Parnassus Book Reviews
Ketchikan, Alaska
Review by George R. Pasley: ENGLISH CREEK A Review by George R. Pasley - Over this past
year I have enjoyed reading the novels of Ivan Doig. Born in
Montana, current resident of Washington, Ivan's historical novels
feature wonderful character development and a wide variety of
writing styles. Most of them are set in Montana, in the time
since statehood. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 27, 2007
Review by MARY GUSS:
"Ghost
Sea" by Ferenc Mate - You can't miss with this book
-- it has a compelling mixture of mystery, Native culture and
sailing adventure going for it, with romance and characters thrown
in. The Native culture that figures prominently in the story
is the Kwakiutl Nation of Canada. When I put down "Ghost
Sea" I headed immediatly to Wickipedia, histories and mythologies
of the Kwakiutl and anthologies of Native culture to see if what
I had just finished reading could really be true. It was. Fact
is every bit as wonderful as fiction here. I learned about the
Kwakiutls' rich and fascinating culture and mythology (though
at the time the story takes place it is in conflict with the
government busily trying to put a stop to the expressions of
that culture -- particularly the potlatches). For that eye-opening
education alone the book is well worth the reading. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 13, 2007
Review by MARY GUSS:
Special
Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marsha Pessl... A - In multiple
ways, Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a big book. From
the story itself to the extreme literate-ness of the writing,
there is a great deal about it to like. If you are like me, the
thrill-ride of the language will grab you first and instantly.
Then the slow, deliberate unwrapping of the layers of the story
will render you nearly incapable of putting the book down. And
at that point you will be glad for the sheer size of Special
Topics, all 514 pages of it. - More...
Tuesday PM - October 09, 2007
Review by GEORGE R. PASLEY: ANIMAL,
VEGETABLE, MIRACLE: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver,
with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver... - Kingsolver's
most recent book is part travelogue, part cookbook, part garden
book, part political commentary but through and through it is
a narrative that tells the story of one family's effort at living
differently. More...
Tuesday PM - October 09, 2007
Review by Mary Guss: The
March" by E. L. Doctorow a Book Review by MARY GUSS - I
have heard it said that two of the three most written-about events
on earth are the sinking of the Titanic and the American Civil
War. The March is a novel about the latter, fictional, but weaving
in characters who lived and died during that time. It is a very
linear novel -- the progress of the march is linear, the ragged
lines of people are linear -- but there is periodically a bulge
in the line where events or people are expanded. Those bulges
are the most satisfying parts of the novel, balancing somewhat
the frustration of losing people out of the line, never to see
them agarin or to know what ultimately happens to them. - More...
Thursday - April 12, 2007
Review by Mary Guss: "The
Forest Lover" by Susan Vreeland a Book Review by MARY
GUSS - Although it is fiction, "The Forest Lover" is
based on the life of Emily Carr, an actual historical character.
Carr is already known to many Southeast Alaskan's. Others will
newly come to appreciate her through this novel.
Emily Carr was born in Victoria,
British Columbia in 1871. Before she turned twenty she left Canada
to study art in San Francisco. From there her studies took her
to London, from which she returned in 1906. Back in British Columbia
-- in the wildest parts of that province -- she searched for
inspiration and escaoe from everything that hemmed iher in. The
first page of Ms. Vreeland's novel relates: - More...
Thursday - April 12, 2007
Review by Mary Guss: Fugitive
Wife by Peter C. Brown - If you are in the mood to curl up
one of these winter days with a good historical yarn set in Alaska,
you could do much worse than Fugitive Wife by Peter Brown.
The story opens in June of
the year 1900, shipside amid the hustle and bustle of the Seattle
docks during the Nome gold rush. Watching the loading is the
book's protagonist, Esther Crummy, a farm wife from Minnesota,
on her way to visit her sister in Ballard. She turns out to be
in the right place at the right time to find herself instead
offered a job aboard one of the ships bound for Nome, as the
horse handler. Esthre agrees to take that job in very short order,
making the reader think she's either crazy or full of adventurous
spirit. The truth turns out to be something quite different.
- More...
Monday AM - January 29, 2007
Review by Mary Guss: The
Highest Tide by Jim Lynch - Jim Lynch lives and writes in
Olympia, Washington - an unlikely place for the unlikely hero
of his first novel. That hero is 13-year old (but looking 9)
Miles O'Malley. Wishing he were tall, dark and handsome, he is
instead self-described as "short, pink and ordinary."
Don't you believe it. While he may be the first two, Miles is
far from ordinary. - More...
Saturday - December 09, 2006
Review by Mary Guss: The
Blue Bear and The Last Shot by Lynn Schooler - Lynn Schooler
is a wilderness guide and 35-year resident of Juneau. On his
boat the Wilderness Swift he takes people out to observe and
photograph Alaska from Misty Fjords to Prince William Sound.
He also writes. Over the past five years he has written two nonfiction
books that deal with watery topics. The stories are set over
a hundred years apart and have vastly different subjects and
protagonists. But each provides the reader with an engrossing
tale. - More...
Saturday - December 09, 2006
Review by Mary Guss: The
Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake by Samuel Bawlf - Ever
since sixth grade geography, the tales of the early circumnavigators
of the globe have grabbed and held our attention. Their stories
are as exciting and unlikely as any fiction that could have been
written about the times. Of course we remember that Magellan
was the first to sail around - inconveniently getting himself
killed before returning home to Portugal by meddling in local
politics in the south seas. The second circumnavigator, and a
much more likable character, was Sir Francis Drake. He spent
three years making his voyage around the globe and did it in
a vessel that was not much larger than today's salmon seiners.
- More...
Wednesday - November 15, 2006
Publish A Letter on SitNews Read Letters/Opinions
Contact the Editor
SitNews
©2006
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska
|