The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts

Review by Mirah W. (mwelday)

From page two I was hooked on this The Honk and Holler Opening Soon.  Molly O is decorating The Honk for Christmas and ‘frizzy- haired Barbies’ are now positioned doing splits, taped down on every napkin holder.  I laughed out loud at this decorating description and realized I was in for quite a unique story with this novel by Billie Letts

Set in the 1980s in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, Letts has created a world for her unique, yet totally relatable, characters.  Caney, wheelchair-bound diner owner, and Molly O, his mother figure and friend, own and operate The Honk and Holler Opening Soon diner (don’t worry, the name is explained in the book).  The diner is a big part of the community and is part of the daily lives of many of the locals.

One day Vena Takes Horse walks into the diner inquiring about a job and she’s carrying a three-legged dog with her.  Soon after Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese immigrant, arrives and wants to work at the diner, too.  What had become a hum drum existence at The Honk is now a place where new faces are making a big difference in the business and the lives of those in the town.

Billie Letts has a way of creating characters (I love all of the character names she comes up with in her books) that have unique personalities but life experiences that are totally relatable.  She writes stories that have pain and hope swirling together an emotional mix that helps the reader understand the character and their challenges. I got swept in the lives of Caney, Molly O, Vena and Bui and even though I was satisfied in the end, I was also left wanting more and that’s what makes The Honk and Holler Opening Soon a 5-star read for me.

I would also recommend Where the Heart Is and Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts. You can read my review of Made in the U.S.A. here.

The Case of the Reluctant Model by Erle Stanley Gardner

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Millionaire collector of pictures Otto Olney wants to sue art maven Colin Durant for slander, claiming that Durant is saying that a painting purchased by Olney is a fake.

Lawyer-series hero Perry Mason discourages the slander suit but provides his usual sage legal advice. He later realizes that Durant might be plotting an intricate scam with the coerced help of model Maxine Lindsay. Maxine ends up in trouble deep after Mason and Della Street find a body in her apartment and Maxine seeming to take flight. DA Burger and Homicide Detective Lt. Tragg are not amused.

I liked this one because it did not follow the lockstep stages of a typical Mason novel. Also, I clearly shouldn’t read these because Gardner’s antique Americanisms – “no doubt of it on earth” or “take a powder” or “as dead as a mackerel” – seep into my vocabulary and make middle-aged women at work say to me, “You sound like my dad.”

The Ascent of D.13 by Andrew Garve

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Born Paul Winterton, Garve (1908 – 2001) was known for his thrilling adventure stories set in places like Turkey and the USSR. In this 1968 rouser, mountain climbers from both sides of the Cold War are sent to retrieve a spy camera from a crashed plane in the mountains on the border between Turkey and Soviet Armenia. Readers who aren’t too sure about climbing gear such as the ice ax, pitons, crampons or features like couloirs, cornices, or tors will still enjoy the vivid fight for survival in cloud, wind, snow and cold at 13,000 feet. Between Bill Royce, a British mountain climber, and Varvara Mikhailovna Lermontov, a Russian Master of Sport, there are engaging conversations about the benefits of democracy and the joy of mountain climbing. So read this for the unique plot and striking setting.