Three Books Worth Reading With Kansas City Connections

For people with a passion for reading but who also want a bit of Kansas City flavor mixed in, here are three books worth checking out: 

Let's start with The Big Divide by local authors Diane Eickhoff and Aaron Barnhart.  Published last year and perfect for history lovers, this gem of a book is self-described as "a travel guide to historic and Civil War sites throughout the Missouri/Kansas border region."  

Many sites mentioned in this book are in our own backyards - like the Jesse James Farm and Museum in Kearney or the Harris-Kearney House in the historic Westport district.  

Some landmarks are locations that I have visited and actually written about in this blog - including The Thomas Hart Benton State Historic Site and the Glore Psychiatric Museum.  

Yet other destinations are further out from the metro, but definitely worth a day trip - places like the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Mansfield, MO or the Patee House Museum in St. Joseph (both of which I have been to and loved.)  

Overall, The Big Divide is well organized, easy to use, and full of all kinds of tidbits about area history.  It provides chapter maps, driving tours, tips for the trip, book and film suggestions, and a 200-year timeline (1700-1900) illustrating and comparing U.S., world, and local history.

As a side note, the one site I would add to this book is the old Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, MO, which was built in 1836 and closed in 2004.  I have taken a tour there and found its history (including the Civil War era) fascinating.

Published in 2013, Texts From Bennett is my second recommendation.  It is the inappropriately funny story of Mac, a white, not quite middle-aged Kansas City rapper, and his teenage cousin, Bennett, who claims to be a “gangsta” - and, oh yeah, thirteen percent black.

First created as a popular Tumblr blog, the “Bennett character” fully blossoms in this hilarious novel, and it all begins when Bennett, his pill-popping mother, Lily, and Lily’s crazy paranoid boyfriend lose their home and move into Mac’s new house.

Mac’s world is turned upside down as Bennett steals the neighbors’ pets for rewards, brings crazy, destructive women home, and annihilates his love life. As Bennett loses jobs, behaves inappropriately, disrespects boundaries, and tries to be the biggest “gangsta” he can be, Mac slowly learns that although Bennett has issues, underneath everything, he is a realistic, genuine person with 
a big heart.

Ultimately, Mac begins spending time with Bennett as a mentor and role model. Looking past all the flaws, he forces Bennett to think about some serious adult topics and more importantly, his future.

What’s surprising, however, are the funny, unexpected lessons that Mac learns from Bennett – like how to get women by following the “11 Commandmints of Gittin’ Bitchez.” More importantly, he helps Mac through a major heartbreak and teaches him to accept people for who they are.

Before reading Texts From Bennett, be forewarned that it contains lots of foul language and crude "street talk." It has a raw urban presentation and tons of purposeful spelling errors that might turn some people off. Also, much of the book is presented in texting format — or epistolary style — which might be annoying for certain readers.

Overlooking all that, Texts From Bennett is not a silly throwaway book. In its own unique way, it tackles poverty, family issues, humanity, and more with a head-on frankness. Plus, the novel’s writing style has a certain creative spark that keeps the reader engaged.

In the end, there is just something about this book that grabs your heart unexpectedly. Despite all the imperfections in the characters, you like them and learn from them. Most surprisingly, you find yourself seriously rooting for them to overcome their problems and become productive members of society.

Third on my book recommendation list is October Suite by Maxine Clair.  This one is not a newer book - it was published in 2001.  However, it is worth checking out a copy from the library and reading.  

October Suite partially takes place in Wyandotte County, KS in the 1950s and tells the story of October Brown, a young African-American woman who is beginning her first teaching assignment.  

At first, October's future seems bright, but over time, everything goes wrong.  She is falsely accused of abusing a student and also finds herself pregnant by a married man who deserted her.  

As October returns home to Ohio to figure out what to do, this book gives us a glimpse into the restrictions placed on women and African Americans in the Midwest prior to the passage of The Civil Rights Act. 

October Suite is actually a quiet, slowly unfolding type of read.  It is not a novel that can be rushed and demands and your full literary attention while reading it.  

