Department of Book Reports: West of Here

Jonathan Evison's West of Here (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill $24.95) is a masterwork by a fine young novelist. The novel is, by turns, an epic, a saga, a book full of characters who live and dream big things. And it is, as we booksellers like to call it, a page-turner. Interruptions during reading aren't happy ones.









The story revolves around the town of Point Bonita (a fictionalized Port Angeles), located atop the north end of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Evison weaves two time periods together; the Point Bonita of the early 1890's, just before the territory becomes a state, with the hopes to become the jewel of the place as Seattle, PB's rival, has just burned to the ground; and the more contemporary period of 2006, when it has become a town in which Wal-Mart dominates the economy of a city down on its luck. The earlier version of the town has dreamers. Ethan Thornburgh sees the possibilities of damming the Elwah River, providing electricity; Ex-Indian fighter and explorer, James Mather, wants to explore the deep interior of the peninsula, that last wilderness left unexplored in the continental U.S.; Eva Lambert wants to explore the world of the possible for a woman and joins the Utopian community located nearby. But the people of modern Port Bonita also dream, even as the town slowly dies and the Dam is due for destruction. Some search for Sasquatch, others dream of being left alone.

Port Bonita, of course, is a character, probably the main protagonist here. But the characters, and there are many in this 483 page epic, all of whom Evison richly imagines, from the only African-American living within miles of the place who is the parole officer to the Indians who inhabit the fringes of both the town yesterday and today,as well as the prostitues who can think bigger thoughts beyond life in a whorehouse. We learn their hopes and disappointments, all limited by their geography and their dreams, but for whom the place is one of adventure of some scale, whether large or small.

The town of the late 19th century reminded me of another book I reported on a few years back, Heyday, as well as the HBO series Deadwood, albeit without the gunfights. Heyday, though set fifty years earlier, describes a frontier where anything is possible, where perhaps Utopian visions can be made true, or personal fortunes can be made, whether in 1849 California or the South Dakota mud-filled streets of Deadwood where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane walk. That same spirit inhabits the characters of West of Here as well, having finally moved to one of the last places where one can achieve these things. Dream big, have hope, let nothing stop you.

I really cant recommend this book enough. It will be a treat for your hopes, your dreams and your imagination as well. Incidentally, it would make fine reading for Book Clubs. West of Here is available at (Jackson Street) Books On 7th and other fine independent bookstores. In the meantime, enjoy this interview of Evison by everyone's favorite librarian, Nancy Pearl.

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

The publishing newsletter Shelf Awareness has a Dedicated Issue for West of Here, here. If you'd like to help protect this amazing corner of Washington, please consider signing the Wild Olympics petition.

Department of Book Reports: Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer

Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer by Wesley Stace ($15.00, Picador) We know from page 1 that Charles Jessold returned home to find his wife and a married man in a compromising situation, poisoned them with arsenic and then shot himself on the night of June 23, 1923. Our narrator, gentleman music critic, Lelsie Shepherd tells and re-tells the stories of their early meeting and the years after as he encourages and guides the musical prodigy to compose the greatest English opera, ever. Shepherd is as unreliable as the best of narrators, and reveals more with each telling. Their first weekends in the countryside gathering traditional folk music which was to be the soul of this opera lead to evenings in pubs debating the finer points of music. Shepherd sees the new-fangled atonality as the greatest threat to English music and hates the Germans for their apparent dominance of the opera world. Jessold travels to Germany to study at Bayreuth and is taken up as WWI begins and spends 4 years in an internment camp. He returns to London an alcoholic, and becomes more erratic at his performances. Finally, the opera Little Musgrave is to be staged, but news of the murders come the night before the premiere. It is left to Shepherd to give police statements and hold forth the reputation of his friend against the tabloids and the scurrilous true crime biography a rival has written.
Since I had to correct a typo (thanks, jcricket!) I'll drop in this video I just found.

Stace captures the fine dialog and dry wit of the writing in that time period and gives a musical history lesson along the way. The acknowledgements at the end give you more title selections and sources to pursue. Wesley Stace is a perfect person to write this book as he is also the folksinger John Wesley Harding. I heard about this book a couple weeks ago on our local NPR show Weekday: Music and Murder Most Foul. when Stace/Harding stopped by to discuss the novel and his music.

Stace's books are available at our online store, or in historic downtown Hoquiam.
Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books. Order books at Jackson Street Books and other fine Independent bookstores.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

Department of Book Reports: Mexico

Some time ago, both SeattleTammy and I reported on a fine history book we both loved, Gods, Gauchupines and Gringos: A People's History of Mexico (paperback $24.95). The publisher, Editorial Mazatlan, has been busy since, producing two new books that are equally enticing.




