Jane Fritz’s long-awaited Pend Oreille book debuts

All those who love Lake Pend Oreille have a new book to put on their Christmas lists: “Legendary Lake Pend Oreille: Idaho’s Wilderness of Water,” by Jane Fritz and friends (Keokee Books, $24).

This book, long in the making, made its debut at a Sandpoint launch party last week. It’s available at area bookstores and online.

This 450-page book includes historical and recreational information, as well as a number of color and black-and-white photos and illustrations.

Fritz is a longtime area resident and outdoor recreationist. Several collaborators wrote passages in the book, including Patrick F. McManus, Francis Cullooyah and Marianne Love.

Holiday signing sessions

What’s even better than giving a book as a Christmas gift? Giving one with the author’s personalized inscription and autograph.

Local bookstores and publishers want to make it easier for you to get that book personalized, so they have set up a series of signings around the region during the Christmas shopping season.

Here are a few coming up this week:

• Dick Jensen, author of “Spokane: Set in Stone,” Friday, 4 to 7 p.m., Hastings Entertainment, 101 E. Best Ave., Coeur d’Alene.

• Jack Nisbet, author of “The Collector,” “Sources of the River” and other regional books on natural history, Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m, Hastings in Coeur d’Alene.

• Dawn Nelson, author of “A Cowgirl Remembers When” and “A Cowgirl’s Justice,” Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Aslin-Finch, 10505 N. Newport Highway.

• Sarah Conover, author of “Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom” and “Harmony: A Treasury of Chinese Wisdom for Children and Parents,” and Gordon S. Jackson, author of “The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful: Quotations for the Thoughtful Traveler” and “Never Scratch a Tiger With a Short Stick and Other Quotes for Leaders,” Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave.

• Carol Edgemon Hipperson, author of “Radioman: An Eyewitness Account of Pearl Harbor” and “The Belly Gunner,” Saturday, 12:30-2 p.m., Auntie’s Bookstore.

• Marilyn Magney Newkirk, author of “The Legacy of Yesteryear” and “Spokane, 22nd Street and the Fifties,” Saturday, 2:15 to 4 p.m., Auntie’s Bookstore.

We’ll list more signings next week.

‘Fish On’

Spokane author Ed Muzatko will be reading and showing slides from his latest book, “Fish On,” at Auntie’s Bookstore on Friday at 7 p.m.

Muzatko has written three previous books about his steelhead-fishing pals, aka the Little Goose Gang. Those were collections of short humor pieces about their antics.

However, “Fish On” approaches the same subject more seriously. It’s a warm biography of the gang – their lives and their tragedies, as well as their pratfalls. You’ll even find some philosophy in its pages.