Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo

One of the benefits of being a librarian is that you sometimes come across a book you would never have looked for & it turns out to be really good. Public radio reporter Algeo has written an excellent book that takes the reader back to the 1950s & the end of the Truman presidency. In June of 1953, a few months after he left office, Harry & Bess set off on a road trip that took them from Missouri to Washington, New York & Pennsylvania, & back to Missouri. They had no secret service detail & they were trying to travel anonymously. As Algeo follows their route he regales us with entertaining, interesting & informative facts, from politics, local culture, history & much much more. This is definitely a story about people though, not dry facts, & the reader learns such a lot - Harry did not even have a president's pension when he set out on his trip, he and Bess had returned to the same house they had lived in before his presidency, in Independence, Missouri, he loved cars & liked to speed & often took walks. Whatever your political affiliation this is a book about a time past, when a farmer could become a president & when the role of ex-president was a lot different than it is today. It is not a history book but a reflection of two lives, of their stories, of those they meet, & of the time & place of a past era.
As Algeo says "The story of their trip, then, is the story of life in America in 1953, a time of unbridled optimism and unmitigated cold war fear. It is also the story of the monumental changes that have occurred since then."

Matthew Algeo's book website
http://www.trumanroadtrip.com/page/page/6814760.htm

"While presidential biographies by David McCullough and Edmund Morris might be likened to Beethoven symphonies in their magisterial sweep, 'Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure' resonates Aaron Copeland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man' - brassy, bright, energetic, brief and declaratively American."
Washington Times

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

Actor Ron McLarty's first novel was well-received back in 2005, and in general the Abingdon Lite at Night book group enjoyed reading it. Only one reader wasn't too keen but this was because it was not the kind of book she would normally read. It does deal with some serious issues such as schizophrenia, alcoholism, and violence in American society, but above and beyond that it is a heartwarming and inspiring story of a man who goes on a quest to claim his sister's body, and finds himself in the process. Smithy Ide is a very overweight, alcoholic, chain-smoking Vietnam vet, socially inept, in a boring job, living alone. He discovers that his sister has died and is in a funeral home in Los Angeles. Without any planning or forethought he takes off on his old bicycle one day and his ride becomes a road trip across America from Rhode Island to Los Angeles. He meets a variety of characters on the way, some good, some bad, loses weight and quits his bad habits. He also rediscovers his childhood neighbor, Norma. This is a wonderful story, although you have to grant that the author has used some artistic license. It is doubtful that a man in Smithy's shape could just set off and ride so far without some serious health problems, but give McLarty the benefit of the doubt and read this book.

Ron McLarty’s new novel, Traveler, was released on 1/22/07.
A film version of The Memory of Running may be made in 2009.

You will find a good review of this book at http://www.curledup.com/memrunnin.htm and a book group reading guide is available at http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/memory_of_running.html