Area Poet Explores Her Wilderness
In the literature of geography, Kim Barnes could be called the poet laureate of the Clearwater River.
Then again, that’s just the kind of overheated imagery that tends to give poets a bad name.
Whatever, there’s little of the overheated feel to Barnes’ book “In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country” (Doubleday, 258 pages, $22.50), which she will read from in Spokane on Monday (see Reader Board below). It is a memoir tied very closely to the rural forest lands adjacent to (and including) Lewiston.
Of course, the wilderness of the book’s title is meant to be taken more than literally. A reminiscence of Barne’s own life, which includes her parents’ adoption of a fundamentalist Christian belief, the book follows the author’s own particular struggle with the pain and confusion that is the lot of most adolescents.
Yet as Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer Rhonda Dickey wrote, “Barnes has managed to move close enough to her tumultuous experience to make it vivid for us, and to stand far enough back to make some sense of it.”
On the literary calendar
Auntie’s Bookstore has its summer reading list out, and there are more than a few big events for habitual readers:
June 20 (Thursday) - Missoula writer Jeff Shaara, the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara (“The Killer Angels”), will read from his “prequel” to his father’s book. “Gods and Generals” (Ballantine, 498 pages, $25) details the years that lead up to Gettysburg, the turning conflict of the Civil War that provides the focus for “Killer Angels.”
June 24 (Monday) - Seattle writer Ivan Doig, whose books such as “This House of Sky” and “Dancing at the Rascal Fair” have been Doig’s poignant contribution to the literature of the West, will read from his new book, “Bucking the Sun” (Simon & Schuster, 409 pages, $23). The new novel involves three generations of a family and how the members are affected by the historic Fort Peck Dam project.
On the shelves
Two of Inland Northwest writer David James Duncan’s books have been reprinted in time for the summer reading season.
“The Brothers K” (Bantam, 643 pages, $10.95 paperback) is Duncan’s look at four brothers who grow up during the 1960s in a house overshadowed by the one-armed, ex-baseball-playing father and obsessively religious mother.
“River Teeth: Stories and Writings” (Bantam, 259 pages, $10.95 paperback) is a collection of essays, memoir and fiction - all previously published in magazines and/or literary journals.
Duncan, once a resident of Oregon, now lives near Missoula.
Life is a cartoon, my friend
Fans of political cartooning might be glad to know that the 1996 edition of “The Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year” (Pelican Publishing, 206 pages, $14.95 paperback) is out (Spokesman-Review cartoonist Milt Priggee is represented twice).
Then again, maybe those fans won’t be so pleased by this year’s collection. What most comes to mind is how unfunny many of the cartoons are. That’s over and above those that aren’t clever, illuminating or even intelligent.
This isn’t a political criticism. Jim Borgman of the Cincinnati Enquirer is a vaguely (sometimes not so) liberal counterpoint to the more obviously conservative leanings of the Chicago Tribune’s Jeff MacNelly. Yet both at least understand that a political cartoon needs both to take a stand and express cleverness, insight, intelligence and, of course, humor (at least when it’s appropriate).
Many of the examples in this year’s collection are obvious expressions of mere annoyance, in some cases simple rage, and there’s nothing inherently funny about that at all.
To order by phone, call (800) 843-1724.
The reader board
Kim Barnes, author of “In the Wilderness,” will read from her book at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.
Blaine Harden, author of “A River Lost,” will read from his book at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore.
Florence Boutwell, author of “History of the Spokane Valley,” will sign copies of her book at 11 a.m. Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore.
, DataTimes