Light And Variable: A Year of Celebrations, Holidays, Recipes, And Emily Dickinson

By Connie Cronley

Book Overview

In Light and Variable, the reader is invited to join celebrated Oklahoma essayist and commentator Connie Cronley on a delightful romp through the calendar year. Honest, unpretentious, and laced with self-deprecating humor, the essays in this book revolve around special holidays or events, some of which you may never have heard of--Festival of Sleep Day, National Failures Day, and Blame Someone Else Day.

Against a backdrop of celebrations and seasons, Cronley marvels at subjects close to her heart: siblings from outer space, small towns, champion whopper-telling ex-husbands, rascally cats, rescued dogs, deviled eggs, know-it-all hair dressers, church squabbles, books and authors, gardening efforts run aground, flocks of starlings, women's history, cowgirls, and her own Cherokee heritage. Woven throughout are fragments of Emily Dickinson's poetry; a few essays about food (not surprising from a former restaurant critic), including a history of celery in North America; a salute to rhubarb; and recipes from Frank Sinatra and Oprah Winfrey.

Who knew that Oklahoma was such a magical place? Cronley introduces us to Oklahoma celebrities: movie stars Jennifer Jones and Tony Randall, glamorous caf society singer Lee Wiley, champion poker player Bobby Baldwin, and one of the state's legendary American Indian ballerinas (and the author's personal friend) Moscelyne Larkin. Grab your hat and step into Connie Cronley's special world, where the mood, like Oklahoma weather, is always light and variable.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806137886
• ISBN13: 9780806137889
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful

Connie Cronley takes me back to the Oklahoma I was born and raised in. I'm guessing we are about the same age, same Cherokee/Irish and lover of the old days. From her childhood to today she relates stories that will make you burst out laughing and/or bring tears to your eyes. Her wonderful use of the English language with terms like "domestic as a plate" to phrases so sophisticated she is a pure joy to read. Get this book, read it, give it to your friends, and especially sisters if you have them. Then read it again.

A delightful read

Connie Cronley makes writing look easy. Her style, her sense of humor, and the way she takes the smallest things in life and gleans wisdom from them make this book a joy to read. In addition, we are treated to recipes fit for entertaining or a night curled up with a good book or movie. Like her first, Sometimes a Wheel Falls Off, these essays give the reader a sense of the places Cronley writes from--not only geographically, but emotionally. She is by turns thoughtful and funny, homespun and cosmopolitan. It sounds corny, but she makes the reader want to be a better person.