Catching Up With Growing List Of Regional Titles

From Book notes column, March 17, 1996: Lance Olsen, Idaho’s current Writer in Residence, will do his free public reading in Sandpoint today (instead of March 10 as previously reported.) Also, Olsen is the 1996-97 Writer in Residence (not the 1995-96 edition as, again, was reported.)

A bunch of books have been accumulating near my desk (some would say that they are taking it over), so I thought I’d do us both a favor and point out the more interesting titles.

They include:

“Daughters of the West” (Wesanne Publications, 176 pages, $11.95 paperback) by Anne Seagraves. Seagraves, the author of such self-published regional histories as “Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West” and “High-Spirited Women of the West,” has written another women’s-oriented history. This one tells the individual stories of such Western women as filmmaker Nell Shipman, outlaw Pearl Hart, rodeo performer Vera McGinnis, Wells Fargo stage drive Delia Haskett and many others. (ISBN 0-9619088-5-8).

“Reflections: Essays on Place and Family” (Washington State University Press, 126 pages, $12.95 paperback) by Louis J. Masson. An English professor at the University of Portland, Masson looks at the world that he knows - the world of his childhood and his life as an adult - and strives to find a personal meaning in what he sees.

“The Joy of Being Catholic” (Crossroad Publishing, 144 pages, $16.95) by Mitch Finley. In his uninhibited, engaging style, the Spokanebased author explains the religion that gives him “cause for deep and abiding joy.”

“Blues dawn, Red Earth: Native American Storytellers” (Anchor Books, 431 pages, $14.95 paperback), edited and with an introduction by Clifford E. Trafzer. This is a collection of writings by contemporary Indian writers, including Spokane-based Anita Endrezze and Gloria Bird.

And speaking of Indian-related books, consider “The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories” (University of Oklahoma Press, 250 pages, $13.95 paperback) by Hugh A. Dempsey and “Bloody Knife: Custer’s Favorite Scout” (Smoky Water Press, 245 pages, $21.50 paperback, ISBN 0-9644389-0-9) run the gamut of historical reference books, from academic (“Calf Shirt”) to popular (“Bloody Knife”).

Library sale

A four-day book sale at Eastern Washington University’s John F. Kennedy Library will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning Monday. The sale, which will be held in room 219, will include a variety of books and will involve a silent auction of encyclopedias. Only cash and checks will be accepted. For further information, call 359-2264.

Honors, rewards, etc.

It’s old news that Eastern Washington University creative writing instructor Ursula Hegi has seen publication of her novel “Salt Dancers.” What you may not know, though, is that two other Eastern faculty members have had books published.

Kenneth Finegold, an associate professor of government, had his book “Experts and Politicians: Record Challenges to Machine Politics in New York, Cleveland and Chicago,” published by Princeton University Press.

And Daniel Perdue, a professor of sociology, saw publication of his book “Modernization Crisis: The Transformation of Poland,” by Praeger Press.

A great first line

“In his gut Joe Curtis knew when he first heard the sound, a certain arrythmic thrum deep in his Pontiac’s engine, a nauseating whack of hot metal on metal, that he had a big problem.” - From “The Last Sanctuary” (Delacorte Press, 370 pages, $22.95) by Craig Holden.

Literary group dynamics

The March meeting of the Auntie’s Bookstore reading group will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the store, Main and Washington. The book under discussion will be “Postcards” by E. Annie Proulx.

A clever sales job

When an author sends a press release with no accompanying review copy, most book editors are suspicious. That’s what happened when I received such a bookless notice for “Adventures in the Slow Lane” (Hard Shell Publishing, 230 pages, $11.95) by Gary Schwartz.

Even worse, the press release was printed on the inside of the book cover.

But then I read the release, discovered that Schwartz is a Mukilteo-based humorist whose book is a collection of newspaper columns, many of which he wrote for a string of Los Angeles weeklies.

It contained this quote: “I think of the pieces (in the book) as potato chips. After reading one, you can’t resist the next - otherwise, if these books don’t sell, my wife will make me get a real job.”

Who can resist a plea like that?

The reader board

Lance Olsen, Idaho’s 1995-96 Writer in Residence, will read from his works at 4 p.m. today at Sandpoint’s Page House Bed and Breakfast, 506 N. Second. The reading is free and open to the public. Olsen is director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Idaho.

Robyn and Rand Miller, creators of the computer game “Myst” and authors of the subsequent fantasy novel “Myst: The Legend of Atrus,” will read from their book at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.

Spokane resident Carol Gerrior-Larson, author of “Forbidden Angel,” will read from her novel “Forbidden Angel” (Lowell Printing, 105 pages, $9.95 paperback), at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

, DataTimes