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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Life In The Northwest Sung In Epic Poem

Sasquatch Books of Seattle has released a book that is unusual for a late-20th-century publisher.

It’s an epic poem.

“The Dust of Everyday Life” (248 pages, $19.95) by Seattle poet Jana (pronounced Yana) Harris is a six-part study of life in the Northwest comprising the years between 1853 to 1933.

It ranges from “Helen, Singing the Names of Wildflowers” -

“Blooming on the rooftop:

bachelor buttons, black-eyed

Susan, bitterroot petals pink

as taffy…”

- to Temperance Hodgson Wicke, detailing the harsh life in and around Spokane/Coeur d’Alene -

“Whenever a team of high-

stepping bays trots down

Hangman Creek Road,

Mother Wicke says, If only

Annie could see,

she came to love horses so.”

A visiting writer at the University of Washington, Harris has written other poetry collections (“Manhattan as a Second Language,” “Oh How Can I Keep On Singing?”) and the novel “Alaska.”

If you can’t find “The Dust of Everyday Life” in an area bookstore, call (800) 775-0817 for order information.

Mommy didn’t know best

Get ready for … the 20th anniversary edition of Christina Crawford’s “Mommie Dearest.”

The book, which inspired both the movie with Faye Dunaway and a host of other we-got-warts kinds of celebrity autobiographies, is available in a trade paperback for $16.95 (plus shipping and handling).

You can order it by calling (888) 526-5487 or by logging on to the “Mommie Dearest” Web site at www.mommiedearest.com.

What’s new? The new edition “is highlighted by a more in-depth look at the adult relationship between Ms. Crawford and her adoptive mother, as well as a new preface and afterword concentrating on adoption reform.”

Apparently, the “No wire hangars!” section hasn’t been touched.

Guiding seniors, their families

John and Gail Goeller, co-authors of “The Complete Directory of Seniors and Their Families,” have published a third edition of the guide.

Boasting much new information, the book has been updated in appearance as well. “It’s much improved,” John Goeller says.

The price is still the same, $12.95 plus tax, and the 10,000 copies are now available at area stores, including Auntie’s Bookstore, Hastings and others.

To order from the authors, call 323-9276.

Over the air - again

Chase Elementary teacher Michael Aleman never liked the ending of O. Henry’s classic Christmas tale “The Gift of the Magi.”

So he wrote his own ending. Spokane Public Radio station KPBX (FM 91.1) will air readings of both the original and Aleman’s updated version at 4 p.m. today and at noon on Christmas Day.

In other KPBX broadcasts:

Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz will read Hanukkah stories at noon Wednesday.

“StoryLines America” will feature the writings of Oregon naturalist Barry Lopez (“Of Wolves and Men”) at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

At the last minute …

If you’re still looking for a Christmas gift, you might consider picking up either a copy of the novel “Careless Creek” (Cottonwood Publishing, 286 pages, $24.95, $16.95 paperback) or the latest collected edition of the “Rick O’Shay” daily comic strips ($14.95 paperback).

Both are products of Montana cartoonist and novelist Stan Lynde’s fertile imagination. The novel is the second in a series that includes “The Bodacious Kid,” Lynde’s first foray into fiction. The strips are from Lynde’s first year of “Rick O’Shay,” plus 40 of his favorite Sunday strips.

If you can’t find either locally, call Cottonwood Publishing at (406) 475-9595 or (800) 937-6343.

A rave review

Spokane author Barbara Love and her sister, Frances Love Froidevaux, have received favorable mention in the December issue of Smithsonian magazine.

Love and Froidevaux edited “Lady’s Choice: Ethel Waxham’s Journals and Letters 1905-1910” (University of New Mexico Press, $16.95), a compilation of their grandmother’s journals as the basis for the book.

God bless us everyone

Fans of Charles Dickens, and those who just like Christmas in general, may want to show up to hear Michael Weaver’s dramatic reading of portions of Dickens’ classic Christmas tale “A Christmas Carol” at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.

For further information, call 838-0206.

The reader board

Tullia Barbanti, author of the cookbook “Al Dente!” will sign copies of her book from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today at Auntie’s.

Rosalie Willis, author of “A Walk With Jesus,” will sign copies of her book from noon to 2 p.m. today at the Book & Game Co. in Coeur d’Alene’s Silver Lake Mall.

Vernon J. Baker, co-author of “Lasting Valor,” will read from his autobiography from 3 to 5 p.m. today at the Book & Game Co. in Coeur d’Alene’s Silver Lake Mall.

Kitty Kelley will read from her book about England’s royal family Dec. 23 at Auntie’s Bookstore.

, DataTimes