Bumpy Road to Texas - Sutton

The Diboll Free Press  gives short notes on Martha Sutton's new autobiography that began in Canada.   "Bumpy Road To Texas." http://www.dibollfreepress.com/news/2008/1112/news/014.html

Legacy: 50 Years of Loving Care - Parish

Legacy: 50 Years of Loving Care, Texas Children's Hospital, 1954-2004 by Betsy Parish, Elisha Freeman Publishing, May 2008, 762 pages, $45.50 Review by Mark Lardos  http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=cbe79ecc3a8858bd

State of Texas Children

The Temple Daily Telegram carries new of this report. Kids Count report  Published: December 11, 2008 "The Center for Public Policy Priorities on Wednesday released "The State of Texas Children: Texas Kids Count Annual Data Book 2008-09," a resource that provides the latest look at the well-being of children in every county in the state. This year's data book includes an essay, "Closing the Educational Gaps," revealing factors that can play a pivotal role in a child's academic achievement."   Read more more of the article at http://www.tdtnews.com/story/2008/12/11/54316/ or go to the source http://www.cppp.org/research.php?aid=795&cid=10

Women of Valor & Tall Horses

Rick Smith brings to our attention two volumes of interest in West Texas http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/dec/12/rick-smith-new-books-feature-west-texans/   "Women of Valor," by San Angelo native Marilyn Wood Mohler, introduces you to 17 remarkable San Angelo women.   "Tall Horses" poems and illustrations by George Wilks

David M. Schwarz Architects 2002-2007

Texas books highlight a firm that built much of Fort Worth, and a man who added some color to it New books highlight a firm that helped build up Fort Worth and an artist who added color to it By GAILE ROBINSON grobinson@star-telegram.com The review begins "David M. Schwarz is a hard-working Texas architect, especially considering that his firm is based in Washington, D.C. His list of recently built structures includes many of the newest civic and entertainment venues in North Texas. Consider: In Fort Worth, David M. Schwarz Architects is credited with the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, the Sid Richardson Museum, the Bank One Building, Cook Children's Medical Center North Pavilion, and the Tarrant Country Family Law Center. Nearby, the firm designed the Grand Avenue extension of Southlake Town Center and the adjacent Southlake Townhouses, the Firewheel Town Center in Garland, the Parker Square Buildings in Flower Mound, and Frisco Square and Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco. All of these were completed between 2002 and 2007. The earlier Schwarz works such as American Airlines Center and the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall were covered in the first Schwarz monograph." Read the full review at http://www.star-telegram.com/books/story/1089195.html

Death Of The River Master (Texana Jones) - Martin

The Paperback Book Swap Book Club offers comments on Allana Martin's new installment of Texana Jones and her mystery-filled times along the border. http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780373265039-Death+Of+The+River+Master+Texana+Jones

Unbridled Cowboy and Pirooters

K.K. Searle's "Texas History Page" reviews two volumes. Joseph Fussell's "Unbridled Cowboy," a delightful autobiography and Mark Mellon's "Pirooters," a novel of Reconstruction   Read Searle at http://texas-history-page.blogspot.com/

Night Wolf's Song - Phelps

Kevin Tipple reviews E. Floyd Phelps' Night Wolf's Song, a novel of border crossing which includes a "Nahuala" or werewolf like creature near Presidio.   http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/reviewing-night-wolfs-song-by-e-floyd.html

From the Texas Observer blog

Anne Terrell of The Texas Observer http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/index.php/2008/10/28/texas-observers-at-the-texas-book-festival/ found many of the publication's editor's, columnists', and writers' works at the Texas Book Festival.  Some of their Texana books she mentions are:  Bob Moser, Blue Dixie: Awakening the South's Democratic Majority  reviewed here Robert Bryce  Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence," here. Jim Hightower will discuss his new book on real live mavericks, Swim Against the Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow. (forthcoming) Gary Keith, Eckhardt: There Once Was a Congressman from Texas, is reviewed in the Observer here. Joe Nick Patoski  Willie Nelson: An Epic Life Bud Shrake's Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin "Bud" Shrake Reader is reviewed here . C.E. Hunt's Big Thicket People: Larry Jene Fisher's Photographs of the Last Southern Frontier is reviewed here

Bad Blood - Whittle

Bad Blood: the Secret Life of the Tour de France By British Author: Jeremy Whittle Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press (UK) A background of the Tour long dominated by Texan Lance Armstrong is reviewed by the "Cafe Bookshelf" at http://www.podiumcafe.com/2008/10/8/629909/cafe-bookshelf-a-bloody-me

Perfect Reign of Terror - Burrier

A Perfect Reign of Terror, Insurgency in the Texas Hill Country 1861-1862 by William "Paul" Burrier is reveiwed in the December 18, 2008 West Kerr Current by Irene Van Winkle's article, "Myth, fate clash around Tegener's role in Unionist movement."   Van Winkle writes that "Paul said that he is neither revisionist nor anti-Union, but that many accounts by eyewitnesses, historians and family members "have it wrong." "Their biases are from the Germans' point of view, and some of them had their own agendas," he added."   Fritz Tegener, at right, opposed slavery.   A lengthy article is within http://www.wkcurrent.com/

Strong West Wind - Caldwell

Pulitzer Prize winner Gail Caldwell's memoir includes her Texas High Plains upbringing and is reviewed in "On the Bookshelf, #2008-48."  An excellent selection.    http://reflecting.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/on-the-bookshelf-2008-48/

Dromgoole's Picks of 2008

Glenn Dromgoole out in Abillene at http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/nov/28/favorite-book-picks-cover-culture-people/    in "Favorite book picks cover culture, people"  brings forth his annual favorite picks for 2008. Texas Wildlife Portraits Shine On: 100 Years of Shiner Beer Doug Welsh's Texas Garden Almanac The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life Twentieth-Century Texas: A Social and Cultural History The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey Many a River Great Houses of Texas The History of Texas Music Texas Aesop's Fables and TCU Press' Small Books series   Click Glenn's article  for a good reading guide