Very cool. I did not know about Sanora Babb and found that she lived a long great life; she died at 98 in California. A writer needs confidence and she had it. I saw her quoted as saying she was a better writer than John Steinbeck. Maybe so!

Thanks for this insightful endorsement of Kate's poems. We at New Bay Books are eager to see some Karen poetry.

Wow, "the intricacies of human communication." Comedy that's not dumb is great. I haven't found too many books since Confederacy of Dunces and Hunter Thompson's work, especially Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Thanks; I'm game to try The Rosie Project.

As someone who once spent a vacation in North Dakota, I see nothing amiss about hanging out in Kansas.

This sounds like a winner with parallels to today. Thanks for posting.

This is what I expected in the book, so thanks for keeping me from buying it. You are exactly right that readers (and Cokie fans) could have expected more about the evolution and influences in her life. Steve Roberts, a first-rate reporter in his day, has the chops to get that done. I recall Cokie as being a fairly strong journalist and a pleasant person, though my orbit in DC was elsewhere and I didn't know her. When thinking about Cokie, always at front of mind is the disappearance of her father, House Majority Leader Hale Boggs. Planes go down in Alaska fairly often; Cessnas there are like minivans, or Uber, in getting around. What remains bizarre is that 50 years later (the 50th anniversary is in Oct) they've found nary a sliver of the plane that went down, with Boggs and 3 others aboard, on a charter from Anchorage to Juneau. A campaign-trip of some sort. On reporting trips to that part of Alaska (and flying in small planes)! I imagined what it would be like to happen on to the crash sight in some mountain ravine. Cokie was 25 or 30 when her that plane went down, and I wonder if over the years when the phone rang she ever wondered if someone was calling to say finally, your father's remains were found.

Thanks Joanie for that silly-fine video. That book had me right off because I used to frequent a bar in Illinois called the Metropol(e) with an e. I liked the line about exploring the soul of Russians because the upheaval of that era was barely noted. Similar in Lincoln Highway where the percolating of '50s America never came through. That Studebaker could have been rolling across the highway in any decade. (I had a '65 Studebaker Commander. Honest.) I think Towles' imagination makes up for his lack of experience outside the rarefied circles of Boston and New York. I eagerly await the film with Branagh.

I thought the film, with Tom Hanks, was excellent. But you're right: The book always is better. Thanks for great post.

I want to read this one, too!...How do you know author? Free love? Can you warn us in advance with PAGES TO AVOID?

This sounds really good, too! I listened to a zillion audio books driving into D.C. every day but alas, that isn't happening these days. Thanks.

Thanks Karen for introducing me to this book and this author. (St. Martin's was my publisher when I used to get it together to write books.) I'm interested in the setting, a part of America often overlooked. I don't know as much about the Dust Bowl years as I should and the themes you spell out are appealing. I plan to get The Four Winds and will let you know what I think.

Thanks, Lisa, for your smart post. You hit squarely on an effective practice for writers, one often overlooked: To write well, one should read well -- studying and internalizing as you go. (Not a good idea to read academic papers unless you're writing one.) Your story must indeed be long if its 5 and 7 year-old orphans are now in their 50s!