Mailbox Monday: Oregon Authors

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Crystal at I Totally Paused is hosting in November.  Crystal reviews books from a variety of genres including mysteries, YA, historical fiction, and classics, and also blogs about pop culture and life as she sees it.  Please visit her blog and say hello.

My mailbox was a celebration of local authors and publishers last week.  I got three books that all look really interesting:



A Simplified Map of the Real World by Steven Allred, published by Forest Avenue Press.  Interconnected short stories set in the fictional town of Renata, Oregon.



Brave on the Page: Oregon Writers on Craft and the Creative Life, edited by Laura Stanfill, published by Forest Avenue Press. Essays from 42 Oregon authors about living the writer's life. 



Paradox Lost: Uncovering Your True Identity in Christ by Jen Johnson and Catherine Skurja, published by Imago Dei Resources.  Jen is in my book club and worked on this project for a while. I look forward to reading it.

What books came into your house last week?

Book Beginning: Trophy Cupcakes & Parties!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader now has a Facebook page. I plan to post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it, or click the button over there in the right hand column.  I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY



MY BOOK BEGINNING

You could say that party planning is in my DNA. I'm not sure which of my ancestors was first bit by the hospitality bug, but I clearly come from a family of celebrators with a flair for festivities and a knack for fun.

-- From the authors introduction, "The Party Starts Here: Why I'm obsessed with creating joyful celebrations" in Trophy Cupcakes & Parties! Deliciously Fun Party Ideas and Recipes from Seattle's Prize-Winning Cupcake Bakery by Jennifer Shea, photographs by Rena Jordan.

The photos and ideas in Trophy Cupcakes & Parties would inspire any partygiver, whether looking to add panache to a grown-up party or find a new idea for a kid event.  When you need more than Pinterest, this would be the source to turn to.

This is another fun and beautiful book from Sasquatch Books.  They are on a roll!

Five Faves: Midwest Books

There are times when a full-sized book list is just too much; when the Top 100, a Big Read, or all the Prize winners seem like too daunting an effort. That's when a short little list of books grouped by theme may be just the ticket.

Inspired by Nancy Pearl's "Companion Reads" chapter in Book Lust – themed clusters of books on subjects as diverse as Bigfoot and Vietnam – I decided to start occasionally posting lists of five books grouped by topic or theme. I call these posts my Five Faves.

Feel free to grab the button and play along.  Use today's theme or come up with your own.  If you post about it, please link back to here and leave the link to your post in a comment.  If you want to participate but don't have a blog or don't feel like posting, please share your list in a comment.

FIVE FAVE MIDWEST BOOKS

My roots are in Nebraska and as the holidays roll around -- Thanksgiving especially -- nostalgia waxes for the flatlands of my childhood.

Any suggestion? What stories of the heartland tug on your heartstrings?

Here are five of my favorite books set in a celebrating the American Midwest.  You can tell from my list that my idea of "the Midwest" doesn't extend further east than about Davenport, Iowa.

• O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.  This very readable classic about prairie settlers is on the Radcliffe list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century -- the rival to the Modern Library's list. 

• The Road Home by Jim Harrison.  Harrison's inter-generational family story picks up where his earlier novel, Dalva, left off.  It has a permanent place on my personal Top 10 list and is probably my favorite American novel.

• The Echo Maker by Richard Powers.  Brain science and sand-hill cranes, no wonder it won the National Book Award.

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (reviewed here).  Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for this uplifting and entertaining epistolary novel.

• A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.  It may be a little overwrought, but this Midwest Gothic deserves its Pulitzer Prize.  It also won the National Book Critics Circle Award and made it onto Erica Jong's list of Top 100 20th Century Novels by Women.

Teaser Tuesday: Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Like the forest above it, the moss turf is a patchwork of many species. And if you're down on your knees with your nose poked into the earthy smell, you'll see that the moss carpet is not unbroken green.

-- Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer (OSU Press), winner of the John Burroughs Medal Award for Natural History Writing.

Moss is beautiful.  I love hiking through a lush and peaceful forest carpeted with moss, or contemplating how different kinds of mosses complete the composition of a Japanese garden. 

I wanted to read Gathering Moss because I am trying to incorporate more moss in my own landscaping.  Kimmerer's series of personal essays turned out to be as inspirational as they are informative. 

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

I'm getting a jump on the week with an early posting. 

Two books came into my house last week and I am super excited about both of them.
 


Things we Set on Fire by Deborah Reed, author of the excellent Carry Yourself Back to Me (reviewed here).

Reed's latest novel has been 16 years in the making and sounds like a slam dunk winner. It's a gothic drama with generations of tough but damaged women coming together to deal with a 30-year old tragedy that had splintered the family.  Looks like a great fireside read for a winter weekend.

Things We Set on Fire will be out on December 1, but is available for pre-order now.  I see that Kindle users can pre-order a copy at the ridiculous sale price of $4.99.



Put an Egg on It: 70 Delicious Dishes That Deserve a Sunny Topping by Lara Ferroni.  Santa's elves must have been reading the new Rose City Reader Facebook page, because I got this one early.  This is the cookbook I would have written if I could write a cookbook, because I think any savory dish is better with an egg on it.  Yum!

This is yet another beautifully photographed, well-constructed, and inspiring cookbook from Sasquatch Books.  This up-and-coming independent publisher is definitely one to watch!