A Review of House of Earth by Woody Guthrie

Was a-farmin' on the shares, and always I was poor;
My crops I lay into the banker's store.
My wife took down and died upon the cabin floor,
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore. 

From the song "I Ain't Got No Home" by Woody Guthrie

Besides hundreds of folk songs like "I Ain't Got No Home," Woody Guthrie wrote two memoirs, Bound for Glory and Seeds of Man: An Experience Lived and Dreamed.

When it came out in 1943, Bound for Glory was praised as "the throaty song of a dust bowl troubadour." Bob Dylan later said Guthrie's book "sang out" to him "like the radio."

And when Seeds of Man was published posthumously in 1976, novelist James Dickey argued that Guthrie was not just a folk singer but a folk hero, "by far the most gifted of all the earth-poets, people-poets." Dickey said, "Within these pages there is something far beyond and far deeper than anything that the graduate schools of our or any nation could ever comprehend ... There is Woody."

Now there is a Woody Guthrie novel, House of Earth. Edited by historian Douglas Brinkley and actor Johnny Depp from a 1947 manuscript at the University of Tulsa, it is being published for the first time on February 5, 2013 by HarperCollins.

Tike and Ella May Hamlin are young lovers who live in a rented shack on an isolated farm a mile off of Route 66 in the harsh plains of West Texas. They dream of saving enough money to buy one acre of land so they can build a sturdy adobe house of their own, a house of earth.

Tike is a "medium man" who is "medium wise and medium ignorant." He's a "wild man who wants to fight the world and everything in it," who is unapologetic about his cravings and impulses, but is more "outright and honest than lots of the ones who claim to be so holy."

Tike makes Ella May laugh. She is known for her laugh. "She laughed best, most times, when the crops, the winds, the debts, the worries, the fears and doubts of the world splashed their highest ... she was, in a way, and in the same breath, making a little bit of fun a her own self, and all of her earthly sorrows in one breath."

"Everywhere that you look, do you see me?" Ella May asks Tike, and Tike replies, "Never did just think of it like that before, but I reckon since you mention it, I s'pose that I do. Why?" Ella May answers:

Just thinking that I've always seen you in this way ... I always did. And I don't really know why. When I look out across the country I see you. Out across the farm I see you. Out across the room here I see you. And I guess that the experts that know about such things would say oh well, it is just because I loved you. And I guess it is. I guess it is why.

Tike and Ella May talk about love. They joke about the different ways men and women use profanity. They question why God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. They wonder about the different ways men and women experience sexual pleasure.

One winter night, when Ella May is washing supper dishes and Tike is pasting strips of newspaper on the walls of the their one-room shack to keep out the dust and dirt and wind, Tike asks Ella May to tune in their old radio so they can listen to music while they do their chores.

The shabby radio doesn't work well, and at first they get a lot of distorted feedback and static, but eventually they make out the faint sounds of a St. Louis jazz band "playing some dreamy, bluesy Louisiana ragtime."

Then the music fades away and Tike and Ella May hear a voice on the radio. An educated-sounding "big government man" says the economic depression is due to oversupply, and he urges farmers to leave their fields idle and slaughter their animals. Tike and Ella May scoff and laugh out loud about having misplaced their own "over supply of meat and things to eat."

Tike and Ella May huddle in the dark, trying to tune in an old radio to find something to bring joy to their lives, something to reassure them and give them hope, and to help them make sense of the world.

To me, reading House of Earth is like that, except instead of a "big government man," I've tuned in to the still-living Woody Guthrie and his mesmerizing "flow of words from some unconscious place."

In House of Earth, Woody is still there, he's still singing out like the radio, and his voice is just as "powerful, moving, ruggedly beautiful, honest, and complete" as ever.

~Michael May, Adult Services

Thanks to Annie Mazes at Library Love Fest for the galley of House of Earth.

Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky

Probably no one is surprised that I brought a lot of books home with me for the holidays, and not just as gifts. Although almost everyone on my list got at least one book. Of course, it's a rare Smith family gathering that doesn't involve at least a few book swaps or heartfelt endorsements. I hadn't intended to share Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky with my family, but I left it sitting on an end table, and the next thing I knew both my brother and father had picked it up. My sister and mother were both too busy with their own books.

