Swamp Story by Dave Barry

I had originally chosen Tourist Season by Carl Hiassen as one of my Ten Books of Summer.   But after a few chapters I realized Tourist Season was not for me and so I decided to go with another bestselling Florida writer, Dave Barry.   His latest novel Swamp Story (2023) is set in the Florida Everglades and focuses on a number of characters who have hit a rough patch and are hoping for something better. 

There is Jesse Braddock, her baby daughter Willa and Willa's father, Slater.  They all live in a cabin in the Everglades where Slater is dreaming of producing a reality TV show called Glades Man but in the meantime he is doing nothing but getting wasted.   Jesse knows that she and Willa need a way back to civilization.

Then there is Phil Teagler, an alcoholic ex-newspaperman.  Phil is looking for a way to make money, stop drinking and repair his relationship with his daughter Stella.  And we have Ken and Brad owners of Bortle Brothers Bait and Beer who are trying to attract tourists to their failing business.  Ken at least is trying, Brad thinks it's hopeless.

And so the future is not looking bright when Swamp Story begins.  But then things begin to change.  Jesse discovers a fortune in gold bars buried in swamp land near her home.  She decides to hide the gold until she can figure out what to do.  But bad guys are also after the gold and they know that Jesse has it hidden

Meanwhile Phil is in a bar in Miami when Ken from Bortle Brothers approaches him.  Phil has become semi-famous due to an internet video where he and his friend Stu dressed up as Disney characters for a children's birthday party and the event went viral.  Ken sits down next to Phil with a proposal.

The plan involves Phil disguising himself as a character Ken has thought up  called The Everglades Melon Monster.  They'll film a few videos near Bortle Brothers Bait and Beer and post them online.  People will flock to the Everglades looking for the melon monster and Phil and Ken will split the profits from all the melon monster t-shirts and paraphernalia they'll be selling.  

Phil is skeptical but agrees to go along and the plan works very well.  Thousands of tourists descend on the Everglades looking for the monster and the problems for Jesse Phil, Ken and Brad continue from there.  Swamp Story also includes a separate plot in which a US Secretary of the Interior Witt Chastain, who hates going outdoors, heads down to the Everglades to launch the annual Python Challenge.  And all of these stories link up as we get to the end of the book.  

Swamp Story has been receiving alot of critical praise, including a starred review from Publisher's Weekly, and I wish I could be on board because I like Dave Barry.   Many of us came down years ago to a very different Florida than exists now and the fact that Barry is still living in Miami and still chronicling the weirdness here is comforting to those of us who would like to leave but can't.

And so I wanted to recommend Swamp Story and certainly the characters, Jesse, Phil, Brad and Ken are well drawn and realistic.  I was rooting for them.  But Swamp Story  began to drag for me the deeper I got into it.  Jesse's dilemna with the gold bars and her blossoming relationship with Brad I enjoyed.  But the melon monster storyline takes up a significant part of the novel and did not hold my interest.

But that's just me and Swamp Story is funny and Dave Barry is certainly someone to read, a reminder of the loveable weirdness that made Florida a fun place as opposed to what we have now.

H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Fifty pages into H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald (2014) I put the book down.  It was beautifully written, the international acclaim well deserved, but I am not a birder or particularly interested in nature books.  It was my fault, not the author's, for choosing the wrong genre.

But then a few weeks later I saw that H Is For Hawk was available on Audible as part of my membership.  The author, Helen Macdonald, was the reader and that's not always a great idea but in this case it worked out wonderfully.  Helen Macdonald is a an excellent reader and writer.  And when I got to the part of the book where Helen purchases her goshawk Mabel and retreats to the English countryside to begin Mabel's training I was hooked.  

