Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 8, 1992 TAG: 9203080288
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This is a compilation of early articles Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote for her local newspaper and for magazines before she began the series of children's books we love so dearly. The writing is of uneven quality and the content varies widely.
Many of the articles deal with Wilder's philosophy, often livened by amusing anecdotes from her neighborhood. She paints a vivid picture of what life was like for people of moderate means in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This is a good book to pick up and read for a few pages when busy-ness dictates a short reading time. Some parts of it are as captivating as the "Little House" series. Other parts are more serious - she was an early advocate of equality for women - and a few essays are simply prosaic.
- CLIFFODEAN HUDSON
A Hooded Crow. By Craig Thomas. HarperCollins. $22.
Craig Thomas writes a good international suspense thriller, and "A Hooded Crow" is no exception, partly because this reads like one of those 1940s movie serials looked. It's possible, perhaps probable, just don't take it too seriously.
This time, Thomas brings back as his good guy spymaster Sir Kenneth Aubrey. And though he keeps the Russians, or Soviets - or whatever those people are calling themselves these days - involved, lots of focus switches back to the evil South African businessman Paulus Malan.
Books like this were a whole lot more interesting when the international intrigues portrayed therein seemed more immediate and threatening, but Thomas does his best, and the result is good - if not memorable - entertainment.
- ROBERT HILLDRUP
Cliffodean Hudson considers reading as essential as eating. Robert Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.
by CNB