The Romance of Football (Australian Style)

My review of Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy went live on AAR today.  Not only is the novel a really nice romance, it also brought back lots of childhood memories for me.  Because these dovetail so nicely, Tigers and Devils is one of my Desert Isle Keepers, a book I'll read and cherish forever, even though Tigers and Devils covers Australian football (an unknown to me) instead of American college football.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of going to Cornhusker football games in the fall.  For those not in the know, the Cornhuskers come from that Midwestern giant, the University of Nebraska, now with a slash at Lincoln.

But in the days when I was a on-site fan, it was just NU with no "/ Lincoln."  The games were rarely played in warm temperatures, but usually in gray, over-cast, often sleety conditions on real turf.  My parents had 50-yard line seats in the lower section under the overhang, so when the serious weather started--the wind, sleet, and snow--they were protected.

My brother and I, however, were "treated" to knothole seats in the end zone.  There, sitting on boards over a steel framework, we bundled in our coats, sweaters, hats, gloves, and cups of hot chocolate as the wind whipped around us.  Knothole benches are lousy seats.  We couldn't tell where anyone was on the field and just reacted with the crowd around us, everyone dressed in as much red and white (the school colors) as we owned.

I thought we were crazy.  I still do.  But when NU plays football and the game airs on TV, I'm still right there, yelling at the players and cheering when the team scores.

What's Up with Maine

Suddenly it seems every contemporary I read these days is set in Maine.  The latest, Janet Chapman's Spellbound Falls, reviewed on AAR today, which I've put in my Desert Island Keeper pile, makes Maine seem a mystical place with delightful, down-home people.  While I only know one Maine couple, Jackie and John Tiere, Chapman would recognize them as typical Mainers (Maineites?).

I think of people in Maine akin to people from Nebraska where I grew up.  Nebraskans of my era are practical, hard-working folk.  But there is a streak of the other world in them, a streak of fantasy that helps pass the dull, cold winters--especially that stretch from the end of the football season (Go Huskers!) to the onset of spring in mid- to late May.

Since Spellbound takes place during that pseudo-springtime when the frozen lakes are starting to melt but no crocuses have hatched, the world is ripe for romance and surprises.

And isn't the cover of the book lovely?  I'd like to visit for that picture alone!

What's a Cajun Christmas Anyway?

My abbreviated account of the differences between Christmas in Nebraska and Christmas in Louisiana is published in the After Hours section of AAR today.

Happy holidays to everyone!  And however you celebrated, I hope it was the happiest and most peaceful day of the year for you.

I'm Not Amish But This Is a Good Read

My review of Katie's Way by Marta Perry has been published on AAR today.  I don't know what appeals to me about the Amish books.  Maybe it's the ideal of a close-knit community even though I know that such communities are rife with gossip and backbiting.  But ideal is still there.

Maybe it's that in this age of laxity, the Amish are a group whose glue is living by rules.  Or maybe it's the facade of purity and serenity.

Or possibly it's that I know myself well enough to know that I could never, ever live the life of an Amish person.

I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and almost from the moment I was born, I wanted to leave.  I guess that's why I was so surprised years ago when I met this very gentle young Amish man (mid- to late-teens at a guess) who when finding out I was from Nebraska gushed, "Oh, I've always wanted to go there!  Tell me what it's like!"  No one I've known before or since has been that enthusiastic about the state.  In our conversation, he said that Nebraska was where he ultimately wanted to live.  I sincerely hope he's living a long, healthy, happy life there.