Best described, October Suite is a story about family, the pain of living with choices, and the struggle to move forward toward resolution and happiness.  

BONUS BOOKS

Two other books with Kansas City connections worth mentioning are:

Happy Stories! by Will Bowen.  Filled with short stories and experiences from "50 of the happiest people on Earth," it also includes a story from Kathy Quinn, long-time reporter for Kansas City's Fox 4 News.

You're Toast! by local author Rachel Ellyn (with assistance from Jasper's Italian Restaurant chef/owner Jasper Mirabile, Jr. and other local chefs),  tells the family-friendly story of Slice, a simple piece of bread who dreams of becoming something important - like french toast or garlic toast.  

The book also contains a handful of recipes from distinguished local chefs using toast as an ingredient and is a great way to get families into the kitchen and cooking together. 

The Maid's Version by Missouri author Daniel Woodrell Explodes Onto The New Book Scene

Best known for his book, Winter’s Bone, Missouri author Daniel Woodrell’s new novel, The Maid’s Version, contains all the elements that make his writing truly unique, powerful, and intriguing. 

Flashing back to 1929 and the small town of West Table, Missouri, The Maid’s Version, centers around Alma DeGeer Dunahew, a domestic servant for one of the more prominent families in town, and a mysterious explosion at the local dance hall which instantly kills forty-two of the area’s residents – including Alma’s scandalous sister Ruby. 

Alma and many of the townspeople feel the calamity was not an accident, but a purposeful act of malice, and throughout the book, different possibilities about who might have been responsible for such an evil deed are explored. 

Interestingly, the tragedy in The Maid’s Version is based on a real-life incident and possible unsolved crime that happened in West Plains, Missouri in 1928, which is Daniel Woodrell’s hometown. In fact, his family has a burial plot just 50 feet from the memorial to the unidentified victims of that catastrophic explosion. 

The Maid’s Version is only 164 pages in length, almost novella sized, but it is not a quick or easy read. It delves deeply into a community’s secrets, mistrust, anger and heartbreak. It is also heavy with themes that Woodrell commonly explores in his writing – including hardship, economic/class division, and social consciousness. 

Additionally, some might accuse The Maid’s Version of meandering at times in its story development, but what it is really doing is skillfully unpeeling the layers of a small Ozark town one character at a time, often in an uncomfortable manner because the residents of West Table are not “feel-good” people. They are suspicious, complex, and appear very hard around the edges – just like the novel. 

With an obvious tension, The Maid’s Version unfolds in a way that requires your complete attention. As you turn each page, you learn disturbing details about different townsfolk, their histories, their possible motives for committing the crime, and the effects that the horrific event has had on them and their descendants, even more than 80 years later. 

By the end, The Maid’s Version successfully and lyrically intertwines possible reasons for the sadistic explosion with the deep-rooted relationships among local families and the community until it overlaps into the story of what Alma believes truly happened on that dreadful evening. 

Although The Maid’s Version won’t necessarily leave you feeling content, happy or even satisfied at its conclusion, it is a good example of skilled literary fiction and a beautiful writing style that easily transports you into the Missouri Ozarks and into the harsh lives of the characters. You can almost physically feel their pain, anguish, and attempt at healing as they struggle to deal with a tragedy that scars them and their town forever. 

Daniel Woodrell- photo from Google

About the author: Daniel Woodrell is originally from West Plains, Missouri, a former Marine, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Years ago, he also spent time living in Kansas City.  

The The Maid's Version is his ninth novel. His first collection of stories, The Outlaw Album, was published in 2011.  Today, he enjoys living in the Missouri Ozarks where he is contemplating his next novel.

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

In The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty, Louise Brooks is a young free spirit who doesn’t care what society thinks of her. Cora Carlisle, on the other hand, is a middle-aged married woman with unflinching morals. In 1922, Louise makes an important trip to New York with Cora as her traveling companion. It is a journey that will profoundly change both women forever.

In the late 1920s, everyone knew Louise Brooks as a world-famous silent film star. She was beautiful. She was troubled, and she was the woman who made the “bob” haircut a cultural phenomenon. 

