Book Notes: Poet Wrigley will read latest at Auntie’s

One of the nation’s top poets, Robert Wrigley, lives and works in our region – and he’ll be reading from his latest collection, “Beautiful Country” (Penguin, $18) at Auntie’s Bookstore on Wednesday.

Wrigley teaches in the MFA creative writing program at the University of Idaho in Moscow. His work regularly shows up in the New Yorker. He has won a ridiculous amount of Pushcart Prizes (six) and has been a Guggenheim Fellow.

The New York Times Review of Books called his poetry “beautiful and brutal.” Local poet (and former Wrigley student) Dennis Held describes it as “very musical, very lyrical.”

Wrigley conjures up striking images, such as this: “The bowling ball of one’s fate / careering along for years, promise leaking / from its finger holes.”

Or this: “County of not quite breathtaking / vistas, of the for sale sign, of timothy and brome, / spring and slaughter county, meat county, home.”

You can hear more of his carefully chosen words and imagery on Wednesday, 7 p.m. at Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave.

‘The Silver Valley’

A new entry in the “Images of America” historical-photo series will be released on Monday: “Images of America: The Silver Valley” (Arcadia Publishing, $21.99).

The authorship of this slim paperback volume is attributed to the Historic Wallace Preservation Society. It includes many marvelous images of Wallace, Kellogg, Burke and vicinity from that archive.

You’ll see photographs of disasters (the 1910 avalanches and fires), street scenes, celebrations, miners, baseball teams and family gatherings.

‘Sam d’Bear’

Local author Michael Andrew Marsden, a retired Forest Service researcher, has published a new novel titled “Sam d’Bear” (Gray Dog Press, $16.95).

The book is about a big Newfoundland dog named Sam d’Bear who comes into a local businessman’s life.

Marsden will be reading at Auntie’s Bookstore, Friday, 7 p.m.