And I particularly liked that Helen takes her treasured copy of T. H. White's memoir Goshawk (1951) with her on her journey.  T. H. White was a British writer best known for his classic novel The Once And Future King.  And throughout the course of H Is For Hawk, Helen rereads T. H. White's Goshawk and reflects on his life and her own:

"Like White I wanted to cut loose from the world, and I shared, too, his desire to escape to the wild, a desire that can rip away all human softness and leave you stranded in a world of savage, courteous despair."

And then there is Mabel, the young goshawk.  Helen does a good job in H Is For Hawk in trying to interpret what Mabel is thinking and feeling.  And it does seem at first that they are bonding. But part of training a hawk is taking them hunting and that's where the other side of Mabel emerges and it's disturbing.  At one point Helen is injured when Mabel turns on her in the woods

I would have sent Mabel packing at that point but for Helen, fascinated by hawks since childhood, training Mabel was a way to get over her grief at her father's death.  Training Mabel became a way to deal with that loss.  But Helen comes to realize through her experiences with Mabel and reflecting on T. H. White's life that isolating oneself from people is not the answer.  

H Is For Hawk is a book I didn't think I would be able to finish when I first picked it up and now I would say it's a five star read.

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) is Booth Tarkington's most famous novel and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919.  Booth Tarkington would go on to win a second Pulitzer for Alice Adams in 1922.  That's not an easy thing to do and yet nowadays his novels have been relatively forgotten.  That's a shame because I rather liked The Magnificent Ambersons.  The characters and the story held my attention and I also think there are lessons in this novel about the dynamics within a family that remain relevant.

The Magnificent Ambersons takes place in Midland, a fictional town in Indiana at the start of the 20th century. Major Amberson the grandfather made his fortune in 1873 and with his money he begins building up the town of Midland. There is the Amberson Hotel, The Amberson Opera House, fountains, statues and above all there is the magnificent Amberson mansion where three generations of the Ambersons (the Major, his daughter Isabelle, her husband Wilbur Minafer, their son George Amberson Minafer and Aunt Fanny) reside.

One would think with all their wealth and social standing that the Ambersons would be an insufferable lot.  But actually the Major who is getting on in years just wants some peace and quiet. HIs daughter Isabelle a beautiful and lovely young woman in her day has retained that beauty and innocent good nature as the years have gone by. 

Isabelle when she was young had two suitors: Eugene Morgan and Wilbur Minafer. Eugene was the love of Isabelle's life but he was a bit wild when they were courting and so she picked the safer choice, her husband Wilbur. She is a good wife and Wilbur is a good man but then there is their only child George.  From the day he is born George is spoiled rotten.  Isabelle only sees the angel in him. The rest of the town sees something else and begins hoping that one day young George will get his “comeuppance”.

And the reader can see that day coming because for George "being" is more important than "doing".  He doesn't train for any career because he is counting on the Amberson name securing his wealth and status throughout his life.  But the early 20th century is bringing change to Midland.  New industries are flourishing, factories are opening up, automobiles are replacing horse drawn carriages.  Its becoming harder for wealthy families to live off their inheritance, particularly if like the Ambersons they start making bad investments.

But I came to the end of the novel feeling compassion for George Amberson Minafer because he's not a two dimensional character.  Yes he is a snob and deluded about what his future will look like if he doesn't start applying himself.  But George is not selfish and we see that clearly towards the end of the book in the generosity he shows his Aunt Fanny at considerable cost to himself.  Maybe George's true legacy was inheriting a bit of his mother's generous and thoughtful nature.

I recommend The Magnificent Ambersons.  Its the fourth book I have read for the Books of Summer Reading Challenge.  I better get a move on!

Top Ten Tuesday

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl  has an interesting challenge every Tuesday in which she picks a topic and asks readers and bloggers to choose a list of 10 books that conform to that topic.  Today's topic is Forgotten Backlist Titles - choose 10 books that you really enjoyed that no one really talks about much anymore.  Here are my ten and though many of these authors are well known these books are not read as much as they should be and that's a shame.  I would happily read all of them again: