Lt. Col. Jesse Wilkins (Ret.) of Chico has written “My Flight from Farm Boy to Flyboy” about his adventures as an Army pilot during World War II.
The author’s website says: “It gives readers a bird’s eye view of what it was like for a young man to serve in World War II away from home and nearer to threats of death. More importantly, this memoir gives tribute to the many known and unsung heroes of the war, those men who gave up their lives to save those of others.”
The book is filled with Wilkins’ memories and recollections of his time during the war and that of his growing family. It also features a generous number of photographs and is dedicated to his wife, Jimmie.
My book club discussed “Welcome to Utopia: Notes From a Small Town” last week, but in the days since, my mind keeps wandering back there. Back to the coffee drinkers and the little cafe. Back to the gym and the general store …
The author, Karen Valby, tells about the book in the above video. I really enjoyed it, and I think it’s because I related to it on so many levels. Having grown up in a small town, the people of Utopia were familiar, and being a writer/reporter I understood the challenges Valby faced with this project.
She was able to establish relationships with the people in town so that they trusted her with their stories, and that’s no easy task, especially as an “outsider.” I’m from Wise County and now write for the Messenger … in Wise County … and it’s still hard to establish that trust with people sometimes. Valby even made friends with the local coffee drinking group, forever earning my respect and admiration. That’s a tough crowd.
Last summer I joked with a friend about “breaking into” a local coffee drinking group to find out what was really going on in the county, so the following quote hit home with me. This is Valby describing what happened when she asked coffee drinker and new friend Ralph if she could join him and his buddies.
“When I asked Ralph if I might join the men for coffee one day, he sat there dumbfounded a bit before saying, ‘Well … sure … you’d be welcome. They all might think it’s a little different now with you and all … being different.’ He scratched his forehead nervously. ‘A woman might pass through the store but to just come and sit down and talk? Nope, that hasn’t really happened much. But you just come and I’ll see that they be nice.’”
While discussing the book, some of the events reminded us of similar things that had happened around here, and we laughed, celebrating the good and poking fun at the bad. Those of us who had grown up in a small town even felt slightly protective of the story. One friend commented that she didn’t want to recommend it to her sister-in-law in Houston because she was afraid she wouldn’t “get it.”
Valby did a good job of describing the good and bad things about life in a small town, and she pointed out in the introduction “‘utopia’ comes from the Greek, and is literally translated as ‘no place.’ There’s no such thing as an ideal community, not when real people with richly dramatic lives clutter up the picture.”
The Bridgeport Historical Society is declaring Nov. 11, 2010, Ken Sprecher Day. Sprecher wrote “Bridgeport,” a book filled with more than 200 vintage images of the town and anecdotes about its history.
Sprecher grew up visiting his grandparents in Bridgeport, and after retiring from law enforcement, he and his wife, Cheryle, moved here. He’s been active in the historical society, and he will be honored with a reception 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Bridgeport Heritage Museum, 812B Halsell St.
“Bridgeport” is part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series, and it was released Sept. 27. Looking at the book is like turning the pages of a family album. Readers will likely see locations and last names that are familiar, and Sprecher says in the acknowledgements that he hopes the book will encourage others to collect their photos and tell the stories associated with them.
Profits from the sale of the book are being donated to the operation of the Bridgeport Heritage Museum. It can be purchased at the museum, the Bridgeport Visitors Center and at online retailers, like Barnes and Noble.
The last two years I’ve had an intense interest in literary nonfiction.
“I got this idea of doing a really serious big work – it would be precisely like a novel, with a single difference: Every word of it would be true from beginning to end.” ~ Truman Capote
Capote was talking about his ground-breaking novel, “In Cold Blood,” which chronicles the 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter and his family in Holcomb, Kansas. Capote and Harper Lee, who was his childhood friend, interviewed investigators and thousands of residents. It’s considered the original nonfiction novel.
Although I haven’t given up on “Gone With the Wind,” I started a new book this weekend called “Backyard Giants.” It’s a nonfiction book that follows Dick and Ron Wallace, a father/son team, in their quest to grow a 1,500-pound pumpkin.
This is serious business to the Wallaces, and author Susan Warren describes what these enormous gourds look like in chapter 1:
“The finished fruit often look less like the traditional, orange, Halloween jack-o’-lanterns than like semi-deflated balloons from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade that have drifted into the garden.”
Lt. Col. Jesse Wilkins (Ret.) of Chico has written “My Flight from Farm Boy to Flyboy” about his adventures as an Army pilot during World War II.