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Tag Archives: Kentucky

Horse: a Novel by Geraldine Brooks

26 Friday Aug 2022

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction, United States

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African American horsemen and horsewomen|, horses in art, Kentucky, painting, race horses, slavery, social problem fiction

A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history (publisher)

“Brooks’ chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling . . . [Horse] is really a book about the power and pain of words . . . Lexington is ennobled by art and science, and roars back from obscurity to achieve the high status of metaphor.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[Brooks] demonstrates imaginative empathy […] and provides some sardonic correctives to White cluelessness . . . Brooks skillfully […] demonstrate[s] how the poison of racism lingers. Contemporary parallels are unmistakable . . . Strong storytelling in service of a stinging moral message.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 

“Brooks probes our understanding of history to reveal the power structures that create both the facts and the fiction . . . [She] has penned a clever and richly detailed novel about how we commodify, commemorate, and quantify winning in the United States, all through the lens of horse racing.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

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The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

04 Monday May 2020

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in 20th century, Fiction, Historical Fiction

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Appalachia, history, Kentucky, methemoglobinemia., packhorse librarians, traveling libraries

Inspired by the true “blue-skinned people of Kentucky” and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, here is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere—even back home.

“…a hauntingly atmospheric love letter to the first mobile library in Kentucky and the fierce, brave packhorse librarians who wove their way from shack to shack dispensing literacy, hope, and — just as importantly — a compassionate human connection.”—Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants

“A unique story about Appalachia and the healing power of the written word.”—Kirkus

“A timeless and significant tale about poverty, intolerance and how books can bring hope and light to even the darkest pocket of history.”—Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Liar Temptress Soldier Spy

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Hillbilly Elegy: a Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

22 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biography, Non-fiction

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Appalachian Region, economic conditions, Kentucky, mountain people, social conditions, social mobility, United States, working class whites

9780062300546_p0_v6_s118x184

J.D. Vance grows up very poor in the Ohio rustbelt and after deciding to enlist in the Marine Corps eventually he pursues a law degree at Yale.  It’s a very personal account of the author’s childhood and parts of it felt similar to Jeannette Walls’ “The Glass Castle.” I liked it because while the author conveyed a lot of love and respect for aspects of his culture, he also comments on the contradictions, inconsistencies, and issues.

“[An] understated, engaging debut…An unusually timely and deeply affecting view of a social class whose health and economic problems are making headlines in this election year.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“[Vance’s] description of the culture he grew up in is essential reading for this moment in history.” (David Brooks, New York Times)

“J.D. Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy”, offers a starkly honest look at what that shattering of faith feels like for a family who lived through it. You will not read a more important book about America this year.” (The Economist)

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