‘Big Mountain’ Author To Speak At Auntie’s
If you’re going to live in Montana, you might as well at least try and ski. People have been doing so for about as long as anyone can remember.
Jean Arthur, who writes the occasional travel story for The Spokesman-Review, tells the story of how skiing came to the high slopes near Whitefish in her book “Hellroaring: Fifty Years on The Big Mountain” (Whitefish Editions, 80 pages, $29.95 paperback).
Arthur’s book, filled with period-piece photographs by the late Marion Lacy, is an anecdote-filled history of the Whitefish ski area based on some 140 interviews and other research done over a two-year period. Arthur will read from the book on Jan. 13 at Auntie’s Bookstore, which has several copies for sale.
Copies also can ordered through Whitefish Editions. For information, call (800) 862-4640.
Post-Christmas shopping
If one of your Christmas presents was money - or, better yet, gift certificates at your favorite book store - you might consider purchasing one or two of the following:
“It’s a Magical World: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection” (Andrews and McMeel, 165 pages, $14.95 paperback) by Bill Watterson. The comics pages just haven’t been the same since Watterson packed up his ink pot and decided to retire. So we “Calvin and Hobbes” fans must take fixes where we can, which at this point means the occasional best-hits collections that Watterson’s publisher is bound to print.
This one boasts all the familiar scenarios, and it even ends with the final strip that has Calvin and his pet tiger heading out to explore a fresh field of snow. the book is enjoyable, even if it does merely remind us of something that no longer exists except in re-run.
“The Bavarian Gate” (Baen, 342 pages, $5.99 paperback) by John Dalmas. Dalmas, the prolific science-fiction novelist who calls Spokane home, now has given us this sequel to “The Lion of Farside.” In it, Dalmas follows his protagonist, Curtis Macurdy, as he returns to Earth and attempts to live the peaceful life of a farmer.
But Macurdy has chosen a dangerous time, as the world marches toward World War II, and he ends up facing a double threat: the Nazis and evil forces from the other world whose partnership promises to make Hitler stronger than anyone can imagine.
“Glimpses of a Mystical Affair: Spiritual Experiences of Swami Sivananda Radha” (Timeless Books, 208 pages, $35) by Julie McKay. Author McKay is a disciple of Swami Radha, having studied with her from 1979 until the Spokane-based Radha’s death in November, 1995. This book is emblematic of Radha’s teachings as interpreted by McKay, who worked with Radha on several books, including “Realities of the Dreaming Mind.”
For order information, call Timeless Books at 838-6652.
“The Great American Dream: Home Buyer’s Guide, Using Your VA Entitlement” (95 pages, $9.95) by John Ellis and Helen Stanosek. This simple guide by Navy veteran Ellis and real-estate saleswoman Stanosek has a simple purpose: to acquaint veterans with the knowledge they need to take advantage of their home loan benefit from the Veterans Administration.
“After reading this guide,” the authors claim, “the veteran will have gained the added advantage of being able to understand the procedures professionals use to make home-buying an enjoyable experience.” To order, call (800) VA HOMES.
Writing for a reward
The fourth-annual Andres Berger Award, sponsored by the Portland-based Northwest Writers Inc., is offering $1,000 prizes in three genres of writing - poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
Judges Theresa Jordan (“Cow Girls: Women of the American West”), David Romvedt (“Certainty: A Flower Whose Name I Do Not Know”) and Alan Cheuse (“The Light Possessed”) will judge the contest, which is open to published writers living in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Note: Only works already published five years prior to the contest’s Jan. 31 deadline are eligible. For more specific guidelines, send an SASE to: Northwest Writers Inc., P.O. Box 3437, Portland, OR 97208.
The reader board
Mitch Wieland, author of “Willy Slater’s Lane,” will read from his novel at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.
, DataTimes