I was drawn to Heads in Beds for two reasons: I love snarky memoirs, and I have a few of my own horror stories about working in a hotel. My experience only lasted long enough for me to save the money to pay for library school, and the suburban hotel I worked in was far from the luxury destinations of New Orleans or New York that Mr. Tomsky writes of.

Despite my brief time as a hotel employee, and the genera quiet of that hotel, I still have a store of weird stories. Tomsky captures all the stress and insanity that goes on in the staff only areas and behind closed guest room doors with behind the scenes of the hotel's front desk or behind closed guest room doors with wit, charm, and more than a few swears. Scattered throughout are useful tips for hotel guests looking for extra perks, or for those who might just want to make life easier on the staff.

My Dad was particularly struck by the advice on tipping, and has been sharing stories about all the hotels he stayed in during his career. Including the time he and my mom were upgraded to a lakeview suite. I'm glad I was only ever tipped once, with a piece of chocolate, because our location did not have any upgrades that I could offer.

Overall it's funny, informative, and sure to remind you of at least one hotel stay (good or bad).

~Sarah, Adult Services

TV Show Read Alikes

We've created read alike posts for popular books that became popular movies (or less so). We've also written about the literary inspirations behind popular television programs. Today we're going to try our hands at suggesting read alikes for three humorous television shows that weren't based on books.

Big Bang Theory
This geek chic comedy by the creator of Dharma and Greg and Two and a Half Men is currently in its 6th season. The series focuses on the misadventures of science minded grad students and their one non-geek friend.

If you enjoy the humor and friendship of Leonard, Sheldon and pals, but have more in common with Penny, you should pick up a book by Nick Hornby. He writes about the foibles and loves of eccentric young people with humor and thought, and several of his novels have become big screen hits.

If you're the type of viewer more tickled by geeky elements, like Wil Wheaton's reoccurring role, you might enjoy Redshirts by John Scalzi or Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. If you've read Andrew's review of Cline's debut, you already know that Wheaton is the audio book's narrator.

Modern Family
An update to the family sitcom currently in its 4th season, and whose cast includes veteran sitcom actor Ed O'Neill. Despite being a scripted comedy, the show is filmed as a mockumentary, a style that evokes reality tv, a la The Office or Parks and Recreation.

Kevin Wilson takes the quirky family one step beyond quirky in his darkly humorous first novel, The Family Fang. You can read more about it in Sarah's staff review, or check it out for yourself!

Lisa Lutz’s funny, fast-paced mystery stories feature a large cast of colorful characters. The Spellman Files is the first in her upbeat series following Izzy Spellman and her work at her dysfunctional family’s detective agency.

British author Hilary McKay writes for kids and tweens, but her witty series about the Casson family of artists has charmed many an adult reader. The series starts with Saffy's Angel, and it is told from the perspective of the Casson family's second-oldest daughter.

Warehouse 13
Take one part wacky adventure, one part supernatural mystery, add a dash of steam punk style, and a quirky band of misfits, and you'll have something similar to Warehouse 13. The breakout hit of the rebranded SyFy network, this show appeal to viewers who normally wouldn't touch science-fiction. If you're anxiously awaiting the conclusion of season 4, never fear because new episodes will resume airing on April 4th.

If the artifacts, those seemingly everyday items imbued with impossible powers, are what tickle your fancy, try Libriomancer by Jim C Hines or Seven Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly. Libriomancer is the story of a Midwestern librarian whose powers are based on the power of the written word. That's right, it's a world where every cool thing you've read about in the fiction section can become non-fictional. Seven Deadly Wonders has a touch of Indiana Jones, as the characters race to find seven ancient artifacts that could destroy the world.

If the conspiracy is more your thing, try The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, with offbeat humor, a fast-paced plot, and a far-reaching cover-up of the supernatural. You can read more about it in Sarah's staff review.


Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!