Favorite Pastimes
History was one of my least favorite subjects in school. It always seemed boring to study what had already happened. As I’ve gotten older though, I have come to understand the value of learning from past mistakes, whether they are mine or someone else’s. It is more enjoyable to me now to look at past generations and their lifestyles and culture in comparison to the present. I hope you enjoy a peek at the past in this month’s featured books.
Lexington author Jerrie Oughton takes us back to the ’50s in her young-adult novel, Perfect Family (Houghton Mifflin, $15.00). The main character’s not-so-perfect life starts with her name, Welcome Marie. Welcome is almost 16 and living in the small town of Lily, North Carolina. Typical of most small towns, everyone in Lily knows what everybody else is doing. Welcome’s mother believes they have the perfect family, which turns out to be far from the truth. Welcome finds herself in a shocking, heart-wrenching predicament that will reach both teen readers and adults alike. This is a wonderful book for some mother-daughter conversation.
Just in time for March Madness, you can find out everything you ever wanted to know about University of Kentucky basketball in the Kentucky Basketball Encyclopedia (Sports Publishing Inc., $29.95). Tom Wallace has compiled fact after fact about all of the university’s players and coaches, and how they have formed the history of the UK basketball program. Player biographies go back as far as 1920. Many pictures are included, as well as a four-page color foldout of the 1996 Kentucky-Louisville game in Rupp Arena.
B is for Bluegrass: A Kentucky Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Press, $17.95) is truly a book for all ages. Intended as a picture book for youngsters, Mary Ann McCabe Riehle has compiled an alphabet of Kentucky’s best offerings that will educate adults as well. Each letter’s reference to Kentucky is written in rhyming verse, perfect for reading to young children. On the opposite side of each page is a description of the object mentioned and how it relates to our state, making the book a good teaching aid for elementary children as well. Care to take a guess at how many plants make up Frankfort’s Floral Clock? Find the answer in the book!
Do you remember what you were doing when you heard the news of Elvis’ death? Most folks probably have a story to answer that question. Kentuckian Bobbie Ann Mason shares her memory of that day in the introduction to Elvis Presley (Viking, $19.95). Mason’s latest work chronicles the rise and fall of “The King” and examines the contributions his music and life made to our culture, changing it forever. She has chosen to delve into the tragedy of Presley’s fame-filled life rather than buy into the ridicule that prevailed after his death.