But in 1922, Louise was a 15-year-old girl who hated living in Wichita, KS, because it was old-fashioned, restrictive, and one big dead end. It was a feeling that Cora Carlisle didn’t share. She mostly found Wichita comforting with its small-town attitude and sense of community. 

That summer, with Cora as her chaperone, Louise escapes to New York to attend classes at the Denishawn School of Dance. Louise's ambition is to become a member of the Denishawn Dance Company so that she does not have to return to Wichita. 

Cora's purpose, however, and real reason for coming to New York is to find the identity of her birth parents. As a small child, Cora had been dumped at the Home For Friendless Girls in New York, residing there until she was eventually put on an orphan train and shipped off to Kansas for adoption. 

As an eight-year-old girl, the trip had frightened Cora, and now as a thirty-six-year-old grown woman, she wanted answers. By the end of the summer, both women are successful at reaching their goals, but things will not turn out as either woman planned. 

Before you begin reading The Chaperone, you should know that the novel mostly focuses on the fictional character Cora with Louise as almost a secondary character. The Chaperone is not a biography of Louise's life, but author Laura Moriarty does do a great job of blending Cora's fabricated life with fascinating details of Louise's true story. 

The Chaperone, which was published in 2012, has also been divided up into three chronological sections that easily flow into each other, and the writing style has an elegant ease that makes the book feel seamless when reading it. In fact, it is that easy writing style that makes the book hard to put down. 

The author of The Chaperone, Laura Moriarty, lives in Lawrence, KS, and teaches creative writing at the University of Kansas. She is the author of several other novels including The Rest of Her Life and While I'm Falling.

So, if you are still looking for an absorbing novel to round out your spring reading list or perhaps looking to read a novel by a local author, then The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty is it. 

Additionally, if you want to learn more about Louise Brooks, check out LuLu In Hollywood, which is the autobiography of Louise Brooks.

A New Collection of Short Stories Brings Out The Darker Side of Kansas City

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If you’re a fan of shadowy crime fiction, local authors, and well-written literature, then Kansas City Noir is a book you’ll definitely want to add to your reading list.

Just published in October as part of a noir series by Akashic Books and edited by Steve Paul, senior writer and arts editor for the Kansas City Star newspaper, Kansas City Noir is an anthology of 14 new stories by some of this area’s fiction masters.

Contributors include Daniel Woodrell, the seasoned author of Winter’s Bone and several other novels, Mitch Brian, a screenwriting and film studies professor at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and Nadia Pflaum, a former reporter for The Pitch newspaper who now works as an investigator for the Midwest Innocence Project.

With such an eclectic group of talent, the variety of stories and writing styles showcased in Kansas City Noir is exceptional.  Even better, the collection does not have the regurgitated feel of  “typical noir.”  Instead, each piece, with its specific setting and distinctly twisted characters, leaves its own unique gritty impression on the reader.

Some stories, such as Grace Suh’s Mission Hills Confidential, have a very suburban vibe while other selections, like Nadia Pflaum’s Charlie Price’s Last Supper, have a more urban feeling.  Each selection offers an edgy cast of characters, ranging from children of serial killers to police officers in turmoil, and as for subject matter, everything from missing persons to arson is explored.

Picking any standouts from Kansas City Noir would be hard because every tale is so deliciously disturbing and cynical.  Nancy Pickard’s Lightbulb does a great job of examining remorse and retaliation.  Linda Rodriguez and Catherine Browder add strong character conflict to the mix, and Andrés Rodríguez blows a smoky cloud of Kansas City history our way in Milton’s Tap Room.

Although Kansas City Noir barely tops 200 pages and is conveniently organized into three distinct sections (Heartland, Crazy Little Women and Smoke and Mirrors), it is not necessarily a fast read.  Additionally, if you are the type of person who prefers light mysteries and tidy endings, don’t expect that in this compilation.

Kansas City Noir is more of a book that makes you ponder.  After finishing a selection, you find yourself wondering,  “What would I do in that situation,” or  “Would I ever take things that far.”  In fact, Kansas City Noir’s hook is that it intriguingly gets you to spend as much time thinking about stories as you do reading them.

