Pick up a book, it’s time for Spokane Is Reading
If it’s October, you should be reading. That’s the plan, at any rate. For the past three years, a consortium of Spokane-area agencies has united to support a monthlong program called Spokane Is Reading. Selected reads have included Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong,” Charles Frazier’s “Cold Mountain” and, just last year, Orson Scott Card’s science-fiction novel “Ender’s Game.” Now comes Susan Vreeland’s art novel “The Girl In Hyacinth Blue” (Penguin Books, 256 pages, $13 paper).
The month will be full of events, the first of which – a screening of the 2003 film “A Brush With Fate” – took place on Saturday. The second screening of the film, which is based on Vreeland’s novel, will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the East Side branch of Spokane Public Library, 524 S. Stone St. (444-5375).
Spokane Is Reading begins in earnest on Oct. 10 with a life drawing class at the Spokane Valley Branch of Spokane County Library, 12004 E. Main Ave. (926-6283). After that, look for art history classes and book discussions, culminated by a visit from Vreeland herself on Oct. 27 (when she will speak at the North Spokane Branch of the county library and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture).
No fun, these parties
Western history seems to be a theme this week. Not only is the October read for The Spokesman-Review Book Club a story of homesteading in 1895 Oregon (Molly Gloss’ “The Jump-Off Creek”), but Caldwell, Idaho-based Caxton Press has just released a book titled “Necktie Parties: Legal Executions in Oregon – 1851-1905” (375 pages, $16.95 paper) by Oregon author Diane Goeres-Gardner.
“Ms. Goeres-Gardner has presented an impressively researched and meticulously documented examination of the history of legal executions in Oregon, from the beginning of the territorial period until the time when executions were moved to the state penitentiary in Salem,” wrote William R. Long, an adjunct professor at Willamette University College of Law.
“Her narratives of the 50 executed men, their crimes, and the stray details of late-19th-century life that peek out at the reader through court filings, newspaper articles, probate records and miscellaneous sources make for a fascinating story.”
Just for kids
Roland Smith will read from his children’s book “The Cryptid Hunters” at 1 p.m. Saturday at the downtown branch of the Spokane Public Library as part of a special reading program.
Toon Disney’s Passport to Reading program, which is designed to point children toward reading, rewards children who participate in the program with Toon Disney stickers and, ultimately, a certificate and collectible bookmark set.
All children who attend Smith’s Saturday reading will receive a free copy of “The Cryptid Hunters” (appropriate for ages 5 to 8), which he will sign.
Anyone planning to attend is warned to arrive early. Seating will be limited. For further information, call 444-5300.
A new look
Persistence is, or at least should be, the writer’s byword. Ask Spokane author James A. Nelson.
He’s been promoting his book “The Way It Was and The Way It Is” for what seems like years. It first came out in an edition that screamed self-published (especially when you began stumbling over the typos) and took away from the feel of the autobiographical stories that Nelson was trying to tell.
Now, Nelson’s book has been put out in a new edition by Spokane-based KiwE Publishing (192 pages, $11.55 paper) that is a distinct improvement.
“I believe they did a good job putting it together,” Nelson says, adding that he’s started a new book but that he’s still “hopeful (that) a large publisher will see it and pick it up.”
“I have enjoyed writing,” he says, “but I sure wish it paid better.”
Book talk
•Valley Reader’s Group (“The Girl in Hyacinth Blue,” by Susan Vreeland), 7 p.m. Thursday, Valley Hastings, 15312 E. Sprague Ave. (924-0667).
•Gay and Lesbian Book Group (“Almost Like Being in Love,” by Steve Kluger), 7 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington (838-0206).
•Seekers Discussion Group (“Spiral Staircase,” by Karen Armstrong), 10 a.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Literary Freedom Book Group (“Enemy Women,” by Paulette Jiles), 1 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
The reader board
•Jim Diers (“Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way”), 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.
•Roland Smith (“The Cryptid Hunters”), 1 p.m. Saturday, Spokane Public Library downtown branch, 906 W. Main Ave. (444-5300).