Northwest Authors Give Many Perspectives On Region

Following is a selected list of books published this fall about the Northwest or by Northwest-based writers:

“Where River Turns to Sky” by Gregg Kleiner (Avon, $6.99 paperback). In his first novel Oregon writer Gregg Kleiner turns to nursing homes and the elderly to explore the issue of dying alone.

Set in a farming community in Oregon, the book follows lead character, George Castor, and his friend Ralph, who have been fishing buddies for decades. When a stroke sends Ralph to a nursing home, George visits him daily for two years. One day, he goes fishing instead of visiting Ralph, and when he returns he learns his friend has died alone.

George vows to allow no other old person to die alone if he can prevent it. With an inheritance from his son, George buys a rundown mansion, paints it fire-engine red and starts taking in old folks.

“Go East Old Man” by Paul Reese and Joe Henderson (Keokee, $14.95 paperback). Eugene, Ore., writer Joe Henderson follows the experiences of a runner in his 70s - Paul Reese - on his running travels through 22 Western states. Henderson is a longtime columnist for Runner’s World magazine and has written more than a dozen other books on running and fitness.

“Organized Womanhood: Cultural Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1840-1929” by Sandra Haarsager (University of Oklahoma Press, $19.95 paperback). Women’s clubs helped shape the Pacific Northwest and their contributions have largely been overlooked, according to University of Idaho professor Sandra Haarsager. In her book, she shows how women’s organizations became a major social force, imposing educational, cultural and political reform. Haarsager is also the author of “Bertha Knight Landes of Seattle: Big City Mayor.”

“Return to Spirit Lake: Journey Through a Lost Landscape” by Christine Colasurdo (Sasquatch, $16.95 paperback). San Francisco writer Christine Colasurdo returns to the site of her family cabin on Spirit Lake to explore nature’s ability to renew itself. Raised in Portland, Colasurado’s family bought a cabin on Spirit Lake in 1977 and she worked summers at nearby Harmony Falls Lodge. Her plans to return to work at the lodge after graduating from high school in 1980 came to an abrupt end on May 18 when Mount St. Helens erupted.

This volcanic memoir describes Spirit Lake’s natural history from a first-person perspective.

“The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness” by Rick Bass (Houghton Mifflin, $23 hardback). Prolific Montana writer Rick Bass offers up three novellas that speak to his continuing themes of habitat preservation and the Northern Rockies.

Bass lives and writes in the Yaak Valley in Western Montana. His other books include “Winter: Notes from Montana,” “In the Loyal Mountains,” “The Lost Grizzlies” and “The Book of Yaak.”

“The Next West: Public Lands, Community and Economy in the American West” edited by John A. Baden and Donald Snow (Island Press, $22.95 paperback). Nearly a dozen writers and thinkers, ranging from Mark Sagoff to Thomas Michael Power, offer their visions of the future of the American West. Their essays reflect on what has gone wrong in the region and predict some surprising directions regional policy-makers may choose.

Donald Snow, who also directs the Northern Lights Foundation in Missoula, explains in his introduction that the New West will not be cappuccino cowboys, fiber optics and a sense of public willingness to embrace environmental issues. Rather, Snow says the Next West will be based on a renewal of Jeffersonian democracy, experiments in local control of public lands and the use of markets to replace the political allocation of natural resources.

“The McKennas” by Virgil Cross (E.M. Press, $22.50 paperback). Virgil Cross turned 90 this year; this historical Western novel is the second effort for this Sequim, Wash., man who began writing when in his 80s.

Cross traveled extensively to research the historical facts for this story of a young man who strikes it rich in the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s.

“Looking After: A Son’s Memoir” by John Daniel (Counterpoint, $14 paperback). Eugene, Ore., writer John Daniel tells the story of his mother and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. She moves to Portland to live with Daniel and his wife, and after her death, he must cope with a sense of failure and loss. Reaching deep into his mother’s past, he discovers her “deep smile of the spirit.”

Daniel won the Oregon Institute of Literary Arts award in 1993 for his collection of essays on nature and the American West, “The Trail Home.”

