Finished: The Reivers (Faulkner) Faulkner's second Pulitzer Prize winning novel, and the last novel he wrote. This was the least difficult Faulkner book I've read, and probably the most entertaining, though, my favorite Faulkner will always be the tragic The Sound and the Fury. The Reivers is set in the early 1900's and is about eleven year old Lucius Priest, a generally good and virtuous boy, who agrees to lie to his parents and grandfather one weekend when the grownups must attend a funeral out of town. Lucius agrees to go from his Mississippi town to Memphis with Boon Hogganbeck, a young man who is one of his grandfather's employees. To make things worse, Boon who is normally in charge of caring for the grandfather's car, convinces Lucius that they will take "Boss's" car, the only one in their county, and have it back home before either it or them are missed. Lucius knows it's wrong, but he struggles with letting "non-virtue" win, and he goes along! Boon's mission is to get to a prostitute in Memphis named Miss Corrie aka Everbe Corinthia, who he is in love with. Before they have gone too far, but far enough to not turn back, they realize that Ned McAslin, an incorrigible black man who also works for Boss, has hidden under a tarp in the back seat intent on going with them to Memphis. They have no choice but to let him go along. Thus ensues quite an adventure for the threesome, especially when Ned trades the Boss's car for a "racehorse" who is known not to be able to win races! Ned has a special feeling about the horse, though, and thinks he knows how to make him run and finally beat the other horse he's run against and lost against twice. He figures he'll bet the man with the car  and wind up taking both the car and the horse back home. All kinds of convolution occurs, all masterminded by Ned, as Lucius is enlisted to be the rider of the horse, Lightening, for the best of three race! Meanwhile, Miss Corrie is so impressed with Lucius' manners and general goodness that she pledges to give up prostituting and get a legitimate job, much to the chagrin of Boon! In the end, Ned does, in fact, know how to make the horse run...but not until after they all get into some legal trouble, some town trouble, some "real owner" of the horse trouble, and of course, some trouble from Boss, whose come looking for Lucius and Boon. Lucius does struggle with his conscience throughout, and almost looks forward to being punished by his father when he's finally home. However, grandfather intercedes and tells the father to let him handle it. Rather than whipping Lucius to let him release the guilt of lying, grandfather tells Lucius that sometimes you just have to learn to live with your bad decisions, and at the same time learn from those life experiences. Lucius has a good cry on his grandfather's lap. Months later, Lucius is called over to Miss Corrie's. It turns out, she and Boon got married after she gave up the business and now they have a new baby son. Corrie tells Lucius that they have named him Lucius Priest Hogganbeck. That's the last line of the book, and it's very satisfying given how close all the main characters got during their adventure. I'm sure there's no way I've done the recap justice, but Faulkner's writing is just spot on southern writing, which he was known for, of course. I could so easily see my southern, Louisiana born dad as a young boy getting caught up in such an adventure. :-) I'm definitely so glad I finally read this book, which I had been putting off!!

Finished: Tell The Wolves I'm Home (Brunt) "What does that even mean? 'Tell The Wolves I'm Home'?" Greta asked. No one said anything, because none of us had any idea. It was just one more mystery Finn had left with us. One more thing I couldn't call and ask. I can't explain how profoundly true that last line is. That's how I've felt every day for the past 20 years and 3 months, since my brother died far too early from a far too insidious disease on August 5, 1996. There's no picking up the phone to ask a quick question, or talk about a movie, or a book, or travel plans, or to get an answer to something I want to know from him. One more thing I couldn't call and ask. So, Tell The Wolves I'm Home is the story of a quirky teenage girl who is extremely close to her even quirkier uncle, her mother's brother, who dies of AIDS. I can't give too much more of a recap than that. I knew this book would cut close to my heart, but I really felt I should read it anyway. Tell The Wolves I'm Home is what Uncle Finn calls the last painting he ever paints, of his two nieces sitting together. Maybe I'll add more later. It's a good book, by the way.