Rick Bragg

I'm a unabashed fan of the Killer, Mr Jerry Lee Lewis, and own more books about him than could well be necessary. So, I thought I knew everything there was to know about the Killer.

"Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story" finds the Killer in his eighties, an old man surprised he's still alive, so much in pain that he can barely sit for more than a few minutes, but into his seventh marriage and his seventh decade as a living legend, author Bragg is still able to coax some eyebrow raising fare from show more the Killer.

Bragg can also write well and while he is not the first to write about Lewis in Old Testament fire and brimstone way he pulls it off, making you believe Lewis nothing less than a Prophet who fears he will spend eternity in hell, away from his loved ones.

Although it's sad to see the killer like this; aged, in pain, fearing for his soul, I feel the closest I've ever been to Lewis since I discovered him all those decades ago. show less

[b:The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People|56098124|The Speckled Beauty A Dog and His People|Rick Bragg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1625598304l/56098124._SY75_.jpg|87381517] is Rick Bragg’s tribute to his smelly, rambunctious, troublesome, loveable dog. A discarded stray that Bragg takes in and allows to rule his life, Speck is a herding dog without a flock, and the scrapes he gets into and out of leave you shaking your head and happy that this show more is a dog you are reading about and not one you are living with. But, Speck, like all dogs, has his warm side, and the loveable adjective is the one that truly sticks.

I had heard all my life that a dog is a healing thing: they lope down the halls in hospitals and nursing homes, making people smile, though I have often wondered if there were antibiotics yet for the germs my dog could spread. But for three months or so, when about all I could do was sit on the steps, he kept me company, and kept me entertained. I don’t want to make more of it than it was, but he sat with me for hours, till a cat passed by.

Of course, as in most memoirs that involve animals, we learn as much, if not more, about the people. In this case, particularly well-drawn is Rick’s older brother, Sam. Sam is a man worth knowing, more a man of action than words, and there is a lot of brotherly love mixed in with Rick Bragg’s telling descriptions. While most of the book made me laugh, there was a section regarding Sam that made me cry.

The setting is an Alabama farm, belonging to Bragg’s mother, and there is a motley crew of other animals to amuse us, including cats, donkeys, and a mule.

They have determined there can be no genuine Southern literature unless it has at least one mule in it, preferably a dead one. Faulkner said a mule would wait patiently a lifetime for an opportunity to kick you once, which tells me Faulkner did not know shit about mules. Mules will kick you hard and often and when it is convenient; if they only kicked once it was because they killed you the first time.

If the purpose of a memoir is to make you feel you know the people it chronicles better, Rick Bragg has succeeded in spades with this one. I might have been sitting on that porch, with the smell of dirty wet dog in my nostrils, listening to Bragg’s mother making biscuits in the kitchen and waiting for the sound of Sam’s tractor to announce it was time to stop work and get a bite to eat. show less

In this memoir, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Rick Bragg outlines the difficulties of growing up “dirt poor” in Appalachia, with an alcoholic father who could never shake that demon and a mother who willingly sacrificed her own health and well-being for her children’s sake. He also gives the reader a look at the life of a child who felt loved and was free to explore and roam and enjoy the nature around him. He openly shares the differing paths his brothers took. Older brother Sam show more found his own success, taking on the mantle of adult responsibilities when he was still a child, while younger brother Mark continues to struggle. And Bragg gives a nod of thanks to the relatives (Uncle Ed, in particular), townspeople and teachers who recognized his talent and encouraged him to strive for something more.

There is a sense of nostalgia about some of his reminiscences. Bragg left his home, but his home never left him. His story in an honest, gripping, heart-wrenching and inspiring love letter to his mother. show less

Rick Bragg is one of a handful of authors that I would pay to read their shopping lists. I’m not sure why it took me five years to get to this one, but I’m glad I finally did. I’m a dog lover who has owned several in my 76 years, and The Speckled Beauty is a dog maybe only a dog lover could love. Rick Bragg is that dog lover. Speck arrived on Bragg’s doorstep like all of the multiple mutts who lived there did: filled with burrs, infected, and with a mean streak necessary for survival show more in the stray world. But Rick tamed him and grew to love him like a child. This book is beautifully written, like all of Bragg’s books, with a touch of sadness. I highly recommend it to dog lovers and non dog lovers alike. show less