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Dark, soulful tales that haunt long after the last page.
The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck My rating: 3 of 5 stars While The Pastures of Heaven, John Steinbeck’s second book, was leaps and bounds ahead of his debut, Cup of Gold, it still fell short compared to the masterpieces he would produce in his life. There were places where his potential blazes off…
The Wild Inside by Christine Carbo My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m not usually a fan of the police procedural, but the wilderness aspect of this one intrigued me. I’m not at all sorry I read it. Ted Systead listened to the sounds of his father being dragged away and mauled by a grizzly…
I’m actually getting kind of tired of writing only about education issues. It’s Spring Break. I should be writing fun stuff. But the fight continues, and the Oklahoma Legislature seems determined to end public education. Here’s the text of a letter I just sent to Sen. Anthony Sykes and Rep. Paul Wesselhoft. Very likely it…
If you think the title for this post is pure hyperbole, you haven’t read Senate Bill 1187 closely enough. Among the atrocious things this piece of legislation — passed by the Oklahoma Senate 25-20 on Thursday — does is remove the requirement for school districts to hire certified teachers or do background checks on the…
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a pretty good book, but I don’t really see what qualified it as a Pulitzer Prize nominee. The story is about Jack and Mabel, an “old” man and woman of about 50 years (I no longer find that to be old…
Talk about intimidating! Sitting down here to write a new blog post after my “Open Letter to Oklahoma Voters and Lawmakers” exploded over the Internet and across the country and around the world is the most intimidated I’ve ever been when it comes to writing. How do I follow up on that? The truth is,…
I am a teacher. I teach English at the high school of an independent district within Oklahoma City. I love my job. I love your kids. I call them my kids. I keep blankets in my room for when they’re cold. I feed them peanut butter crackers, beef jerky, or Pop Tarts when Michelle Obama’s…
Starting today, you can get my ghost story novella Little Graveyard on the Prairie for free on your Kindle or device with the Kindle app. This free promotion is good for three days, Feb. 15-18. Click here to take advantage. I would greatly appreciate it if you leave a review of the book after reading…
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read this book in high school over 30 years ago, then faked it twice more in college. I didn’t like it much in high school. The main thing I remembered was hating the ending. This time, I was really enjoying…
The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is a hard one to review. While I was actively reading the book was pretty good. After I closed it for a while, I’d ask myself what happened in that last chapter. The answer was usually, “Nothing.” There were instances of nice…
Steven E. Wedel 