Magic Made in Mexico: Live Your Dream....in Mexico (Editorial Mazatlan $17.95) is written by Canadian native Joanna van der Gracht de Rosado. The first section is a memoir that tells the story of how, as a young woman, she came to Mexico, fell in love and married a Mexican national, and how she adjusted to a new manner of life in Merida, a town located in the Yucatan. She follows that with an alphabetical series of chapters on tips for living in Mexico for the non-native (A is for Attitude, H is for Heat, S is for Settling In and so on), each of which gives good advice along with fun and funny anecdotal stories of her own. She closes with a nice, and very brief history of Mexico, the Yucatan and her hometown. She includes a good recommended reading list..I know it is good because she listed two of my favorite author's books, Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory and The Honorary Consul.


The other book of note and new from Editorial Mazatlan is Ray Acosta's Revolutionary Days: A Chronology of the Mexican Revolution (hardcover $29.95). Obviously this book is of great use to any student of Mexican history. But it also reads well as a narrative for the interested reader of the events leading up to, and nearly a day by day account of the Revolution itself as it occurred from 1910 onwards. As one would expect of a scholarly work, there is a good bibliography, and an alphabetical list of names of those central to the period. And there is a lot of them.

All three books are available at our online store, or in historic downtown Hoquiam.
Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books. Order books at Jackson Street Books and other fine Independent bookstores.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

Department of Book Reports: Fearless Fair Isle Knitting

Fearless Fair Isle Knitting: 30 Gorgeous Original Sweaters, Socks, Mittens, and More by Kathleen Taylor (Taunton Press $24.95) I realize this book report will only appeal to a limited audience, but knitters will rejoice in the beautiful volume. The pictures of these gorgeous sweaters and hats will have some of us just itching to get out the 4 pointy sticks. The 30 projects are explained in an easy to follow manner, giving an intermediate knitter the confidence to take on the more challenging work.

Fair Isle knitting is named after a small island off the north coast of Scotland. Originally a fishing and sheep rearing community, its location brought traders from Scandinavia. These brightly patterned sweaters were sought after by tourists and provided family income after the decline of the hand knit lace popularity (new fangled knitting machines were able to produce more and finer hosiery than a human knitter). The people of Fair Isle used their unique sheep wool to develop the characteristic designs that while looking quite complicated, are actually accomplished by simply using two strands of yarn per row.

My first attempts were akward and clumsy, but it was truly an A-ha! moment when it finally fell into place and I was able to hold a yarn in each hand and knit at the same time. My delight in watching the design emerge caused me to knit so long that afternoon, my hands hurt the next day! Be sure to take breaks and do stretching exercises as you begin.

Fair Isle sweaters are knitted in the round, and then cut for placement of the sleeves and neckline. This can be terrifying after all the hours of knitting you've done, but with Kathi guiding you through the steps you won't drop a single stitch.
This is Kathleen's 5th knitting book, and like the earlier ones, give you the confidence and inspiration to felt, dye, turn a heel or something else you night never have thought you could do. I first met Kathi back when she was a mystery author with a delightful small town series set in her adopted home of South Dakota. The landscapes and colors of South Dakota are also found in her knitting patterns and colors. Kathi has written many patterns for the Knitpicks yarn company, and I was pleased to be able to be one of her "test knitters" for a couple projects. You can get a feel for this on her blog, Kathleen's Dakota Dreams, where you'll find Friday Freebie patterns, works in progress, and more gossip than you'd ever admit to knowing about American Idol. Click here for Kathi being interviewed for the morning Souix Falls news show earlier this month.

Kathleen's knitting books are available at our online store, or in historic downtown Hoquiam.
Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books. Order books at Jackson Street Books and other fine Independent bookstores.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

Department of Book Reports: Summer for the Gods

About a year ago, I did a book report on the Lawrence/Lee play, Inherit the Wind, a drama loosely based on the Scopes trial of 1925 that featured the battle between William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, an opening salvo on what we now call the Culture Wars. So recently, and belatedly, I picked up a copy of the history of that time, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion by Edward J. Larson (Basic Books $16.95).

The book itself is an amazing social history, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1998. Of course, Larson discusses the backgrounds of the participants in the trial. Bryan, "The Great Commoner", is all too easily dismissed these days as a fundamentalist crank, but he of course headed the Democratic Party ticket for President in 1896, 1900 and 1908, and for all the bluster of his orations in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925, he was a great force for progressive political ideas throughout the early part of the 1900's, opposing the banks, supporting working peoples causes and vehemently anti-imperialist. He served as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State, until 1915. In fact, Clarence Darrow, liberal lawyer, supported the candidacies of Bryan during those times. And there was John Scopes, erstwhile school teacher, mild-mannered, socialist, who volunteered to test the state law banning the teaching of evolution in public schools.