If you’re interested in discovering some talented area authors, exploring the murky noir genre, and want to enjoy some well-crafted fiction, Kansas City Noir is an anthology worth checking out.

Kansas City Author Linda Rodriguez Publishes Her First Mystery Novel - Every Last Secret

Local author Linda Rodriguez offers readers a strong female protagonist, an intriguing mystery and a local setting in her debut novel, Every Last Secret.

As the story begins, Marquitta “Skeet” Bannion” has had all she can take of big city life.  The stress of being the highest ranking woman and a homicide detective in the Kansas City Police Department, dealing with a jealous ex-husband who keeps popping up in her life, and the disgrace of having her alcoholic father retire from the police force under suspicious and possibly immoral circumstances force Skeet to seek a calmer and quieter life.

Hoping she will finally find peace, she resigns from the KCPD and heads for the fictional small town of Brewster (which sounds very similar to Parkville), located just outside of Kansas City, to take a position as the chief of a college campus police force. 

Everything seems to be going well for Skeet until the student editor of the college newspaper is found murdered in his office.  What unfolds for Skeet is a death investigation filled with a pool of unlikeable suspects, layers of academic bureaucracy, and all of her old problems resurfacing with a powerful vengeance.  

Whether she likes it or not, Skeet knows she must put her former homicide detective skills to work and unravel the dark secrets of the university and the seemingly perfect small town of Brewster in order to solve the gruesome and heinous crime.

As the body count rises and the case grows more dangerous, Skeet also realizes she needs to stop avoiding her own problems and face her demons back in Kansas City once and for all. 

Released in April, Every Last Secret is a recent winner of the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition and a good read, but from a critical point of view, this first attempt at the mystery genre by Linda Rodriguez would grab even more attention if the characters were more atypical and the plot not quite so predictable. 

The story needs a bigger dose of originality and surprise to make it a true hard-to-put-down, “I’m not going to get any sleep until I finish this book” page-turner. 

Also, the novel would benefit from an edgier, grittier writing style which would help its audience not just read about the danger and tension pulsating from the devious plot, but instead almost feel the disturbing emotions jumping off the pages and into their minds.

That being said, if you are from the Kansas City area, you will probably find this is a fun read because of the familiar locations described in the book.  Downtown, Westport and the Plaza are mentioned along with Union Station and Jack Stack Barbecue in the freight district.

Additionally, if you read and enjoy Every Last Secret, you’ll be glad to know that Rodriguez is currently working on a second Skeet Bannion book.  So, who knows – maybe this will be the first selection in an evolving mystery series with a big spoonful of Kansas City flavor.  We’ll just have to wait and see…

Book Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

In 1995 -  and with little experience - Cheryl Strayed made a drastic decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone from the western edge of the Mojave desert in Southern California to the Oregon/Washington border.   

Wild is the memoir of her incredible 1,100-mile journey.

The idea of the trip actually started in Minneapolis, where Strayed was living at the time.  She was standing in the checkout line of an outdoor store waiting to purchase a foldable shovel when she noticed a book called The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume I, California. 

She casually picked the book up and scanned through it, learning that the Pacific Crest Trail runs along the crest of nine mountain ranges and is 2,663 miles long.   It starts at the Mexican border, running through California, Oregon, and Washington, and ends just over the Canadian border. 

Strayed looked at the pretty picture of a lake on the front cover of the guidebook, which was beautifully surrounded by boulders, and then placed the book back on the shelf.  She paid for her shovel and left.  Shortly after, she returned to the store and bought the book.

At the time of her unexpected purchase, Strayed’s life was a mess.  She was ending her marriage. Her mother had recently died of cancer.  She was shooting heroin, and she was having casual sex with men she barely knew.  

Strayed knew her life needed to change.  She also needed time alone - to think, to heal, to regroup and to figure out what she wanted from life.  So, naively she acquired all the equipment she thought she would need for her adventure and headed for Mojave, California and the Pacific Crest Trail.

