Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma

[Jess5]

This is a good thread Jessaka. I love memoirs so I'll have to have a look at some of these. Peggy, did you know that The Invisible Man is a classic? I haven't read it, but I sure do hear a lot about it. I'm somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned Billie Letts Where the Heart is, The Honk & Holler, Shoot the Moon.They are all very good, especially Where the Heart is.

Molly Griffis owns a book store in Norman, and she wrote You've Got Mail, Billie Letts,which got great reviews and one I will probably be reading soon. I started Harpsong, but couldn't get into it, so I didnt finish it. It was probably because I had just finished World Without End, by Ken Follet, so, completely different genre, and an incredible book!

[jessaka]

I just finished Bed of Stone and loved it and am reading Harpsong and love it as well. I can understand after reading ken follet it could be a bit slow.

[Goodpasture]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Matt Braun.

http://www.mattbraun.com/profile.htm

Matt Braun was born in Oklahoma from a long line of ranchers. He is a fourth-generation Westerner, steeped in the tradition and lore of the frontier era. His books reflect a heritage rich with the truth of that bygone time.During his youth Braun was raised among the Cherokee and Osage tribes. He learned their traditions and culture, and along the way he developed an abiding respect for all Indians. Their philosophy regarding the right of each man to walk his own path became the foundation of Braun’s own beliefs.
Braun’s great-grandfather founded a ranch in western Oklahoma and once survived a shootout with three horse thieves. Still another ancestor was one of the foremost ranchers in Texas. John Adair went into partnership with Charles Goodnight, a legendary cattleman who blazed the Goodnight-Loving Trail. With Adair’s business acumen and Goodnight’s cow savvy, the outfit was established in Palo Duro Canyon, deep in the Texas Panhandle. By 1880, the partners controlled one million acres of land and more than 100,000 cows wore the JA Brand.
To a great extent, Braun is a man born out of his time. Like his ancestors, he has spent the majority of his life wandering the mountains and plains of the West. He writes of a West where a hardy breed of individualists challenged and conquered a raw and hostile land. His heritage, as well as his contribution to Western literature, resulted in his appointment by the Governor of Oklahoma as a Territorial Marshal. His novel BLACK FOX was adapted into a six-hour miniseries by CBS, and ONE LAST TOWN was adapted into a two-hour movie by TNT.
Among other honors, Braun won the Western Writers of America Golden Spur Award and the Festival of the West Cowboy Spirit Award. His novels are written with a passion for historical authenticity and realism, and based on actual incidents. Dee Brown, the noted historian and author, commented on his work:

"Matt Braun has a genius for taking real characters out of the Old West and giving them flesh-and-blood immediacy."

With 56 Books, including a cookbook, he is one of Oklahoma's most prolific writers. His books are fiction, but they are based in historical facts, so you are not only entertained, you are educated.

Another author from Oklahoma is Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman was born in Sacred Heart, OK on May 27, 1925. He was the youngest of three children, having an older brother and sister. His father, August A. Hillerman, was a storekeeper and farmer. His mother was Lucy Grove Hillerman.

He attended school from 1930-38 at St. Mary's Academy, a boarding school for Native American girls at Sacred Heart. He was one of several farm boys enrolled there. Sacred Heart was near a Benedictine mission to the Citizen Band Potowatomie Tribe. For high school, he was bused to Konawa High School. He graduated in 1942. He returned to farming after a brief sojourn to college and after his father's death.


In 1943, he joined the U. S. Army, serving in combat in World War II. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Purple Heart after being wounded in 1945. (These injuries included broken legs, foot, ankle, facial burns, and temporary blindness.) He was discharged in 1945.


After the war, he attended the University of Oklahoma, receiving a B. A. in 1948.

http://www.umsl.edu/~smueller/
He has written most notably about the Navajo in his murder mysteries.

[colleeng47]

I just bought "Buckskin Calico & Lace: Oklahoma's Territorial Women" by Glenda Carlile and "The Obstinate Land" by Harold Keith for my daughter for Christmas. They both sound interesting. I'll probably read them myself, too. Where the Heart Is was also a very good movie. I've also read some romance novels (Dorothy Garlock comes to mind) set in Oklahoma.

[Jess5]

colleen, I saw "Where the Heart is" after I read it. I don't usually think the movie is as good as the book, but I really enjoyed this movie. I just loved it, as a matter of fact. I don't usually watch a movie more than once, but, I have watched this one more than once.

[jessaka]

Harpsong leaves off where John Steinbeck's book, The Grapes of Wrath begins. The people that stayed really had it rough, or at least those that lost their homes and stayed did. It is really a great read. The author teaches creative writing and is a poet as well, and it often shows in her book. It is beauifully written by sad to read.

[Jess5]

I think the main reason I quit reading " Harpsong " was because in the beginning it read like it was going to be a love story (IMO), and I don't care for many love stories, but I may have to check that back out of my library. It may be awhile because I have a long list of books I've been planning on reading.

[peggydavis]

I've read all of Tony Hillerman's books. We went through the Navajo reservation when we were on a trip to California. We went to the cafe in Tuba City and ate hamburgers.

[jessaka]

It isn't a love story at all. It is a survival story. She writes a lot like John Steinbeck. I can't really compare the two though because I think that Steinbeck is the best writer. I don't read love stories either, and I am a woman. LOL. I do like romantic comedy movies though, providing they are really, really good.

[jessaka]

Okay, after getting through it is it sort of a love story. It just doesn't feel like one, after all the married couple in it are suviving, not loving. I consider it to be far more depressing than Grapes of Wrath could ever be. It is a combo of Grapes of Wrath and Cold Mountain. What a bummer book. But what an excellent writer.