Leaders (Click on the names above to send an e-mail). We also invite your comments on the reviews.
Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden
Two society girls from Auburn, NY, who had finished their education at Smith College and had taken a several-month tour of Europe were not sure what to do with the rest of their lives. Through a friend they found out about two teaching positions that were available in the Elkhead Mountains near Hayden, Colorado. The year was 1916 and Dorothy Woodruff and her friend Rosamond Underwood accepted the jobs. They also accepted the challenges of riding horses several miles to the school house, coping with the snow, teaching all different aged children, living with a family up in the mountains. They got to know the locals, Bob Perry, Ferry Carpenter, and Charlotte Perry and Portia Mansfield, the latter were also Smith graduates. For Steamboat residents, who know the area, it is fun to read about their adventures in the Yampa Valley almost 100 years ago.
- Review by Jan Dring
Another Country by Mary Pipher
This book was first published in 1999. The title comes from a quote from Linda Hogan and is intended to show how different is the world of the older infirm.
While nearly every one of us in the OTHG is active and energetic, most of us also know some of those that Mary Pipher calls the “old-old.” Those are older folks who have some health issues and need care and understanding. This book is a primer for understanding these older people. The book is an excellent guide to developing a language for communication, from both sides.
Mary Pipher is a nationally known psychologist who specializes in families who are dealing with the elderly. The many anecdotes in the book range from tragic to heroic.
- Review by Bill Dring
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers This 2009 account of one man's experience during Hurricane Katrina has
been called "great narrative non-fiction" and "21st century Dickensian story-telling.” The man is Abdulrahman Zeitoun. Originally from Syria, he runs his own painting and contracting firm in New Orleans. He stays in the city during Katrina, hoping to watch over his own home and the homes of his clients. His wife Kathy, raised Southern Baptist and now at home in Islam, leaves town with their 4 children, finding shelter with relatives then friends. Eggers tells the story simply and directly, and we see Zeitoun paddling his canoe through the flooded streets, helping where he can. Kathy, meanwhile, copes with her uprooted children, with the relatives who question her religion, and with her anxiety about her husband. A growing sense of menace and despair culminate in Zeitoun's
imprisonment, a suspect of terrorism. This true story makes fascinating and enlightening reading. - Review by Sally Frostic