“The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier” by Bruce Barcott (Sasquatch, $23.95 hardback). Of Seattle writer Bruce Barcott’s book, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reviewer Joel Connelly says: “Rarely has any book on high places featured such an abundance of perception as Bruce Barcott’s ‘The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier,’ or occasionally such an absence of understanding.

“Barcott is a Seattle writer, apparently not a hiking fanatic, who set out to learn everything possible about the place we call ‘The Mountain.’ He trekked around it, visited volcanologists and marmot experts, and reached its 14,411-foot summit.

“The resulting book is an eclectic learning experience. It is meandering, but pokes into fascinating historical detail.”

“Humpty Dumpty: An Oval” by Damon Knight (Tor, $13.95 paperback). Eugene sci-fi novelist Damon Knight rings in with yet another fantastic story.

“Valley Walking” by Robert Schnelle (WSU Press, $12.95 paperback). Ellensburg writer Robert Schnelle muses on wandering afoot in central Washington. Schnelle does commentary for National Public Radio.

“Answering Chief Seattle” by Albert Furtwangler (UW Press $14.95 paperback). Salem, Ore., author Albert Furtwangler looks at the historical context and interpretations of the Suquamish chief’s speech about white men and the environment.

“The Columbia River: Sustaining a Modern Resource” by Tim Palmer (The Mountaineers Books, $24.95 paperback). Wyoming writer/ photographer Tim Palmer focuses on the merits and future of the Northwest’s biggest river.

“Snowbound” by Ladd Hamilton (WSU Press, $19.95 paperback). Lewiston journalist Ladd Hamilton details the dramatic true story of New Yorkers trapped in the Bitterroot Mountains during the brutal snows of 1893.

“Aesop’s Fables” by Jacob Lawrence (UW Press, $18.95 hardback). The 1970 book of fables by Seattle artist Jacob Lawrence is re-released with 23 familiar tales and additional black ink drawings.

“The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional Men” by Michael Gurian (Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Putnam, $14.95 paperback). Spokane therapist and writer Michael Gurian focuses on the raising of boys.

“Girlfriend in a Coma” by Douglas Coupland (ReganBooks, $23 hardback). Vancouver, British Columbia, writer Douglas Coupland of “Generation X” fame reappears with a dark comedy about a Vancouver teen who falls into a coma in 1979 and awakens 18 years later. The novel revisits what Coupland does best, making sense of a dramatically changed world.

“Warren G. Magnuson and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century America” by Shelby Scates (UW Press, $27.50 hardback). Shelby Scates profiles the six-term Democratic U.S. senator credited with keeping Boeing in Seattle and creating the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Lasting Valor” by Vernon Baker with Ken Olsen (Genesis Press, $24.95 hardback). Vernon J. Baker fought in Italy, earning a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and Distinguished Service Cross, and was one of the most highly decorated soldiers in the Mediterranean Theater. On Jan. 13, 1997, 52 years after his World War II service, President Clinton presented him with the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor, the Medal of Honor. He is the only living black World War II veteran to earn this medal. Baker lives in North Idaho; Olsen is a journalist with The Spokesman-Review.

“Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time” by Howard Schultz (Hyperion, $24.95 hardback). Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz tells all (with Seattle writer Dori Jones Yang) about building a multimillion-dollar empire with coffee.

“Montana Campfire Tales” by Dave Walter (Falcon Press, $16.95 paperback). Western tales abound and Dave Walter selects 14 of his favorite for this collection, all of which would make for a riveting evening out in the Montana wilderness.

“Heart of the Trail: The Stories of Eight Wagon Train Women” by Mary Barmeyer O’Brien (Twodot, $8.95 paperback). This is a sparce 76 pages but the stories told about eight pioneer women who survived the trip to the Western frontier make it seem more substantial. This isn’t the only book with the stories of these early-day women, but in a good collection, “Heart of the Trail” should be included.

“She’s Tricky Like a Coyote” by Lionel Youst (University of Oklahoma Press, $24.95). Historian Lionel Youst follows the life of Annie Miner Peterson from her childhood in a village along a tidal slough on the Oregon Coast in the late 1800s to adulthood as the last person alive to be fluent in Miluk, the language of her tribe. She told the stories of her people to anthropologists and worked to keep her traditions and language alive.