From the first day, the journey was much harder than Strayed ever expected.  She struggled to carry her huge backpack, which she nicknamed Monster, and she quickly discovered she was less prepared than she could have every imagined.  Even so, she wasn’t going to give up.

Her three-month-long trip was grueling, challenging, emotional, and fascinating.  Along the way, she encountered wild animals, extreme heat, snow and ice, new friends, physical hardships and memories that she would never forget. 

Wild conveys Strayed’s difficulties, fears, and struggles, both on and off the trail, with painful accuracy.  In fact, to describe Wild as a “feel-good” book would be misleading.  It is more of a “feel real” book because of its raw honesty. 

Especially in the beginning chapters of Wild, its brutal openness makes you want to just shake Strayed and say, “What’s wrong with you?”   

But partway through the memoir, you find yourself appreciating her candid words.  Her realness about herself adds to the meaning of her journey and the importance of her success – on the trail and within herself. 

What’s even better is that at the end of the book, Strayed describes her life now and discusses what happened to a few of the people she befriended on the Pacific Crest Trail all those years ago, giving the book and her excursion a sense of completeness.

Today, Strayed is a successful author who lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and children.  She has also written the books Torch and Tiny Beautiful Things.  

A Review of Toni Morrison's Latest Book - Home

Home by Toni Morrison

A Blogger's Thoughts About Toni Morrison's New Book - Home

In Toni Morrison’s latest novel, Home, 24-year old Frank Money is an African American army veteran struggling to maintain his sanity, his manhood, and find his place in the world a year after returning from the Korean War.

Less than 200 pages long, this short but powerful offering begins with Frank escaping from a Seattle mental hospital for reasons he can’t or chooses not to remember.  Once free, he begins a dangerous and eye-opening journey back to his younger sister, Cee, who is gravely ill under mysterious circumstances in Georgia.

As the plot unfolds, Frank desperately struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, encounters senseless racism, learns what the real meaning of “home” is for him, and eventually confronts the truth about a horrible and deadly decision he made in Korea that has continued to “tilt” his mental stability.

The novel is structured so that it is mainly told in third person, but with Frank periodically narrating chapters.  This arrangement works well because we get a first-hand glimpse into Frank’s private thoughts, while from the third person aspect, we learn more about Cee and her own story of sorrow and hardship.

Although brief in length, Home is still classic Toni Morrison.  The book flows with her familiar lyrical writing style, is filled with the obvious symbolism and allegory she packs into all her stories, introduces us to rich, complex characters, and layers itself with multiple meanings and interpretations.

That being said, Home, does have a slightly more restrained feel, is more tightly written and straight forward, and provides an “easier read” than other Morrison selections like Beloved or The Bluest Eye.  For those who have never read a Toni Morrison novel but want to familiarize themselves with her writing, this book is actually a good selection to start with.

One small complaint is that the concluding chapters could have had a little more depth and examined some difficult subjects more intensely; however, by the last pages of the novel, Morrison does make the story feel like it comes full-circle without a lot of loose ends.

More importantly, Home’s ending effectively conveys to readers the feeling of hope, pride, peace and optimism that Frank and Cee discover together and separately while successfully making the point that Home, both literally and figuratively, has a different meaning and interpretation for everyone.

Defending Jacob by William Landay is the Perfect Summer Read

 A Review of the Legal Thriller Defending Jacob by William Landay

 

In Defending Jacob, Andy and Lori Barber seem to have it all…an idealistic suburban life, great friends and neighbors, and reputations to be envied.  Then their 14-year-old son, Jacob, is accused of murder and life is never the same again.

Released this past January by author William Landay, this novel combines legal suspense, character depth, shocking plot turns, and an ending that will blow your mind. 

The story begins when Andy Barber, an Assistant D.A. for more than 20 years in Newton, MA, receives a phone call that a teenage boy has been found murdered in a park near the very middle school that his own son, Jacob, attends.  It becomes even more personal for Andy when he discovers that the victim and Jacob were acquainted.

Andy suspects that a sleazy pedophile who lives near the crime scene is responsible for the horrific stabbing, but after interviewing the victim’s classmates and reading on Facebook that Jacob not only owns a knife that matches the murder weapon but is being accused of the crime by his own circle of friends, he is forced to consider otherwise.

