What I’m Reading, 2026, High Fury

The book is as much about horse and cowboy culture as it is about character growth. The main character has captured a wild mustang that is undoubtedly the fastest horse and most difficult to tame in the region. But the girl, who is the regional ranch head's willful and beautiful daughter recently turned 18, has a talent for horse management and the horse named Wildfire submits to her.

The dude who captured Wildfire is lured into putting Wildfire into a big-deal horse race where the local indians and every other rancher compete for cowboy bragging rights.

Etc, etc.

Yes, he gets the girl, and they own the horse together, but only she can ride Wildfire.

What I'm Reading, 2026: Theo of Golden

 

What I’m Reading, 2024, Cultish

What I'm Reading 2023: A Gentleman In Moscow

 

This was a fascinating read. Clever, clever, clever writing! 

Towles is a master of words and character and plot development. I was left with a great respect and compassion for this very believable, realistic man named Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov. He was a member of a prominent Russian family, firmly embedded in the aristocracy of the old pre-revolution Russia. The Count strikes me as similar to the TV series' Inspector Hercule Poirot, if only in appearance and demeanor.

We are fully instructed in the nuances of the child's family through numerous remembrances and reflections of stories from his past.

As far as the plot goes, the story begins when in 1917 The Count is arrested on a return from living as a young man in Paris. He is identified as a Significant Person. He could have been executed, but having a anti-Tsarist poem attributed (incorrectly) to him, he was placed under house arrest. And so the Count spends the next forty years of his life living in The Hotel Metropol, working as a waiter, and working with the same staff members for years, learning to win them as friends and win their trust. 

The Count's adventures explore and illustrate what it means for a man of privilege who is now faced with upheavals of his beloved country and its government. How can he reconsider his existence? How can he continue to live with dignity and to care for people in his orbit? The Count's upbringing as an upper-class gentleman has imbued him with a sense of generosity, good faith, politeness and the necessity of giving attention to the utmost detail pertaining to human behavior and preference. 

His work as a waiter in the Hotel Metropol's top dining room provides the anchor point for an ongoing adventure through the rapidly changing political and cultural life during Russia in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. An immensely satisfying ending, with several laugh-out-loud moments along the way.

What I'm Reading 2021: Loose Gravel by Ginny Fanthome

I received a random email from the author in which I was invited to review this book in the hopes of producing some positive press.

Here's what I came up with:

Loose Gravel by Ginny Fanthome – A Punk Band’s Blood, Sweat and Tears

Few fictional stories are written about the nightmare of being a musician in a band doing one nighters touring across the continent in a van. If you have been there and done that my guess is that it’s a memory you try to blot out of your mind. Also you are probably in your fifties by now.

Breaking news: the music business changed. Now there is no cash for anybody. Small and mid-sized town bars are poor. No money is left to pay bands doing one-nighters. Even back in The Day, ie. the era in which Loose Gravel takes place, there was barely enough money to cover the band’s gas, meals, and a poor performance fee. Accommodation was out of the question, hence sleeping in the van. And yet, bands could make a go of it if they didn’t self-destruct or kill each other.

We paid our dues, but very few actually made a career out of music. Hardly anyone even made a living wage.

To add to the suffering, the pandemic has kicked the music biz while it was already down. Beginning bands, one nighters, touring … the dream is dead.

We of the “older generation” have forgotten how bad life on the road was, and what we were willing to put up with to play. A fucking grind, it was. 

But I wouldn’t change a thing, because in the midst of all the idiocy there were life lessons. Loose Gravel has brought it all back. Therefore it is a worthwhile read.

Loose Gravel by Ginny Fanthome is a brutally honest, realistic yet fictional look at touring and playing in a punk band doing one night stands. The band’s name is Spooge. The four members are Steve: super-talented gay guy of Asian race who happens to sing and put on a good show; Marcus: A super smart, witty, closet writer/asshole and womanizer who happens to play guitar; Lion: A tall, tough dude from a poor and shitty childhood who thinks he’s Sam’s boyfriend who happens to play bass; and Sam: The chick drummer who has a heart of gold and a clear mind despite wrestling with her own demons.

The story is told from Sam’s perspective.

Loose Gravel thoroughly explores the personalities and relationships of the four bandmates. To sum it up: There is always much brokenness, but hope springs eternal.

Spooge is on an odyssey, an entry-level opportunity where the musicians will travel and sleep in the van to save money. They will sleep with their gear unless they can scrounge some sort of better sleeping arrangement. As they drive to the next gig they pray that the driver will stay awake and that the van will keep on running. They will try to give each other space. Of course, people will be inconsiderate; tempers will flare. Mix in some booze and fists will fly.

There is never a dull moment in Loose Gravel. It is a fun read, but it is much more than just the craziness of life on the road. Fantholme in telling the story through Sam’s eyes has carefully woven a thread of hope into the story. It’s all about relationships.

I enjoyed how Sam’s hopeful and reflective nature, particularly her compassion, developed as the tour’s chaos churned on, and I was happy to see how she did not stay down when knocked over emotionally. And believe me, there were some hard knocks! 

Loose Gravel is a reminder that every person has their own struggles and backstory, and how being on the road makes it possible to meet and even try to help all kinds of needy people.

Each of Sam’s bandmates show some growth, providing a few more glimmers of hope as the story developed. Loose Gravel didn’t have a perfect happily-ever-after ending, but I was left feeling satisfied.

Kudos to Ginny Fanthome. Loose Gravel is a gem of a story and would be a welcome addition to the musician lore section of any book collection.