Owning it All, by William Kittredge

Essays

https://www.questia.com/library/80861024/owning-it-all-essays

A terrific and eminently readable collection of essays, mostly about the American West. Kittredge writes about southeastern Oregon, specifically the Malheur Lake area--coincidentally the area that was recently in the news due to the occupation of a federal building by some right-wing extremists. He also writes about Montana, especially Missoula and the nearby area.

This is not only nature and geography writing, though those topics are included. It is also concerned with the life of a writer becoming a writer, as he moves away from the life of a rancher to a life of letters. Kittredge has much to say about what humans have done to the once-pristine land of the West. He writes quite a bit about how agriculture transformed the Malheur area, how that has affected the bird life there.

The Good Daughters, by Joyce Maynard

Two girls are born on the same day in a small town in New Hampshire. This book follows their lives, and their families, as they grow up to be adults. Dana Dickerson's family consists of her brother, Ray; her father, George; and her mother, Valerie. George goes from one get-rich-quick scheme to another over the course of years. Valerie is distant from her family, an artist of some talent (she is a painter), who has little time for her children. George is always leaving for the next big thing.

Ruth Plank's family is quite different. She has four sisters. Her father, Edwin, is a farmer. They live on the farm that has been in his family for many generations. Her mother, Connie, is a hard-working farmer's wife with a strong religious faith.

The story is told in chapters labeled either "Ruth" or "Dana." Most of the time these simply alternate back and forth, in first-person narrative from each point of view.

This is another excellent and completely engrossing novel by Joyce Maynard. As the story of these two women unfolds, a great mystery is revealed, and not fully solved until nearly the last page.

Poor White, by Sherwood Anderson

An electronic book, available online: http://www.fiction.us/anderson/porwhite/cover.html

Published in 1920. Covers the beginning of the industrial revolution while telling the story of young Hugh McVey, of Missouri, who moves to Ohio and begins to dream of making machines.

http://ndbooks.com/book/poor-white

I don't know, I'll probably reveal my ignorance here, but I didn't think this book was very good. Boring, too full of exposition, lifeless characters, and a really strange plot. There's some good stuff on the industrial revolution and the oppression of workers, equity trading, financial corruption, etc., but all in all, my advice: don't bother.