“Another Wilderness: Notes from the New Outdoorswomen” edited by Susan Fox Rogers (Seal Press, $16). From an Antarctic expedition to snowboarding in Nevada to more quiet canoe trips, women write of their adventures and interaction with the outdoors. Some writers of this collection of essays are familiar, like Holly Morris, founder of Seal Press, but most are new voices calling out from the wilderness in clear, strong tones.

“I Am of This Land: Wildlife of the Hanford Site” by Dan Landeen and Jeremy Crow (Confluence Press, $15 paperback). Wildlife biologist Dan Landeen and botanist Jeremy Crow offer up a book that combines the history of the Nez Perce tribe in the Columbia Basin with an accounting of the wildlife in the basin. The history centers on the importance of wildlife to the Nez Perce culture; the wildlife survey focuses on the Hanford area. The book is hot off the publisher’s press and will be available in area bookstores before Thanksgiving.

“World That Never Was” by Frank Bartel (Aegina Press, $10). In his first novel Frank Bartel explores the tie between the Korean and Vietnam wars. More important, he looks at the culture that stumbled out of the first and tripped into the second.

“Fatal Choice” by Robert Shurtlieff (Partners, $4.99). Retired air traffic controller Robert Shurtlieff weaves a thrilling tale of trouble in the air when two planes collide. Shurtlieff spent his career in the control towers in Alaska, but retired to Spokane to live and write.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: 1997 BOOKS BY NORTHWEST WRITERS A selected list: River of the West by Robert Clark A River Lost by Blaine Harden Roll On, Columbia by Bill Gulick Words I Wish I Wrote by Robert Fulghum Skeleton Canyon by J.A. Jance Dazzle of the Day by Molly Gloss Five Past Midnight/Man of the Century by James Thayer Ritual Death by Brad Reynolds, S.J. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer God Said “Ha!” by Julia Sweeney Overpacking Disease, Telling Your Child About Nordstrom, and Other Adult Traumas by Doug Hurd Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing by Patrick McManus Bavarian Gate by John Dalams Shaolin Nei Jin Qi Gong by Peter Fenton Running With the Demon by Terry Brookes Our Family Book of Days by Kathleen Finley Where River Turns to Sky by Gregg Kleiner Tearing the Silence by Ursula Heggi The Sylvan Path by Gary Ferguson The Dry Rain by Pete Fromm Postcards from PotatoLand by Marianne Love A Little Bit of Wisdom by Horace Axtell and Margo Aragon Little Miss Strange by Joanna Rose Quake Stories by Nance Van Winckel The Seeker’s Guide to Being Catholic/ Surprising Mary by Mitch Finley Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke Women Alone by Julie Keene and Ione Jensen The Human Comedy, Plus Other Species At No Extra Charge by Jim Kershner The Fair and the Falls by William Youngs Ranald MacDonald, Pacific Rim Adventurer/ North Cascades Highway by Jo Ann Roe A Cold Seat On a Frosty Morning by Robert Storch Silencing the Voices by Jean Darby Cline Hooked On Little Goose by Ed Muzatko Learning to Talk Bear by Roland Cheek Outer Search Inner Journey by Peter Dodds The Newspaper in Art by Shaun Higgins and Colleen Striegel Pieces of My Mind by Virgil Stortroen John Slocum and the Indian Shaker Church by Robert Ruby What My Cat Has Taught Me About Life by Niki Anderson World That Never Was by Frank Bartel Lasting Valor by Vernon Baker and Ken Olsen Northern Rockies: A Best Places Guide to the Outdoors by Susan English Fighting to Live, Too Young to Die by Vanessa Suquet Careless Canyon/Rick O’Shay - The Dailies: 1958 by Stan Lynde Downtown Spokane Images, 1930-1949 by Carolyn Hage Nunemaker The Falling Boy by David Long Snowbound by Ladd Hamilton Source: Auntie’s Bookstore