Tales from Magaritaville Book Review

Last week was Spring Break for us.  Jessica, Macy and I met the Boyd's and the English's in Panama City for a great vacation!  (Dylan had college classes and couldn't make it down.)  We spent a lot of time solving the worlds problems, eating, playing and tossing cornhole.  In the middle of all of those activities I picked up this book by Jimmy Buffett to read.  I have read a couple of his other books and I was excited to read this one too.  I am a big fan of his music and maybe an even better fan of his writings.

This book was 'mostly' fiction.  I think there was some truth to several of his stories.  It was basically a tale of several different stories all linked together.  It was great to be on Island Time, sitting on the beach and reading this book.  

I would encourage anyone to pick this up not only as a beach read, but as a great read in general.  You will definitely get 'Lost in Magaritaville'! 

Zell Miller's A National Party No More

I have always been interested in politics.  I used to think I might one day want to get in to politics maybe as a candidate or as a job.  That was until I helped run my dad's re-election campaign for Chief Magistrate Judge.  I loved the organization.  I loved the game planning.  I loved designing the signs, the website and the t-shirts.  I didn't even mind knocking on doors.  The part that discouraged me was the nastiness of dad's opponent.  I won't say much, but I will say that he was a liar and a very low character man.  I was so impressed with my dad and no matter how tired he got, he still showed his true character as a great man.

From time to time I do still get the political bug.  Especially when I see my buddy run for mayor or I see friends signing up to run for school board.  This political season in the race for the White House has also sparked my fever again.

I calmed that thirst a few weeks ago when visiting my sisters in Marrietta.  We made our usual trip to their local Goodwill and I picked up Zell Miller's book.  It was a little old, but still worth the read.

Even though he was a democrat and 'most' of the time I considered myself a Republican, it was one of the best political books I've ever read.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found myself not being able to put it down.

Zell is definitly a 'conservative' democrat and as he laid out his views on issues, I found myself checking- yes, yes, yes......

If Zell was a little younger, I'd be leading the charge for him to run for President of the United States.  He is a conservative who uses common sense in his approach to politics.  He brought numerous great programs to the state of Georgia including the Hope Scholarship and the Pre-K program.  Some of the ideas he brought while governor should be brought back like boot camps for juvenile delinquents.  

I'm sure most Democrats would alienate him for his strong views today, but you know what... I don't think Zell would care.  He is a true conservative and a true Southerner.  I'm not sure if there is a statue of him in Georgia today but if not, there should be!  

Great read and an even greater man!!!

Devil in the White City

Several years ago I had a friend come up to me because he knew I liked to read.  He was a fellow coach like me so I was surprised when he handed me a 'history' book.  He told me that it was a great book and he knew I'd love it.  I'm ashamed to say that I took the book and put it in a drawer in my desk at work.

A few months later, I ran across the book again and took it back to my friend.  I told him that I didn't have time to read it and that I wanted to give it back in case I lost it.

Fast forward about ten years.  I was about to teach about the Gilded Age in my APUSH class and I wanted to read a book about the time period.  I did a little research on a few websites and I kept coming across 'Devil in the White City'.  I remembered how good my buddy said it was, so I decided to give it a try.

He was right.  It was an amazing book.  Larson is a wonderful historian and a great writer.  I was hook from the first chapter on.  He did a beautiful job of telling the story of the Gilded Age and how the World's Expo in Chicago really changed America.  It was one of the most fascinating stories that I've read.  Just about all of the 'key figures' of the Gilded Age were mentioned in the book and had some type of role in the Expo.  It was a very well put together story of this event in US history. 

Not only was this a great history book, but Larson also told a great story about a murderer who was lose in the streets of Chicago.  He made it seem real.  There were many nights when reading right before bed that I would have a few nightmares from his descriptive writing!  

Great book.  Great read.  Larson has a few other books that I look forward to reading.  As my buddy tried to get me to read this many years ago, I encourage you to pick it up and read it!