As everyone in town turns their backs on the Barber family and their perfect existence begins to crumble, Andy takes a hard look at the evidence, which appears very circumstantial.  But things soon get worse when Andy and his now mentally fragile wife, Lori, learn that more stunning evidence has been discovered. 

Eventually Jacob is charged with first-degree murder and must stand trial.  Throughout the entire ordeal, Andy never loses faith in his son or his innocence.  Even when he discovers that Jacob is not quite the perfect son that he thought he was. 

Andy is also forced to tell his wife a surprising secret he’s been hiding for their entire marriage – a secret that could destroy their idealistic family forever. 

William Landry proves that he is a master storyteller of suspense in Defending Jacob.   The novel has no real weaknesses and can hold its own with any legal thriller compared to it.  And for the mystery buffs out there, this book feels somewhat like a combination between a John Grisham courtroom drama and an attention-grabbing Harlan Coben selection. 

Defending Jacob is actually William Landay’s third novel.  His debut novel, Mission Flats won the Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for Best First Crime Novel, and his second offering, The Strangler, was selected by The Los Angeles Times as the favorite crime book of the year. 

Landay himself is a Yale and Boston College Law School graduate who served for eight years as an Assistant D.A. in Middlesex County, Massachusetts before turning to writing as a career. 

Luckily for all of the suspense enthusiasts out there, Landay is already working on his next anticipated novel, but in the meantime, if you are going to pick one book to read during this steamy Kansas City summer, Defending Jacob is it.

 The layers of tension, smooth writing style, and great twists and turns at the end make this selection worth every minute you spend devouring the pages to discover the answer to the million dollar question – is Jacob truly a vicious killer or an innocent boy falsely accused of a gruesome murder.

Kansas City Offers Great Dining Choices For Food Lovers

Food Lovers' Guide to Kansas City by Sylvie Hogg Murphy

A Review of Food Lovers’ Guide To Kansas City by Sylvie Hogg Murphy

Already world famous for its juicy, lip-smacking BBQ, Kansas City proves it has much more to offer the culinary palate in Food Lovers' Guide To Kansas City by Sylvie Hogg Murphy.

Just published last September, Food Lovers’ Guide To Kansas City lists a large variety of restaurants from quaint eateries with farm-fresh seasonal offerings, like The Farmhouse or Blue Bird Bistro, to classic steak houses, like Jess and Jim's or The Golden Ox.

It even includes wonderful Asian choices like The Vietnam Cafe or Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop and newer culinary hot spots like Genessee Royale Bistro in the West Bottoms. 

The guide is divided into 11 geographic areas and includes the address, phone number, web site, price range, and hours of each food establishment.  There is also a personal review of each location along with menu favorites and helpful tips about individual restaurants. 

Even better, within each geographic area, the locations are divided up further into four main sections:  area favorites, long-established landmarks, places to go on special occasions, and specialty stores and markets.

The downfall of Food Lovers’ Guide to Kansas City is that it isn’t as quick as using a mobile app to help suggest a new dining experience, but on the plus side, in addition to typical restaurant listings, the guide lists local farmers markets, delis, wine stores, butchers and bakeries, cafes, taverns, wine bars, culinary events, information about local wine and urban farm steading classes, and even a few recipes from some of Kansas City’s top chefs.

Additionally, the guide lists local papers and media with devoted sections to food and drink (i.e. The Kansas City Star, The Pitch, Ink, Tastebud, PBS’s TV show, “Check Please”) and local food blog sites like Kansas City Lunch Spots.

Size-wise, Food Lovers’ Guide To Kansas City is fairly small, making it easy to slip into a backpack, purse, or car storage compartment if you want to have it handy when you are out and about and get the urge to try a new place. 

You are being forewarned that Food Lovers’ Guide to Kansas City doesn’t and can’t cover every great restaurant in Kansas City, and it doesn’t explore some geographic areas as well as it could (suburban areas), but it is a great place to begin your culinary dining exploration of Kansas City.