The case itself was set up to be that: a test case. Many towns in Tennessee wanted to "host" such a trial. The ACLU wanted to test the law and advertised for a teacher who would break the law. In the town of Dayton, a group met at the local drugstore with both sides desiring a hearing on the matter. Scopes, who actually only taught science in the High School occasionally, affably agreed to do so.

Summer for the Gods is much more than a summation of the ensuing trial. Larson discusses the background of both politics, those of the country as well as the state's internal issues. He reports on the science of the time, with illuminating background on the state of evolutionary biology in the 1920's. He also gives a history of textbook publishing, the ACLU as well the on-going academic struggle for Academic Freedom. And with the current attacks in our fair land on Labor Unions, Planned Parenthood and on women in general, this book resonates loudly. Originally published by the Harvard University Press, it is well written, well documented and important. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books. Order books at Jackson Street Books and other fine Independent bookstores.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

Department of Book Reports: A Kidnapping in Milan

A Kidnapping in Milan, The C.I.A. on Trial (Norton $26.95) While this book reads like a thriller novel, Steve Hendricks shows how ineptness and perhaps plain laziness on the CIA's part made it relatively easy for the Italian authorities to prosecute and convict 23 agents in the extraordinary rendition of Abu Omar in 2003. Armando Spataro, an Amerophile who thought the US Constitution a most elegant document, led the prosecution. His dedication to justice is well served in this case.
Abu Omar was under Italian surveillance at the time of his abduction on his way to the Mosque on Viale Jenner, and the CIA operation surely damaged the case they were constructing against terrorists in Italy. Hendricks goes into great detail about the treatment of Omar, and along the way gives history lessons on the CIA (originally conceived in Italy to make sure that Democratic elections after WWII did indeed elect the most right wing candidates), the covert Rendition programs (begun in 1883, when Pinkertons captured a larcenist in Peru), and torture (both detailed accounts of Omar's treatment and historic practices) and the ways which both Bush and now sadly Obama continue the program.

The carelessness on the part of the CIA made it easy for Hendricks and his researcher to find many of the agents now returned to their American lives. Cell phones were registered to addresses near Quantico headquarters. Some were even re-cycled phones from operations earlier in the year. Agents stayed in posh hotels and had the Mileage points awarded to their personal credit cards. While there are instances of agents sharing a room, it looks doubtful that this was done with the *ahem* goal of saving the American taxpayer money.

Omar was held and tortured in prisons in Egypt. I kept thinking back to these parts of the book while watching events unfold these past 2 weeks in Egypt. The newly appointed Vice President Suleiman was the US' main connection to the torture prisons and should give us all reason to loudly object to our governments facile acceptance of him. I applaud the peaceful Lotus Revolution and dearly hope the people of Egypt can keep the American influences from interfering.

Steve writes eloquently at his website on his reasons for writing this book:

“The barbarisms of America’s ‘War on Terror’ appalled me, as did reporters who went along with the barbarisms,” Steve says. “I was particularly taken aback by the Bush (and now Obama) claims that torture-by-proxy makes us stronger. I wrote A Kidnapping in Milan because few reporters have shown what torture really looked like, because the Italian magistrate who was prosecuting the CIA kidnappers was a charismatic figure, and because I wanted to see if he would succeed in his struggle against American lawlessness. Also, before the CIA kidnapped Abu Omar, the Italians seemed to have had him under thorough and fruitful surveillance, and the snatch appeared to have badly damaged Italy’s work against terrorists. This case, in other words, looked like a good example of how the ‘War on Terror’ made the West less safe. I was also intrigued because the victim was probably a terrorist, not an utter innocent, which added a shade of gray to a story that might otherwise have been more black and white. I wanted to see if I could make a convincing case that torture was wrong no matter who its victim was.”

I wish I could make that last line even bolder.

Some of you may remember when we gave the General a copy of Steve's first book, Unquiet Grave for xmas. If you don't, I urge you to go back and read both the General & Steve's guest post.

Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books. Order books at Jackson Street Books and other fine Independent bookstores.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

Department of Book Reports

We're both feeling a bit under the weather this week, so I'l show you a video of a book I'm really looking forward to. Talk amongst yourselves & tell us what you're reading in comments.

Sean Beaudoin's You Killed Wesey Payne


Visit us on Facebook Jackson Street Books. Order books at Jackson Street Books and other fine Independent bookstores.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.