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The Man Who Loves Butterflies and Other Loose Ends
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Alas, another year has drawn to a close and, once again, I bit off more than I could chew. Maybe there's still time for a morsel - a tiny taste of the review books stacked on my desk. They've come to me by hook or by crook, by pony express and snail mail, but I must still beg forgiveness from the authors and publishers who sent them. Here below is a mere mention to whet the reader's whistle (I'm using up what's left of my annual quotient of cliches). Let the sampling of this truly eclectic stack begin with titles, authors, and an occasional aside...
Novels
The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns by Margaret Dilloway, winner of the ALA Reading List Award. I read this one early in the year, and loved it. Read Kirkus review. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Intro by Salman Rushdie). Not a new release but deserving of fresh eyes. Read about Ishiguro's Denver visit here.
Dollybird by Anne Lazurko. I sat next to Anne at last year's Women Writing the West Award Ceremony. She'd come from Canada to accept the Willa Award for Best Historical Fiction, and couldn't quit smiling. She was, is, a northern delight. Next is the novel Zelestina Urza in Outer Space, by longtime Wyoming friend, David Romtvedt. A previous Poet Laureate and Pushcart Prize-winner, David is well known in Wyoming's literary world. David, I'm half-done with the novel and Kim Barnes is right when she says this is a book filled with magical invention. I'm never sure which story line to follow, the quirky narrator's or the young Basque immigrant's.
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David Romtvedt
Wyoming Public Radio
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David teaches creative writing at the University of Wyoming and plays music whenever he can. Zelestina was published this year by the Center for Basque Studies. Listen to David poem on The Writer's Almanac or on Wyoming Public Radio. This next one, the Office of Mercy by Ariel Djanikian (a Penguin Book), must've come by hook or crook because I have no idea how the book ended up on my desk, though I am on Penguin's list of book reviewers, and the cover copy entices, "World peace. Eternal Life. All suffering ended." Let's hold that thought sacred! NPR calls it an "indisputable page turner." The last fiction title is Sarah Gerkensmeyer's collection of short stories, What You Are Now Enjoying, winner of the 2012 Autumn House Fiction Prize. Sarah sent me a copy with a lovely note and I wish I could remember what my favorite story in the collection was, because I did read them, and I did enjoy them, and I truly owe Sarah an apology for waiting this long to make even the merest of mentions. Sarah, what are you working on now? |
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Memoir and Fictitious Biography (fictitious what?)
I'll start with the memoir Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson, which took place in 1977 but was published after Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Both memoirs were released on the big screen. Robyn's journey took place when she was a young woman of 27. Cheryl was 22. Both women packed along emotional wounds, but Robyn also had to pack along food and water for all her camels and for this, I love her. You'll find both books in my stack, along with Mary Stobie's memoir You Fall Off, You Get Back On. I imagine Cheryl and Robyn had similar mantras during their thousand-mile treks. Stobie's readers describe her as part Erma Bombeck, part Annie Oakley.
So what is fictitious biography? The University of Oklahoma Press includes the subjects of environment, science, technology, natural history and animals in their description of Ernest Thompson Seton's classic tale Wahb: The Biography of a Grizzly. Wahb first appeared in Seton's articles in 1899 and has been a beloved creature in the wild woods of our imaginations for over a century.
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Poetry and Meditations
I love practicing rolling my Rs when I say the name Alberto Alvero Rios. I like that he and I were both born in 1952. I like that he writes about animals, and fruit, and potato chips, and love. I like the publisher of The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body, Copper Canyon Press, which believes that poetry is vital to language and living, a s does writer and lepidopterous Robert Michael Pyle, author of Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place.
When I read Holly Hughes interview of Pyle, "Reflections on 50 Years of Engagement with the Natural World" ( Terrain.org), I discovered that the journal likes to publish work that explores "the interface - the integration - among the built and natural environments that might be called the soul of place" ( submit). I met Robert Pyle at the Fishtrap Summer Gathering last July, where we were both teaching. He's earthy and engaging, as you might expect from a man who loves butterflies.
Wishing you an inspiring year filled with good books that you actually have time to read, kind friends who share your passions, a loving family, and new adventures in the great outdoors. Page
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WEAVING WORDS & WOMEN
PERU'S SACRED VALLEY
Sept 30-Oct 11, 2016. A 12-day adventure for in Peru's Sacred Valley (Lima, Cusco, Pisac, Ollaytantambo, Patacancha, Machu Picchu). Includes Inca despacho ceremony, local markets, Peruvian cooking class, and time with Quechua weavers. "Watch the nimble fingers of the weavers with their vibrant strands of wool. Open the pages of your journal and weave a tapestry of words." Limited to 12 women. A Page Lambert Adventure in partnership with True Nature Journeys. The $500 deposit is due now.
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LITERATURE & LANDSCAPE
OF THE HORSE, WYOMING
May 31-June 5, 2016. What is it like to view the world through the eyes of the horse? Can horses really help us remember how to be present to our own joy? To remember a deeper wisdom? This 5-day adventure is for anyone who yearns for nature, longs to reconnect with horses, and hungers for creative inspiration in an authentic western ranch setting. Held at the historic Vee Bar Guest Ranch, this is the perfect place to ride, write, reflect and renew. $350 deposit will hold your horse! Only 4 spaces remain.
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